My Box doesn’t work - What to do if things go wrong
Things do go wrong from time to time. We test our units multiple times during the build process, but like many things electronics can and will fail. But don’t panic. We are here to help.
First if you find things are not working then there are a few things to check
No lights - it doesn’t switch on - Check the battery
If things don’t switch on then the first thing to check is the battery.
Find a known good battery and plug it in. We know the ElectroPebble battery is a little awkward to replace but once you find the knack it is easy. Batteries do not last for ever, so if things stop working then change the battery with a low good one. And when we say known good we mean a brand new one, not one that has been sitting in the back of a drawer for the last 6 years, and NOT one from your smoke alarm.
If things still don’t switch on and you have changed the battery, and you have plugged it in then unfortunately it is time to give us a call.
It switches on but I don’t feel anything
Check your connections
Make sure everything is connected correctly. I have started a demo that failed, to then find that things were not plugged in - it happens to the best of us. Cables are one of the things that will fail over time, so always check things are plugged in and wriggle them around. Try switching channels if you have a multi channel box, and or changing cables.
Check your electrodes
For Insertables, have you cleaned them? If not maybe it is time you did!! And when you take them apart for cleaning did you put them back together in the right way? The Tripples have some insulation sleeves that need to be fitted, and most of the bipolar insertables have a small white internal collar around the central bolt that can be missed.
Electrodes need to be in contact with the skin, so you cannot stick a condom over them - it will simply not work. If you are using gel then use a good quality water based electro conductive lube such as our ElectroGel - silicon or oil based lubes may act as insulators and even attack the materials in cables or conductive rubber.
Conductive rubber
Conductive Rubber does not last for ever. There I have said it. We consider it to be a consumable. It’s a polymer loaded with carbon to give it conductivity and the more it flexes the more the polymer breaks down. So if you are finding things are getting a little stale then it might be your Conductive Rubber that is failing.
Make sure you haven’t plugged both connections into the same loop - it does happen, and no it doesn't work.
Make sure your are only using water based lube silicon and oil based lubes will attack the rubber and reduce the conductivity.
Testing
Most E-Stim power units have nothing that can be tested at home. Sticking a multimeter on the outputs will not give your a meaningful value and could damage both your power unit and your multimeter. A better test is to use a couple of fresh sticky pads on the palm and back of your hand, or hold a bipolar electrode in your hand and then turn the power up slowly- if your can feel something then it is generally not the powerbox.
You can sometimes check the cables with a continuity tester, but make sure the e-stim unit and any electrodes are NOT connected at the time.
Audio Issues
90% of the issues we find are caused by people over driving the inputs. You do not need to feed max volume into the box to get a good output, what you’ve are doing in that situation is to over drive everything wiping out any nuances the audio might be giving you.
The 2B in particular is unique in so much it is designed to process music, it is NOT an ET312, so it processes audio in a completely different manner.
If in doubt - ask
It’s scary how many units we have produced over the years. But every one of them is covered by our lifetime guarantee, assuming you are the original owner and you haven’t opened or modified your unit. The fact we’ve are not spending every day repairing them does indicate to use that at least some of our processes are working, but we do know that it can be frustrating when a cherished unit fails especially when it occurs during play.
If something appears to fail then have as look at some of their points raised above, but if you still have problems, then please drop us an email with some details on the issue then we will do our best to help. You might need to send it back to us for us to have a poke in the workshop but we will do out best to ensure this is as painless as possible.
