OP-1 Woes (Last Ditch Before RMA)

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EDIT EDIT: Replacing the connector board fixed my issue.

ifixit.com/Guide/Teenage+Engineering+OP-1+Connector+Board+Replacement/19125
https://www.ifixit.com/Store/Parts/OP-1-Connector-Board/IF237-000

EDIT: After some very helpful tips from everyone, I've ordered a new connector board from iFixit and will try a self-repair before sending it in for RMA. Thank you all so much for the help, it's been awesome.

Hey all,

I have an RMA open with TE & am ready to send in my OP-1 Monday for repair, but I thought I would try one last ditch effort for advice before doing so.

Charging is recently erratic & the device no longer seems to properly hold a charge. The battery indicator when on (Help button) shows only 3 lit LEDs when the device is at "full charge". "Full charge" means that the device is plugged into a dependable power source & has completed the "charging animation". When attempting to charge the device I have to try plugging & unplugging, turning the device on & off, multiple times in different ways to get it to start charging, if it does at all.

Gone through the process of completely draining the battery twice in hopes of getting the battery & battery indicator to act normally again. No luck.
Furthermore, it's done some very strange things when plugged in & off. It's turned itself on, & in one case crashed after it turned itself on.

See images below. This was with the device plugged into USB power & turned *off* (see position of power switch in full shot of OP-1).
I've followed every step in the list of things TE suggested & it's still behaving erratically.

I'm also not able to get the thing to stick to a set of malfunctions. Before it wouldn't charge at all & was draining overnight when off. Now it seems to be charging, but the battery indicator is still messed up.

Honestly at a loss here. Never had any issues like this before, not even with the beta. I bought my OP-1 in 2012, new, from TE, & it's been the most dependable piece of kit I've ever owned. I love it, & don't want to part with it, even for repair. Makes me sad.

Image of crash when OP-1 turned itself on:

http://imgur.com/yPeT1D5

Image of OP-1 having turned itself on (power switch is in off position):

http://imgur.com/8KIXkW0

Also, sorry for the odd formatting text in the beginning. Not sure what's going on there.

Sounds bad man :frowning: Seems like the battery might be gone. When you took the picture with the power switch off an the OP-1 running was it plugged into a charger or into a USB host device (e.g. Computer)?

Sounds bad man :( Seems like the battery might be gone. When you took the picture with the power switch off an the OP-1 running was it plugged into a charger or into a USB host device (e.g. Computer)?

It’s plugged into a wall usb charger, a dependable one. Good question, though, that might have explained it if it was somehow being woken up by the computer.


As I was typing out this post I had the OP-1 charging after my 2nd attempt at completely draining the battery. It was actually charging, and when it stopped and I turned it on to check the battery, it actually shows full charge, which it hasn’t done for weeks. I’m letting it sit overnight and will see how it looks in the morning. I’m cautiously optimistic, but still very confused.

my battery indicator is always inaccurate. usually spends the most hours stuck at one led.


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Charging is recently erratic & the device no longer seems to properly hold a charge. The battery indicator when on (Help button) shows only 3 lit LEDs when the device is at "full charge". "Full charge" means that the device is plugged into a dependable power source & has completed the "charging animation". When attempting to charge the device I have to try plugging & unplugging, turning the device on & off, multiple times in different ways to get it to start charging, if it does at all.

Gone through the process of completely draining the battery twice in hopes of getting the battery & battery indicator to act normally again. No luck.
Furthermore, it's done some very strange things when plugged in & off. It's turned itself on, & in one case crashed after it turned itself on.

See images below. This was with the device plugged into USB power & turned *off* (see position of power switch in full shot of OP-1).
I've followed every step in the list of things TE suggested & it's still behaving erratically.

I'm also not able to get the thing to stick to a set of malfunctions. Before it wouldn't charge at all & was draining overnight when off. Now it seems to be charging, but the battery indicator is still messed up.

Hi, @jjbbllkk
The same thing happened to me.

Furthermore, when I use op-1 for a while, the knob stops responding.(It usually happens after returning from disk mode.)

Is it possible that your power switch is faulty and doesn’t keep your OP-1 reliably switched OFF?

CB

^ cloudburst might be onto something. i’ve had to clean my switch w/ air or deoxit a few times. it gets pretty dirty for some reason esp if you’re using your op1 a lot.


could be worth a try cleaning it if u haven’t already tried that
^ cloudburst might be onto something. i've had to clean my switch w/ air or deoxit a few times. it gets pretty dirty for some reason esp if you're using your op1 a lot.

could be worth a try cleaning it if u haven't already tried that

I agree, @cloudburst might have something there! How did you clean yours, if you don’t mind me asking? Did you shoot a little Deoxit in there from outisde the device and jiggle the power switch? What was your process?

Is there a reliable way to check how much charge the battery has?

Is there a reliable way to check how much charge the battery has?

Reliable? Not that I know of. But if you push the “Help” button when the OP-1 is on the LED strip near the USB connector will fill up, showing you how much charge the OP-1 thinks the battery still has.


The Help button is the one that looks like a little speech bubble on the left hand side of the device.

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px}
Charging is recently erratic & the device no longer seems to properly hold a charge. The battery indicator when on (Help button) shows only 3 lit LEDs when the device is at "full charge". "Full charge" means that the device is plugged into a dependable power source & has completed the "charging animation". When attempting to charge the device I have to try plugging & unplugging, turning the device on & off, multiple times in different ways to get it to start charging, if it does at all.

Gone through the process of completely draining the battery twice in hopes of getting the battery & battery indicator to act normally again. No luck.
Furthermore, it's done some very strange things when plugged in & off. It's turned itself on, & in one case crashed after it turned itself on.

See images below. This was with the device plugged into USB power & turned *off* (see position of power switch in full shot of OP-1).
I've followed every step in the list of things TE suggested & it's still behaving erratically.

I'm also not able to get the thing to stick to a set of malfunctions. Before it wouldn't charge at all & was draining overnight when off. Now it seems to be charging, but the battery indicator is still messed up.

Hi, @jjbbllkk
The same thing happened to me.

Furthermore, when I use op-1 for a while, the knob stops responding.(It usually happens after returning from disk mode.)

Did you have any luck fixing the issue(s) yourself?

^ cloudburst might be onto something. i've had to clean my switch w/ air or deoxit a few times. it gets pretty dirty for some reason esp if you're using your op1 a lot.

could be worth a try cleaning it if u haven't already tried that

I agree, @cloudburst might have something there! How did you clean yours, if you don’t mind me asking? Did you shoot a little Deoxit in there from outisde the device and jiggle the power switch? What was your process?

yep thats how i did it.


if u really wanted to clean it good, u could pop that small plate off the back (i think ifixit has a good tut for this) and get at the button from the inside on the connector board, but i think opening it up voids your warranty maybe?

i never had to pop it open tho, spraying it from the outside has always done the trick for me.
^ cloudburst might be onto something. i've had to clean my switch w/ air or deoxit a few times. it gets pretty dirty for some reason esp if you're using your op1 a lot.

could be worth a try cleaning it if u haven't already tried that

I agree, @cloudburst might have something there! How did you clean yours, if you don’t mind me asking? Did you shoot a little Deoxit in there from outisde the device and jiggle the power switch? What was your process?

yep thats how i did it.


if u really wanted to clean it good, u could pop that small plate off the back (i think ifixit has a good tut for this) and get at the button from the inside on the connector board, but i think opening it up voids your warranty maybe?

i never had to pop it open tho, spraying it from the outside has always done the trick for me.

Phew, thank god. Did not want to have to open it up. I’ll give it a spray and see if that helps.


Happy to report that after leaving it overnight, it seems to have retained full charge. Stupid mysterious synth.
ya give it a try

heres that link in case u do get to the point of popping off that back plate.
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Teenage+Engineering+OP-1+Connector+Board+Replacement/19125

hope ya get it back 100

p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px}
Charging is recently erratic & the device no longer seems to properly hold a charge. The battery indicator when on (Help button) shows only 3 lit LEDs when the device is at "full charge". "Full charge" means that the device is plugged into a dependable power source & has completed the "charging animation". When attempting to charge the device I have to try plugging & unplugging, turning the device on & off, multiple times in different ways to get it to start charging, if it does at all.

Gone through the process of completely draining the battery twice in hopes of getting the battery & battery indicator to act normally again. No luck.
Furthermore, it's done some very strange things when plugged in & off. It's turned itself on, & in one case crashed after it turned itself on.

See images below. This was with the device plugged into USB power & turned *off* (see position of power switch in full shot of OP-1).
I've followed every step in the list of things TE suggested & it's still behaving erratically.

I'm also not able to get the thing to stick to a set of malfunctions. Before it wouldn't charge at all & was draining overnight when off. Now it seems to be charging, but the battery indicator is still messed up.

Hi, @jjbbllkk
The same thing happened to me.

Furthermore, when I use op-1 for a while, the knob stops responding.(It usually happens after returning from disk mode.)

Did you have any luck fixing the issue(s) yourself?

i have posted about this a few weeks ago…i went through 4 BRAND NEW op1s with the knob problem out of the box…all 4 i returned as faulty…i sent an email with a video attached to TE…their reply was that they had never heard of that problem before and that yes IT WAS FAULTY AND SHOULD BE REPLACED…when i said that the problem was with 4 brand new ones they just didnt reply ti that…they offered to send me one with 20% discount…i replied …yes ok…then they just disappeared and i never got an answer the 4,5 times i sent emails…

ya give it a try

heres that link in case u do get to the point of popping off that back plate.
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Teenage+Engineering+OP-1+Connector+Board+Replacement/19125

hope ya get it back 100

Ordering a Jimmy just in case. That doesn’t look too scary to do. Thanks for the info, really appreciate it.


p.p1 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica} p.p2 {margin: 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px 0.0px; font: 12.0px Helvetica; min-height: 14.0px}
Charging is recently erratic & the device no longer seems to properly hold a charge. The battery indicator when on (Help button) shows only 3 lit LEDs when the device is at "full charge". "Full charge" means that the device is plugged into a dependable power source & has completed the "charging animation". When attempting to charge the device I have to try plugging & unplugging, turning the device on & off, multiple times in different ways to get it to start charging, if it does at all.

Gone through the process of completely draining the battery twice in hopes of getting the battery & battery indicator to act normally again. No luck.
Furthermore, it's done some very strange things when plugged in & off. It's turned itself on, & in one case crashed after it turned itself on.

See images below. This was with the device plugged into USB power & turned *off* (see position of power switch in full shot of OP-1).
I've followed every step in the list of things TE suggested & it's still behaving erratically.

I'm also not able to get the thing to stick to a set of malfunctions. Before it wouldn't charge at all & was draining overnight when off. Now it seems to be charging, but the battery indicator is still messed up.

Hi, @jjbbllkk
The same thing happened to me.

Furthermore, when I use op-1 for a while, the knob stops responding.(It usually happens after returning from disk mode.)

Did you have any luck fixing the issue(s) yourself?

These problems happen when connecting OP-1 to USB. So, when I play OP-1, I disconnect the USB cable.

I think that the problem of the battery indicator is that the life of the battery has run out.

My OP-1 was showing the same behavior. Cleaning the power switch did not help. After exchanging the connector board (ifixit), it finally stays off when the power switch is in off position. Seems to be a weak spot (my op-1 is about 4 yrs old now).

My OP-1 was showing the same behavior. Cleaning the power switch did not help. After exchanging the connector board (ifixit), it finally stays off when the power switch is in off position. Seems to be a weak spot (my op-1 is about 4 yrs old now).

had same problem, same fix - been fine since (1 yr+)

ya give it a try

heres that link in case u do get to the point of popping off that back plate.
https://www.ifixit.com/Guide/Teenage+Engineering+OP-1+Connector+Board+Replacement/19125

hope ya get it back 100
Ordering a Jimmy just in case. That doesn't look too scary to do. Thanks for the info, really appreciate it.
I don't think this voids your warranty either. When I emailed TE about a similar problem they told me to pop off the plate and clean r out