Reviews and questions about the entry-level MPC500
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By 4000is1monster Wed Jan 17, 2007 5:26 am
The thing i fear most about the MPC 500 is not that it'll get stolen, is not that I'll get robbed for it, is not that I'll drop it and break it........ its that I will have left the batteries inside the machine after not having used it in awhile and the batteries will have burts inside the machine leaving corrision and rust all over the inside of the 500 and that it will be inoperable from there on out.

Anyone else have that fear?

That happened to me about a thousand times as a kid with toys that ran on batteries. Anyone got any suggestions about how long a device like this can be safely left alone with the batteries still inside. Sometimes I go weeks or months without having used my equipment or trying to make any music.
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By Contra Wed Jan 17, 2007 6:27 am
i cant say exactly cuz i dont have one, but since it does have the part of the board exposed where the batteries go it might go bad, but that aint a professional opinion. id say just remember to take em out at the crib if u kno u could plug it in somewhere and not using it just take out the batteries.

By littlelio Wed Jan 17, 2007 8:44 am
Yes, but anyway you have take care of your toy/instrument anyway.

I think taking the batteries out everytime you played MPC500 would be a good idea.
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By strength Wed Jan 17, 2007 8:45 am
i wonder why they left it exposed like that , makes me mad nervous every time i open it
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By Contra Wed Jan 17, 2007 9:07 am
strength wrote:i wonder why they left it exposed like that , makes me mad nervous every time i open it


so which do u like bbetter 500 or 1000 ?
heh heh heh.
8)
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By jowdjo Wed Jan 17, 2007 2:50 pm
Man, u r not a kid anymore, and that is not a toy anymore... So take care of that machine... hm... I think the batteries only goes bad if you dont touch in the machine (with batteries inside) for a long time, like 6months... but I dont know well.

Although, like littlelio said, its better to take batteries off, everytime you finish using your mpc, coz when she's off she doesnt need the batteries :P

That's it!

Peace.
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By Lampdog Wed Jan 17, 2007 4:15 pm
It's not hard to take the batteries out.
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By 4000is1monster Wed Jan 17, 2007 8:19 pm
yeah its not hard to take the batteries out but its a pain in the ass when you use it everyday like Im using it now. But sometimes you just forget... How much musical equipment do you own that run on batteries? of course Im gonna take care of it just like I take care of the rest of my equipment but I've had batteries burst after even a short period of time left alone, thats why I wish akai had used something like a removable Lithium Ion battery pack instead of having us rely on consumer grade over the counter batteries which I really have no faith in.

I've never a litium ion battery pack explode inside any of my machines that come with them (cell phone, Ipod, minidisc player, etc...), ever! as a matter of fact I think Litium Ion packs have some kind of speacial chip that prevents stuff like that. Making an expensive piece of musical equipment that runs on store bought, consumer grade and highly unreliable batteries is pretty Un-professional from akai professional.
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By Upright Wed Jan 17, 2007 8:52 pm
Yeah I feel you, but why not just get some rechargables??
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By 4000is1monster Wed Jan 17, 2007 8:53 pm
The energizer Lithium batteries are not the same as Lithium-Ion batteries and as a matter of fact I was looked it up on google and it said that regular Lithium batteries (non-ion) are highly unstable because they use Prue lithium as their energy source and regular Lithium batteries dont have that chip installed in them that keeps them stable.

Im probably just paranoid, I havent used consumer over the counter batteries in years... and had some pretty bad experiences with them in years past, I had shit completetly ruined through no fault of my own.

Think about it... how many of the portable devices you use nowadays DON'T have a rechargable Lithium Ion battery pack in it? I guarantee your cell phone does, I guarantee your mp3 player does (unless its a real cheap one), your PSP does, Hell... even my toothbrush does (sonic-care).

Dont tell me im the only one that had this kind of thing happen to me, Im sure plenty of your sony walkman's out there from the 80's were ruined by battery acid leaks.
Last edited by 4000is1monster on Wed Jan 17, 2007 10:58 pm, edited 3 times in total.
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By Upright Wed Jan 17, 2007 8:58 pm
Someone like yourself seems a little more apt to taking the batteries out after every use seeing that you have had bad experiences in the past...sounds like your pretty worried about damaging your 500 due to a battery malfunction/leak.
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By 4000is1monster Wed Jan 17, 2007 9:01 pm
Yeah I feel you, but why not just get some rechargables??


Upright, I am using NiMH rechargables (energizer) but thoes are a whole other story, I had nightmares with rechargables years ago too. I guess back then they were using NiCad in them? I had a set of panasonic batteries back in the early 90's for my gameboy that worked ONCE! I used them and they worked fine in my gameboy at first and I went to recharge them and everything was still all good. The 2nd time I tried to recharge them, nothing happened and the batteries never worked after that.

I've had a bad history, except in the last 7-8 years or so, now everything comes with a Lithium-Ion pack and they recharge beautifully and always work.
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By lovesign Wed Jan 17, 2007 10:33 pm
Sounds like you're too afraid to go out the front door !! LOL ;) ;)

Seriously though, you have a few choices. Use regular alkaline cells and worry about the leaks, use lithium cells and worry about the stability or use rechargeable cells and worry about them not working or being a lower voltage.

Modern alkaline cells are sealed much better than they used to be and I cannot remember the last time I had a leaky one. You really only need to remove them if you're not going to use something for weeks at a time. Bear in mind that if you kept your 500 sat flat on it's base, gravity would cause any leak to flow away from anything sensitive.

Lithium cells are just fine. They last a long time and I know plenty of people who use them and have never had problems with stability. Treat them as just a very long life battery cell and you will be fine.

Rechargeable's are pretty solid too nowadays. I use them in my digicam and PC mouse and the only drawback is that when they go, they go quick. They retain their power for shorter periods and output a slightly lower voltage but in most appliances this is fine. Always carry a spare set though, and in the case of the MPC500, make sure you back up regularly !
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By strength Wed Jan 17, 2007 11:09 pm
Contra wrote:
strength wrote:i wonder why they left it exposed like that , makes me mad nervous every time i open it


so which do u like bbetter 500 or 1000 ?
heh heh heh.
8)

the 1000 with the jj os is quicker to work with