Basestation mk 2 reliability?

Eigenharp
1

An interesting follow-up to FS (US) - Eigenharp Tau on eBay (sold)

I was the 3rd highest bidder and the 2 above me both bailed due to the lack of a basestation. So the seller gave me a buy-it-now option which was a good deal so I took it. It was pretty low risk since I have a working basestation pro to test with and he offered a 30-day return.

Turns out the Tau works fine! But here’s the interesting part… I also have a broken standard basestation (bought 2nd hand) that is a mk 2. The seller of the above Tau said the owner tossed his basestation. The serial number on this Tau is high enough that it would come with a mk 2 basestation.

I’m wondering now if there might be some reliability problem with the mk 2 and the reason the seller tossed his is because it didn’t work. Does anyone out there have a mk 2 station that is still kicking?

@fcolasanto was yours that broke a mk 2?
@Mumriken same question about yours

1 Like
2

I think we would have seen a lot more posts (not just here but in the old eigenlabs forum and G+ group), if it was a widespread problem.

also do you mean the the ‘mini’ basestation, compared to the ‘basestation pro’ ?
(or is there really a mk2 of one of these?)
I thought all taus came with the mini basestation - no?

Id guess, if the basestation fails, most likely causes would be connectors or the PSU.
neither should be hard to fix?!

anyways, Id be interested to know those that “failed”…
what does that mean? what diagnostics were done?

you mentioned previously that for yours, it would power your Tau, but not communicate…
to me, Id say thats likely a instrument ↔ basestation issue.
so instrument connector, cable, basestation connector.

Id need to open the mini basestation to compare to the pro version, but it looks similar.
Id say the main cost saving Eigenlabs did, is reduced complexity (pedal/midi IO) and using a ‘standard’ external PSU, rather than skimping on costs, they seem to value quality components.

also was your unit used?
do you know if its history, it could have had a ard life gigging in the past. I can imagine, frequently unplugging/ plugging the connector a lot (or heavy handedly) could eventually cause wear/failure.

note: the connectors are high quality, but everything will fail at some point.
(unfortunately, these units are not getting on a bit now… so fear we will ofc, see more issues as time passes)

many many years ago, the connector on my Alpha failed (became intermittent first), fortunately, I was able to return to Eigenlabs and they fixed it.
so it can happen… though, iirc, they said, this was the first they’d seen fail, so not common.

does mean Ive been much more careful / paranoid since, and tend to leave my eigenharps connected now.

that said, some here, do regular gigs with them, and no issues - so its ‘luck of the draw’, and ofc, taking good care too.

3

Yeah I was only talking about the standard basestation. I have not seen a mk 2 pro basestation before.

On my broken one, when I load presets from EigenD it appears successful on the computer side, but the instrument just flashes the one green LED like it hasn’t talked to EigenD yet. If I swap just the basestation with a working one, everything else the same, it works.

1 Like
4

ok, so presets will ‘load’ fine even if an Eigenharp isn’t connected…it doesnt tell you anything about the ‘failure’ (various reasons this is the case0

thinking about it some more,

Id say the two most likely causes of your issues are:
note: I assume power light is on the basestation, so you know its not the PSU

a) the usb port
b) the instrument connector port

you can tell if its (a) by powering cycling the basestation.
then, look at the USB product id.
then, start eigend, and again look at the usb product id.

i ) if the product id changes, then eigend is able to talk to the basestation, as its loaded the firmware to it.
ii) if it does not change, then its usb port (or cable, but you have eliminated that)

if (i) then Id say its most likely the instrument connector.

note: let me know if (ii) happens, as this is based on knowledge of code, Id like to double check this from a ‘practical standpoint’
(you could also do the same with your spare BS, with tau not connected)

the good news is both of these connectors are ‘standard’, so could be replaced.
even re-soldering may fix…

on other products its quite common with usb ports for them to become ‘detached’ from main board (esp, if enclosure does not support them well), as this is a mechanical fatigue point.

anyway, obviously, I cannot say 100% this is the cause, as Ive not see it , so could be something completely different.
but connectors are common failures points (as are psu), but are ofter easily fixed, so def worth looking into.

note: if you are not into diy soldering etc, you could take it so someone and just get them to look at it - I doubt even replacing both (‘just in case’) would be expensive.