a fix for the no longer available battery gen 1

[plbproductions4]

I found this while trying to find a battery for my gen 1 robot.

 

http://www.wabbitwanch.net/blog/?p=1130

[_______]

http://store.tronical-components.com/battery-pack-gen-i-for-gibson-robot/

[plbproductions4]

Ok, I did it. I decided today was the day to transfer the old battery to new. I bought 2 pair of the batteries, and after cutting the shrink wrap that was around the old batteries being careful not to cut your wire, I de-solder the two wires and the connecting plate on the bottom of the batteries from the assumeingly bad batteries. I re-wrap the new batteries with a short piece of electrical tape and re-soldered. I decided to do a test charge and for about 30-45 seconds I had nothing, no lights (Got extreme nervous at that point). Then it started charging, it took about 30 minutes to get a full charge. It also fix and issue I was having before the batteries completely died. of my guitar cutting out while playing make lowered sound then no sound at all.

 

So the issues I was having before making me suspect the batteries.

 

1. I went to charge my guitar and when I pulled the MCK the blue lights came on and and went into a semi circle rotation, around the control MCK knob and would not stop.

2. Fading in and out guitar. Guitar would stop playing or making sound until I moved switches or pulled the MCK in out several time.

 

cost of material 4 batteries $8.95, shrink tubing $0.75 only because I had to buy a 5 foot second, Home depot, Lowes and most hardware stores carry it. My time to complete the job only because it was the first one, and I took my time, I did 0.45 minutes I am going to do it again to make a YOUTUBE video so be prepared.

 

As a final statement $60 dollars from Tronical (when there in stock) for batteries is crazy.

soldier and solder iron shrink tubing new batteries roughly $6.00 to $10.00 and your back in buisness

 

I will try to do the video this weekend so no one else has to bother paying absorbent prices for a battery. I will be glad to answer any questions you have, But chances are I will be selling my robot to buy a real Gibson, (Gibson this put a sour taste in my mouth) that want depreciate in value.

 

good luck, and hope this works for you also.

[merciful-evans]

My time to complete the job only because it was the first one, and I took my time, I did 0.45 minutes I am going to do it again to make a YOUTUBE video so be prepared.

 

 

 

Great idea. This sort of thing is the best use of YOUTUBE.

post up a link when you're done.

[DPT]

Just a quick update. Dug out my Dark Fire out after over a year and the battery was completely dead. Oh no! After looking around the web and following the link in post #2 here, I purchased the Workaround Kit to Dusk Tiger Battery Compartment from Tronical.. It comes with the cover that has the battery compartment door, a new battery and a new batter charger. Best of all, the battery is an easily replaceable IA-BP80W type so no more "discontinued" product (for now at least). A couple of caveats on the install:

1) They supply instructions that required some modifications to their backplate. You have to cut off some plastic inside the cover. Not too difficult, but required some effort.

2) Hardest part of the install was moving the CPU to the lower left of the cavity. You have to do that to make room for the recess of the battery compartment on the cover. There was one harness that would not reach so I had to track down some longer wire and rebuild the harness.

 

After a brief charge, the charger light switched from red to green. Moment of truth.

 

I once again have a fully working Dark Fire! All auto tuning works great again.

 

In the end, disappointed that Gibson discontinued support for it, but at least Tronical is still supporting.

[DPT]

"...but at least Tronical is still supporting. "

 

Turns out, not so much for getting any support from Tronical. I filled out their online form for support with a few questions and not a single response in almost 2 weeks. They were very prompt in taking my $, but then dropped the ball. Luckily I found some local electronic support.

 

I must now advise that you take this into consideration if you are looking to upgrade with the Tronical product. Sad.

[Searcy]

Thanks for the update. I will think twice before buying any more Tronical products.

[tronical.member]

Sorry guys, we faced some problems with our online forms for support.

All fixed now and inquiries will be responded within 24 hrs latest.

Best, Tronical

[merciful-evans]

from 5 months down to 24 hrs. That's a wonderful improvement!

[Righter]

Ok, I did it. I decided today was the day to transfer the old battery to new. I bought 2 pair of the batteries, and after cutting the shrink wrap that was around the old batteries being careful not to cut your wire, I de-solder the two wires and the connecting plate on the bottom of the batteries from the assumeingly bad batteries. I re-wrap the new batteries with a short piece of electrical tape and re-soldered. I decided to do a test charge and for about 30-45 seconds I had nothing, no lights (Got extreme nervous at that point). Then it started charging, it took about 30 minutes to get a full charge. It also fix and issue I was having before the batteries completely died. of my guitar cutting out while playing make lowered sound then no sound at all.

 

So the issues I was having before making me suspect the batteries.

 

1. I went to charge my guitar and when I pulled the MCK the blue lights came on and and went into a semi circle rotation, around the control MCK knob and would not stop.

2. Fading in and out guitar. Guitar would stop playing or making sound until I moved switches or pulled the MCK in out several time.

 

cost of material 4 batteries $8.95, shrink tubing $0.75 only because I had to buy a 5 foot second, Home depot, Lowes and most hardware stores carry it. My time to complete the job only because it was the first one, and I took my time, I did 0.45 minutes I am going to do it again to make a YOUTUBE video so be prepared.

 

As a final statement $60 dollars from Tronical (when there in stock) for batteries is crazy.

soldier and solder iron shrink tubing new batteries roughly $6.00 to $10.00 and your back in buisness

 

I will try to do the video this weekend so no one else has to bother paying absorbent prices for a battery. I will be glad to answer any questions you have, But chances are I will be selling my robot to buy a real Gibson, (Gibson this put a sour taste in my mouth) that want depreciate in value.

 

good luck, and hope this works for you also.

 

Hi :) Did you ever get around to posting that video? If so, could you please link me up? My Dark Fire is dead :(

[Admin]

Hi :) Did you ever get around to posting that video? If so, could you please link me up? My Dark Fire is dead :(

 

Try this fix for your DF; https://www.tronicaltune.com/original-gibson-spare-parts/gen-ii-battery-workaround-kit-for-gibson-dark-fire-dusk-tiger-back-plate-2x-battery-charger.html

[mlinton74]

I found this battery at my local Jaycar electronics store here in Australia for $24.00.... ....it has a slightly higher mAh, but it works a treat and plugs straight into my Gibson Darkfire. Avoided the need for Tronicals workaround kit which turned out to be useless given the modifications you have to do to get the damn thing to fit.

https://www.jaycar.com.au/spare-li-ion-battery-to-suit-dc-1074-dc-1093/p/DC1075

[Lorenz]

On 8/26/2019 at 9:54 PM, mlinton74 said:

I found this battery at my local Jaycar electronics store here in Australia for $24.00.... ....it has a slightly higher mAh, but it works a treat and plugs straight into my Gibson Darkfire. Avoided the need for Tronicals workaround kit which turned out to be useless given the modifications you have to do to get the damn thing to fit.

https://www.jaycar.com.au/spare-li-ion-battery-to-suit-dc-1074-dc-1093/p/DC1075

 

Hello , did this battery work in the end?  The only doubt I have is that the original Tronical battery has 3 connection cables while the one indicated by you has only two. Does it work the same?

[guitar tpa]

I just tried ordering this batter ($20 including shipping). It says it's for norelco shavers, but it meets the tronical spec. Hoping it will work.

https://www.megabatteries.com/item_details2.asp?id=17870

[Bhu]

I know this is an old topic.  I recently had to upgrade the battery on my dark fore 1st gen. I used the tropical one that comes with the back plate attached to the new battery housing. The easiest mod was to snap the back plate off the battery housing of the replacement and just add the new battery with housing where the old battery used to sit inside using the original back plate. Problem solved. 👍

[fullmetalwill]

I was wondering if anyone can tell me if the GEN II Battery replacement kit will work with the first run Darkfire?  I was thinking of swapping out the batteries but I think there may be an issue with the charger as it makes a weird buzzing what I plug the guitar cable in?

[Fangio]

Hello to the Gibson community!
I have a quick question: My DF's battery is dead, that is how I came to read this post. I plan to sell it, so I prefer a clean upgrade. I tried to contact Tronical and could not get an answer. The chat on their site does not respond. I had two contacts by e-mail from a previous ticket, but both seem to no longer exist.
Simple question: do I need the external charger for the new battery? It is sold separately, it is quite expensive, so I wanted to check before buying.
Thanks !   

[JohnLL]

It appears that the Gen I battery pack discussed here can be easily replaced by buying 2 rechargeable batteries and hooking up 2 wires. The next gen battery is a black rectangular sealed case with 3 wires coming out of it (allowing for recharging on the fly).  The Tronical workaround for this is a battery that has 2 wires and will not work with the Gibson charger.  So, the battery has to be charged externally with a separate charger.  Not ideal. Has anyone found a solution that will allow for use of the Gibson charger so you can charge as you play?

[DougFarmer]

I know this is an older thread, but for those of us who have AND USE their DF, going forward with a workaround is critical because ALL batteries eventually fail. Tronical has either gone out of business or no longer responds to any type of contact. Replacing the 7.4v battery is easy and there are quite a few out there for very little money. I found one on focuscamera.com for five bucks w/free shipping that even includes a charger... I ordered 2.

I'm researching modifying one half of one of the 2-piece chargers to fit in the back cavity. Once I'm positive everything will work, I'm going to disassemble my old Tronical battery and find out how/why the light-brown, third wire works. The aim being to have the replacement battery work & charge in the guitar just like the old one. I'll come back and report my experience... wish me luck. 👍

[DougFarmer]

I've learned a bit more. The OEM battery has a circuit board (see pix) inside the top who's function I've not yet determined... several of the component's tops are potted so I can't see any part numbers. The PCB's function could be a balancer for the LiPo batteries, which is not uncommon. I can see what appears to be two cylindrical objects below the PCB that I assume are 3.7v batteries in series. If indeed the PCB is a balancer, the opposite ends should also be connected to the PCB.  However, since the OEM Charger/Splitter outputs 12 volts, this circuit board may also serve some purpose in modifying/regulating/reducing that voltage to something more useful for recharging the 7.4v battery. (like 8.2v?)

Now I see why Tronical's solution for the Dark Fire was the 2 wire "GEN II Battery Workaround Kit". I've decided to forgo trying to replicate the OEM battery's charge-while-playing functionality, and instead will be installing the Focus battery with a cut-down charger base as holder and a switched 3.5mm plug mounted in the cover to charge the battery offline. Since I have two batteries, I'm also thinking about replacing the wood screws holding the control cavity cover with small M3 thumbscrews into brass knife-threaded hardwood inserts so if need be, I can quickly remove the cover and swap out the batteries. Hopefully everything will work out well... I'll come back to report on my progress. (just in case anyone is interested;)

[Ceptorman]

Nice update Doug....

[DougFarmer]

Note: I don't like to modify OEM parts so I ordered a cheap, opaque-black replacement cover to make my prototype.

I tried to upload some photos but received a "server error" that I couldn't upload more than 146Kb, even though my photos are smaller than that. So here's the procedure I used to convert my Dark Fire to use a different battery.

First, the LPE8 charger tray needs to be trimmed in order to fit in the available space. Then wire the tray to the 3.5mm jack with the normaled switch. Wire the other side of the switch to the CPU using a "ZH 1.5/3P" connector. (aliexpress) Because the ZH 1.5/3P connector could be plugged in backwards, the CPU is labeled showing how the red & black wires should be oriented. For the 3.5mm connector, I drilled a hole in the lower right corner of the replacement cover as there was an empty space there in the control cavity.

After drilling holes and screwing in the brass inserts, holes were drilled in the replacement cover for the thumbscrews. The thumbscrews hold the cover securely, but if the need arises to swap batteries in the middle of a long gig, (like when there isn't enough time to use the charger plug) the thumbscrews allow quick & easy removal/reattachment.

I ordered 2 sets of the LPE8 battery/charger combo... one to modify the tray for use in the cavity, as well as to fashion a "pluggable" charger. The other LPE8 is used as designed to charge the second battery.

I'm happy with how the project has turned out. The only other thing I might end up doing is to order a sheet of smoked, translucent plastic to fashion a replacement cover that more closely mimics the OEM. In the replacement cover, the holes where the original wood screws held the OEM cover in place are still there and visible. Also, there is a Gibson "G" on the CPU that glows when the power is on... I wouldn't mind being able to see that again. 😉

 

[DougFarmer]

As it turns out, the batteries inside the OEM Dark Fire battery component (BP-001) are Li-ion 14500 albeit discontinued models. (see pix)  I'm going to attempt surgery to swap out the depleted originals using current model 14500s. What have I got to lose? 😉

[DougFarmer]

[Righter]

Hi Doug! 

Hoping you can help me! I need to find a solid solution to my DF battery issues. I seem to have misplaced my original battery when it stopped working and after I bought the tronical kit. But placing the tronical back plate as they suggest seems physically impossible, so I just have the battery placed inside the back, with the wires taped to it. It's not an elegant solution and means I have to keep opening the back plate and I'm sure my back plate screw holes are already getting worn out. The tronical batteries also don't last long.

Some have suggested using batteries like this one, but I'm also wondering if you had luck with the focus batteries and whether the wiring would be tricky. Any help is much appreciated. Thanks!