You will need the following:

• Soldering/Desoldering Equipment


• CR 2450 Lithium Cell (3V)


• CR 2450 Battery Holder


• Dremel Rotary or filing tool


• Phillips Srewdriver & Plyers 

Below are photos of the battery coin cell/holder and rear close-up of the holder.  You can always opt out and drop in a new battery with solder joints similar to the one we're about to remove.  However, since we're going through the trouble of desoldering and soldering work why not just be done and use a battery holder for future battery replacement?

Now I should probably mention here the reason why I suggested a Dremel or filing tool is the soldering joints on the back of some CR 2450 battery holders might not fit perfectly in the PCB of the Yamaha TQ5.  I had to file the above down a little and use a set of pliers to align.  It was very easy to obtain a perfect fit, and if you don't have these tools to carry out this operation then I'd recommend you abort the following.  I'd hate for a user to damage a TQ5 PCB by forcefully inserting a battery holder not properly fitted. 

Let's get started:

• Remove all screws underneath the unit including the back where Midi and power supply connectors shown below.  You can ignore the Power Supply Hook as it's not necessary to remove.

One you remove the above screws and screws located on the bottom you should be able to open the TQ5.  Below are pictures of the battery location and close-up.

• Remove the following screws and disconnect the connector on the left.  This will allow us to flip the TQ5 PCB over to get to the battery solder joints. 

Below are photos of the TQ5 once we complete the above operation and flip the PCB over.  Notice the battery soldering joints we're about to remove.

With the old battery removed, and new battery holder fitted for installation we can proceed to install.  Make sure you align the holder appropriately with negative/positive and solder in place.

With the above completed and new battery installed we can proceed to the next phase of operation, that of Factory resetting the TQ5 to default settings.                     

• Connect everything back up, and before enclosing you might want to power-on the unit.  You should see similar screen shots below.  Notice the Tuning and Note shift functions are out of order, even User presets display odd characters.  This is due to the change of battery.

• Enter the TQ5 Factory Test Procedure screen by doing the following while still powered-on:

1. Hold down Effect,

2. Then hold down Exit,

3. Then hold down Store.

You should now see the screen shot below;

4. Enter on the Keypad #17 (Factory set), then hit the sign.  The screen shot below will appear.

5. Hit the sign again and it will say "18. Exit?", hit the sign and the TQ5 will restart.

The screen shot below will appear and you can power-off/on to make sure the battery is working and you've performed the install correctly before closing everything back up.  Enjoy!

• Simple Green Concentrated All Purpose Cleaner 22oz. - to clean the boards.


• Blow Dryer or Air Compressor - to dry the boards.


• Silicone Oil - for the sliders.  I used Kyosho 900, another is TeamLosi 1000 wt. Both will work great and can be picked up at your local hobby shop.


• Medical Syringes w/needle - to apply the silicone oil to the sliders.  This is optional and not really needed at the onset since you can apply the silicone oil while you have boards out.  The syringes come in handy if you ever need apply lubricant after all is connected again.

After taking all the slider caps off (except portamento) unscrew and lift the front panel.  It should look something like the image below.  Take a photo and/or remember the connections.  We're only going to be cleaning the middle and right boards (B & C).  Board A on the left is the one that contains the portamento slider, I didn't bother to clean this board since it only has one slider and reading some sensitive issues when applying this procedure (i.e. op amp going bad).  I've read Board A can easily be repaired if something does go wrong but I just didn't didn't want to deal with it.

1. Disconnect/remove Boards B (Middle) and Board C (Right) from the Odyssey.


2. Spray the Simple Green Solution on the board (one at at time) and in the sliders.   Let sit for 2min. Make sure you get in the sliders allowing simple green to work through.


3. Rinse out the board thoroughly with warm water in your sink/bathtub preferably with a spray nozzle.


4. Dry the board.  Using a blow dryer or air compressor.  Air compressor is best, but I used a blow dryer with fair results and a little patience.  The main point is the board MUST BE COMPLETELY DRIED before connecting and powering on!!!


5. After you're done with Board B, apply the same procedure to Board C.


6. With both boards dried and disconnected, apply the silicone oil to the track sliders.  After lubricating move the sliders gently up and down.  Add more lubricant if needed, be careful not to over lubricate.


7. Screw the boards back on the Odyssey casing and connect all cables.

You should now be good to go!  I also disconnected/removed the keyboard section of the Odyssey, cleaned with Simple Green and rinsed the whole bit (again, make sure it's all dried before connecting).

With all the above completed, I noticed a big difference in performance.  Sliders moved with ease, keys were responsive and tracking accordlingly.  The instrument just felt brand new.  The only other thing I could've done to improve performance was to repace the keyboard bushings, but mine still looked pretty good on inspection and played fine.

You can find plenty of pics online 'before vs. after' board cleaning.  Also at the end of this thread is a video by Kevin Lightner, a synth repair genius who actually puts Odysseys through a similar cleaning procedure (only difference is he may use a different slider lubricant).  About as much crap came out of my Odyssey like shown in the video.  I hope this documentation helps!

Kevin Lightner Video

You can get replacement switches from Mouser Electronics SKQEAAA010 ALPS Tactile & Jog Switches.  These work perfect, and the only skills required are a little desoldering/soldering skills.  The most difficult part and time consuming for me was removing the switch caps.  I used a flat flat screwdriver but it still took some time and in fact some jog switch components popped write off with the switch cap!!! 

After desoldering of the old jog switches its as simple as dropping in the new and soldering them in.  Your TB-303 switches will function good as new like it did in 1981 :) 

The nicotine exposure to a TR-909 can be hard to discover in pictures since the panel itself is white.  Chances are when you get your unit you'll notice right away.  Wiping the unit down with a cloth wont remove the stains, and in fact it may be next to impossible to 100% completely remove.  I chose to use "Mr. Clean Magic Erasers".  I scrubbed the whole front panel down lightly which removed a great deal of dirt without damage to the panel (you can always test on the back/bottom of the unit).  The front panel/buttons appeared much cleaner.  However I didn't want to keep scrubbing in fear of damaging the front panel layout scheme and colors.  The "Before" picture may be a little off in color since the camera flash was OFF (it was the only pic I captured before starting the cleaning) but you can tell it's not pearly white.  The cleansing made a big difference afterwards and I think the unit looks a lot better.  Your mileage may very depending on how many years of cigarette smoke your unit's been exposed to.

Before

After

1st priority was to remove the Sharpie name on the bottom and right-side panel using "Goof-Off' spray applied to a dry cloth.  The bottom name came off with ease and no discoloration/damage.  The side panel however took a couple of applications to remove the name and dried old masking tape.  "Goof-Off" doesn't work well on plastics as you'll see in the photo but I couldn't think of another solution.  2nd priority was to repair the right-side panel and the best solution I could find was a car trim dye kit "ForeverBlack".  This worked perfect, but took a couple of applications to the right-side.  To match it up I also applied to the left-side panel. 

Left-Side Before

Left-Side After

Right-Side Before

Right-Side After

Product Used

Next was replacing the broken battery holder.  You can get these online at Technology Transplant for $10 w/shipping to the USA.  All that's required is a little desoldering of the old and soldering of the new battery holder located on the right inside of the board.  The battery holder is easily accessible via removal of the TR-808 front panel.

Old Battery Holder Removed

New Battery Holder Installed

The TR-808 now looks and works perfect :)  Some may shy away from the side panel restore opting for "It's not original".  However given the age of this instrument you're bound to find damage to the plastic side panels that could use color restoring.  Keep in mind the flash was ON when the photos were taken for the panels shown above, making them appear glossier than they actually are.  I hope this helps in restoring the side panels and/or battery holder replacement for your TR-808!