MKII Rotary Encoder Replacement

Well, let's be honest. My life has, for quite some time now, been "getting in the way". Every promise I have made regarding doing repair work has fallen by the wayside. At the empeg meet, I did have the first opportunity in a long while to hand out some spares which has satisfied a few people's needs.

Following the empeg meet I have been working on a backlog of repairs and builds. I promised at the event that I would be beginning on new repair work as soon as possible.

I'm now starting into this work. Spares are the majority of what I can do at the moment: until all repairs that are outstanding are complete, it's not fair on others to accept any more work for a while. I will let you all know.

I have finally managed to pull together all my email records relating to empeg repair and I have been able to start mailing people to catch up on outstanding queries.

So it's slowly getting up to speed: not as fast as I would like, but it is beginning to move.

Wow, I had no idea this board would still be so active. I'll send you an email Rob. Thanks.

My MKlla needs a replacement encoder too! The knob jumps all over the place when trying to change the volume, which can be a bit annoying.

Laura, I have an MKIIa encoder; an unclaimed spare part from the euro meet. If you can get someone to solder it, let me know and I'll get it to you.

Thanks. I'll see who I can come up with who can do the repair.

If anyone wants to distribute some Mk2 (not mk2a) encoders in the US (easier than having to send them individually internationally), please tell me and I'll send them 100 or so. I have loads of the things here - and no mk2a ones that I can find

Hugo

We still have a bunch.

Stu

He's back! Hi there Stu, glad to hear you're OK.

Oh Yeah!! We were thinking of the worst.
Stu, hope you're fine and you have not lost someone or too much material things.
Again, good luck for all there from Germany.

Thanks guys! Material loss was minimal.

Stu

So any status on getting some of these stateside? I would like to buy a couple for spares. Emailed Rob, but I assume it's sitting in his long queue.

Also any possibility of a firmware fix? I assume it's software debounce and could probably be modified to compensate for scratchy encoders.

They've already modified the debounce code a couple of times in the player software. But even if they did, the player software would be one of the alphas, which may or may not be what you want to run. And who knows when if ever we'd see it. And who knows if it would even fix your specific problem.

Oh, super cool.

I emailed him too, no response.. i'm in desperate need, sometimes the rotary encoder will all of a sudden *CRANK* my volume. freaks me out.. and the people next to me

clarification: i need an MK2a encoder.. not MK2

Yeah, I hate that. Classic symptom of a scratchy encoder.

In addition to improved debounce, I'd love to see the software put a speed-limit on volume increases, so that sort of thing doesn't ever happen no matter how hard you crank the knob, deliberately or otherwise. You could have the speed limit on the upwards direction, but not the downwards direction, just in case you needed to turn the volume "right down" as someone here once said...

I found the BOM and the exact pn for the mk2a encoder. It's an Alps EC11E-15244.

Mouser.com sell this for $5.61, one-off (and they're even in stock!). Changing this part is easier than doing the Mk2 encoder because it's just plain through hole.

Hugo
ps: Now I've actually found the BOM, if anyone else has any exact pn requirements, let me know

Some encoders on their way to robricc



Hugo

Anyone in the US that can install these right now? Mine has been flaky for a long time, but ive just dealt with it.

Mine's being done at Eutronix right now.

Mk2 encoders have arrived!

Oh boy, bring me one next month please.

Doh, should have waited and had you send me one with the mobo (which I got today... thanks a TON man, i just need to find some RAM for it and i'm back in MAMEy business!). Could you send me an encoder? I got a replacement for my MkIIa, which was in a bad spot, a while ago but not for the MkII. Thanks Rob!

Send me a private message with your shipping address.

Do you know if a bad encoder can also cause the empeg to be starting itself? Mine is doing that quite frequently lately, I now either put it in pause before turning off or pull it out of the sled.

Hm. Does turning the volume knob wake the player, or is that one of the functions that deliberately does NOT wake the player, precisely because it could cause that behavior?

There are some FAQ entries, near the end of the Troubleshooting section, about poltergeist players, that aren't related to the encoder. Have a look at those when you have a minute and see if they apply to your case.

Rob thank you so much, I got them last week or so. Been busy with work and hurricanes and forgot to thank you. Appreciate your personal attention in getting me a couple encoders! Just need to find the time to do the swap now, really appreciated, thanks.

Just wanted to let the group know that I ordered some encoders from Mouser and replaced them in my two MkIIa players today. The part number from Mouser was 688-EC11E15244B2 and the Alps part number was EC11E15244B2. They were $5.61 each plus shipping. The link to the Mouser webpage is below:

http://www.mouser.com/index.cfm?&han...=0&crc=true

Everything went okay with my two replacements, although I'm not sure if I ordered the correct part. I didn't notice this until after the first installation when I was reassembling. I decided to go ahead and do both players, so the issue is not a large one...I just thought I'd report back to the group in case someone else is interested.

The knob didn't want to go on all the way like I thought it should. When I put the old and new encoders side by side, I saw that the new part has a longer shaft (it's approximately 0.25 inches longer).

Because of this, the knob sticks up a little bit more than on the original encoder, and there is a little bit of a gap between the bottom of the knob and the fascia. The new parts work just fine electrically, the volume is now smooth again in both of my units and the pushbutton switch functions okay as well.

I've looked at the Mouser website and tried to see if I ordered the wrong part number, maybe there is one listed that is shorter, etc.? But I didn't see anything that is obviously shorter in their catalog or data sheet...

So be forewarned, Mouser has a replacement that works, but if you're a stickler about the original look of the knob, this isn't an exact replacement.



Does anyone know if the replacement colored knobs that come with the colored button sets are exactly the same size as the original or by some chance would they be a little thicker?

Thanks, Randy

Ooo. Err. I could have sworn that was the right part number, though it's just possible that it got confused with the one on the Rio Receiver, which *does* look a bit like the longer one. Sorry.

Hmmm....

Well, at least it's electrically correct, I suppose.

Hugo

Just cut/file down the shaft some, and the knob should go on like with a stock one.
Best done *before* installation, though.

Cheers

It looks like the lower housing is significantly longer, not just the shaft. While it'll be better that way, I doubt it'd be the same as before.

It really hasn't been a problem for me at all. You only really notice the small gap between the knob and the fascia when looking at it from the side, which I don't do much in real life usage of the player.

If a person had never seen the front of the player before, I don't think they'd notice that the knob is sticking up a tiny bit.

It's worth it just to get the better performance from the new encoders and the smooooth action when spinning the knob....

By the way, I noticed that the Mouser page data sheet for the encoder lists the operating life at 15,000 cycles. Does anyone know how that translates to real use? Does every flip of the volume knob up or down count as 1 cycle?

Thanks, Randy

There is actually another option from Mouser as well. This one is a direct replacement with an overall shaft length the same as the OEM Alps version. It also has a .5mm pushbutton travel instead of 1.5mm like the Alps encoders Mouser stocks. The only downside is that it's body is a little thicker which brings the fill nipple of the VFD closer to the encoder. It's rated at 20,000 rotations. I believe we installed one in Robitic's player, so maybe he can comment on how it compares as far as feel and appearance. That is about the only other option other than having Mouser order about $4000 worth of the exact encoder the Empeg came with.

Stu

Side-by-side comparison between my two MkIIa units yields no difference IMO in feel- rotationally. Push-button-wise, the new encoder is slightly easier to depress (not a bad thing).
The knob sits about 1mm further out of the fascia on the new encoder, though this is also not a bad thing (no gap at the rear and the knob is easier to lay a finger on).

/chiming in
//kudos to Stu! Great work!

I bought this part as I screwed up my encoder when installing the light kit (damn super glue!). I put it on as is but marked the length of the other shaft onto the new shaft with a sharpie. It stuck out entirely too far for my tastes - about 1/4"! I took a dremel cut off wheel and cut it shorter and it looks much better to me. Mind you, I just did the install and cut within the last 2 hours...