advertisement


Sticky buttons on a dacmagic.....

foxwelljsly

foxwelljsly

Me too, I ate one sour too.
the source and filter buttons on my Cambridge audio dacmagic have become a bit sticky and have to be pressed hard and repeatedly to work.

Anyone know if this is an easy DIY fix?

Cheers
 
foxwelljsly said:
the source and filter buttons on my Cambridge audio dacmagic have become a bit sticky and have to be pressed hard and repeatedly to work.

Anyone know if this is an easy DIY fix?

Cheers
Click to expand...

H20GNA said:
Contact cleaner on buttons and inside switches, simple solution before having to go deeper into unit.

Gary
Click to expand...

Hi,
I have the same problem with the buttons not responding swiftly to them being pressed, on the original Dacmagic.

@foxwelljsly , did you have any success? Any pointers you could give as to how you proceeded?

Gary @H20GNA , when you say "on buttons and inside switches", is this something that can be done without opening the unit up? I have an electric circuit cleaner spray that I've used very successfully to clean the pots on an 1970s amplifier. I tried using the same spray from the outside getting the liquid to drip in from above, but this did not yield and results and I thought the liquid was having I hard time to trickle down in under the buttons.

Are you familiar with how this type of switch looks on the inside? Might it be easier to get the liquid to clean if I open the unit up (it seems a bit difficult to open, appears not to be just to unscrew buttons, otherwise I would have opened it already and tried.)
 
guermantes said:
Hi,
I have the same problem with the buttons not responding swiftly to them being pressed, on the original Dacmagic.

@foxwelljsly , did you have any success? Any pointers you could give as to how you proceeded?

Gary @H20GNA , when you say "on buttons and inside switches", is this something that can be done without opening the unit up? I have an electric circuit cleaner spray that I've used very successfully to clean the pots on an 1970s amplifier. I tried using the same spray from the outside getting the liquid to drip in from above, but this did not yield and results and I thought the liquid was having I hard time to trickle down in under the buttons.

Are you familiar with how this type of switch looks on the inside? Might it be easier to get the liquid to clean if I open the unit up (it seems a bit difficult to open, appears not to be just to unscrew buttons, otherwise I would have opened it already and tried.)
Click to expand...
Ha. No. It's in bits in a box somewhere. You'll need a very long pz screwdriver to get it apart.
 
guermantes said:
As in "it did not succeed" or as in "I did not get around to trying" ?
Click to expand...
It remains an uncompleted task. The little selector switches are sealed units and I suspect they need replacing and I couldn't find replacements. If anyone finds out the part number for the switches, let me know. TBH, as it's limited to 16/44 over USB and has no remote control or volume control, it's not a huge amount of use to me, anyway. Although it would be fun to try it against the topping in my current system if I got it working again.
 
Geoffreybombom said:
You may need new tactile switches, not expensive.
Click to expand...
Didn't know that was what they were called. 6mm tactile switches. Cheers. I'll pop them out and check the height needed.

Edit: my vernier calipers say 6x6x5mm, although they could be 4.3, I'll order both.
 
foxwelljsly said:
Didn't know that was what they were called. 6mm tactile switches. Cheers. I'll pop them out and check the height needed.

Edit: my vernier calipers say 6x6x5mm, although they could be 4.3, I'll order both.
Click to expand...

Are you going to attempt to switch them out? I am completely new at these things, so if you wouldn't find it too cumbersome to snap a couple of photos of the process I can assure you I would be very grateful!
 
Apologies for the thread bump, but I am having this issue too.

What I have noticed is that it seems to have 'moods' where the buttons don't work.

Often the input selector gets stuck on the USB input, which may be relevant as that is the one that has no signal on it.

I'm wondering if it's a case of capacitosis rather than dodgy buttons.

Did anyone ever suss it out definitively?
 
As @Geoffreybombom - probably the actual switches have died.

I had the same problem on a digital kitchen scales that must be 10++ years old. I ignored the Amazon reviews and bought new - and got random gain and loss of an ounce or so. Other reviews for all scales at realistic price (<£20) claim the same.

It was a faff to replace the switches (around 2p each) for two reasons - they are soldered on at 4 positions, so desoldering and getting them off the board was a pain due to access, and the other was linked to the fact that it was a scale using a load sensor - the load sensor wires are like fine hair. I ended up soldering decent hook-up wires to the load sensor leads and shrink-sleeving them. At least that won't be a problem for this.

One word of caution - the switches come in numerous sizes and some are like hens' teeth - I could not find the size that I wanted outside of a huge kit, so bought the nearest and ended-up not re-fitting the cover over them (the bit that you would normally see as the "switch") as it simply would not fit even when I reduced the thickness of it.

Dead cheap and pretty easy to do but it will take patience and more than 5 minutes.
 
Last edited:
Thanks. The fact that whether the buttons work or not seems loosely related to what it's doing at the time (wrt inputs signals) makes me wonder if the problem lies elsewhere. That is my feeling anyway, that's why I was wondering if anybody cured it. When it's in a good mood, both switches work. When it's in a bad mood, both switches mostly don't work (but work eventually if you persist).

It's made by Cambridge so it's full of no-name electrolytic capacitors and one of those failing could perhaps lead to temperamental behaviour. It's lasted over 10 years which is pretty good for a modern Cambridge product.

I will find out one way or another anyway. When I get time I will attach some wires and see if shorting externally follows the same moody behaviour.
 
Just to complete this, I replaced the buttons with new ones and it did indeed fix the issue.
I suppose the old buttons made just enough contact to either work or not work depending on what the unit was doing at the time (different circuit conditions).

The type is 6x6x5mm and the 4-pin variety (not the rarer 2-pin variety).

I got a bag of 10 from a well known auction site for £2.60.
They were titled "10 x Momentary Tactile PCB SPST Push Button Switch Miniature Micro 6x6x5mm"
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top