Replacement Joystick Wire Harness for KORG PA500

[tkpopeye]

Does anyone know where I can purchase a replacement wire harness for the joystick on a KORG PA500, or the connectors and pins?

This is a known problem with the PA500 but I cannot locate this harness anywhere.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

[Musicwithharry]

Does anyone know where I can purchase a replacement wire harness for the joystick on a KORG PA500, or the connectors and pins?

This is a known problem with the PA500 but I cannot locate this harness anywhere.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

You can try partsisparts.net - they have a lot of Korg stuff available. I just got a joystick assembly (not the wires) for my PA700.

I also had a PA500 many years ago and had to get it replaced with another one because the joystick was faulty.

Grace,
Harry

[tkpopeye]

Thank you Musicwithharry,

I have located the same link before, only to learn that the wire harness is discontinued. There is nothing wrong with my joystick, only with the poorly-designed wiring harness. It is too flimsy and the wires tear away from the sockets of the connector. I have "fixed" it a couple of times already but its integrity is compromised now. I would like to replace the wire harness with a new one but as stated, they are "discontinued". KORG should be keeping a lot of these in-stock for this reason.

[Musicwithharry]

Thank you Musicwithharry,

I have located the same link before, only to learn that the wire harness is discontinued. There is nothing wrong with my joystick, only with the poorly-designed wiring harness. It is too flimsy and the wires tear away from the sockets of the connector. I have "fixed" it a couple of times already but its integrity is compromised now. I would like to replace the wire harness with a new one but as stated, they are "discontinued". KORG should be keeping a lot of these in-stock for this reason.

One thing that I noticed with replacing the joystick on my PA700 is that the zip-tie that was holding the cables onto the joystick was VERY tight. The shielding on the wires was starting to fray, exposing the copper wire in the assembly.

I had to remove the zip-tie when I put the new joystick in. I covered the wires individually with electrical tape and then taped the assembly of wires together for extra protection. After installing the joystick and taping the wires, I zip-tied them back onto the joystick assembly but made it a bit looser so it would not pull as much when using it. I found it to be on the cables that affected the 'Y' axis (up/down movement, but more up than down, if memory serves).

I know that the joystick on the PA500 is a different kind than the PA700 (min is the newer style like no the Kronos, M50, M3, Microstation, etc...). I imagine that the assemblies look similar, as far as wiring goes though.

If you are handy with a soldering gun, then you can add a bit of cabling to each wire to extend the wires themselves to give them some relief.

To be fair, the PA500 is a few models ago and I would not expect them to keep every part in stock for this many years. Maybe the wiring harness for the newer models would be compatible with the PA500. Since I never opened up my PA500, I do not know what it looks like inside.

Grace,
Harry

[tkpopeye]

I agree with you, in regards to the zip ties being very tight. As far as the wiring, I did have to strip back the insulation a bit to re-crimp them onto the sockets. However, after doing that 2x, the wires then became too short to reach. Therefore, I spliced some 2" extensions onto the 3 separate wires to lengthen them.

Regardless, the movement of the joystick up and down quickly caused the wires to detach from the sockets, even though they were crimped good and also soldered for extra strength/protection.

I will now look into the wire harness for the PA700 to see if it is the same. If so, I will purchase one.

Thank you again for steering me in the right direction.

[tkpopeye]

Musicwithharry... The PA700 joystick wire harness IS different from that on the PA500. Looks like I will have to continue playing with the crimping and soldering again!!