Digitech IPS 33B Trouble shooting and battery replacmemt

[j.alex]

Hey all, my first post here on the forum, hopefully someone can give me a hand.

I acquired a Digitech IPS 33B about a year ago and have been since trying to figure the thing out. I haven’t put any significant effort into it, but have a good chunk of time between jobs now so I am really trying to wrap up all these things I’ve been meaning to get to...anyway:

The unit began acting strange right away, basically not remembering presets, returning strange user edits after I factory restored it etc. Basically things that seemed consistent with descriptions I’d read around the web suggesting the unit needed its battery replaced. Now, however, when I plug the unit in, I do not get any read out one the display screen. It lights up slightly, but noting else. This happened right after I took the fuse out and looked at it, then put it back in, perhaps the two are correlated, perhaps not.

So my questions:

1. Does anyone know if this does sound like a battery issue, and that I should simply replace the battery?

1b. If yes, does anyone know what kind of battery, where I would get it and where to put it? I looked around on the unit, but see nowhere obvious that a battery could go. I did not open the unit, as I wanted to get some more information first.

2. If it does not sound like a battery issue, does anyone have any other thoughts?

Many thanks in advance.

[The Dude]

Welcome to the place!

I bought one of those things when they came out and liked it a lot. The battery will be inside and probably circuit board mounted. It should be replaced ASAP, if it hasn't been. That unit is probably around 30 years old. Hopefully the battery hasn't corroded and started to eat away at anything. I also remember mine running quite hot. I wouldn't be surprised if there are bad caps considering age and heat trapped inside the thing. Start with the battery and see how it works after that. If you still have problems, I'd probably next check or replace any electrolytic caps in high heat areas like next to voltage regulators, etc.

[j.alex]

Alright, thanks a lot man!

Got the unit open, found and removed the battery, and located a replacement locally. There was a little bit of battery crud coming out of the battery, but it doesn't look like it did any damage. Time will tell. I am going to get the battery and try it out today, I'll update here later.

[j.alex]

Alright, I guess I didn't get lucky enough that by simply swapping the battery I'd be back in action with this thing. I am kind of surprised really, but like you said, this unit has some years on it.

I'm going to look around a bit and see if I can spot anything else, but giving my total noob status, I might see what the local music shop can do with it, if I can't find any totally obvious issues myself anyway.

thanks again.

[Enzo]

Look closely where the battery was, see if any of the crud might have dripped on the circuit board and dried there. It is conductive.

[Brad1]

There is also a "LCD contrast" adjustment. Maybe it lost that setting, and it's just all bright?

Obviously, you can't see what you are dealing with, since no characters showing up. But, try this:

Push "Utility"....Push the right "Parameter" arrow three times....Push the down "Parameter" arrow several times, and see if the characters start appearing. "Parameter" Down makes characters and background darker, and Up makes them brighter. All the way up, and it's all bright, with no characters.

When you push "Utility", it starts with "Tuning Reference", and right "Parameter" arrow pushes are ""Digitech IPS33B Version", then "MIDI Parameters" menu, then, "LCD Contrast".

At least, that's what it does on mine.

Hopefully, that's all it needs, but not sure. Could have lost its mind, altogether. If that's the case, not really sure if there is any way of reloading anything via MIDI. I know I have a manual around somewhere, but not sure which box it's in, since I moved.

Good luck,

Brad1

[g1]

Good idea about the contrast. Also sometimes just holding the unit and tilting the front panel up and down so the viewed angle of the display changes can show you if there is something there.

Another thing, you mentioned removing and re-installing the fuse in between the display working and not working. Are there more than one fuse in there?
Is there any chance the fuse or it's holder are dirty/oxidized and no longer connecting properly?

[52 Bill]

Is there a factory reset button or power up sequence?

[The Dude]

DIGITECH IPS 33- HOLD BOTH FUNCTION SELECT BUTTONS THEN POWER ON.
DIGITECH IPS 33B- PRESS UTILITY BUTTON, SCROLL TO THE FACTORY RESTORE MENU, PRESS PARAMETER DOWN, THEN STORE.

Copied from the web. You might try both or either of these to see if that fixes the problem. Often when battery voltage goes low, the system becomes corrupted.

[Brad1]

DIGITECH IPS 33B- PRESS UTILITY BUTTON, SCROLL TO THE FACTORY RESTORE MENU, PRESS PARAMETER DOWN, THEN STORE.

If he can't see characters, he'll not know where the Factory Restore is. Sooo...

Utility button once, then Parameter right arrow (>) button 6 times, Parameter down(V) button once, the press Store.

The IPS33B is a slightly different (newer) version than the IPS33.

Worth a try, I suppose.

Brad1

[ClayEWI]

I'm curious if you ever got your IPS33b working. I'm on my fourth one of these now and all of them have gone the way yours went. I've found it cheaper to replace them than to get them fixed but as they become more rare, that is no longer the case. They all eventually do what yours is doing. It has the same symptoms of a dead internal battery but replacing it does not fix the issue. I can always restart them and achieve a factory reset but the unit will forget any custom programming I do as soon as I turn it off.

Any help appreciated.