Spectra power up issue

[gumbo]

I have a 110w trunk mount spectra (unsure of actual model0

It's reprogrammed for 2m operation, and I used it all day today. well i decided I didn't liek how the control head was mounted so I moved it and rerouted the cable. I had to disconnect what i think is called a p103 connector from the head so that i could route the cable under my console. I disconnected the power to the RF box first. I plugged the head unit back up and then the power to the rf box. now it wont power up at all. I had to route the wire to where they kinda made a hard angle coming out of the head. Could i have broken a wire internallly inside the cable?

I pulled it all back out and gave teh cable a good looking over and it appears fine.

or is there some sort of reset feature i need to preform and didn't know about?

i have power at the RF box. i pulled the cover and have power where the big red and black wires actually connect at the board.

Anyhelp will be greatly appreciated. i have a friend about 3 hrs from here that should have anotehr cable we can try but that's gonna have to wait until i can get over there.

[Jatla]

Have you checked the Control Head power supply wires? Check the fuse, perhaps there was a frayed wire that when you moved it touched ground. The green and orange wires that power the control head that enable the drawer unit may be the problem.

[gumbo]

The radio powered up on its own later in the night. then it would work most of that day. Then I used it alot the following day during a severe weather event on the local 2m repeater. The next day it wouldn't power up at all and still wont.

The only wires going to the control head are those in teh bundled cable coming from the drawer. no extra ign power or anything.

on my speaker connector coming from the control head, there appears to be a small red wire that was cut flush. I dont think htis is the problem because this radio worked flawlessly in a friends car before we installed it in mine.

Could it be the leaky capacitor problem I'm hearing about?

I'll check those green and orange wires, what do i need to check? I can probably check the continuity on each pin of the cable but that's gonna be real time consuming.

[gumbo]

also, i figured out that it isn an A7 Spectra.

[Will]

The small red wire at the "speaker connector" is used to power up the radio. It needs to be connected to battery thru a 1 or 2 amp fuse.

Unless the control head has been modified, you need the 13 volts on the small red lead so the control head can switch on.


A Search turns up this post with photos of the jumper.

http://batboard.batlabs.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=72626

[gumbo]

will, i tried applying +12vdc to that wire and still nothing. it never was hooked up and the radio had been working fine.

It started acting up when i was rerouting the contol cable, i had to disconnect it from the control head. when i hooked it back up, the radio would not power up, then the next morning the radio was on. it had powered up randomly...

And like I mentioned, it worked fine the second day after the wiring reroute. I talked on it all afternoon. I'm thinking the problem is with the head as it appears that maybe the two caps in the control head may be leaking. I'm still going to try a spare control head that my friend has and see if that makes a difference.

[Will]

Gumbo,

A remote mount, try disconnecting the power from the radio and control head, disconnect the cable from the radio. Wait a while, plug the control cable into the radio and control head. Connect main power to the radio, then turn on the radio.

[gumbo]

Ok I'll try it....

that still doesnt really explain why it went through this phase of self powering up and down. It acted real erratically and then just wont power up now. the caps on teh crontrol head do seem to be leaking, so i'm probably going to end up changing them anyway.

[gumbo]

Will, I followed your procedure and nothing, i tried it with and with out the ign lead hooked up. remember, this radio did work flawlessly with out it... as per the following diagram, BOTH JU1 and JU2 are IN...



I recapped the control head (found the electrolytic radial lead caps here locally) still nothing...

When we first installed this radio into my vehicle (92 Cherokee) we mounted it in the right rear of the cargo area where the spare tires usually goes. ( i have oversized tires and my spare will no longer fit there) all of the connectors are facing up. The next morning i got up adn found that threre was a little bit of water pooled up around the antenna connector. rain had trickled down teh antenna wire and onto the radio. it wouldnt power up then. I took the cover off of the drawer unit and fanned the radio with the cover. a little while later the radio powered up fine and I talked on it nearly continuously all day (severe weather event). it worked great from then until i decided to reroute the control cable.

I'm going to inspect the drawer (RF) unit as soon as i get a key from my friend to unlock it from my mounting plate. if i cant find any obvious corrosion or leaky caps then All I can think of after that is a new control cable. I did have to make a bit of a tight bend in mineto route it and i really think its a possibility that I broke a wire in the bundled cable.

[gumbo]

ok, making progress now....

I jumpered JU7 to bypass the on/off switch. according to this...

Control heads like the A2, B2, C2, E2, A5, B5, C5, E5, A7, B7, C7 and E7 using the HLN6075, HLN6263, HLN6283, HLN6337 and HLN6338 circuit boards have a U4 chip with interface circuitry and a built in electronic power switch control. There is no mechanical switch carrying power to the control head, radio drawer and VIP accessories. This electronic power switch is a operated by a simple momentary contact switch that causes U4 and Q51 to toggle the control head switched B+ power on or off. The switched B+ feeds the control head switched 5 volt regulator, which powers the control head U1 microprocessor. The switched B+ also goes to the radio drawer and wakes up the radio drawer microprocessor. This power switch difference can be important when troubleshooting radios with these electronic power switches. If you have a radio with one of these control head boards that will not power up, this could be one potential source of the problem. Control head circuit board jumper JU7 will bypass the electronic power switch and force the control head to be turned on all the time. Keep in mind that the control head internal switched B+ power, including the Switched B+ sent to the radio drawer, VIP Switched B+ pins and VIP-II DEK Switched B+ pins, all draw their power through Q51. All of the other control heads (including the HLN6020 and HLN6078) have a mechanical power switch that physically switches to and remains in the on or off position.

like i said, JU1 and JU2 were both in.... JU1's soldiering job is inconsitient with the others, although it looks fine there is a little flux and a little much soldier but fine otherwise. this leads me to believe that it was done by a previous owner and with both of the jumpers in, it must bypass the use of the ign sense lead all together.

so now the radio is powered up and everything but now obviously the power switch is bypassed. I can soldier a small mechanical switch in its place for now i guess but i'd like to get down to the bottom of this.

is there a common problem with the on/off button circuit?

Also now RX is excellent, loud and clear. NOAA comes in excellent even from teh more distant tower.

TX on the other hand seems a bit weak now. Carrier signal is strong as I'm hitting the repeater one county over but I got no response. I tried simplex through my scanner and the audio is there but a bit weak.

[Will]

installed this radio (with) all of the connectors are facing up.

There is a really bad NO NO.. You will find the interface board lost a few traces to water + electricity.....

There have been way too many Spectras mounted with the connectors up, that failed and became trash in the landfills.

[gumbo]

ok i tested it again today on simplex with my friend across town... he said my TX audio was fine. i think with me trying to test my audio with a scanner the fact that the two antennas are about 3 ft from each other... overloading the scanners receiver so something...

good point though on teh drawer unit. i'll remount it.

we're going to pull it apart and check the traces and such but from teh front side all looks spotless. the water only ran onto the ant connector.

Like i said, tested across town, TX audio tested good, loud and clear. So i guess my primary problem is that I lost something ont eh power up circuit in teh control head? im suspecting the small 5v voltage regulator that the JU7 jumper bypassed. After I inspect the RF drawer, I'll start looking for another control head. I'm thinking the RF drawer is fine since the unit seems to be working great minus the use of the on/off button.

Thanks for your help man... one more quick question though. Can I run an A4 head on this radio (A7)...I know I may have to reconfigure some buttons in RSS, that fine I can have that done for me locally. I just would like to know if it'll work, I like the rotary controls...

[gumbo]

... one more quick question though. Can I run an A4 head on this radio (A7)...I know I may have to reconfigure some buttons in RSS, that fine I can have that done for me locally. I just would like to know if it'll work, I like the rotary controls...

Can anyone answer this question? I'd like to try and get another control head asap...