Fr4x Debacle

[Tom]

So, I stepped on the wire of my Fr4x and my power cord popped out, possibly while the accordion was shutting down. This resulted in weird sounds in the treble and bass, and a loud growl sound from the orchestra. I tried recalibrating which did not help. I had to do a factory reset which did work, but then I had to reload the Dale Mathis program, and have yet to reload other sets I have. Moral of story: be careful putting away your Fr4x.

 

[Pipemajor]

So, I stepped on the wire of my Fr4x and my power cord popped out, possibly while the accordion was shutting down. This resulted in weird sounds in the treble and bass, and a loud growl sound from the orchestra. I tried recalibrating which did not help. I had to do a factory reset which did work, but then I had to reload the Dale Mathis program, and have yet to reload other sets I have. Moral of story: be careful putting away your Fr4x.

Or use batteries!!

 

[Giovanni]

So, I stepped on the wire of my Fr4x and my power cord popped out, possibly while the accordion was shutting down. This resulted in weird sounds in the treble and bass, and a loud growl sound from the orchestra. I tried recalibrating which did not help. I had to do a factory reset which did work, but then I had to reload the Dale Mathis program, and have yet to reload other sets I have. Moral of story: be careful putting away your Fr4x.

So, I stepped on the wire of my Fr4x and my power cord popped out, possibly while the accordion was shutting down. This resulted in weird sounds in the treble and bass, and a loud growl sound from the orchestra. I tried recalibrating which did not help. I had to do a factory reset which did work, but then I had to reload the Dale Mathis program, and have yet to reload other sets I have. Moral of story: be careful putting away your Fr4x.

Sorry to read that Tom !! it reminds me of back in the 1980' plus ...I had the Farfisa Synthaccordion playing at a social club gig . During the interval A guy came up he said he played the Accordion and would love to play a couple of tunes on my Synthaccordion which was brand new !
he played as me sitting down, he got excited with the sound produced and jumped up quickly asking the audience to join in singing ....
Unfortunately the special firing connecter cable was under his shoe !............yep broke the firing cable from the connector block. and socket .
I was gutted he just walked way ..................and out of the club !! with out a word of apology ..ie can i pay for the damage etc .
I finshed the gig with just playing the accordion ............. "the trouper that I am "
Lucky for me Farfisa Uk carried spare cables .....................I bought 2 cables .
It taught me a lesson .....................do not let anyone else especially who you do not know play your instrument !!!
Some lessons in Life are learn't the hard way ..........................I think i still have the scares to prove it !!

 

[Tom]

Sorry to read that Tom !! it reminds me of back in the 1980' plus ...I had the Farfisa Synthaccordion playing at a social club gig . During the interval A guy came up he said he played the Accordion and would love to play a couple of tunes on my Synthaccordion which was brand new !
he played as me sitting down, he got excited with the sound produced and jumped up quickly asking the audience to join in singing ....
Unfortunately the special firing connecter cable was under his shoe !............yep broke the firing cable from the connector block. and socket .
I was gutted he just walked way ..................and out of the club !! with out a word of apology ..ie can i pay for the damage etc .
I finshed the gig with just playing the accordion ............. "the trouper that I am "
Lucky for me Farfisa Uk carried spare cables .....................I bought 2 cables .
It taught me a lesson .....................do not let anyone else especially who you do not know play your instrument !!!

Cool story, thanks Giovanni! Always cool to hear of your adventures. When I would play for disabled youth, I would be sure to bring a beater accordion so they could try it out. But I haven’t done that since Covid….

 

[John M]

So, I stepped on the wire of my Fr4x and my power cord popped out, possibly while the accordion was shutting down. This resulted in weird sounds in the treble and bass, and a loud growl sound from the orchestra. I tried recalibrating which did not help. I had to do a factory reset which did work, but then I had to reload the Dale Mathis program, and have yet to reload other sets I have. Moral of story: be careful putting away your Fr4x.

Having batteries in is a good idea. They act like a UPS, supplying continuous power to the electronics in case of a power outage, or intermittent connection through the contacts of the power cord.
Electronics do not like any type of transients from the power supply.

 

[Ventura]

having batteries in as a UPS type backup would
possibly work when the power cable suddenly
is pulled out, as in this instance.. however, the amount of
"bounce" in the amperage between when the power
goes off and the switch resets to draw power
from the batteries may or may not be enough to
blow the software's mind

however, if the power cable went dead because it
got pulled from the 110 source OR with a dual cable
type power supply, sometimes the wire can also be pulled
out or loosened at a connector into the mid-wire brick

in that case, batteries will make no difference as the
physical switch hidden inside the power jack will keep
the battery pack isolated..

 

[JerryPH]

Sorry to hear about it Tom, but it is a good idea to keep batteries in it, and just maintain/swap them after charging on a regular basis.

During the interval A guy came up he said he played the Accordion and would love to play a couple of tunes on my Synthaccordion which was brand new !
yep broke the firing cable from the connector block. and socket .
I was gutted he just walked way ..................and out of the club !! with out a word of apology
It taught me a lesson .....................do not let anyone else especially who you do not know play your instrument !!!

It may sound stupid, but NO ONE plays any of my accordions unless I ask them they want to try. If I ask, it is because you have earned my respect and confidence enough that I trust you, and *I* put it on and take it off you as you stay seated.

If someone just out and out asks me, I politely refuse, I have done so many times in the past, whether I know then, or not. I've seen people in clubs come in, ask to play and do damage and more often than not, they never offer to fix what they broke and that falls to the owner to fix.

This never happened to me on the accordion, but did happen to me as a wedding photographer... I let "a friend" use a lens, and when he returned it, it no longer focused. Over $1200 to fix a $3000 lens was NOT fun for me. Never again.

 

[Tom]

Thanks for the tips and advice guys! A loose wire or connection was my worst fear. Fortunately it didn’t happen (that I know of) and I won’t have to open up the accordion. Keeping batteries in does seem like a good idea, and I guess they will discharge slow since I will usually use the cord. And keep my feet away….

 

[Ventura]

some of us feel the power socket built into the accordion
is what needs to be protected from stress

so actually, if you would like a bit of insurance against the power wire
pulling out, i can send you a (sort of) extension cord.. i keep
a lot of those power connectors male and female with short
wires on them, easy for me to make one up male on one end
female on the other.. basically you put one end of the extension cord
into the FR4x, run the wire under like a button of the backpad
or even under a bellows strap THEN you plug your power supply
connector into the female of the "extension"

then, if you happen to step on the cable, it will pull against the
button snap of the backpad or bellows strap, saving the actual
power connector built into the 4x from any stress at all. also the
extension gives you a tiny bit of play that can take a small tug
without being pulled out

 

[Pbraido]

Thanks for the tips and advice guys! A loose wire or connection was my worst fear. Fortunately it didn’t happen (that I know of) and I won’t have to open up the accordion. Keeping batteries in does seem like a good idea, and I guess they will discharge slow since I will usually use the cord. And keep my feet away….

Tom place a strain relief connection on your power cord that plugs into the accordion. I made one up for my 8X so if I ever step on the cord while using ac power it will pull on the hook up I made and never pull on the plug that goes into the accordion. When I get home I’ll post a photo showing how I did that

 

[JerryPH]

Yup, especially of they are eNeloops, that is exactly what they are made for, a slow discharge when not in use compared to other types of batteries.

 

[Tom]

Tom place a strain relief connection on your power cord that plugs into the accordion. I made one up for my 8X so if I ever step on the cord while using ac power it will pull on the hook up I made and never pull on the plug that goes into the accordion. When I get home I’ll post a photo showing how I did that

Good idea, thanks!

 

[Tom]

Yup, especially of they are eNeloops, that is exactly what they are made for, a slow discharge when not in use compared to other types of batteries.

Thanks Jerry!

 

[Pbraido]

Good idea, thanks!

 

[Pbraido]

I’m pulling very tight on the power cord and the carabeaner is tight but the cord to the accordion input is loose so no chance of damaging anything there

 

[Giovanni]

Sorry to hear about it Tom, but it is a good idea to keep batteries in it, and just maintain/swap them after charging on a regular basis.


It may sound stupid, but NO ONE plays any of my accordions unless I ask them they want to try. If I ask, it is because you have earned my respect and confidence enough that I trust you, and *I* put it on and take it off you as you stay seated.

If someone just out and out asks me, I politely refuse, I have done so many times in the past, whether I know then, or not. I've seen people in clubs come in, ask to play and do damage and more often than not, they never offer to fix what they broke and that falls to the owner to fix.

This never happened to me on the accordion, but did happen to me as a wedding photographer... I let "a friend" use a lens, and when he returned it, it no longer focused. Over $1200 to fix a $3000 lens was NOT fun for me. Never again.

Thanks for the advice Jerry , I'm much older and much wiser now !!
A lesson leant the hard way.....

 

[Tom]

I’m pulling very tight on the power cord and the carabeaner is tight but the cord to the accordion input is loose so no chance of damaging anything there

Good looking solution, thanks!

 

[JerryPH]

Thanks for the advice Jerry , I'm much older and much wiser now !!
A lesson leant the hard way.....

A lesson that I learned the hard way too.

 

[jozz]

ouch!
I have the cord's ferrite core as a stop running under the bellows strap - as I can be quite clumsy as well

 

[Tom]

I’m pulling very tight on the power cord and the carabeaner is tight but the cord to the accordion input is loose so no chance of damaging anything there

Based on your advice, I went with a slightly more basic idea. Tie the cord around the strap connector. If (when) I step on it, the cord will stay attached. Since I generally only play the fr4 in my studio, not a problem.