Drum pad not working

[cigano]

Hi,

a week ago I wrote to you about the cymbal that wasn't reacting to all the hits due to the 3.5 mm socket that was loose. Although you said that resoldering the socket onto the pcb is very difficult, fortunately I found a person with a lot of experience on soldering and he managed to solve the problem.

When I tested the cymbal and checked that it was working 100%, I continued to play some GH:WT and after 3 or 4 songs the green pad just stopped reacting, right in a middle of a song. If I push the X button in the controller part it reacts correctly as I had hit the green pad with the drum stick. So frustrating!

I have checked the batteries and they are OK.

It is the GH:WT drum kit for PS3.

How can I check if the piezo sensor is OK? Do I have to remove the back of the drum kit? What do you recomend?

Thanks for your help once again!

[SteveAdmin]

Hi Cigano

Ok so you need to start with a bit of fault finding. Start by taking the back off the drums there are loads of easily visable screws (13 or so?) which will all be small phillips or torx T10 screws.

Now you can see inside you may see that on the back of your defective drum pad that one of the thin cables has come off the sensor - this will be caused by vibration and that is why they use the white / clear silicone over the contacts - if this is the case you will beed to replace the sensor as resoldering the peizo sensors is very difficult to impossible - anyone tempted to try needs to take the drums pad apart before they try as you will melt the foam backing through the plastic plate if you try with it still in!

If the wires look secure (don't tug on them they are delicate!) then trace the wires back to the small white plugs on the circuit board and swap the plugs for the broken pad and a known working one - test this. This will tell you if your problem is the sensor and wire or something else (very unlikley)

If the other pad still works in its new position and the broken one is still broken then you need either a new drum pad or a drum repair kit - both of which you can get from our site. If you are looking for a cheap but solder free solution we have got a new drum repair kit which we hope to have up and online by the start of next week so check back soon!

Have a go at the trouble shooting and get back if you need any more advice

[cigano]

Hi Steve,

I have confirmed that the red cable of the defective drum pad has come off the sensor.

I will now show it to the person who fixed my cymbal so that he can tell if he is able to fix it or not. I will tell him that it is very difficult to impossible.

Then I will buy the repair kit or the new drum pad if he damages it with the soldering...

Thanks for your help!

[aero_zeppelin]

Hello!

So what happened? Were you able to fix it? I'm experiencing the same problem... my red drum stopped working... the black wire from it was kind of loose. I unplugged both wires planning to resolder them, but I understand it is quite difficult...

I found this on the webpage: "If you are good with a soldering iron we also have a slightly cheaper but more complex DIY solution on our drum repair kit page" but cant find the procedure at all...

I'd like to give it a shot resoldering myself before buying the solderless kit...

Anything special I should know before I try this? Do the wires need to be soldered in specific areas of the sensor?

Thanks!!!

[SteveAdmin]

Hi aero_zeppelin

The non-solderless drum repair kits come with the wires pre soldered but do not come with the extra length of cable for you to just plug straight in - you still have to solder cables to the sensor cables and instructions are provided with the purchase of this item.

Honestly I can tell you all that soldering onto the metal disc is not an issure but soldering onto the ceramic sensor is impossible with standard home tools.

Thanks