[TenTec] Orion II: nothing at startup

[Peter Frenning [OZ1PIF]]

Den 28-12-2012 13:28, John K3GHH skrev:
> On 11/06/2012 08:57 AM, John K3GHH wrote:
>> Several times in the past few days my O2 (firmware 3.028) has had no 
>> transmit output, and no audio output except faint background hiss, 
>> when I first turn it on. The paddles produce a nice sidetone, but 
>> neither the Orion's nor the antenna tuner's meter moves.
>>
>> So far, at least, switching the Orion's power off and then back on 
>> has restored operability (e.g., the tuner's meter shows forward power 
>> 115w on 80m CW). I just checked the power supply (it's on the floor 
>> under the desk) and found its meter showing 13v --- lower than I 
>> thought but not likely the source of this problem. Obviously I'd 
>> rather not have to rely on the off-on "fix." Any suggestions?
>>
> Progress report:
>
> A couple of weeks ago the O2 display finally quit entirely. There are 
> three suggestions in this thread: capacitors, cables, and battery. 
> Starting with the easiest (not necessarily the most likely), I 
> replaced the battery. No display. The plan was to clean the cable 
> contacts next, but since the case was open I decided to replace the 
> capacitors too. With three new 470uf capacitors on the A9 board, and 
> the A and B cable contacts cleaned, the radio is working again. I'm 
> pretty sure the new capacitors solved the problem.
>
> This was my first work with printed-circuit boards --- probably not 
> the wisest project to begin with! I was unable to remove the original 
> capacitors without destroying them, but new ones were only $1.39 at 
> the local Radio Shack. The biggest trouble was clearing solder out of 
> the holes so the new capacitors' leads could be inserted.
>
> It was fun playing with the Scout in the interim, but I'm very glad to 
> have the Orion back!
>
You might want to acquire some high-spec 470uF caps (low ESR; 105degrees 
or higher) instead of the el cheapos you just bought at the Shack, I 
predict that they wont last very long in this particular application. 
The current spec caps on my O2 A9 board lasted three years (from factory 
new), and have just had to be replaced (with originals from TTs service 
department),I'm searching for some even higher spec'ed caps for the next 
replacement!

A tip for removing the capacitors and cleaning the board: Apply liberal 
amounts of non RoHS solder (old style lead based solder) to the joints 
before heating the pads to pull the old components out, then it's fairly 
easy to suck the remaining solder out of the through holes ready for 
insertion of the new components - a tip for future replacements: leave 
the components a couple of mm off the board, then its easy to cut the 
leads on the component side after which you can heat and pull each lead 
individually!

Happy New year to all TT'ers and TT fans out there.

-- 
Vy 73 de OZ1PIF/5Q2M, Peter

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