SAT repair trouble & rant

[John Ross]

Hi Bob,
I have replaced them a couple of times in the past. No big deal.
I found a replacement pack at Radio Shack it was #23-245 4.8V 600mA Nickel
Cadmium, for racing cars.
Being fair to Paul, when I was in for an upgrade on my Ser#162, ( It now has
membrane keyboard, and all the other boards, and has the FAC program) he
showed me one someone had used a high wattage iron on, and it had ruined
some boards. Someone had used a large iron, and got too close to the boards,
even although, all he had to do was solder two wires. Watch the polarity.  I
use my #162 as a spare, as I have a SATlll.
Be sure that you turn your spare on once a week to charge the capacitor, it
acts as a holding voltage for the memory. If it uses all its charge, the
chip uses voltage from a little flat disc battery. If that goes flat you
lose the memory, and the SAT does not know what to do.
SATlll does not have that problem as it has what is called a flash memory.
So you are correct in thinking the unit should go in for a service, they do
upgrades, change the capacitor, disc battery, and battery pack.
Back to your problem, why did you not just leave the charger attached, and
use it like a plug in unit? Or was a cell shorted, and dragging the voltage
down?
John M. Ross
jrpiano@win.eastlink.ca
----- Original Message -----
From: <BobDavis88@AOL.COM>
To: <pianotech@ptg.org>
Sent: Saturday, December 01, 2001 4:15 PM
Subject: SAT repair trouble & rant


> My SAT-II battery took ill the other day. I took out our backup SAT, and
?%#
> its battery was also non-chargeable. I tune aurally, but the SAT sure
speeds
> things up.
>
> I emailed Sandersons, and asked for the voltage and capacity of the
battery
> so I could put one in one of the instruments while I sent in the other.
> Rather than telling me, Paul suggested I send one in. I wrote again, and
> repeated I wanted to send both in (for further alignment and service),

> Sorry, but I don't equate soldering a couple of battery leads with tuning
a
> piano with vice grips.

> Also, I seem to remember others replacing their batteries. Can someone
tell
> me the voltage/ capacity? The one that's in there now is a 4.8v/ 600 mAh,
but
> someone else replaced it, so it's not a "factory" battery.
>
> Bob Davis
>
>