The Ragini Digital Tanpura is a great companion for classical vocal singers. Last time I had attended one live concert at Bal Gandharv, Pune and had a chance to repair one Ragini Digital Tanpura offhand to continue the singing performance of a great young artist…! You may know, who he was!
Well, if you are rather good in some basic electrical things, then its very simple to repair Ragini Digital Tanpura and Tabla at home. Refer the following photographs. I recently repaired 7 units of Ragini Digital Tanpura and Tabla together of a renowned music college of my home town.
How to open it?
Remember, if the Ragini Digital Tanpura or Tabla which you are opening, is within guarantee period, then suggest your client to refer to the manufacturing company www.soundlabs.in.
However, if the unit has already crossed the guarantee period, then you can of course, open it for repairs.
First there are 4 bolts on both left and right side of the unit, which you have to open. Open all the 8 bolts (remember these 8 bolts are not screw, they are bolts without nuts) with a screwdriver, particularly a sharp screwdriver, as these bolts may have plastic coating on it, applied already by the company. Refer the following photographs for more details –
Unscrew inner bolts
As shown below, there are 6 bolts which you have to unscrew. Its actually a tedious task, because the you cannot unscrew the bottom bolt, as we generally don’t have a screwdriver of such a small size with good big head.
So for that what you have to do is to bend the front panel as shown below. DON’T WORRY! WHEN YOU WILL FIT IT AGAIN AFTER REPAIRS, IT WILL FIT LIKE ORIGINAL PIECE OF COMPANY FITTING…!
Thus remove the first PCB and then the second one.
What are the actual faults?
Ragini Digital Tanpura and Tabla are quite robust and possibly do work long life (not life long!). I have observed that generally the faults occur within the volume potentiometer or the tone potentiometer. Sometimes the fault may be more worse, that the SMPS may stop working (but its a rare case!).
Volume Knob or Tone Knob problem
In case of rumbling sound when volume or tone knob is rotated, then its better to replace it. After opening the unit, desolder the pots and replace with identical value.
Generally they use 10k Log pot for volume control. Do not replace it will LIN type. It will change the overall audible curve of human ear as our ear is sensitive logarithmic increment of sound level in dB i.e. Decibel.
Power Supply Failure
If the unit appears dead when plugged in, then there may be different types of problems as listed below.
- Check the continuity of power cable.
- If power cable is ok, then try to run the unit on pencil cells. Insert 8 pencil cells and then switch on the unit. If the unit works on cells but not on 230V (or 110V) power supply, then there is serious technical issue.
- The internal power supply problem may consist of transformer failure or the rectifier or filter circuit or the regulator circuit.
- However Troubleshooting transformer, rectifier or regulator requires special skill in practical electronics.
- If such problem exist, you can post the comment below. I will reply ASAP. I have repaired about 45+ Ragini Digital Tanpura and Tabla.
This article is published just to help the classical vocal singers to troubleshoot the problem in Ragini Digital Tanpura or Tabla at home. If you find worst problem, then contact me.