Knitmaster/ Silver Reed Electronic SK840 battery

As I haven’t used my electronic knitting machine SK840 for many years, I don’t want to lose all my stored patterns by switching on & perhaps finding that the battery has died.

Has anyone advice about ensuring that all patterns are saved and possibly finding a replacement battery which is available in the UK?

Liz, Scotland

Welcome to the forum!
Let’s ask some experienced machine knitters:

@Beth_leatherman
@MK_er
@Phyl1knit2

Does your machine store patterns or work with software on your computer?

This site also has some information on starting up a Knitmaster/Silver Reed machine after a pause. See bottom of column 2.
https://theanswerlady.com/Youtubelinksaskjack.html

Hi.

The Answer Lady has lots of info., but not about batteries for my model - SK840

I don’t use a compute or software for my machine, but I have dozens of my own designs stored on the EC1 pattern controller & read somewhere years ago, that removing the battery could delete them.

About 12 years ago, I changed to a Brother electronic & haven’t switched on the Silver Reed/ Knitmaster since then, so am a bit wary until I get advice.

Thanks for the help so far.

Liz

I’ve never used an electric knitting machine.

Beth

1 Like

Welcome to the wonderful world of machine knitting! Here is some more info about some of your questions: https://knitalongcafe.com/using-the-silver-reed-ec1-pe1-for-pattern-control/
If you have a Brother 930, which is what I have, or higher it can be hacked to work directly off your computer. The Studio machine that you have, one of the few that are still being manufactured, uses software such as Design-A-Knit, known as DAK, to control the designs that your machine will knit. I don’t have first hand knowledge of changing the battery but understand that it will not cause you to lose your designs.
There are several different groups on social media that are great at helping. Feel free to join us!

2 Likes

Thanks for your reply.

My Brother KH970 + CB 1 console are working fine at present, no computer needed for these.

It’s the battery for the Knitmaster SK840 electronic & the connecting EC1 Controller I am concerned about. The EC1 can also be used with the other gauges of Knitmaster electronics, which I also have & hope to put to use again.

Regards,

Liz

You might have better luck asking in a Facebook group, just because of the number of people who are going to see your post in their feed. And have you tried on Ravelry, maybe the Brunswick Machine Knitters group?

Sorry to suggest two resources that require membership and other commitments, but they both have active communities.

You could also try this forum on Reddit:
https://www.reddit.com/r/MachineKnitting/

It seems to be active and people mention Silver Reed fairly often there. (Sorry, another board that you have to sign up for. But you can delete or inactivate your account once you’ve got an answer.)

1 Like

Thanks, Kushami.

I’ve added your advice to my notes for action once Christmas & New Year are over.

Best Wishes,

Liz

1 Like

Does your machine connect to your computer - like design-a-knit? The new(ish) Superbaknit box takes its cues directly from the computer. And you store & backup everything there. It might be worth it to d/l a free knitting machine patterning software especially for this purpose even if your pattern has to be used from the machine’s memory. Those old punchcard machines had a lot to recommend them.

Hi FluffyYarn.

Thanks for your reply.

Unfortunately my machine does not connect to a computer.

I now have several suggestions to follow up when time allows.

Regards,

Liz

1 Like