Dave Rat Blog - Aaargh, intermittant belt packs!

So we switched to a Shure PSM1000 system for Chili Peppers in-ears, which have been working really well. The diversity dual antenna packs helped overcome noise from the LED stage. The internal pack volume control helped get the pack volume knobs where the musicians want to have them. and the sound quality and stereo separation is the best I've heard on a multi frequency tunable pack.

So here we are over 6 months into using them and we are starting to see packs dropping out during the show. After some poking around, we found the intermittent packs were losing battery power.

After digging further, I have found that the cause is loose positive terminals in the belt packs. Sometimes they are very loose and easy to spot, other times it is nearly impossible to tell....

Except if you get a sharp object and try to spin the terminal, the packs that have terminals that spin are also the pack that are intermittent. The packs that are intermittent are also the packs have spinning terminals. So far out of 16 packs, we're are down 5 but bought 2 replacements, which leave us with 13 fully functional.

The issue appears to be that the positive terminals in the packs are most likely crimped and either needs a better crimp or to be soldered.

I have actually seen this issue before, way back when I worked at Mattel Toys. At one point either a vendor switch or change in manufacturing resulted in the 9 volt battery power connectors having the same issue: spinning terminals. The games would work for a while and then while the customer was playing, it would loose power and reset mid game. Then the customer would send them back and I would get t change the power connector.

So, super curious to see how this pans out. Wondering if we are alone with this experience and working on getting things dialed back in.
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