Is it normal for v5.1 to have a high pitch noise form the device itself?

[Lumm]

Seems to be a good mindset.

[wyleu]

@Baggypants

Wyleu is an advanced practitioner

I like that.
Less soup for you.

[JozsefVarga]

Hi, any update on this topic ? / Now Jan 2025 - I ordered V5.1 and received the same high pitch sound source display ( if that is the sound source…) - in the store I can not see other display option - any Estimation Date when the new display will be available ?
// At the same time I am thankful for you developing this V5.1 HW - production is a very very hard road… //

[paulee]

Haven’t built mine yet (not had time!) but I think I’ll be able to live with it ¯_(ツ)_/¯

[nagrom]

I’d recommend trying gorilla glue clear - the clear is different from the orange stuff, doesn’t dry as hard and remains a little rubbery after curing. It’s also about the thickness of super glue gel but takes 2 hours to cure, so has more of a chance of seeping into the gaps.

[tunagenes]

@Lumm @riban Here is the requested pic - i think the coil-inductor that we suspect as the source of the offending acoustic noise is the big one in the center labelled “220”.

Warning - in some of the discussions I’ve read it is suggested that super-gluing the inductors is NOT a good idea and might cause them to eventually fail from trapped heat. I think that is unlikely.

@JozsefVarga and @Lumm - Is it loud enough to be heard in a room with other electronics, or only in a quiet room? Could you please provide a recording along the lines that @pianissimo did above Is it normal for v5.1 to have a high pitch noise form the device itself? - #2 by pianissimo ? I realize it’s a big ask, but I think it would help clarify what is going on. I’m not asking you to do the spectral analysis unless you feel like it, just the recording.

@jofemodo - is it still your plan to offer “good-non whining” displays at some point? Could you give us some idea of the discussions you’ve had with the display manufacturer or distributor? And what is the manufacturer and part number? To your mind is this a bad batch or just random?

After reading this topic and the articles from it, I think the actual problem is a bit undefined (could be coil whine, or, appropriately for Zynthian, a “singing capacitor”), and bigger than Zynthian, but will only be truly eliminated by using a display technology that doesn’t use a backlight-inverter. But I’m also thinking we can probably make our Zynthians pretty quiet. My V5 is not unusually loud for a piece of smallish electronics with a display.

[jofemodo]

@JozsefVarga

Hi, any update on this topic ? / Now Jan 2025 - I ordered V5.1 and received the same high pitch sound source display ( if that is the sound source…) - in the store I can not see other display option - any Estimation Date when the new display will be available ?

Hi Jozsef!

We just received the new displays and they are totally silent. I’m sorry to say that you received one of the last “noisy” display from the old batch and all new customers should receive the silent one.
As i promised, the new display will be available in the shop for all V5 owners that want to replace. We can’t offer the new display for free, because the old one is not really faulty and our provider is not going to refund us for the old displays. What we can do, (and we will do!), is to offer the display at “cost price”, without benefit for us. We are also looking to lower the shipping cost for this little package, so replacing the display is affordable for all “fine ears” zynthianers. Of course, having sensible ears is a good thing and we would like to take care so you feel comfortable while using your V5

Regarding our provider, we are happy with them. They simply were not aware of the “problem”, same of us, because you need a silent environment to perceive the hum. As soon we exposed the issue, they were very collaborative, looking for solutions and accepting to improve the design.

Give me a couple of days and the display will be available in the shop.

All the best!

[jofemodo]

@nagrom

I’d recommend trying gorilla glue clear - the clear is different from the orange stuff, doesn’t dry as hard and remains a little rubbery after curing. It’s also about the thickness of super glue gel but takes 2 hours to cure, so has more of a chance of seeping into the gaps.

I already tested this solution and it didn’t work for the V5 display, so i wouldn’t waste too much time with this,

Regards,

[tunagenes]

I knew by the time I loaded the pic and wrote a reply it would be obsolete!

But at least I got to learn about singing capacitors!

31_singing_capacitors_piezoelectric_effect.pdf

[jofemodo]

For the curious, these are the design changes we did:

The new LED’s current controller SY7200AABC generates much less harmonics in the audible range and this solved the issue. A simple change in the BOM

BTW, some picture from the development process:

Regards,

[riban]

Is the BOM change something that a skilled solderer could implement themselves, e.g. desolder and resolder replacement parts?

[jofemodo]

I didn’t try to replace by hand, but i think a skilled solderer should be capable of replacing without problems. The controller chip is available in Aliexpress:

https://es.aliexpress.com/item/1005004882299092.htm

For greater clarity, i’ve improved the highlighting of the 2 replaced parts:

• PT4103 => SY7200AABC (SOT23-6)
• 2R4 => 5R6 (0402 => This is quite tiny!)

Regards,

[jofemodo]

Hi V5 owners and hum-haters!

We have the new display available in the shop. If you bought a V5 or V5.1, you can use this discount code when ordering to get the cost price of 25€ aprox.:

SCREEN_DISCOUNT

We also tried to have acceptable shipping costs for this. If it’s not the case, you could contact me, but i can’t promise i can reduce the shipping cost, just try it.

The best,

[JozsefVarga]

Thank You,
I ordered it - with discount code
// For me only one topic left - low output level - at headphone output - I am looking for the corresponding topic thread… I use high impedance headphones - I would like at least same output level as from my laptops //

[JozsefVarga]

I think I found the answer / 2024 Nov thread on - Low output / Audio Levels menu

Behringer UCA202 has very low output

When using my UCA222 interface, the output gain is very low. I don’t set the volume to maximum because it causes clipping in the sound, so I always keep it at the interface’s line level. The sound engineer complained that he has to apply too much gain. Is there a way to improve this? I just selected the UCA222 as the interface and didn’t change any settings.

[msiem]

@jofemodo

We have the new display available in the shop. If you bought a V5 or V5.1, you can use this discount code when ordering to get the cost price of 25€ aprox.:

I just received the new screen and I’m happy to report that the high pitch noise is gone Perfect for my living room keyboard setup, where the noise was really noticable!

[paulee]

Hey I did put my UK address in to the checkout page, out of curiosity, and the postage for the $25 item was…

$35 so I’ll probably live with the noise, unless the price can be brought down quite a bit ¯_(ツ)_/¯

[Lumm]

I think I also will live with it. I have started making much louder music so I am not recognising the voice anymore .

[paulee]

Haha. Well the noise is not recorded so that’s ok - I have some lofi Eurorack stuff with a very high audio noise floor!

[marco]

Hi, can you please give me the direction of where the pin1 of the PT4103 display light controller is?

I tried to encase the coil with hot glue, but the noise is still there, maybe a little damped. I should have also glued the row of capacitors above. (I have checked the temperature of the coil after 15min of operation, and that did not feel hot or warm)

Regards and Thx!