My docking connector came loose today...

I was getting out of my car after a long day of work today and my Empeg didn't want to come loose. I couldn't figure out what it was, and I had no recourse except to gently but firmly pull it out... It turns out the car connector (the one attached to the Empeg) had come loose. Both screws had fallen off. I actually managed to find one in my passenger seat, but the other had probably been hanging on by a thread and is now somewhere in my dash.

Anyway, I reattached it with the other screw and luckily I didn't yank any wires loose while pulling it out of the dash (I don't know what was holding the wires while I was pulling it out of the dash, but it sure wasn't the connector.)

My questions are:
1. Is it safe to just have one screw attached? I reattached it and tried my Empeg out to make sure it was okay, and the connector seemed to stay on okay, even though just one screw was holding it.
2. I have my trusty old Mk2 in my closet. Are the screws the exact same part between the Mk2 and Mk2a? If so I'll take one off of my Mk2.
3. Has this happened to anyone else? Is it a pretty rare occurrence? I know the docking connector is supposed to be generally loose, but I assumed the screws themselves were mounted tightly. I don't think I use that much force when inserting/removing my Empeg, so I'm wondering why this might have happened.

Thanks. I'll be emailing David now to ask for some replacement screws.

Has this happened to anyone else?

Yes. Reported here on the BBS enough times for me to go out and edit the FAQ entry on the subject.

Must have missed the previous posts, I hadn't seen this particular problem reported before. I'm just glad I'm not one of the poor folks who had wires actually separate from the motherboard. I spent like five minutes gently working it out of the dash since I knew it was probably only holding on by a crimp or a solder joint or something similarly delicate.

After reading about this in the other post, I checked my connector the next time I removed the unit from the sled and both of my screws were seriously loose. Like I could run them all the way back in with my fingers.

This REALLY needs to be posted where everyone can see it. Maybe in an announcement or something because it's a widespread problem so it seems. Luckily both of my screws were still attatched but that seems to be rare to the people this happens to.

ya both on both of the units i own they are both a tad bit loose, i figured they came like that, so that when putting it into the sled it has a little bit of leway and slides in easier.

The docking connector is supposed to wobble slightly, but the screws should be tight. The screws are special, in that they don't have a thread where they pass through the docking connector - they are smooth. They're only threaded where they screw into the empeg body.

Presumably there's some kind of end stop in the empeg that means you can screw them all the way in without causing the docking connector to stop moving - mine are solidly in - couldn't budge them tighter at all - while the docking connector still has a reasonable amount of play in it.

I did a pretty little picture to try and help demonstrate - don't know how it'll come out... (see below)

As you can see, the screw is all the way into the empeg body, but the connector still has leeway to move back/forward/up/down. Note that this diagram isn't really any particular view or orientation of the empeg - it's just to show the principle.

...--------

          | |--|

  EMPEG   | |  | < DOCKING CONNECTOR

          | |  |

     |----- |  | ##

     |/////######## < SCREW

     |/////######## < # = SMOOTH

     |----- |  | ## < / = THREADED

          | |  |

          . .  .

          . .  .

          . .  .

(Edited to make ascii better)

Cheers,

A.

Rad, that ASCII drawing takes me back to my 2400 baud BBS days.

Yeah I understand the principle of the screws being tight but the connector being loose, but the screws weren't tight, unfortunately. I guess it happened slowly over the course of a long time, and I'm sure at some point I lost one of them and it was just hanging on by the other screw, which also came out yesterday. I guess I'll be periodically checking the screws and tightening them when necessary from now on... I think I really dodged a bullet when I managed to pull the Empeg out without breaking any of the wires/solder joints.

Yeah, definately, I'm gonna be checking mine on a pretty regular basis as well. You seem to have been quite lucky.

Cheers,

A.

A bit of red Loctite (available at auto parts chain stores) on the threads would prevent this from happening again.

- Chris