Solved: Roland SYS-500 Power Connection

[wGe23]

Hello everyone,

I have a quick question for any Roland System 500 owners out there.

Can anyone help me figure out which of the two terminals I’m supposed to connect the connector which links all the modules together?

This system was shipped to me faulty due to a module being plugged in incorrectly. After some time, I finally sorted it out and was able to have it up and running. But after reading through the Roland ‘users manual’, I noticed that this case provides both positive and negative voltages.

So my question today is, which of the two terminals am I supposed to connect the long ribbon cable to?

I was about to screw it down and run it as is, but I’m pretty sure I’d fry all the modules because I have no idea what I’m doing.

Please reach out if you know where it goes.

Thanks!

[Stlaub]

Hard to tell from your picture if they are just identical pin headers or not but it shouldn’t really matter, just make sure to connect it the correct way round (ie. so the red stripe on the cable is in line with the white stripe on the header.

[HoldMyBeer]

Looks like it just has two power connectors, in case you need more connections for more modules.

[Stlaub]

I was assuming there is some sort of flying bus cable included?

[HoldMyBeer]

Yeah, I had one of these cases before. I think I is running two flying bus cables and came with at least one.

[wGe23]

Yes, it came with a single ‘flying bus’ and all the modules were connected to it.

A module was plugged in backwards, so the system / power supply light would just blink and make a click noise - I thought all the modules were fried.

[wGe23]

Hey thanks,

The description in the manual threw me off, so I thought the ‘pins’ were different - I thought one was for positive and the other for negative.

Just thought I’d ask because I could have easily fried this system being a modular noob.

[Stlaub]

Here is a useful diagram of what/how the pinout is.