MR-1: Internal Lithium Battery and External Battery Pack

[Korg MR-1 1-bit]

On March 26, 2009, I sent my MR-1 recorder in to have the internal lithium battery replaced. On May 12, 2009, the service center completed the battery replacement. Korg Parts was unable to ship the replacement battery to the service center for installation into the MR-1 recorder any sooner. It cost $68.95 for the internal lithium battery only (I did not include the labor cost to replace the battery).

There was a sudden diminishing of the charge capacity of my MR-1 after the PC board failed. I would avoid using the external battery pack (containing 4 AA batteries) with this recorder as much as possible. If the internal battery runs down completely during extended operation with the external battery pack, the MR-1 stops recording (thus, causing you to lose the file being recorded) and the MR-1 then remains in a state of suspended operation. This remaining on by the MR-1 could cause damage to its PC board (that is, failure by your PC to recognize your MR-1 through the USB) and dimished life of MR-1's internal lithium battery (the recorder becomes noticibly warm to the touch during this state of suspended operation). It is my opinion that that is what happened to my MR-1 recorder, that is, use of the external battery pack prevented the MR-1 from shutting down properly after the internal battery lost its charge (for example, proper shut down would be to not lose the recorded file and to protect both the PC board and internal battery from damage).

[Sergievsky]

hmm, interesting. Thanks for the heads up. I hope korg can shed some light into this if it's true. My mr1 will be arriving tomorrow. The price on these things came down enough that it's a must-buy. Can't wait to start using it.