[TenTec] Orion II A9 Board Failure...Again!

[Ron Castro]

Hopefully we have made enough noise here that TT heard us and is aware of 
the problem!  They should re-evaluate the specs for these capacitors and 
immediately upgrade their unsold stock and future runs.  Any Orion/Orion II 
sent back to the factory for any reason should have these caps upgraded, 
especially the ones shipped back due to them failing.  The ones they 
replaced in mine 10 months ago just didn't cut it.  TT's cost to upgrade to 
the better units is probably on the order of $1.50 per radio since the cost 
to by the upgrade units from Mouser in one-up quantities is only $4.05 for 
all three caps total plus shipping.

Other than the three capacitors we have been discussing in this thread (C6, 
C7, C9 on the A9 board) and an occasional small encoder failure, I haven't 
heard of any other trouble spots.  The radio is still a top-line value and 
otherwise very reliable.

         Ron  N6IE
      www.N6IE.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Speer, Doug" <Doug.Speer at FairbanksMorse.com>
To: <tentec at contesting.com>
Sent: Thursday, June 26, 2008 9:21 AM
Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion II A9 Board Failure...Again!


> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:08:49 +0300
> From: "Geoffrey S. Mendelson" <gsm at mendelson.com>
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion II A9 Board Failure...Again!
> To: geraldj at storm.weather.net, Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
> <tentec at contesting.com>
> Message-ID: <20080625160849.GA15020 at cable.mendelson.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> If the low quality Chinese electrolytic capacitors are a well known
> problem in the electronics industry, my question is has Ten-Tec done
> anything about it for late s/n production?  I purchased a new Orion 2
> within the past couple of months which represents a significant
> expenditure for my ham radio hobby budget.  I would hate to think I
> purchased anything less than top shelf quality.  So maybe my question is
> one for Ten-Tec directly but has Ten-Tec procurement changed how they
> specify and buy components for production and / or service parts to
> insure they (we) are getting top quality components?
>
>
> Doug, W9PN
>
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Wed, 25 Jun 2008 19:08:49 +0300
> From: "Geoffrey S. Mendelson" <gsm at mendelson.com>
> Subject: Re: [TenTec] Orion II A9 Board Failure...Again!
> To: geraldj at storm.weather.net, Discussion of Ten-Tec Equipment
> <tentec at contesting.com>
> Message-ID: <20080625160849.GA15020 at cable.mendelson.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> On Wed, Jun 25, 2008 at 09:23:01AM -0600, Dr. Gerald N. Johnson wrote:
>> Lots of lowest bid Chinese electrolytics are poorer when new than I
> find
>> acceptable, so they age poorly. A few years ago there was a large
> batch
>> of capacitors often applied to computer motherboards that exploded
> when
>> power was applied for the first time. My guess is that the factory
>> didn't understand the formation process and hadn't finishing making
> the
>> electrolytics.
>
> This was very well documented in the press. A Tiwanese engineer worked
> for a Japanese manufacturer of electrolytics. He stole the formula for
> the electrolyte (the liquid inside the capacitors). His employers knew
> what he was doing and gave him access to an incomplete formula.
>
> It worked perfectly in new capacitors but as it aged the capacitors
> failed.
>
> His Tiawanese employers underbid everyone on the market and the world
> was flooded with products that eventually failed when their capacitors
> exploded.
>
> Geoff.
> -- 
> Geoffrey S. Mendelson, Jerusalem, Israel gsm at mendelson.com  N3OWJ/4X1GM
>
>
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