Vintage Simmons Drums (UK) Users Group

For those of you that have opened up their SDS7 brains, what type of
battery does it use to back up the memory? Mine finally croaked,
which I discovered yesterday just before I was going to use it for a
recording session! This of course prompted me to race to my Juno 60
and compulsively make multiple tape backups, since they are about the
same age (and who knows how old that battery is). I have a gig with
the Juno next week, hopefully it won't die before then!


Scott


(my apologies for the slimeball using the group email list for
solicitation)

Hi Scott

I used a varta PCB battery from Maplin:

2/V150H 2·4 150 345 13.0 417 BN23A (Maplin's code)

I found that all the brain settings that had faded were instantly
recalled once the battery was securely soldered in place. You could
probably use the 3/V150H 3·6 150 345 19.2 417 BN24B item as I
had
to stretch the pins out a bit but the existing battery is flat so
both are compromises. The important bit is the 150 Capacity (mAh)
It's a three pin battery and you have to remove the 'settings number
pad selector unit' (four screws and pcb multi-pin lead). You will
probably find it easier to remove the brian casing as well as I don't
think there are slots for the board to come out. The PCB with the
battery on is the second from the right (from memory).

I took the opportunity to dismantle the whole drum brain and clean
all the boards and selector unit but that isn't really necessary.
Just be careful to desolder the existing battery gently as you don't
want to fry the other mounted components!!

regards

Stephen