Octatrack resets itself when I touch the power-supply cable

ark · 2014-01-11T19:36:54.000Z

I’m planning to send my Octatrack in for warranty repair, but I’m curious to know whether anyone else has had this problem:

If I bump my hand against the cable between the Octatrack and the power supply, the Octatrack sometimes resets itself, as if its power supply were briefly interrupted.

For a while I thought the problem could be solved by cleaning the power-supply contacts, but that doesn’t seem to affect it.

The problem is not in the power supply itself, because it happens with more than one power supply. It is intermittent–in fact, it went away for quite a while and then came back.

The problem affects only my Octatrack, not my other Elektron devices.

I’m guessing that it is either a defective socket or a cold solder joint between the socket and the corresponding circuit board, but if anyone else out there had a similar problem and got it repaired successfully, I’d like to know.

avantronica · 2014-01-11T19:44:06.000Z

sounds like a dry joint, should be easy to sort, fingers xd it’s that then for you !

ark · 2014-02-07T05:03:35.000Z

Elektron was kind enough to send me a new power-supply board. It took a while because they were away at NAMM, and then they were out of boards so they had to wait for the next batch to be manufactured. However, the upside was that I didn’t have to arrange to ship the Octatrack to California; and because the problem was intermittent to begin with, I was still able to use the Octatrack while I was waiting.

Replacing the board was trivial: 10 screws and four connectors. It seems to work fine now.

Yay!

KrisM · 2014-02-07T05:11:00.000Z

Hooray!

Accent · 2014-02-07T05:56:35.000Z

Glad it worked out for you.

Did doing the work yourself affect your warranty?

ark · 2014-02-17T02:50:34.000Z

""Accent"":

Glad it worked out for you.

Did doing the work yourself affect your warranty?

The Elektron folks didn’t say anything about that, but as the Octatrack works now, I cannot possibly imagine that they would have sent me a new power-supply board and then not honor the warranty after I successfully replaced it. I suspect that if I had fried something in trying to replace it, there might be an uncomfortable conversation afterward; but I didn’t.
Of course, your mileage may vary. I might well have said something to them that convinced them that I was a reasonable risk.