Digitakt modified with internal battery

You have to plug in the power then turn it off and on to reboot.

Ok cool! Sorry, one more question :slight_smile: if you plug in power while it runs on battery, do you have to power cycle for the Power adapter to take over?

Thanks!

No, you don’t need to power cycle unless you’re out of battery. It just works.

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The power adapter doesn’t “take over” the input voltage actually drops to the battery voltage when it is plugged in. This is why if the battery is discharged below the digitakt’s operating voltage the digitakt won’t power on until the battery goes above that voltage.

For a gent like m’self who can’t change the light bulb without shutting down the neighbourhood (true story, it happened, emergency services were called in on a Sunday), are there people around who do this thing as a service? If I gave this a go, I might cause destruction that’d make a James Bond villain forced to up their game to keep it up.

Unfortunately, battery packs are a pain to ship by plane. So you’ll have to find someone around there with basic knowledge of soldering and show him the instructions. You can go ahead with ordering the parts though.

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Ah yes, thanks. I remember now, the Synthstrom’s Deluge had the same issues in the beginning. They shipped the battery separately at first with simple installation instructions on how to place it. I think they found a way around it with DHL, eventually. Anyway, thanks for letting me know.

Thank you all for the great instructions and suggestions in this thread! I’ve modified my Digitakt successfully and love using it outdoors now. :smiley:

In case they might be helpful for anyone else attempting such a build, here are some photos of the process with intermediate steps.

Start by laying out your materials: 3 battery cells, BMS board, lower Digitakt circuit board. (Btw, elektron, they’re beautifully and well made imho!)

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I then connected short wires to the BMS. Four wires, to go on the outside and between each of the three cells. (Colors are somewhat random-it’s what I had on hand)

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I soldered the wires to the battery tabs, and connected the batteries in series to reach 3x3.7=11.1V nominal.

Here’s a detail from wrapping the battery contacts: not clean, but functional; and no sharp corners to poke through the insulation.

I then decided to attach the battery pack to the underside of the circuit board. This doesn’t only look cleaner ( :smiley: ) but I also thought I achieved a cleaner solder connection than I might have by attaching it to the 12V socket directly. ¯_(ツ)_/¯

I attached the pack with rubber that I screwed into the vesa mount holes from the inside:

And it all fits nicely! Let me know if you have any questions, and let’s all thank OP again for their ingenuity! \o/

(Sorry about the three posts — this was my first post and I thought it was the only way to upload multiple images. Worked out quickly, though. :slight_smile: )

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I almost wanna try it but im scared I’ll fuck it up :smiley:

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@myrtorp if it helps, this was my first soldering job in ~5 years. But obviously don’t do anything you’re uncomfortable with, or that would endanger gear that’s hard to replace for you!

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I soldered my battery pack together and installed it successfully I think. I have had it plugged into the wall socket over night. I played with it without the power but after an hour it didn’t freeze but actually shut of. Nothing seems to be broken since it works shortly after I power cycle and when I plug in the power. But it should last longer than an hour right? I measured the ± when I installed it and I got 11.98v out of it. Could the BMS be faulty?

What type of battery are you using? That behavior sounds more or less like what happens when my battery runs out of charge. That battery life does seem low though. I used three 21700 batteries and get around 3.5 hours. I used battery holders rather than solder them, as heat is the enemy of lithium batteries. I could see the battery life being impacted by soldering them, and if you are using more standard 18650 batteries I could see those factors combining to give you that battery life.

Thanks for answering. I’m using 3x18650 in the octatrack. Since I heard that bigger ones doesn’t fit. I think they’re supposed to be 4200mah a piece. But maybe my soldering skills aren’t that good And I overheated them. I have charged it over night again. I’ll see how long it lasts today. Anyway to check the voltage output with a voltage meter without opening it up?

Thanks!

Ok I timed it now and I get 45 minutes out of it so the batteries must be damaged right?

I’m looking to buy new batteries and try to use a battery holder instead. These with built in protection for overheating and stuff. Do they work as well?

Yeah, that sounds like damaged batteries as the octatrack can actually work on lower voltage that the digitakt so you should get at least similar battery life even with smaller batteries. The holders I used just look sort of like aa sockets, they just have metal clips that you can solder to instead of the battery. the ones I used look very similar to this

I’m not sure about overheating and protection, as I just got a 3s bms from ebay and haven’t had any problems in the few months I have been using it modded.

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I have a battery holder that I hope fit. It also have metal thingys I should be able to solder the bms cables to. Hopefully it fits under the crossfader.

I have a spare 3s 40A bms. Should work right?

I think so
 I’m pretty sure most 3s bms’s are more or less the same (besides power, but that is a non issue as elektron gear only use a fraction of 40a), and since you are using the most common cells out there you shouldn’t have any issue.

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