Topic: Anyone work on Mini-Me's?

[Derp1]

So I have three Mini-Me's that all power up but just flicker and make a repetitive noise. I had one looked at at a local shop a couple years ago and he replaced the smoked diode and it worked for a bit and then started with the flicker like the other 2. He said it might be a transistor but it was a little above his pay grade. I keep trying to pretend I can fix one of these "some day" but it never comes to fruition. I also have offered to give them away on here and apologize for not being able to let them go just yet. I really just want to get one of them working and the other two I'd give away, especially to someone that could fix them and get them back into people's hands that would use em. I have the blueprint and have a good grasp on soldering surface mout components, but can't figure out what the issue is. I would greatly appreciate any help, and would gladly pay or trade for services rendered. Thanks in advance for any help.

[beatkilla]

So I have three Mini-Me's that all power up but just flicker and make a repetitive noise. I had one looked at at a local shop a couple years ago and he replaced the smoked diode and it worked for a bit and then started with the flicker like the other 2. He said it might be a transistor but it was a little above his pay grade. I keep trying to pretend I can fix one of these "some day" but it never comes to fruition. I also have offered to give them away on here and apologize for not being able to let them go just yet. I really just want to get one of them working and the other two I'd give away, especially to someone that could fix them and get them back into people's hands that would use em. I have the blueprint and have a good grasp on soldering surface mout components, but can't figure out what the issue is. I would greatly appreciate any help, and would gladly pay or trade for services rendered. Thanks in advance for any help.

I have a Mini me and i don't have this issue(yet )

It seems strange that all 3 have the exact same problem though.Maybe it's a powering issue? Are you using the same power cable and battery on all of them?


I found this on google.

https://yannisbrown.com/fixing-an-apogee-mini-me/

[Derp1]

I actually read that last night and tried 3 different cables, 3 different batteries, and the og wall wart on all of them and they all do the same thing. It is odd that they all have the same issue.

[beatkilla]

Is the noise being made only heard in a recording or actually acoustically from the unit itself?

[Derp1]

From the unit itself. With or without phantom on and with or without any input feeding them.

[fanofjam]

Check the polarity on the power cable(s) you're using and make sure that has the same tip polarity as shown at the input socket on the back of your mini-me (the polarity is indicated near the socket which shows the tip being either positive or negative).  The mini-me and the mini-mp's have polarity that is opposite from the 'normal' polarity of most other electronics devices, so you need to use a dedicated power cable for your MME that is not used on other devices...preferably the one that was originally supplied with the MME or MMP.  On early model MMPs and MMEs, if you plugged in an incorrect cable, you'd fry a diode (and possibly other components) because they weren't reverse polarity protected.  It was really easy to do, because the tip size on the MMP and MME are common tips, so what people would do is find a wall-wart from their collection of wall-warts with the right voltage and proper size tip, and proceed to destroy their unit.  (That's what I did to my MMP.)  On later manufactured MMPs and MMEs, Apogee fixed this issue by redesigning the board to include reverse polarity protection, so if you connect an incorrect polarity cable, the unit won't fry, it just wouldn't power up.  I'm not sure, but I don't think there's a way to tell if an MME or MMP is a later reverse polarity protected unit, other than to open the unit up and check the circuit on the board, assuming you know what you're looking for (which I don't).  Seems like there is some kind of bridge/shunt (not sure of the electronics term) at the power connection point on the board.

Since you're saying that your unit kinda shows some life and then doesn't power up, your units are probably OK and the only thing you need to do is either purchase a reverse polarity cable, or splice your existing supply and reverse the leads.  Before you try this, PLEASE make absolutely sure the polarity of your MME matches the cable...I don't want to be responsible for effing up your gear.

If this ends up working and your units aren't broken at all, I'd gladly take one of your three MMEs off your hands. 

[Derp1]

Check the polarity on the power cable(s) you're using and make sure that has the same tip polarity as shown at the input socket on the back of your mini-me (the polarity is indicated near the socket which shows the tip being either positive or negative).  The mini-me and the mini-mp's have polarity that is opposite from the 'normal' polarity of most other electronics devices, so you need to use a dedicated power cable for your MME that is not used on other devices...preferably the one that was originally supplied with the MME or MMP.  On early model MMPs and MMEs, if you plugged in an incorrect cable, you'd fry a diode (and possibly other components) because they weren't reverse polarity protected.  It was really easy to do, because the tip size on the MMP and MME are common tips, so what people would do is find a wall-wart from their collection of wall-warts with the right voltage and proper size tip, and proceed to destroy their unit.  (That's what I did to my MMP.)  On later manufactured MMPs and MMEs, Apogee fixed this issue by redesigning the board to include reverse polarity protection, so if you connect an incorrect polarity cable, the unit won't fry, it just wouldn't power up.  I'm not sure, but I don't think there's a way to tell if an MME or MMP is a later reverse polarity protected unit, other than to open the unit up and check the circuit on the board, assuming you know what you're looking for (which I don't).  Seems like there is some kind of bridge/shunt (not sure of the electronics term) at the power connection point on the board.

Since you're saying that your unit kinda shows some life and then doesn't power up, your units are probably OK and the only thing you need to do is either purchase a reverse polarity cable, or splice your existing supply and reverse the leads.  Before you try this, PLEASE make absolutely sure the polarity of your MME matches the cable...I don't want to be responsible for effing up your gear.

If this ends up working and your units aren't broken at all, I'd gladly take one of your three MMEs off your hands.

I wish this was the case. I have multiple apogee power plug/ wall warts and they all show the same issue, even when plugged into a receptacle. I still have one working unit and am familiar with the necessary reverse polarity cables. I have a few of them I've been progressively collecting over the course of years of using these things. Thank you for the response though.

[grawk]

not directly applicable, but with my apogee ensemble, I had a power supply fail.  I pulled it out, looked up the part number on it and found another power supply that matched the specs.  It won't be the same power supply, because it's 110 and not 12v but both are similar era gear so I imagine they both use off the shelf power supplies and then do their filtration down stream of that

[todd e]

fwiw, apogee lol'd when i called asking about service, even put me on speakerphone to re-ask reuqest..to a room full of laughs.

for their humor - i expected it fully.  this was in 2005 or 2006.

[commongrounder]

After reading your description of the symptoms, I would firstly check the condition of the electrolytic capacitors in both the outboard power supplies and in the units themselves. Pulsing power is a good indication of unstable voltage rails. The units have regulated split power supplies inside, which need fully functioning caps to operate. Also, there will be secondary regulated power rails for the digital logic side. I test caps using an ESR meter, which allows in-circuit checks. If you are confident in your soldering skills, it would not be expensive to just go ahead recap the unit.

[BlueSky71]

Josh, I would be happy to reccap one of them and test it down here. I do amps and speakers as a hobby these days

[Derp1]

After reading your description of the symptoms, I would firstly check the condition of the electrolytic capacitors in both the outboard power supplies and in the units themselves. Pulsing power is a good indication of unstable voltage rails. The units have regulated split power supplies inside, which need fully functioning caps to operate. Also, there will be secondary regulated power rails for the digital logic side. I test caps using an ESR meter, which allows in-circuit checks. If you are confident in your soldering skills, it would not be expensive to just go ahead recap the unit.

Thank you. This could be a huge help.