Passap E6000 Battery & Chipset Information

I'm better with the Japanese machines, but I do love my Passap E6000.

A few years ago, with no local Passap dealers in our area and Passap E6000s developing dead batteries, my husband John learned to do several things to the Passap consoles to help keep us knitting.  John's not in the knitting machine repair business, but he's doing some work for Passap knitters in my club and at the seminars, since he comes with me to help.  If you are attending the DFW seminar and want him to work on your console, please contact me.  His charges are very reasonable, but he can only do a few at seminar, so he's taking them in the order requested.

The batteries are the most urgent issue.  They are all very old now, and once the battery goes completely, the console doesn't work properly until you put a new one in.  If your console develops these problems, DON'T give up on it!  A new battery very likely can bring it back to life.  John has repaired several of "dead" ones by cleaning the contacts inside and changing the battery.

The round, flat batteries are soldiered in the front of the printed circuit board.  These are time-consuming to access and time-consuming to remove and replace, since the old soldier must be removed.  The original batteries are no longer available, but there are newer ones that make a good replacement.

You have a bad battery if, after it has been off for a few days, when you turn it on it displays "memo" and then makes you reselect the language.


Or, for those who are able to work with electronics, here's how to test your battery:  Leave the unit on for a day to fully charge it, then turn it off, wait a few days, and then check the voltage at the battery (after opening the case up). After a day, it should be at 2.9v or more.

The bad news is, the battery is soldered in on the front of the printed circuit board (PCB) which is the inaccessible far side of the board when the rear of the case is removed. Changing the battery requires the special batteries, a special tool, and it takes an hour or so to disassemble the unit, de-solder and re-solder in a new battery, and reassemble.

What Chips Were Used

 
Now, do you know which chips are in your console?  The more modern chipsets had additional capabilities – most importantly, the ability to download patterns from a computer into your console. There were six versions of the E6000 chipset: 03, 13, 23, 33, 43, and 53.

03 – These were the first chips supplied in the E6000.

13 – This was the second version. We don’t know what Passap changed with this version. 

23 and up: All these chips have PC download capability (you might use DAK, Creation 6, or Wincrea).

33 – This chip downloads and also works with the 4600 motor and additional C6 capabilities. Machines originally equipped with this chip had a 32K memory. If this chip was put in later, it added downloading and motor capabilities, but didn’t increase memory.
43 – This chip had all of the above, plus minor enhancements or bug fixes.

53 – This chip had all capabilities of Form 6 software, and everything in prior versions.

If You Don't Know What Chips You Have

Find Out Whether it Will Download: (chipset test for Version 23 or higher):

The console may be removed from the machine to test if it will take a download.

Turn it on and if it says PROGR then go to step 4 and start there.

If it says MEMO, then start at step 1.

The first thing is the display and the second is what button one should push, sometimes 2 buttons in sequence.

1. MEMO Enter

2. Some language not English No

Repeat step 2.

3. ENGLISH Enter

4. PROGR Enter

5. ERASE Enter

6. CAST ON 3, Enter

7. All ST PATT No

8. ST. PATT A, press unlabeled key, zero

At this point the console will display PC START if it can accept downloads from a computer (indicates Version 23 of chips or higher) or ERR 213 and loud tone if not. If it doesn't give that display, then the chips are old but can be upgraded.

Open the Console to Identify the Chipset
1.  Prepare to work inside the console by unplugging the unit and grounding yourself.
2.  Remove the 4 Phillips screws on the back of the console.

Lay the screws out so you can put them back into the same locations they came from. John says that they go back in better in the location they came out of, even though they are "all the same."

3.  Gently remove the back cover to the console. It should come off fairly easily.

4.  Towards the top right corner are a pair of chips with paper labels on them.

They will read something like:

Programm A (or E or another letter) 05.363.03.4.01 08.09.88 (numbers may vary)

Muster A 05.364.03.4.01 08.09.88 (numbers may vary)

5.  Write down your numbers exactly as you see them.

6.  8k or 32k memory identification: Look at the number on the chip above the Programm chip. If the first group of numbers on the top row end in 64, e.g. 8464A-10L it is an 8K machine. If the numbers end with 256, e.g. D43256AC -10L, it is a 32K machine.

7.  Reassemble your console reverse of above.

The 6th and 7th digits (the 03 in my example) tell you which version.

The 6 versions are 03, 13, 23, 33, 43, 53 (see above for descriptions).

The numbers on the Programm chip (digits 3, 4 and 5) indicate the languages on the chip.

Languages are also denoted by the Programm Letter: Letter A: Deutsche - Francais – English; Letter E: Portug - Espanol – English.

The Muster chip is always 05.364.xx (the xx is the version number and starts with 03 and progresses by 10s to 53, which is the last version and must match the Programm version)

05.362 has Portuguese, Spanish and English (Letter E – Americas and/or Southern Europe)

05.363 has German, French and English (Letter A – Northern Europe)

05.365 has Italian, Spanish, and Dutch

05.366 has Greek, Turkish and English

05.367 has Portuguese, African and English

05.415 has German, Russian and Bulgarian

05.416 had German, Finnish and Romanian

Console / Memory Serial number information:

On the console there will be a serial number. If it is 6025980 or higher it will download. The same number should be on the machine bed at the front right end, but it is well to check the console itself just in case. If the number is higher than 7037000 then it will have the 32K memory. Unfortunately, upgrading the memory requires circuit changes so is not as simple as just inserting a bigger memory chip.