Help! Kenwood Keg HDD - anyone got one in a TVR?
Help! Kenwood Keg HDD - anyone got one in a TVR?
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Discussion

munky

Original Poster:

5,328 posts

277 months

Wednesday 15th June 2005
quotequote all
I bought one of these, from eBay as I wanted the newer version that isn't available here. The damn thing doesn't work over 80mph however, it skips and jumps tracks and then says "Eject" until I slow down. Sometimes it hangs and won't work at all and I have to reformat the drive. Installed professionally, following all recommendations about mounting flat etc. Can't send it back for a refund, warranty not valid (although actually the thing does work, it's just a vibration problem). Annoyingly, I also bought a Kenwood head unit, whereas if it wasn't for the Keg I would have bought something better.

Any ideas? Perhaps a way of damping the vibration? I suspect it wasn't designed for hard suspension cars that go over 55mph..

thank you!!!

hobo

6,613 posts

275 months

Wednesday 15th June 2005
quotequote all
I've got one, although have never got around to fitting it as yet.

Also, like yourself, I bought a Kenwood head unit (seems quite good), and also had upgraded speakers (front & rear).

Was thinking of having the Keg fitted this week for the trip down to LeMan, but have left it too late.

Brilliant bits of kit (I assume) if working correctly.

gingerprince

571 posts

270 months

Wednesday 15th June 2005
quotequote all
The Keg is a hard-disk based unit that pretends to be a CD changer isn't it? In which case there should be no issues with vibration making it "skip". These drives can take more than you think.

I run a hard disk mp3 player in my Griffith, this one:

www.densionusa.com/dh100ix_info.htm

The same company also do a similar "pretend to be a CD changer" thing:

www.densionusa.com/dmp3_info.htm

In the past I have also run small PC's for music, sat nav etc, and never had a "skipping" problem.

Are you sure it's not dodgy wiring rather than anything to do with drive mounting (I don't necessarily mean _your_ wiring, I mean for example connections that are susceptible to vibration)?

parrot of doom

23,075 posts

263 months

Wednesday 15th June 2005
quotequote all
Check the connections, also check the mounting. HD's don't suffer from skipping or jumping unless the forces involved are quite high.

An option is to design your own mount for it, a suspended 'cats cradle' of elastic would soon put a stop to any problems.

munky

Original Poster:

5,328 posts

277 months

Saturday 18th June 2005
quotequote all
Connection seems ok, can't make it skip when stationary and always fine at low speeds. Tracks sometimes get corrupted when it has been skipping, indicating perhaps that the HDD head is crashing into the disk. Might try some rubber washers or some cushioning involving bubble wrap..

gingerprince

571 posts

270 months

Sunday 19th June 2005
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munky said:
Connection seems ok, can't make it skip when stationary and always fine at low speeds. Tracks sometimes get corrupted when it has been skipping, indicating perhaps that the HDD head is crashing into the disk. Might try some rubber washers or some cushioning involving bubble wrap..


That's the spirit, do what the TVR factory would do - stuff some foam around it

parrot of doom

23,075 posts

263 months

Sunday 19th June 2005
quotequote all
munky said:
Connection seems ok, can't make it skip when stationary and always fine at low speeds. Tracks sometimes get corrupted when it has been skipping, indicating perhaps that the HDD head is crashing into the disk. Might try some rubber washers or some cushioning involving bubble wrap..


If thats happening, you have a faulty unit. IIRC a HD can be good for some serious G's.

dodgyviper

1,213 posts

267 months

Sunday 19th June 2005
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As this only occurs under specific conditions and not at any other time then it's unlikely to be connectivity. The fault is being caused by the cars behaviour at certain speeds - vibration is the obvious cause with intermittent power coming a distant second (a multimeter on the power leads would show massive fluctuations if a fault was present).

I'd look to modifying the mounting of the hdd to suppress vibration - foam or similar - do you have pics of the unit.

Have a Sony MEX-1HD in my Chim and have never had probs with skipping etc on the HDD and its a standard head unit that gets rattled along with everything else.

Edit: Agree with Parrot here, that a seemingly overly sensitive HD



>> Edited by dodgyviper on Sunday 19th June 11:40

munky

Original Poster:

5,328 posts

277 months

Thursday 14th July 2005
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I recently noticed, after the fitters moved it to its current position, that it was only being held down by 2 screws out of a possible 6, which left it a little loose. So I added 2 more (6 are not possible as the unit sticks out, it is larger than the ledge on which is rests). This has improved it but still not quite acceptable. So I'll try rubber washers first I think and then the bubble wrap (which may possibly make it worse). I'll take a photo at some point. Thanks for the posts so far!

parrot of doom

23,075 posts

263 months

Thursday 14th July 2005
quotequote all
Its knackered mate. HDs are much much stronger than your experience suggests.

munky

Original Poster:

5,328 posts

277 months

Thursday 14th July 2005
quotequote all
parrot of doom said:
Its knackered mate. HDs are much much stronger than your experience suggests.


Well if all else fails I could try a new HDD cartridge, cheaper than replacing the whole unit. I'll contact the maker via the support website as well

munky

Original Poster:

5,328 posts

277 months

Monday 15th August 2005
quotequote all
I know you're all on the edge of your seats waiting for the outcome of this. So...

Solved!

Fixed with a yellow duster.

Noticed there was excess vertical movement of the HDD cartridge in the unit it plugs into in the boot. So, wrapped the HDD in yellow duster and plugged it in. From then on, no more skipping, even at 130mph.

I'm quite happy about this, cheap fixes are often the most effective. It does look a bit daft, but hey.