Life with my new empeg has not gotten off to a very good start. First, two wires came out of the harness in the docking sled after I pulled on them pretty lightly as I was moving wires around behind my dash. The empeg was not in the sled when this happened. But I didn't know that it happened because I couldn't see back there. I only knew something was wrong when I put them empeg back in the sled and it wouldn't power up. Then I pulled the sled out and saw what had happened. The constant power and ignition sensor wires had both come out.

After much disappointment and cursing, I took the empeg back inside and figured I'd play with it hooked up to my computer. Well now it won't even power up from the AC adapter!

*sigh* I guess I'll be sending it back.

-Dylan

I mentioned elsewhere that new owners should group the wires together and zip tie them to the back of the cage to relieve the wire stress on the connector.

I also mentioned empeg should be doing this in manufacturing. They may or may not have plans for it or something like it.

Alex Lear

I feel your pain. I had to ship my player back due to screen malfunction (it was too damn dark), but at least I got some wonderful play time out of it.

But I am, never the less, still impressed with the service of this company. I packaged mine up (pretty nicely I might add - hope it made it through the process though) and gave it to the nice FedEx man who waited patiently at the door whilst I filled out my form. That was Tuesday evening. They had it repaired and tested today (Thursday), and they'll ship it back tomorrow (Friday). Although I'm not expecting it till next week.

And this whole process costs them a pretty penny as well, so believe me, I'm sure they don't like it when this happens either. It's either going to cost them $100 or $200 to ship the player overnight to and from England and Virginia.

But heck, I had loaded the new Radiohead album on there before I packaged it up, so if there were any fans in the empeg office, feel free to take a listen.

Thank you empeg!

DiGNAN

I couldn't help but wonder, what do you mean when you say : won't boot up?

Browsing through the board and having played with the empeg myself for a whole week solid now (what do you mean I have a stack of work a mile high on my desk?) I must say that it gave a pretty solid impression. Mind you I am STILL waiting for my new car so I haven't dealt with the sled much yet which to me too seems it could benefit of the aforementioned tie-rib. The unit itself though has been traveling with me for a week now and that does not seem to have bothered it one bit (it currently has a place in my laptop bag until I get my empeg carry case which dumb little ole me in my excitement forgot to order together with the empeg).

Is it completely without signs of activity, or does it boot up only a little bit? If it is the latter there is one thing that might explain it. A loose HDD cable. This is not really a big deal to remedie but it is, considering the tight fit inside the empeg unit, not for the faint of heart. At the very least you would have to talk to the people at empeg (through this board or even better through the appropriate email channels) about getting permission to check that cable.

I guess what I am asking is this, could you be a little more specific on what it does/doesn't do?

P.S. The loose cables on the sled are reasonable easy fixed for a DIY-type person. But it does seem to be a something which happens one in a while. On my sled things looked okay when I checked reports of this made on the board. I do feel the cables that are on there do not look like they are made for a fair share of strain which sometimes happens during an install in a car. But like it was said, nothing a tie rib will not fix. The guy who came up with tie-ribs deserves an award by the way, is there any workplace that does NOT have a use for them ?

Cheers,
Hans


Mk2 - Blue - 080000431

The strain relief (which was present on the Mk.1) was dropped through advice from installers and customer feedback. The wires in the harness are not supposed to come out, where they have done so it is due to a manufacturing error. We have had strong words with the contractor concerned - they are now soldering the crimps.

Rob

Hmm, I see the logic in it.

Now I just spent half an hour examining the sled I got and well the cables all look to be securely fitted. Of course they are 'cables' so it all depends on what you call 'fair strain'. One thing I will be replacing is the labels though, the paper ones on mine will probably not make it to the installer. See my suggestion on the BBS for that.

Cheers,
Hans


Mk2 - Blue - 080000431

If the unit doesn't power up anymore, it's possible that the loose wires managed to do something nasty (short against something else important in the loom, possibly).

I'm sure we can fix it very quickly. Rob will be able to organise collection and we'll get a new loom sorted out too; unfortunately we don't have any of the new soldered ones (they've not been delivered yet) so be gentle with the harness :)

Hugo

I couldn't help but wonder, what do you mean when you say : won't boot up?

It won't power up at all. If there is something I can check myself inside of the unit I'd be happy to do so under instructions from empeg.

-Dylan

I'm sure we can fix it very quickly. Rob will be able to organise collection and we'll get a new loom sorted out too; unfortunately we don't have any of the new soldered ones (they've not been delivered yet) so be gentle with the harness :)

I sent an email last night to [email protected] regarding my problems. Since you and Rob have had time to respond here on the BBS can you please respond to my email so that arrangements can be made. I'd like to get it shipped out today so I can get as fast of a turnaround as possible. I think it's understandable that I'm disappointed and eager to get a working unit. Thanks.

-Dylan

We have a support guy who works evenings and takes care of most US support and service issues, to better accommodate the time zones.

I've sent you an email now anyway.

Rob

The cable functions are printed onto the actual wires of the ISO cable that we supply. They are also printed in the user guide.

Rob

We have a support guy who works evenings and takes care of most US support and service issues, to better accommodate the time zones.

I've sent you an email now anyway.

I got the email. Thank you. My concern was that you guys might cut out early on Fridays for the pub (see, I've got that British lingo down)

-Dylan

My concern was that you guys might cut out early on Fridays for the pub

Hey, that's an idea!

Peter

POETS day
Piss Off Early Tomorrows Saturday