MZ-R30 - Problem recording at low temperatures, maybe?

[BN701]

Hi,

I have a ten year old (at least) MZ-R30 which I've owned from new and never had a problem. I recently started using it to record some drumming sessions, African drums, so there are long sections of very loud continuous noise. Most times the unit works well and I've some great recordings, but on two occasions the unit has stopped recording for no apparent reason after about half an hour. (I don't have time to investigate at the time as I'm playing drums.) I've also noticed when playing back the 'failed' recordings that the device has great difficulty reading data towards the end of the material that was recorded, and the apparent read errors are more frequent and nearly continuous during loud sections.

As I said, I've had this problem on two separate occasions, and both times I actually tried recording two discs and both failed. (So four failures in all.) The only factor I can come up with that's common to the both these occasions is that ambient temperature was low compared to the other six or seven successful occasions. (Indeed, one of them was in an open barn after sunset, so less than ten degrees C).

I have actually tested the low temperature idea already by leaving the device outside at night for an hour and just let it record ambient noise, but with no problem. So, the apparent bad combination seems to be handling high volumes when ambient temperature is low.

Is this perhaps a power problem? Does the device just run out of juice when it has to process and write more (and more complex) data during loud passages? I'm still using the original rechargeable battery and I still get three or four hours recording time from a single charge (at normal room temperature). Should I consider connecting the external battery pack and use it in parallel with the rechargeable? (As you've probably guessed, using mains power isn't an option.)

Or is there something else that might be going wrong?

Any suggestions will be most welcome.

Thanks,

BN

[Strungup]

Yes connect the Batt pack , but also ....... 10 years is about Max life expectancy on an r30 , my R50 died at the 10 year mark as well

The Original Battery could stand to be replaced , that is a lot of time on a rechargeable .

This is just another testament of how good the early MD's were , iPod history isnt that long , and here are sooooo many failures .

MD , Made in Japan , ........... and Still working . .......... All the new Chinese made , and Malaysia made MD's have issues right out of the box , quirky controls , dodgy power issues . etc .

I have a very nice large UDU drum , and handmade Dumbek , as well as a plethora of other percussion stuff .

where are you located ?

[raintheory]

If you are experiencing problems towards the end of discs, the ribbon cable that connects the record/overwrite head could be wearing out (happens pretty often to units over time).

Be cautious until you have this figured out. Bad ribbon cables have been known to randomly corrupt TOCs making the discs effectively blank.

[BN701]

Thanks for all the feedback. Great response. I'll answer a everyone's points in one go if I may ...

I'll certainly have a go at replacing the Li-Ion battery and running with the extra battery pack, if only because those are the simplest things to try. Though the big problem here is reproducing the failure under controlled conditions so that I know when/if it's cured. Otherwise it'll take several more weeks of turning up to sessions and recording under different conditions to convince myself the problem has gone away, especially as we're getting into summer and the evenings are warming up.

I'm not too worried about the ribbon cable yet, as in all cases the recordings stopped around thirty minutes (+/- ten) in to a freshly erased disc.

Totally agree about the longevity of this stuff. I also have one the first Sony DV Camcorders from around that time and that's still running, too. Though I wasn't so lucky with an early DAT Walkman which started showing problems are just a couple of years and has now completely died.

Finally, I'm in the UK, South Bucks area. I've been getting in to drumming since the start of the year, hence the need to record and practise ...

Thanks again,

BN

[THIS SUCKS]

it sounds to me like youtr laser is going bad. it is harder to read and write as you approach the end of the disk the laser starts on the inside and works towards the outside. that may be why it failes about after 30 mins. try the external battery pack just to make sure thats not it.

[raintheory]

There may be a way to increase the laser power (if that is the issue) in service mode... Theoretically it may be possible, however I have no idea how to do so.

Just saying, I've read of doing it before... Can't remember what unit, but I'm sure it's a possibility with all of them.

We still have a fully functional MZ-1 (from 1993!), sadly I have seen many of units made since then develop problems. Unfortunately they don't make this stuff like they used to I guess.

P.S. I have an Ashiko, we could start a percussion ensemble!

Edited May 24, 2008 by raintheory

[BN701]

Thanks for the extra comments. Two good recordings last night using the extra battery pack, but it was also quite warm indoors where we played so I'm not reaching any conclusions just yet. As I said, I won't really know if the problem is cured until I record outdoors again or the nights turn cold. (I'd have thought this would rule out a dodgy ribbon cable though.) Anyway, it's good to know this community exists ...

BN