Rosieseagle

[rosieseagle]

Hi. I'm not a keyboard player, but have a wife that's wanting to learn, so I have invested in all the lessons and goodies to indulge her and have run into a problem. I live in a rural area so thing are pretty much DIYS if possible. I bought my wife a Casio Keyboard. ( I forgot the number, but it is a big one. It works FINE, on Batteries, but with the batteries OUT and the AC adapter plugged in, I get NOTHING. Wont power on at all. Install the 6 D cells, and everything works great. Is that normal or do I have a problem. If the keyboard needs fixing, I will have to send it SOMEWHERE, and I figure that will probably be more expensive than just getting her another keyboard. I bought this one used, thinking that if she didn't stick with it, I wouldn't be out so much, and as I said, it works GREAT on Batteries. Just seems like it should work with the AC adapter, weather batteries are installed or not, but I have ZERO experience with these things and thought id ask someone who did. Any help will be appreciated.

 

[happyrat1]

First of all test the voltage output of the adapter with a DVOM. If it doesn't test out between 9 and 15 volts DC then it's a bum adapter. Easy and cheap to replace.

Otherwise it's something internal to the keyboard, maybe a broken or disconnected connector or something similar. Take it to a mom and pop computer shop and ask them how much to fix it. Any decent computer tech should be able to fix it for under $100.

Gary

 

[Quincy]

Is it a fairly new purchase?

 

[happyrat1]

One other thing. Is the adapter a genuine Casio product or is it a generic third party wall wart?

If it's a generic no name adapter a lot of them have problems with the connector. Casio uses a slightly off sized connector on their keyboards and you'll have to order an original manufacturers part if it's a generic.

What model number is the keyboard and what part number is listed on your adapter?

Gary

 

[BobbyS]

Another thing is that adapters can have a different polarity; as in the center could be either positive or negative.

 

[happyrat1]

If the polarity on the adapter was reversed he would have turned his Casio into a brick already.

 

[BobbyS]

Sometimes, when alert engineers are working something up, they throw in a diode or whatnot to keep that from happening. Like putting batteries in backwards. If it has that feature, and has the wrong polarity, it would just not work instead of bricking it.

Hope for the best, expect the worst.

 

[happyrat1]

The only way to test it would be to reverse the polarity and then he would indeed risk bricking the unit.

And I have not come to expect too much from Casio's engineers. Since they are all about minimizing costs for mass production at the cheapest price, they'd simply save themselves a nickel and keep out the diode.

Technically if you wanted the Rolls Royce of engineering they'd put in a full wave rectifier bridge so polarity would become moot. Alas, they are more likely to have skipped any sort of polarity protection since the device is intended to work only with a Casio adaptor with a fixed polarity.

Also every silicon diode in series with the circuit causes a 0.7V voltage drop which arguably could impede performance of the circuit.

I doubt there's any polarity protection in the battery circuit either. Reversing the batteries would probably brick the unit as well.

Anyway, polarity is generally marked on the adapter socket and he'd only need to test the adapter with a DVOM to determine actual polarity.

Like I said, I've had experience with Casio power supplies and as a rule they simply do not like aftermarket plugs. Something about their size is off spec and simply refuses to work with generic adapters.

 

[happyrat1]

BTW, my experience with Casio products has been that their adapters tend to be fully regulated supplies, like a laptop's. Again if it's a cheapo unfiltered generic adapter he's using that will also fail to work properly and possibly even damage the unit.

 

[happyrat1]

Again it would seriously help if the original poster would post the model number of the keyboard and the part number of the adapter he's using.

Otherwise we're just shooting blanks here.

Gary

 

[Becky]

Hello and welcome aboard! There is some great advice above, let us know how you get on

 

[rosieseagle]

Thanks for all the Great Advice. I now know that this is NOT a normal thing. I will check out the adapter and the connections. Thanks for all the reply's.