9088iiS Repairs Questions

rstras

My 9088iiS died and I have not been able to repair it, so I bought a used one on eBay. I was not smart enough to realize that there are several different configurations. Turns out my unit is a 9088iiSML and I purchased a 9088iiSLL.

Assuming the mic board from my original unit works, can I swap that out for one of the line input boards on the one I purchased?

Several people talked about replacing the battery. I thought mine had a button battery, so I removed it and tried the \"button battery\" from the one I purchased to see if that would help. Upon further inspection, I realize that it is not a battery. It is an iButton DS1990A-F5. The iButton website says \"The DS1990A-F5+ provides a guaranteed unique ID in a small iButton® form. This iButton can be used as a key in access control systems, or other applications that require a low-cost, reliable method of validating identification.\" This was installed in what looks like a button battery holder on the main board.

At this point, I am not sure which iButton came out of which unit. Does it matter, and can I figure out which one belongs to which unit?

Back to my first question, if I swap input boards (line for mic), will the iButton cause a problem?

Finally, I do not see a battery anywhere in this unit. Is there a battery that I should replace? If so, where is it and what does it look like? There is no other battery holder that I can see besides the iButton holder.

Thanks very much for your help.

Dan Lynch

There is no battery in any Soundweb green device. Feel free to laugh at anyone who tells you there is one.

The doohickey (technical term) that looks like a battery is essentially an electronic serial number and is 99.999% irrelevant. The only time that number matters is when a bunch of Soundweb devices are networked together and they need to select a single device to be the master clock. In that case, the device with the lowest electronic serial number wins and becomes the master clock. So, the .001% occurrence is when you have one specific device that you really NEED to force to be the master clock. When that happens, you pop the lids and move the doohickeys so that the lowest number is in the selected device.

Note: It might actually be the highest number that becomes the master. I can't remember because 99.999%.

More Note: You can actually leave the doohickey out of the device entirely and that Soundweb will always be the master clock for any system it's in. That's a really bad habit though (*cough* Ben *cough*) because if you someday get two Soundwebs connected together that both have their doohickey missing, it'll be a cage fight for mastership.

As for the input cards, feel free to swap that mic card to the other device. It'll work just fine. Make sure you delete any existing configuration file from the device first, or it'll boot up and throw a fit about the cards not matching the file. There might also be a software rule saying that an ML configuration must have the mic card in the first slot, but I dunno. Maybe? Or maybe that was only if one of the cards is a digital card? Those brain cells were overwritten or killed, so I'd put the mic card in the first slot just to be safe. The only time card swapping is really a problem is if you try to put one of the digital cards into an older Soundweb. No bueno.

If you want to be a good citizen, you should also move the little \"Mic\" sticker from the back of the old device to the back of the new device so you can remember where the mic card is.

Also, DO NOT dispose of the broken Soundweb until after you call the BSS repair guys and ask if they still do flat-fee repairs. There used to be a flat-fee that was something ridiculously cheap like $175 that would include replacing all of the various stuff that always dies in Soundwebs like power supply caps, etc. Maybe that's still available? If it is available, you end up with a device that will last another 10 years.

I'll send this same info as a reply to your email.

Dan

rstras

Dan, thanks very much for the great response! Can I delete the existing configuration by pressing the reset button on the back of the unit, or do I have to do it via the programming port?