Slightly offtopic, but it's a shame looking through this thread from the start and seeing all the dead TinyPic links. So much lost...

sorry for stupid qustion but what battery do?
what if u take battery off the music still come out?

DataDragons wrote on 2024-07-10, 16:02:

sorry for stupid qustion but what battery do?
what if u take battery off the music still come out?

it holds the settings that are useful in a studio environment
ie you might want to use SC-55 for only certain midi channels - the battery will hold that setting
for retro-gaming use the battery is not needed - you will get a battery-low message on startup but other than that everything will work like we want for games

Not all models show a battery low warning. The SC-55 does not; not certain about the mkII or SC-88, but there is a warning on the MU50.

Had a SC-88 pro and got no Low Battery warning think the battery was low cause no settings were saved 😀

Just opened my Mk I and a tiny leak from the battery contained by the plastic housing, as some others have found.

No battery low warning message for me beforehand.

I've left the slot unpopulated, working fine.

Thank you for the warning!

Today I bought a Boss DS-330 for very cheap and opened it up to change the battery, which did not leak over time.

Because it came without the adapter and I wanted to test it I went to the attic and dug up my SC-33 to get its adapter and I heard an unnerving rattling inside this SC-33.
After opening it I found 2 surface mount capacitors going around loose inside the cabinet. They have leaked and came off the board, leaving trace damage of course.
Since I don't have these caps laying around I took some regular ones (47uF 10V, originals were 47uF6V), cleaned the board as good as I could and soldered those in place.

Luckily it still works but I might have to open up all my midi devices to check on this before it's too late?

It's possible that the temperature or humidity of your attic could have accelerated the failure.

yes harsh conditions have a disastrous effect
I hope Salient you also neutralized the capacitor acid with something like vinegar/lemonjuice - cleaning with IPA alone is not enough

keropi wrote on 2024-08-17, 18:52:

yes harsh conditions have a disastrous effect
I hope Salient you also neutralized the capacitor acid with something like vinegar/lemonjuice - cleaning with IPA alone is not enough

Yep, I used vinegar and after some bubbling away I cleaned everything again with IPA before soldering in the new capacitors.

Perfect then 😀 unit saved

Hopefully just an attic problem but a good heads up, thanks.
I'd have so much more space in my house if the attic wasn't such a high/low temp/humidity risk...

These particular capacitors from around mid-90s japanese equipment are all failing, basically a form of capacitor plague. Bazillion video cameras, VHS machines etc. are dead because of them... If they haven't leaked yet, they're going to...
My Roland RAP10 is going to get new capacitors, it already has few that were leaking (all removed now and waiting for new parts). Friend's RAP10 had some actual damage from these capacitors already. Ticking timebombs...

I also have a RAP10 in a bin. I'll have to take a look at it and see if it's having any problems. Thanks for the heads-up.

Does the MT-32 have a battery as well? I never thought about looking until now.

There doesn't appear to be a battery in the MT-32 old or new versions, according to this photo I found.

Kahenraz wrote on 2024-10-01, 18:38:

There doesn't appear to be a battery in the MT-32 old or new versions, according to this photo I found.

The attachment roland_mt-32-version-compare-01-1536x1024.jpg is no longer available

Oh good. Thank you.

not about Roland, but Yamaha.
Tell me, has anyone changed the battery in the Yamaha MU80?
It looks like there is a non-standard battery that is soldered to the pad. Should I be afraid of its leakage? When turning on the device it says Low Battery.

vutt wrote on 2023-11-25, 13:05:

My MU50 finally started to complain about low battery. When I got it 5 years ago it still got decent voltage. So around 25+ years and no leakage - not bad at all. Can't see manufacturer behind spotwelded contact but "Made in Japan" is clearly visible.

Can you tell me what this type of battery is called?

Jccwu wrote on 2025-05-11, 16:52:

not about Roland, but Yamaha.
Tell me, has anyone changed the battery in the Yamaha MU80?
It looks like there is a non-standard battery that is soldered to the pad. Should I be afraid of its leakage? When turning on the device it says Low Battery.

Some years before I had the low battery problem on my Yamaha MU-50. I never opened the Yamaha, I sent it to a Yamaha music store in Athens, Greece and they replaced it with success.