Sennheiser SKM300G2 Display Garbled

[kgallen]

Our Sennheiser SKM300 G2 hand-held radio mic worked fine with no problems until two days ago. Now the display is garbled and it seems to have lost its channel settings and will thus no longer connect to the receiver on the desired channel. I can't now read the LCD display to reset the mic or to reconfigure the channels. There are some characters that come up and flash randomly, but they aren't coherent. For example, when the mic first turns on I know it will display "SKM300" but this is certainly not discernable. The characters are often upper case Greek epsilon characters, so not what one would expect!

 

I've tried 3 sets of fresh batteries and this has not helped. It will power up and power down ok [all switches are intact], but is otherwise now unusable since the channel settings are wrong (for use in the unlicensed band in the UK).

 

It hasn't been dropped or abused in the interim of it working to now not working - I put it back in its box after I tested it the other day, ready for our show this week.

 

Any ideas on what may have gone wrong given these symptoms? Sennheiser will now not repair this unit as it is too old [want £240 for a swap to 100G3]. I've asked them if a service manual is available, so if any ideas come up then I can at least attempt a disassembly and repair.

 

Thanks for any ideas/suggestions.

 

 

Kevin

[Sound Man]

All I can suggest is that you take it apart and check that the ribbon connectors are firmly connected.

[paulears]

I wasn't aware they'd time limited their older products, and G2 is not that old, and there are loads still out there. I can't find it because the search function is broken, but somebody had a G2 repaired by them quite recently - I'm positive it wasn't a G3 system?

[kgallen]

I wasn't aware they'd time limited their older products, and G2 is not that old, and there are loads still out there. I can't find it because the search function is broken, but somebody had a G2 repaired by them quite recently - I'm positive it wasn't a G3 system?

 

 

This page:

 

http://en-uk.sennhei...r-wireless-mics

 

As soon as you click on Evolution Wireless G1, G2 and select G2 you get:

 

 

Due to the age of the G1 & G2 Series products, we unfortunately no longer have access to spare parts to enable effective repairs. We have put a fixed price exchange process in place to ensure that you can replace your radio product with the latest equipment. We would be happy to replace your existing product for its current equivalent in the 100 series G3 range (300 series G3 for IEM products) All replacement G3 transmitters and receivers will work with existing G1 and G2 transmitters and receivers. This exchange offer is intended to replace your faulty part, and is not a replacement for the complete system.

 

o Fixed Price: £240.00 (Inc.VAT)£200.00 (Ex.VAT)

 

Which as you say is a bit of a shame (and a lot of money - although having scanned t'internet about the cheapest you could get a SKM100G3 for), as there will be lots of G2 out there. Certainly all of our other radio mics (now unlicensed band only) are 300G2s.

 

I've contacted service@sennheiser.co.uk to see if they have any suggestions on what the fault could be (and if they have a service manual to allow me to take it apart correctly), and am awaiting a response.

 

 

Thanks,

 

Kevin

 

 

ETA: There are some spares still available. For SKMx00G2 for example: http://spares.sennhe...-g2-100-300-500 and more generically for Evolution Wireless: http://spares.sennhe...lution-wireless

[stu00c]

I've come across some garbled displays (not on Sennheiser transmitters) in the past that were fixed by adjusting the contrast. If there is a very small pot near the display, give it a turn and see what happens.

 

Stu

[kgallen]

I took the mic apart last night and managed to get the display mostly back. There seems to be part of the LCD ribbon cable near where it enters the LCD display that is sensitive to pressure and causes the display to partly fail. There are some segments that never seem to work though. I extracted and reinserted the ribbon cable into the processor board (tricky work with tweezers!) but this hasn't solved the problem completely.

 

I've ordered a new LCD from Sennheiser (£12.50), which fortunately is one of the dwindling set of spares they still hold for this range as it seems widely used across other product. I'm hoping this will fully fix the issue. If it doesn't then I guess there is a driver device or PCB fault which essentially will be unfixable.

 

 

I'll let you know how I get on. Thanks to all who've posted suggestions, appreciated.

 

 

 

Kevin

[kgallen]

Just replaced the LCD and life is good, we're back to normal operation again.

 

Rather £12.50 that £240 :-)

 

Kevin

 

ps Otherwise no response or help from the Sennheiser Service department, even though I have a case number. Pretty disappointing really considering I thought they prided themselves on customer service and they said they'd get back to me within 5 days...

[paulears]

That's good news. The price for a away out isn't that good is it - based on the current cost of a receiver and transmitter kit?

[kgallen]

For £240 you only get the one part - in my example it would just be the handheld mike. You don't get the receiver as well for that amount!

 

As per their website: "This exchange offer is intended to replace your faulty part, and is not a replacement for the complete system"

 

Should you want a new SKM100G3, £240, on a straw poll of the internet, is a reasonably good price in itself, but as the "repair cost" for an otherwise good quality "working" unit, it's a lot of cash.