Batboard

I have had several XTL5000s come in with the control head in maint mode. There has been 3 UHF mid power, 2 VHF mid power, and 1 VHF high power.
In all cases momentarily disconnecting the radio power fixed the problem. It then seems to re-occur after several days. In all cases replacing the radio and control head fixed the problem.

The radios work fine on the bench with no failures for days.

I am sure that if I send the radios to Motorola they will come back NTF.

Has anyone else encountered the problem and come up with a fix?

Where do they live when they aren't on the bench? Mine will occasionally do funny things when the battery voltage is lower than expected. Sometimes a maintenance mode until power is cycled, sometimes a round or two of FL 01/90 before they boot, etc.

One of the questions I would ask is what version firmware is in the radio and control head.

There were some cases a while back where the radios and head would do strange things like your talking about. I think there were several service notes sent out. You might try asking some of the more in tuned people or the local Motorola shop about it.

You might even try doing the control head sync that is available for download on the MOL site. They do come out with a new version now and then.

Jim

When the XTL2500 first came out several years ago, we had one that was having similar issues. We finally figured out it was occuring when the radio and control head were cold. Like below freezing. If we had the equipment mounted in the vehicle and it was parked inside the shop, it would work perfectly. Then when we parked it outside for the user to take it home, the problem would reoccur. This was an XTL2500 VHF. The guy who drove the car was getting pretty mad after coming to pick it up a couple times and then having it be screwed up when he got in the car to drive it away.

I am not sure how we resolved the issue since it was so long ago and I do not work at that shop any longer. I think we sent it back to Moto but not sure if they totally replaced the radio.

Went through it on our 2500s. Back to depot, since they were under extended warranty. Some got firmware upgrades, a few got new CHIBs or TIBs. Ours were of the "CLM" serial number series (summer 2010) and 14.xx.xx firmware period. Yes, not fun for the shop or the customer. Good luck with your resolution.

- Jeff

When I get a chance I will upgrade the firmware and see what happens. I have a dongle with several flash's left.

Where I live it never gets really cold. It was 55 degrees this morning.

The 2 VHF radios I have on hand have 14.0001 and 14.0000. The head is 8.01

Glenn, how is the ignition sense programmed, and how are the power and ignition sense connected on the units having the problem?

That was going to be my next question. I think the MCS and the XTL's had an FSB on voltage spikes typically seen with master switches and they way the head was wired. I've had APX and XTL's in cold weather situations and haven't (yet) had an issue with O3 and O5 heads.

I have seen on a couple of ASTRO Spectras that when it got low 40's and lower that it will go into a Fail 1/90 until the chasis warmed up. The cause was due to solder fingers retracting enough that it broke an electrical connection in the radio (I forgot wear, a user here fixed mine that was doing it).

My guess is a trace or a wire is backing off in the cold. If these are remote mount units, try replacing the control head cable with a new one and see if the problem replicates. These new remote cables are pretty thin and the shielding sucks in general. Between HF, AM and some other radio receivers I can "hear" the CAN data or display data. Sometimes just touching the head or in one case your position in the drivers seat will change the audio if you really listen to it.

I believe there is actually an issue with the XTLs related to how ignition sense is programmed that made them go into maint. mode, I can't recall the details, but I think it was something along the lines of having it programmed for ignition and having the main power and ignition both connected to a switched power source.

jackhackett wrote:I believe there is actually an issue with the XTLs related to how ignition sense is programmed that made them go into maint. mode, I can't recall the details, but I think it was something along the lines of having it programmed for ignition and having the main power and ignition both connected to a switched power source.

The details on this one is if you try switching the +12 volts on the red wire from the control head, the radio goes into a funky state and pulls 700 ma from the vehicle battery via the PA high current feed. You can ignition switch the yellow wire, but need to feed +12 volts to the red wire all the time to keep the radio from pulling the 700 ma when there is no power on the yellow wire.

Jim

I reflashed the 100W VHF and put it back into the fire truck. When you buy on a grant we ( the city) can not do the install. The truck and both ambulances were turnkey and as usual we have no documentation.

The 100W VHF was at 8.0 which as I recall was very buggy. Its now at 17.0 from mol.

As I think back from one of your posts, do these remain on 24/7 in the trucks?

No the radios are switched by the battery switch. The only thing that remains on 24 hours is the MDT. It stays on so they can see the dispatch when they roll.

Ah ok. I thought it was mentioned that they were on all the time or something like that. iPhone isn't the greatest way to brown the batboard at times.

GlennD wrote:No the radios are switched by the battery switch. .

There IS the problem...

It is stated QUITE CLEARLY in the installation manual that the radio main red lead and the control head red lead must remain ON all the time. You may switch the radio off using the yellow lead from the control head. That is the ONLY approved method of turning the radio off besides the pushbutton on the control head.

Due to boot time and timing differences between the two computers in the radio and the control head, the radio WILL FAIL randomly if the red lead power is interrupted. ALSO, BOTH red leads need to be run to the exact same point in the vehicle or you will have CAN bus issues.

I have not looked at the wiring to see what they switch. I can say that the replacement radios are working fine. I can not recall a working unit to satisfy my curiosity.

The tiller truck that I put the upgraded from ver 8 to ver 17 radio has not came back. It was also working with a mid power replacement with no problems. Given the high current drain of a 100W radio I suspect the power goes directly to the battery.

It is really bad that no one supplies documentation on contractor installs. Sometimes it takes longer to locate equipment than to repair it!

You can always get documentation. You just need to do some telephone work (no email!). It's annoying but it can be done.

I had to do this in a rosenbauer rescue truck as their "custom wire labels" were all duplicated. Took a few calls but you can track down the "as built" or similar documents. Most government contracts have stipulations to provide all documentation to the en user

GlennD wrote:It is really bad that no one supplies documentation on contractor installs. Sometimes it takes longer to locate equipment than to repair it!

Roger that... You got's to have the road maps.