Fixing a coxbox?
Steve Bohler
Anyone had any success bringing NK coxboxes back from the dead?
I've got several which get a stroke rating, but project no sound. It's not
the microphone, as I've tried several that work on a working coxbox. I'll
send them back to NK if I HAVE to, but I hate waiting for them to come back.
Thanks,
Steve
--
Duncan Barton
Steve Bohler <skbo...@ix.netcom.com> wrote in article
<6h82jl$9...@sjx-ixn4.ix.netcom.com>...
Steve,
Sounds more like the pins to the speaker system have gone. Have you tried
the coxbox on a wiring harness you know works? If its not that then I can't
help, although it can't be too hard - its a fairly simple system inside. If
you do open up, my guess is it is the female pins on the plug which have
gone.
Duncan
Dolores Ingraham
I have a Strokecoach which had intermittent problems in receiving the signal
from the pickup.The solution was as Duncan Barton suggested, the female pins in
the connectors. The internal wires are either soldered or crimped into the metal
portion of the connector, and then the complete female connector is inserted
into the rubber portion. The wires had broken right at the metal, sometimes
making contact, but most often not. As I recall, I pushed the metal out of
rubber (toward the outside) removed the remaining wire from the conneector and
soldered new wire in its place. Then simply pushed the connector back into the
rubber. I needed to use new wire to get sufficient length from the circuit board
to the connector. Don't know if your problem is the same, but would guess that
it could be. NK told me that one of the reasons for the current design for the
StrokeCoach was to eliminate this type of connection.
Good Luck,
Ron Ingraham
Island Rowing Club
Merritt Island, FL
Steve Bohler wrote:
> Anyone had any success bringing NK coxboxes back from the dead?
>
> I've got several which get a stroke rating, but project no sound. It's not
> the microphone, as I've tried several that work on a working coxbox. I'll
> send them back to NK if I HAVE to, but I hate waiting for them to come back.
>
> Thanks,
> Steve
>
> --
Steve Bohler
I also have 2 which no longer charge. The charging light doesn't come
either when plugged into the charger.
Any suggestions for that type of problem?
Thanks in advance,
Steve
Steve Bohler wrote in message <6h82jl$9...@sjx-ixn4.ix.netcom.com>...
Steve Kerr
In article <6h82jl$9...@sjx-ixn4.ix.netcom.com>, skbo...@ix.netcom.com
says...
>
>Anyone had any success bringing NK coxboxes back from the dead?
>
>I've got several which get a stroke rating, but project no sound. It's not
>the microphone, as I've tried several that work on a working coxbox. I'll
>send them back to NK if I HAVE to, but I hate waiting for them to come
back.
>
>Thanks,
>Steve
>
>--
>
>
and have sufficient nerve (!) and mechanical aptitude to get them apart
without smashing the guts up AND you can get the parts.
If not, send them back. I got the joy once of resurrecting a load that
some bright spark had tried to fix and messed up completely. If it hadn't
been a favour I would have probably scrapped the lot.
Assuming that connectors and speakers are OK, I found the usual cause of
total sound failure is the integrated amp chip.
If in doubt, don't.
Regards,
Steve
Kelly E Papke
Steve Bohler wrote:
>
> Anyone had any success bringing NK coxboxes back from the dead?
>
> I've got several which get a stroke rating, but project no sound. It's not
> the microphone, as I've tried several that work on a working coxbox. I'll
> send them back to NK if I HAVE to, but I hate waiting for them to come back.
>
Is anyone familiar with getting your Cox to actually speak INTO the
mnicrophone?? My crew seems to be having that problem and I try to tell
the girl that he micro phone goes by her mouth not her ear!!
> Thanks,
> Steve
>
> --
Jon
Kelly E Papke <kep...@acsu.buffalo.edu> wrote:
: Is anyone familiar with getting your Cox to actually speak INTO the
: mnicrophone?? My crew seems to be having that problem and I try to tell
: the girl that he micro phone goes by her mouth not her ear!!
I wear a baseball cap (keeps rain/sun off my face for starters) and that
holds the microphone close to my mouth, in fact sometimes I am almost
chewing it if it slips. That usually seems to work.
Jon
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
j...@durge.org
http://www.durge.org/~jon/
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
John Woffinden
In article <6h82jl$9...@sjx-ixn4.ix.netcom.com>, Steve Bohler
<skbo...@ix.netcom.com> writes
>Anyone had any success bringing NK coxboxes back from the dead?
>
>I've got several which get a stroke rating, but project no sound. It's not
>the microphone, as I've tried several that work on a working coxbox. I'll
>send them back to NK if I HAVE to, but I hate waiting for them to come back.
>
>Steve
>
I have had problems where the sound was either crackly or cut off
together with a short battery life after a re-charge.
The problem was a duff cell in the battery. There was enough volts for
the rate electronics but not the amplifier. Replacing the batteries
cured the problem.
--
John Woffinden
jo...@maidenheadrc.demon.co.uk
Maidenhead Rowing Club
http://www.maidenheadrc.demon.co.uk/
Kelly E Papke
Jon,
She wears a baseball cap and we ask her every morning to speak into the
mic and the only time we hear her is when we go under bridges.. It's
like.. Ok.. "8min left.. then later.. ok 5 more strokes and your done..
some pow....." That's about all you hear in a 10 min. piece
"There are two kinds of
pedestrians,
The quick and
THE DEAD!"
Jon
John Woffinden <jo...@maidenheadrc.demon.co.uk> wrote:
: The problem was a duff cell in the battery. There was enough volts for
: the rate electronics but not the amplifier. Replacing the batteries
: cured the problem.
Where can you get replacements from and how much were they? How long did
the battery last before you knew it was going down?
Jon
: mic and the only time we hear her is when we go under bridges.. It's
: like.. Ok.. "8min left.. then later.. ok 5 more strokes and your done..
: some pow....." That's about all you hear in a 10 min. piece
Two points then - first of all check the connections. They can go very
wrong, my cox box that I currently use crackles incesssantly. I did use
one once where I had to use cocktail sitcks to push the bare wirse of the
plug into the holes in the amplifier to get it to work.
Secondly, tell her to speak up, project the sound from her stomach, not
her throat. I have a tendedncy to mumble lots, unfortuantely, or holler
incoherently. I find when I am speaking clearly my words are loud but not
forced, not too fast so they are gabbled, and are *clear*.
I once put it like this to a novice cox: speak posh. :)
cynthja
Jon wrote:
>
> John Woffinden <jo...@maidenheadrc.demon.co.uk> wrote:
> : The problem was a duff cell in the battery. There was enough volts for
> : the rate electronics but not the amplifier. Replacing the batteries
> : cured the problem.
>
> Where can you get replacements from and how much were they? How long did
> the battery last before you knew it was going down?
I'm usually too loud to need a coxbox! but when i do use one I always
know when my coxbox needs new batteries, it starts to crackle and
sometimes cuts out. I make sure after the session I buy 4 AA long life
batteries (U can get these from supermarkets or hardware stores) then it
works perfectly. (this is good for both types of coxbox).
luv cynthja
Richard Lewis
You could suggest to the cox to take some
voice classes for acting. They teach folks to project
their voice well. This way you can save a bundle
on battery costs !
Richard Lewis
John Woffinden
In article <6i5ou6$cr2$3...@fof.durge.org>, Jon <j...@fof.durge.org> writes
>John Woffinden <jo...@maidenheadrc.demon.co.uk> wrote:
>: The problem was a duff cell in the battery. There was enough volts for
>: the rate electronics but not the amplifier. Replacing the batteries
>: cured the problem.
>
>Where can you get replacements from and how much were they? How long did
>the battery last before you knew it was going down?
>
>
In this paticular case I'll just say that I left the cox box on the desk
of a Engineer at work and miraculously it started working all on its own
by the end of the day!
However you can get batteries that are a close enough match to those
used in the NK box from electronic suppliers such as Maplin, Radio
Spares (RS) or Tandy - Check yellow pages.
I guess that you could expect to pay about GBP 15 for a set of
replacement Nickel Cadmium batteries (Ni-Cd).
If I recall correclty there are seven (maybe 6) cells in an NK, each
cell is 1.2 volts of about AA battery size, Ask the guys in the shop to
assist with the selection of a replacement as you may not be able to get
an exact match. The biggest problem is finding a replacement that is
close enough in physical size to fit back in the case. It is worth
gettting the type of battery with tags on so that you can re-solder the
wires, I'm afraid you cant just unplug the old batteries and plug in new
ones.
As to life of batteries, most batteries quote about 1000 recharges. In
practice they start degrading noticably after about 2 years. Ni-Cd
batteries last longer and hold their charge for longer if they are
regularly totally discharged before they are re-charged. So if time
permits leave the cox box switched on to flatten the battery before a
re-charge. Obviously there is not enough time to discharge and re-
charge if you have outings each day but a total discharge when possible
would help.
A deep discharge is required to condition the battery and brake down
crystals that form in the electrolytes and is quite often (incorreclty)
called battery memory effect. I'm sure the physics/chemistry police
could expand further but I'll leave it to alt.nurd.batteries to discuss.
Jon
John Woffinden <jo...@maidenheadrc.demon.co.uk> wrote:
<some pretty excellent stuff>
Do you know if simply turning off the cox box inordinately drains power? I
was told it did, by one coach, but no-one else seems to have a clue.
John Woffinden
In article <6i8947$c89$1...@fof.durge.org>, Jon <j...@fof.durge.org> writes
>Do you know if simply turning off the cox box inordinately drains power? I
>was told it did, by one coach, but no-one else seems to have a clue.
>
from the electronics, so the electronic components themselves wont drain
any power. However the batteries may lose their charge due to internal
leakage within the battery, again this tend to get worse in older cells.
On some cox boxes, such as those that are charged by connecting a
charger to the mic. socket, the re-charge circuitry remains connected to
the battery and this could cause some (small) battery drain. I think
the NK box uses a separate pin on the connector for charging so the
charging circuit is isolated.