The Radio Information Board

I got rid of my UHF, sold it for parts since EFJ wont sell parts to me
On to my next problem.

My orange FPP VHF 242-5113-622-BA has a power problem. Smack it on the side and it resets. Just like you removed the battery and put it back on, not a power down like the switch would do. Looks like power is switched on the logic board by a signal from the UI board. I have switched fronts with my old UHF and the problem was still there. I have looked and looked again for solder/connection problems. Any body seen this one? I suppose it could be regulated power somewhere with a bad connection. Any body got a VHF RF board for sale? I would hate for this to become a parts radio too but it would get me out of the EFJ business once and for all and relieve a lot of frustration dealing with them and their junk.

Chris
N9LLO

Describe your problem in detail.

Does it fail when transmitting? Does it only occur when the radio is warm? Or could it happen cold? When the radio is being carried/moved about? Whenever it feels like when sitting still on a desktop?

When the radio fails, will it ever reboot itself (thus only a momentary loss of power)? Or does it always require a smack-down?

I had a similar issue with one radio and found the contacts points on the board, where the springy plastic contact block mates needed a little isopropyl alcohol to clean it up and it hasn't failed again in 9 months.

And, although not the same problem, I once found a bent pin in the tiny socket that mates the two halves of the radio innards and had to fix that with a dental pick. That occurred (most likely) from the connector being improperly aligned and some knucklehead forcing the radio back together again.

Just some more ideas.

It resets when you hit it on the side or bottom. Like a loose battery would do. It may be very well be battery contact problems. I just tried this on my UHF that still works OK and it will occasionally do it too but not as bad. I have cleaned the contacts on the RF board and sprung the battery contact assembly some. Seems the battery is loose at the top on both radios. I will investigate further

Chris
N9LLO

I would check the battery contacts. They had a run of batteries where the batt vendor made some bad moldings and the contact pins stay depressed.
You can fix it with an exacto knife and scraping some plastic.

I.S.

Intrinsically Safe wrote:I would check the battery contacts. They had a run of batteries where the batt vendor made some bad moldings and the contact pins stay depressed.
You can fix it with an exacto knife and scraping some plastic.

I.S.

That would have been my next suggestion. Although I didn't know about the "known issue"... shows how much I "know".

If another radio does it too, good bet it's the battery. There were very few physical flaws with these and the ones that did, were contained to a relatively small run and that was over 5 years ago. The 5100 design is good one in and out.

Sounds like the internal flex for the on/off switch. We have been through about 60 of these on our waranty service on our 40+ 5100 series portables with many of the repaired radios having the same issue again within a month. It was a design flaw on the radios per one of the senior tech's at EFJ who remains namless to protect him. We had the same issue thinking it was the battery contacts. One thing we did do to make the batteries fit better was on the side opposite of the contacts on the battery itself was to place one of the fuzzy round velcro patches. This seems to make the battery fit better and got rid of some of the wobble. If that dosen't correct it I'll put money on the flex cable. They seem to be pretty brittle and prone to troubles in everything but the 5100ES series portables.

Keith L. Dobbins KC8RFW
Communications and Network Engineer
Wood County Sheriff's Office
Parkersburg, WV 26101

W8TAP Repeater Engineer and Lead Technician

I will try the velcro trick, the battery is a little loose on the EFJ but works fine on my XTS. I have held the battery on tight by hand and I can still get it to reset though so I dont hold out much hope for that trick.

If it is a flex issue I am screwed as EFJ will not sell me parts. I guess I can get out the 30ga wire and start soldering in power jumpers from the switch to the board.

I already had to solder the antenna pigtail to the board cause the connector broke, anybody got a good frame with the antenna pigtail intact?

Chris
N9LLO