Pedal or piano broken?

[siiben]

Yamaha P515 with FC4A pedal issue. Pedal keeps swapping polarity and stops working altogether. Any experience with such problems? Will it turn out to be an issue with the pedal or with the keyboard?

[j_tour]

Yamaha P515 with FC4A pedal issue. Pedal keeps swapping polarity and stops working altogether. Any experience with such problems? Will it turn out to be an issue with the pedal or with the keyboard?

How do you know that the polarity is changing at random intervals?

These are both Yamaha products, so the pedal should, as you know, work fine without using one of the "trick" kludges to swap polarity.

I would bet it's the pedal.  Loose connection somewhere inside, maybe part of the cable is shorting inside.

If only due to an optimistic nature, in that if it's not the pedal, you'd have to deep dive into the keyboard, or, more likely, pay someone to do it, which would be a hassle.  And if not impossible, it would take a long time to try swapping new components to the motherboard, probably starting with the 1/4" receptacle for the pedal connecting to the motherboard (or however it's attached), which is not soldering for beginners.

/* Oh, about experience with these problems, I did have to swap polarity on one pedal+keyboard that were incompatible, using the low-tech kludge of putting a pair of interlocking male/female 1/4" TRS adapters in the chain.

I do have that same Yamaha pedal, used with a Yamaha keyboard, and I haven't had that problem.  The pedal itself does not appear to be made to be disassembled, so you may have to physically crack open the plastic housing.  You could put a new cable on it, if you feel like soldering and putting shrink tubes on the exposed wires.

I think you should test a new pedal on it, and buy from someplace where you have the option to return it without a restocking fee if it doesn't solve the problem.

So, I really don't know, just running through some options.
*/

[siiben]

Changes polarity => works in reverse mode. I assume that’s the cause and effect in play. But yeah, hoping for the best! Good idea to get a returnable pedal for testing.

[j_tour]

Changes polarity => works in reverse mode. I assume that’s the cause and effect in play.

Could be.  IIRC I had to change the polarity for a Yamaha volume/expression pedal (the FC7) to use with a Korg or a Roland instrument....I think the only effect I noticed was it just didn't work, but that was a long time ago.

Yeah, I'm hoping for the best for your sake:  if not the pedal, then maybe the CR2032 battery (or similar) is starting to fail inside the keyboard (easy enough to change yourself with a screwdriver), or the piano needs a factory reset or something like that.

There may be a workaround, possibly, if you can assign the pedal to another MIDI channel or some other trickery (there are, I think, still some small companies that produce hardware devices, even to custom order, to remap the control, for about $40 USD or so, IIRC), but that's getting a bit ahead of oneself at this point of basic troubleshooting. 

[siiben]

Which battery are you talking about? What is it's function and where might it be located?

Had a loook inside the pedal and it looked in perfect condition. Could also be the the cable like you said, as it has indeed been pressing against the wall at the root. Hoping it's that. Should still have guarantee on the keyboard and the pedal, so I willl take it to the shop today and see how they try to swindle me.

[j_tour]

Which battery are you talking about? What is it's function and where might it be located?

Just like a computer has a CMOS battery to store various low-level settings, any keyboard should have one (or used to) to ensure custom settings and so on remain saved when the unit is powered down and unplugged.  A CR2032 is one of those big, flat, disc shaped batteries that is very common for that purpose.

Had a loook inside the pedal and it looked in perfect condition. Could also be the the cable like you said, as it has indeed been pressing against the wall at the root. Hoping it's that. Should still have guarantee on the keyboard and the pedal, so I willl take it to the shop today and see how they try to swindle me.

Perfect!  If it's under warranty, then you should be OK.  Really, I don't think any service tech is going to be able to find the problem without spending a lot of time.  If warrantied, they can just swap out an entire printed circuit board on Yamaha's dime, or whatever.

[anacrusis]

I agree with the suggestion to get another pedal, either a cheap one or one you can return, and test it with the keyboard. If that one works, you'll know the problem is in your current pedal and not the keyboard itself.

[siiben]

Turns out the pedal works fine, therefore the problem must be with the keyboard. Hope I get a replacement of some sort for the duration of the overhaul, seeing as it’s under warranty.

[j_tour]

Turns out the pedal works fine, therefore the problem must be with the keyboard. Hope I get a replacement of some sort for the duration of the overhaul, seeing as it’s under warranty.

Well, at least you know for sure now.  Glad you're protected by warranty:  it seems to be a very good piano, so it would be nice to have it working properly for many years to come.

FWIW, I still have a Yamaha P80 that's over 20 years old, held together with black duck tape after taking out the keyboard action (twice!) due to an old habit of resting adult beverages on the piano while playing.  Still works fine, even though it has its inherent limitations.  (Not due to spilled ... products ... into the keybed:  that I was able to fix, but it's still a solid one-trick pony as far as a workhorse digital stage piano goes).  Anyway, it's gotten me through lots of jobs and lots of practice/rehearsals, so I trust Yamaha products even solely based on that one lower-end stage piano.

Maybe a local repair shop has a Virgil Practice Clavier in a storage room somewhere they can give you as a loaner! 

[siiben]

Sounds like you’ve gotten your moneys worth!

Maybe a local repair shop has a Virgil Practice Clavier in a storage room somewhere they can give you as a loaner! 

Ha, hope so.