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Sickamps SickampsSickampsYamaha AW4416 Low Battery Real Time Clock Replacement
The Yamaha AW4416 home studio is a compact all in one mixer and recording solution for the home musician. Despite being an older digital audio console it’s high sampling rate and flexibility still makes it popular today to record with.
What Is a RTC (Real Time Clock?)
Quite simply a real time clock keeps the time and date running accurately for an electronic device. It runs its own accurate clock and keeps track of the actual (real) time when all the other electronics are off. Real time clock modules were often used on older computer electronics as they were a handy standalone solution to provide everything needed. They kept track themselves and gave the host computer the time on demand without having to design the electronic to provide accuracy. Being battery backed up makes everything even easier! We would always advise sourcing the Dallas RTC units from a reputable source. Places like eBay can hold stock of old recovered units from old circuit boards and may be damaged. There is a huge black market in component recovery and misrepresentation that the components are “new” where they actually are not!
Why does the AW4416 need a RTC?
All the recordings you do on your studio need to be accurately time logged, this is used for indexing sets of files, sequential files and overall keeps track of your whole recording schedule! So really without it, the system has no idea when that track was recorded, if it’s linked to another track to form a multitrack, or even ensuring it doesn’t record two duplicate tracks accidently saved with the same name. This is why it’s such an issue when you have a warning of low battery. Without the time code your mixer doesn’t know what it’s doing and you could end up with a huge mess of recordings!
How do I change the Real time chip? Is it easy?
Changing the real time clock on a AW4416 is a fairly straightforward process, though like all things it’s easier with the right tools and knowledge. For a complete DIY attempt having youtubed how to solder my personal recommendation is not to even look at doing it yourself!
Unsoldering any component from a densely populated PCB with through pin via points and multi track layout takes skill, if you don’t fully remove the solder from one pin you run the chance of damaging the board. We use professional rework soldering stations with precise temperature setting with inbuilt solder sucking facilities. Aside from the soldering skills the mixer requires quite a bit of PCB disassembly internally with lots of wires and the chances of damage from disassembly or assembly are high.
We always source our parts from branded wholesale who work to ISO standards for traceability and quality ensuring that new parts fitted to your equipment are actually new!
With our skilled technicians and all the correct tools we can carry out the work without risk of damage to your mixer or any internal parts, giving you as good as original repair.
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Please note: We are signed up to disclosure agreements preventing us from distributing the manufacturer information, schematics or service bulletins. No matter how much you tell us your mate is good at soldering, we simply ignore the request. There is already far too much incorrect information on forums and poor repairs by keyboard warriors. This article was written to correct people in search of a solution to low battery warning or real time clock RTC issues with a Dallas DS12887 fitted to a Yamaha AW4416
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