Loose Ribbons Causing Unbalanced Stereo Bus

[JoshMoran]

Hey guys,

Having an issue with a couple ribbon cable connections causing an unbalanced Stereo Bus. Basically S5E through S9E seem to keep coming loose causing the right side of our console to be lower than our left. I've cleaned them with DeoxIt D5 and some DeoxIt Gold, but every now I have to take out channels 25 & 26 to apply pressure to the various ribbons to balance out the Stere Bus again. It's super annoying and happens mid-mix sometimes.

Has anyone dealt with this before or know what might be going on? I feel like it's not just the ribbons.

[waltzingbear]

probably is the ribbons, where ID in IDC happens.  (that's Insulation Displacement)

In other words the connector is loose where it crimps onto the cable.
you can try
1) reseating the ribbon into the connector by pressure as if you were making it new
or
2) put a new connector on the ribbon. A small vise is useful for this, get a few IDC connectors of the correct size and practice first. (on another piece of ribbon) You loose about a half inch of length, meh.

Cheers
Alan

[JoshMoran]

Awesome, really appreciate the help. That completely makes sense, I'll give it a go.

[waltzingbear]

please report back your results