is there any warning before the internal RAM BATTERY goes out?

[chimney chop]

...or does it just fail suddenly.

just got the Indigo 2 and the "warranty void if removed" sticker is intact so i'm kinda worried i'll lose all my saved patches soon if the battery has never been changed.

the manual suggests replacing it every 3 or 4 years

[chimney chop]

anyone?

is the 3 or 4 years the manual suggests an underestimate of how long the battery lasts or is that pretty accurate?

any info would be greatly appreciated from those who have had to change their battery.

thanks!

[plaid_emu]

Don't be too paranoid about your battery, that said... stay vigilant in checking it.

Things can go badly real quick. My old KORG POLY-61 went from being a nice functional poly synth, to a retarded turd with corrosion on the main PCB in a matter of a few years.

[chimney chop]

how do i check it?

[plaid_emu]

Not tryin' to cop out, but ask Access directly for details about battery maintenance. They should be able to help, hopefully.

[chimney chop]

will do!

would still like to hear from anyone who's had their virus battery die and/or had it changed.

[Timo]

Hi, you can see the battery (a standard CR2032 lithium flat, disc-shaped battery) in my re-potting thread. http://infekted.org/virus/showthread.php?t=31443

For example, you can clearly see it here, in the centre, along the bottom.

http://www.infekted.org/virus/files/Timo/RePot/11.png

Looks like it's just a simple clip holding it in place, no soldering needed.

BTW, I have an old Virus Indigo v1, and I haven't needed to change the battery yet. The same with a 15 year old Korg Trinity which has the same type of battery.

I think the standard Virus hardware warranty only lasts 1 or 2 years, so breaking that seal wont affect you if it's older.

[chimney chop]

ah, good to know. guess i won't fret.

had a jp8000 battery go out on me which is perhaps why i'm a bit sensitive. :)




by the way, i've been mulling over the pics of that source post of yours.

from the looks of the innards seems like adding wood cheeks wouldn't be too hard at all.

might be neat to give it a Sequential Circuits Prophet vibe.

ever thought of doing that to yours?

[chimney chop]

wondering if it would compromise the structures integrity.

do the aluminum sides seem to play a large role in the strength of the frame?

[Timo]

do the aluminum sides seem to play a large role in the strength of the frame?

The end 'cheeks' don't really affect the structural integrity of the fascia (the main control panel) as the fascia is mainly bolted to the chassis both at the front and rear, but the cheeks are attached very securely to the chassis itself (along with just one screw at the rear into the back of the fascia, where the jack sockets are). They use perpendicular brackets to fit to the chassis (and rear), as you can see in the following photo:

http://www.infekted.org/virus/files/Timo/RePot/08.jpg

I think a minimum of three screws are required on the bracket either side attaching the cheeks to the chassis....

http://www.infekted.org/virus/images/various/cheeks-chassis.jpg

And one additional screw on the bracket either side at the back attaching the cheeks to the rear of the fascia too.

http://www.infekted.org/virus/files/Timo/RePot/06.jpg

No screws are needed along the sides of the cheeks to the fascia, as the fascia is already held solidly down to the chassis via a bracket along the red dotted lines:

http://www.infekted.org/virus/images/various/cheeks-fascia-chassis.jpg

If you see my re-potting guide, you will see how it all fits together and what is needed to do so:-

http://infekted.org/virus/showthread.php?t=31443

The aluminium cheeks are aesthetically decent as they show no screws from the outside, even though they have brackets attached to them on the inside.

http://www.synthburgh.com/Virus%20Indigo/VirusIndigo-large.jpg

If you wished to replace the metal cheeks with wood, I think the most trickiest issue would be how to attach the brackets to each wooden cheek securely. You'd need really dense wood, I think, unless you drilled through to the outside (to bolt the bracket internally) like they did with the Virus TI|1 desktop:

http://media.soundonsound.com/sos/dec04/images/virustidesktop.l.jpg

However, user DeFex (http://www.infekted.org/virus/member.php?u=9749) made custom wooden end cheeks for his Virus desktop to make a kinda modular work surface.

http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y283/neutron7/specki_meets_virus.jpg (http://www.infekted.org/virus/showthread.php?p=284942#post284942)

[Timo]

Back on topic, regards the Virus battery, you should of course back up all your patches and multis using SoundDiver (for Virus C and below) or Virus Control (for Virus TI) before ever taking out the battery.

Thinking about it, I guess it makes sense to switch the batteries out after a few good years. Gonna grab a couple next time I'm out. I'd hate them to leak and damage circuitry. Apparently cheaper CR2032 batteries may be of a lesser quality and have a higher probability of leakage. Given the present Panasonic CR2032 ones have done really well for this length of time in mine, I'll be grabbing those.

Panasonic CR2032 3Volt Lithium battery.

http://www.bakorea.com/component/ecshop/default/user_img/890a6e6c3d8039.jpg

[namnibor]

Don't be too paranoid about your battery, that said... stay vigilant in checking it.

Things can go badly real quick. My old KORG POLY-61 went from being a nice functional poly synth, to a retarded turd with corrosion on the main PCB in a matter of a few years.

The Korg Poly 61 is and has been NOTORIOUS for that happening and that is *not* a typical result of a battery simply needing changed in any synth. With a fully functional synth O.S., you will typically get a warning on screen upon power-up of "low battery warning", giving one time to sort it in a reasonable amount of time.
Just as it is pragmatic to back-up your computer DAW projects/files onto an external HD, it's good practice to save your precious patch and multi-set-ups with well-labled seperate folders containing sysex dumps in say the rare event your studio cat whilst on a catnip buzz runs through your cabling, causing unexpected power disconnect! Trying to say good practice to not wait until a battery change to do back-ups.
Both warranty sticker seals are still intact on my Virii KB and KC and know they have never been changed and still doing fine.
It would actually be fitting for a future Virus Synth to be fitted with plutonium battery, reflecting their namesake and call it Virus Half-Life, with optional lead shield and lead-waterfall action weighted keys!!!