How to make the JD-Xi battery-powered

Forum for the JD-Xi Keyboard.
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brakjoller
Posts: 56
Joined: 11:33, 16 January 2016
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden

How to make the JD-Xi battery-powered

Post by brakjoller »

Hi Xi-fans!

This is my first post in this forum and I hope not the last :)

I found this forum just a few days back and it has already been useful to me, so I thought that I should share a hack that I made, to "pay it forward", so to speak.

I will not repeat what I already have written in the blog post below, but as a teaser I have made my JD-Xi into a fully portable keyboard, from a power perspective, so that it now can run on batteries. So, without further ado, here is the blog post:

http://muublog.blogspot.se/2016/01/maki ... ng-ac.html

If you have any comments, comment here or on the blog post, it does not matter.

Thanks for a great forum and enjoy the blog post!

/Mathias
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rsaintjohn
Posts: 265
Joined: 02:56, 23 May 2015
Location: Cleveland, OH USA

Re: How to make the JD-Xi battery-powered

Post by rsaintjohn »

Well done, and fantastic documentation (especially on the electrical requirements, which would have been my only concern).
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PauloF
Posts: 4201
Joined: 02:35, 16 January 2006
Location: Lisbon, Portugal
Contact:

Re: How to make the JD-Xi battery-powered

Post by PauloF »

brakjoller wrote:Hi Xi-fans!

This is my first post in this forum and I hope not the last :)

I found this forum just a few days back and it has already been useful to me, so I thought that I should share a hack that I made, to "pay it forward", so to speak.

I will not repeat what I already have written in the blog post below, but as a teaser I have made my JD-Xi into a fully portable keyboard, from a power perspective, so that it now can run on batteries. So, without further ado, here is the blog post:

http://muublog.blogspot.se/2016/01/maki ... ng-ac.html

If you have any comments, comment here or on the blog post, it does not matter.

Thanks for a great forum and enjoy the blog post!

/Mathias
Wow Mathias, your first post and already contributing!!! Awesome!!
You got the spirit of the Clan!

BTW, Very useful and well done info

On another post of yours I've mention about the MIDI controller stuff (5-Pin vs USB)...
Any doubts, please let me know

Cheers,
PauloF
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brakjoller
Posts: 56
Joined: 11:33, 16 January 2016
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden

Re: How to make the JD-Xi battery-powered

Post by brakjoller »

Thanks for the kind words :) I'm quite happy with my little project and I hope I have inspired others to be more mobile in their music making. By the way, I posted a small update to the blog post yesterday, on how I have now attached the battery on the backside. Really neat!
Viaren
Posts: 22
Joined: 14:42, 15 January 2016

Re: How to make the JD-Xi battery-powered

Post by Viaren »

Interested in doing this myself, Is it still working for you?
I really wonder if the 0.8v is the dropout or overhead voltage for the internal regulator in the synth. I know that most electronics use 5v, and the internal regulator would need a little overhead at the input to acheive a stable regulated 5v. I know electronics can suffer from too low voltage.
If the synth uses only 3.3v internal voltage. 5V is plenty at the input.
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brakjoller
Posts: 56
Joined: 11:33, 16 January 2016
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden

Re: How to make the JD-Xi battery-powered

Post by brakjoller »

Viaren wrote:Interested in doing this myself, Is it still working for you?
I really wonder if the 0.8v is the dropout or overhead voltage for the internal regulator in the synth. I know that most electronics use 5v, and the internal regulator would need a little overhead at the input to acheive a stable regulated 5v. I know electronics can suffer from too low voltage.
If the synth uses only 3.3v internal voltage. 5V is plenty at the input.
Yup, my little hack is still working great! :) I get around two hours of play before the JD-Xi shuts off (without any warning I should say, but it does not seem to hurt it in any way) on the battery mentioned in the blog post.
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brakjoller
Posts: 56
Joined: 11:33, 16 January 2016
Location: Gothenburg, Sweden

Re: How to make the JD-Xi battery-powered

Post by brakjoller »

Hi, this is a small update after almost four years...

If you check the original blog post you can see that there were some bad side effects (not harmful though) of the hack. For the benefits of others I want to share another solution that I found:

http://myvolts.com/product/46110/Power_ ... D-Xi_Synth

If that works, it should be an almost ideal solution. I have tried doing my own such "cable" using both step up (boost) and step down (buck) converters, but I have not had much luck. I think the quality of the converters I have got hold of is not the best as the amount of current increases. In theory it should work though and I hope the makers of the cable I linked to above have made their homework and have a solution that works.

So, yeah...
Klink
Posts: 14
Joined: 05:08, 20 August 2021

Re: How to make the JD-Xi battery-powered

Post by Klink »

Thanks for the advice! I bought one of these in Australia - https://www.jaycar.com.au/6-plug-dc-to- ... =relevance. It’s working great & has the benefit of not needing the polarity reverser and comes with many different DC plug connectors. You may be able to find similar in your country.
zzrwood
Posts: 2
Joined: 01:06, 14 March 2022

Re: How to make the JD-Xi battery-powered

Post by zzrwood »

Klink wrote: 08:49, 25 October 2021 Thanks for the advice! I bought one of these in Australia - https://www.jaycar.com.au/6-plug-dc-to- ... =relevance. It’s working great & has the benefit of not needing the polarity reverser and comes with many different DC plug connectors. You may be able to find similar in your country.
Hi - first post newbie here…
Looking at getting a JD-XI and interested in battery power…
Is this working out ok for you? According to specs, this puts out 5v and the synth wants 5.7v
Cheers from Oz…
Klink
Posts: 14
Joined: 05:08, 20 August 2021

Re: How to make the JD-Xi battery-powered

Post by Klink »

Haven’t used it much but all is good still, yes.
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