Remote Spectra head issues

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 2:01 pm

I went from a standard dash-mount A7 spectra, purchased a control cable and rigged it up using the correct interfaces and indeed it works, but how do I get around the issue of every time I turn it on, it goes to the home mode? It's boggling, and stupid, when I turn the radio off and power it back up, I expect it to be where I left off.

Now, if I had the radio in scan and/or with a dimmed display, powering it back up, I hear the button push for home "beep" but the radio willl still be in the scan with the dimmed display. I don't know if the A9 head causes the same issues or not. I can't toy around with one of those right now w/o my programming computer.

Anyhow, here's the stats:

Control cable: HKN4356A
drawer to cable interface: not marked, dual 25 pin w/o secure keyloader port. Has date of 01/11/97 and part 84D80199P01
Head interface: HLN6432B

I think I recall the same thing occuring the last time I had a remote mount spectra, but that was a few years ago. I know I don't have issues like this with my Motorcycle remote-spectra, but then again, it's not the same beast.

-Josh

Will · Post by **Will** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 2:37 pm

Josh, you need to have the main battery feed connected to the Spectra chassis ALL the time. The other depends on the cable. If the control cable has the green and orange leads, then the green one should stay on battery, the orange one is IGN control. The orig control cables have the dangle 15 pin Fe connector, the red lead is IGN control, and of course the speaker.

The battery power to the radio chssis is what keeps the last 'MODE' and Scan, MON, ect, settings. Also the user selected Scan List(s). The Spectra will loose these settings almost right away when battery is removed from the radio. The RAM that stores these settings requires the unswitched 5 volts.

60hzEE · Post by **60hzEE** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 2:39 pm

Have you checked the rubber contact matrix to make sure that the home button position isn't somehow shorted? Being on the edge of the substrate, I've seen water and corrosion creep in under the rubber matrix and damage the board.

Hearing the beep when you power it up sounds fishy. As if the button is being pushed continuously.

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Thu Dec 08, 2005 4:41 pm

60hzEE wrote:Have you checked the rubber contact matrix to make sure that the home button position isn't somehow shorted? Being on the edge of the substrate, I've seen water and corrosion creep in under the rubber matrix and damage the board.

Hearing the beep when you power it up sounds fishy. As if the button is being pushed continuously.

Ok, some further clarification is due, I suppose.

The head is fine and clean, it works great on the radio as a dash-mount radio, just when connected to the remote cable (part #s mentioned before) it behaves this way.

Now, the orange and green cables are connected directly to the +12v and nothing is plugged into the 15 pin connector. Also, no additional configuring of the radio has been done in the RSS.

Now, I think even my A9 head on the radio I was messing with last night at home even made a beep when I powered it up from 'off' but I failed to notice whether or not it reverted back to the home mode in doing so.

-Josh

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 7:54 pm

-bump-

and also, I've heard other stories of remote-head spectras powering up consistently to the home mode.

If that's the case, then what an awful way to configure a remote-mounted head system.

-Josh

Will · Post by **Will** » Mon Dec 12, 2005 11:55 pm

Chech to make sure the EMERgency trigger is jumpered, that IS in the 15 pin connector. You can also makse sure it is disabled in the programming.

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 6:18 am

Ok, I know it's NOT jumpered in the 15 pin connector, but in doing this it should stop reverting to the home mode on power up?

-Josh

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Tue Dec 13, 2005 6:43 pm

While I haven't been out there yet to mess around, it seems odd that the fix could be that, because usually w/o the emergency jumper in the back, the radio shows "NO EMRG" on the display- which isn't the case using the remote cable.

But then again, my motorcycle spectra remote requires the ingition sense and jumper on the back, and I don't have that problem with the radio in that setup.

-Josh

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Thu Dec 15, 2005 8:56 pm

Well, I went ahead and tested TWO different theories out:

1) Emergency jumper on the 15 pin connector..... no difference

2) 12v ignition sense on the 15 pin connector... no dice either

I'm going to assume that either A) all remote head spectras are this way (A5/A7) because nobody has affirmed proper opearation like that of a dash-mount spectra. Furthermore, the previous remote mount (systems9000) A7 control head spectra I had did the same thing to the best of my knowledge. That or B) The interconenct board between the cable and the drawer unit has something extra in it. It DOES have some sort of removabel flash-chip and a couple of boards, since the radio the interface came off of was originally a DATA radio with no control head at all. It might have been set up such that when the radio powers up, the unit goes to the home mode. There is no standard part number on the interconnect faceplate.

-Josh

libuff · Post by **libuff** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 1:51 am

josh... i can confirm that i have owned an a7 spectra, which returned to previous state upon my car starting... and i now own a a9 spectra which also returns to state...

1. both of the installations i did, required some different wiring... both had +12v fused directly to battery to the drawer (rear).
2. on the a7, one of the control head wires needed to be constant power, the other didn't... i don't recollect which one, but i want to say the orange control head lead needed to be constant +12v... the green was ign switched.
3. on the a9, both the orange and green leads are ign switched. if one or the other remained constantly +12v, the radio never shut off on its own.. weird...

what type of cable do you have running to the head, how does it terminate on the back of the control head? is there room on the rear of the control head for a VIP connector or MIC? or does the control cable terminate into a large plug which nearly ecompasses the back of the control head.

try to ensure the rear (drawer) portion is directly connected to the battery and NOT switched at all.

experiment with the orange/green leads to see which needs to be ign switched and whcih needs to be constant +12v.... both may need to be switched...

15pin plug on the rear should be empty (disconnected).. a tech once told me that the ign sense on the Spectra 15pin connector is a pass-thru power source to the control head (when dash mounted), similar to the Orange/Green wires...

hope that helps...

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 7:22 am

The cable is the HKN4356, it terminates the the VIP/MIC/RADIO connection on the back of the radio, it's not the Motorcycle variation that you seem to describe.

The drawer is constantly on 12v both the green and orange wires are connected directly to 12v- just as it had been on my previous dash-mount configuration- no actual use of the ignition sense feature, just the ability to use the radio at all times.

Now, what happens when I go to power it off (as I always do via the control head) one of the segments will light up at full intensity, just as what occurs when you unplug the radio while turned on. Then when turned back on the radio "self test"s and beeps as if the home button had been pressed, the display intensity and status (scan on/off) remains the same as it was when powered off, but the radio has reverted to the home-mode.

-Josh

Josh · Post by **Josh** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 11:49 am

There's a remote head spectra interface on eBay right now, it looks nothing like mine.

The one I have here has two boards, the only part numbers I have found include HLN5478A on the second board, which has a small removable chip on it marked HVN6031A

Maybe this extra board is the problem, I disconnected it and am going out to check things out.

-Josh

----EDIT----

Yup that was the problem, the secondary board, for whatever function it was/is supposed to served made the radio revert to "home" every time it was powered up, now that it has been removed, no problems at all.

Thanks to those who tried to help although unsuccessful

-Josh

Post by **batdude** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 12:34 pm

some of this is firmware related too josh.

a picture is worth 10000 words... please post... be as clear as you can with the pics

doug

motorola_otaku · Post by **motorola_otaku** » Fri Dec 16, 2005 2:33 pm

Josh wrote:There's a remote head spectra interface on eBay right now, it looks nothing like mine.

The one I have here has two boards, the only part numbers I have found include HLN5478A on the second board, which has a small removable chip on it marked HVN6031A

Maybe this extra board is the problem, I disconnected it and am going out to check things out.

-Josh

----EDIT----

Yup that was the problem, the secondary board, for whatever function it was/is supposed to served made the radio revert to "home" every time it was powered up, now that it has been removed, no problems at all.

Thanks to those who tried to help although unsuccessful

-Josh

I've seen those. I pulled one out of an A5 800 radio that was configured as a headless data radio to run with a VRM 500. My first guess was that it was a control head emulator, but I've seen similar setups without the second board.

The guy that gave it to me had a remote advanced control head plugged into it with one of the older-style "Y" remote head cables, and it acted like any other normal Spectra would. I've still got the whole setup minus the remote hardware, so I'll see if I can get some pictures and post 'em up.

motorola_otaku · Post by **motorola_otaku** » Sat Dec 24, 2005 10:38 am

Aaand here you go. This is, I believe, what Josh is referring to. Like I mentioned in the previous post, it came out of a black-tag 800 A5 radio that was used with a VRM500 in a RD-LAP data setup.

WARNING: these pictures are HUGE (2032x1524). If you can't make them out from the pictures, the part # on the second board is HLN5478A, the # on the chip on the board is HVN6031A, and the # on the front panel board (which didn't come out at all) is HLN6234B.