Satolex Calcu-Pen LED calculator: Got one on 1st day of the New Year!

[jebem]

To celebrate the New Year, I managed to acquire a vintage (1975?) Japanese Satolex Calcu-Pen LED calculator in a pen from one of our local flea markets.

I had to pay a higher price than I was willing to spend, because there was another buyer looking to it as well.
So this time I had no chance to negotiate a better price.
Just payed what the seller asked and got it home.

I got just the calculator, as the seller didn't own the user guide nor the case anymore.

This is a heavyweight almost full metal jacket machine (the keys and inner body are made from plastic).
IMHO this is not a stylish product, although it shows how impressive was the 70's Japanese technology and build quality.








Current consumption:
The power supply uses one single 1.5Volt LR1 type "N" cell.
Being a LED calculator, one can only expect high current consumption.

My current readings gave me these figures:
Min 90mA (single "0" lit);
Max. 135mA (all LED's on).

Considering that other conventional LED calculators from the same era can consume about the same current but from a 3.6V battery pack (more than double voltage), I would say that Satolex did a excellent work to reduce the energy consumption to the minimum possible at the time.




Edited to add additional information from external references:

User guide copy from Katie Wasserman's site.

Restore information from MoHPC archives "What the heck, it is a calculator and I just restored it...." posted by Geoff Quickfall on 11 Feb 2008.

[Bill (Smithville NJ)]

Jose,

Neat Calculator Pen.

Do the keys have four-way action - i.e. press up, down, left, right - or do you cycle through the key options with each press?

Bill

[Katie Wasserman]

(01-03-2015 04:02 PM)Bill (Smithville NJ) Wrote:  Jose,

Neat Calculator Pen.

Do the keys have four-way action - i.e. press up, down, left, right - or do you cycle through the key options with each press?

Bill

Four-way action! It's fun to use, but not if you're in a rush.

[jebem]

(01-03-2015 04:02 PM)Bill (Smithville NJ) Wrote:  Do the keys have four-way action - i.e. press up, down, left, right - or do you cycle through the key options with each press?

Hi, Bill,

As Katie mentioned before, each key can be pressed on the four sides.

It seems each key is being kept in place by some sort of mechanical spring component.
I can feel the spring action when pressing the key, but there is no mechanical feedback of a key being pressed (this is not a good classic HP keyboard after all).

In fact, I realize now that some of the key contacts are not registering on the first key press, so I really feel the pressure to dismantle it piece by piece just to see how did they engineered it and try to repair it.
But not right now. I have to wait for a better moment when I have the time and the right mood to start and finish this hobby task!

[Geoff Quickfall]

Hi Jebem,

Check out this posting!

calcupen restoration

Geoff

[jebem]

(01-03-2015 05:55 PM)Geoff Quickfall Wrote:  Hi Jebem,

Check out this posting!

calcupen restoration

Geoff

Hi, Geoff,
Thank you so much for sharing your findings!
It is a really helpful information that I will use when I decide to dismantle mine.

Did you had the chance to inspect the key mechanism structure?
I'm afraid that the keys can be sealed in each plastic container making it impossible to repair the contacts.

[Geoff Quickfall]

They are sealed in black plastic. That would be major surgery. If a contact was having problems I might drill a TINY hole and inject some DEOXIT GOLD. Physically it would be difficult but so is repairing a 28s with 35 broken heat stakes. It can be done!

Geoff

P.s.

I have a mk52 NOS which checks out to be in perfect condition. Loaded a program with constants and managed to store in EPROMs in program and data addresses.

My manuals are Russian so I am just hacking my way thru :-)

Without the manual I have determined the following:

- it is possible to eeprom store multiple programs up to the 512.
- each is recalled to the ram by address and are restricted to 105 lines of programming.
- data is also address specific and not separated by internal automation but by judicious address location as part of the 512 and created by the user.

Better yet, how about sending me an English version of the 52 or 61 if you have one!

Geoffqfattelusdotnet and replace the 'at'and 'dot'

Cheers, Geoff

[jebem]

(01-03-2015 06:29 PM)Geoff Quickfall Wrote:  They are sealed in black plastic. That would be major surgery. If a contact was having problems I might drill a TINY hole and inject some DEOXIT GOLD.

That's what I was afraid. Drilling seems to be a wise option. Thanks, Geoff!

(01-03-2015 06:29 PM)Geoff Quickfall Wrote:  I have a mk52 NOS which checks out to be in perfect condition.
My manuals are Russian so I am just hacking my way thru :-)
Better yet, how about sending me an English version of the 52 or 61 if you have one!

Sure! My translation work is in draft form, with a few typos here and there, but that's what I could come up so far.

MK-61 translated instruction guide:
It is available to download from Katie's site here.

MK-52 EEPROM operation:
Unfortunately my experience with the MK-52 programming is very limited.
I have just followed Sergei Frolov's several Internet posts explaining on how to test the EEPROM operation.
I have copied these Sergei Frolov's instructions into my own MK-52 thread here.

However, I'm planing to translate the MK-52 instruction guide, or at least a partial translation covering the MK-52 extra features not available in the MK-61 machine.
This will happen in the near future, depending on my spare time.