Jupiter 4 corrosion

[Grant Richter]

This relates to the position the unit is stored in. If the faulty nicad 
secretes a corrosive liquid, capillary action will cause the liquid to
follow the wire leads to the circuit board, unless gravity is opposing it.

The Poly Six I have was stored vertically so when the battery leaked, the
corrosive material fell harmlessly to the back of the metal case. I know
this because of the corroded spot on the metal back. But the PCB traces are
fine.

>From practical experience, store a Poly Six vertically with the keyboard up.
Perhaps other people have similar comments for different units.

----------
>From: Chris MacDonald <macdonald at evenfall.com>
>To: Synth DIY <synth-diy at node12b53.a2000.nl>
>Subject: Jupiter 4 corrosion
>Date: Wed, Oct 4, 2000, 12:56 PM
>

> My Jupiter 4 had been sitting in the corner for more than a year and
> this weekend I finally had a chance to set it up on a stand.
> Unfortunately when I turned it on, no sound!  After poking around the
> insides, I discovered that most chips on the motherboard were not
> getting +15V.  The power supply was fine, and the power connector to the
> motherboard had +15V.
>
> I removed the motherboard to examine it and discovered that there was a
> localized area of corrosion on some traces around the connector to the
> NiCad battery.  :(  The battery is mounted away from the board and is
> connected to it by a set of wires that are several inches long.  I guess
> corrosive effects can be transmitted through wire, so off-board mounting
> is no guarantee.  The battery itself had telltale corrosion and "salt"
> crusted around one end.
>
> I removed the battery and was able to run jumper wires to bypass the bad
> traces but I wish I had caught it sooner.
>
> -Chris
>