Ensoniq SQ-80

I own an Ensoniq SQ-80 synthesizer keyboard. This keyboard includes a sequencer and accepts floppy disks and cartridges.

Maintenance

One time I turned on the sequencer and it told me the battery was low. How nice of an electronic machine to let me know instead of just failing. The battery is 2/3 A with solder tabs, found on the main board, under the RF guard. Removing the short-as-possible leads helps remove the guard. Use a very thin flat screwdriver to separate the tab just a bit on the connector—Pry too hard and the tongue snaps (words of experience).

Most maintenance is done after removing the top panel, by removing 4 screws with a 2mm allen wrench.

Upgrades

According to the technical manual, adding a ferrite bead to the wires between the transformer and the power supply prevents memory loss on shutdown, and should be checked on units with a serial number lower than 500890, when the factory started installing them.

References

http://www.buchty.net/ensoniq/

A huge resource-page, plenty of documents and links for repair, etc. for the SQ-80 and ESQ-1.