Lost four Spectra's this week at work. Why?

KD6HXH · Post by **KD6HXH** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 10:53 am

In the past week we have lost 4 Spectra radios in our patrol cars. They just quit working. Could it be the dreaded capacitor time bombs? If not the caps, then what? Any one out there experience this type of problem? If so, what ended up being the cause? Please share!! We only have 30 more radios left and THEY'RE going fast!

Sincerely

Desperate at PPD

HLA · Post by **HLA** » Fri Sep 15, 2006 11:40 am

need alot more info than that. quit working could be for many reasons and hard to say without seeing it. what are other symptoms, what is it doing now, dim display, no power at all, no tx, no rx, are they remote mounts, did they have a puff of smoke when they quit? and whatever other info you have.

KD6HXH · Post by **KD6HXH** » Tue Sep 19, 2006 8:55 am

It would have been helpful to know before I asked for help, huh? I will get the details on each of the radios and get back to you.

Thanks!

KD6HXH · Post by **KD6HXH** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 1:13 pm

OK -- the trouble that we are having with 75% of the radios that we've lost seems to be a synth board problem. The symptoms are -- the radios display the "Out of Range" error, and when you attempt to TX on the radios, there is a high pitched wine (feedback) that is emitted from the radio.

Could this possibly be related to the electrolytic capacitors going bad?

kcbooboo · Post by **kcbooboo** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 2:27 pm

Sure sounds like it could be, especially if they were made before 1996.

The "out of range" message just means the receiver can't hear the trunking control signals. I'm surprised you aren't getting some other real fail codes as well. The feedback could definitely be caused by the electrolyte leaking on some foils and conducting signals "where no man has gone before".

Bob M.

KD6HXH · Post by **KD6HXH** » Mon Oct 09, 2006 2:42 pm

Would it do any good to program in the control channels and see if I can hear them as simplex channels? Or am I just going to get an out of range display?

kcbooboo · Post by **kcbooboo** » Wed Oct 11, 2006 2:47 pm

Rather than do all that, get into the service mode from the control head and inject a signal on each of the test frequencies and see how it does. You can also transmit on them if you hook up a wattmeter and dummy load. Might as well check all you can.

The procedures and frequencies are in the BASIC service manual for the Spectra models you have.

Bob M.

jackhackett · Post by **jackhackett** » Sun Oct 15, 2006 6:22 pm

They're like bamboo, they all die at the same time.

KD6HXH · Post by **KD6HXH** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 4:12 am

Ok, here's the skinny. I have inspected two of the radios so far, and... It’s the dreaded cap problem. They have managed to leak onto the PC board and ruin some resistors on BOTH sides of the board.

I believe the RF board on the first radio is not repairable, but the second one may be saved. I'll know later today.

Well, two down; four to go.

Oh, and lets not forget the other 30 radios that I will now have to systematically go through and replace the caps in before they too decide to leak.

THANK YOU MOTOROLA!!! THANKS; THANKS A LOT!!!!
(Moto: "We have awarded the contract for the capacitors in our new Spectra radios to the lowest bidder.")

kcbooboo · Post by **kcbooboo** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 4:51 am

Well, at least you confirmed the problem.

I'd expect Will or Bruce to pop in here and offer their repair services.

What are some date codes on the components inside, so we have an idea of the radio's ages?

Bob M.

KD6HXH · Post by **KD6HXH** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 4:56 am

Where will I find the date code?

kcbooboo · Post by **kcbooboo** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 5:13 am

Probably on many of the larger ICs on the RF board or command board, but NOT the ones on the microprocessor chips under the MLM. It'll be a 4-digit number, two digits of year, two of week, something lik 9426 (middle of 1994). I would suspect it would start with 9, just because Spectras came out around that time, but a real old one could have been made in the 1980s.

Bob M.

Post by **xmo** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 6:31 am

"THANK YOU MOTOROLA!!! THANKS; THANKS A LOT!!!!
(Moto: "We have awarded the contract for the capacitors in our new Spectra radios to the lowest bidder.")
_________________

Unfortunately, this problem goes way beyond Motorola, it's industry wide. A quick search on the internet will reveal that this problem affects all sorts of equipment - usually high end stuff because the cheap stuff has all been tossed away by now anyway.

If you think having a few hundred bucks at risk when your old Spectra dies is a frustration, how about having a Tektronix scope or analyzer die? An instrument like that can cost $20,000.00, $30,000.00 or more. You open it up and there is leakage around every one of those surface mount caps - maybe 30, 40 or more have to be replaced in one machine. Not to mention replacing other damaged components, repairing foils, etc.

THAT'S frustration.

Will · Post by **Will** » Mon Oct 16, 2006 4:27 pm

Bob M. I sent him a PM on the 13th.

Lost four Spectra's this week at work. Why?

Lost four Spectra's this week at work. Why?

I have more info now!