Batboard

Trying to get an SVA here working, but it's acting rather wacky. If i connect B+ and ground the button backlighting comes on right away on the front, shouldn't it stay off until the ignition sense is connected?

It doesn't do anything when a radio is inserted, and i know it's not charging the battery because i have measured the voltages at the battery contacts, i removed the top of the unit and put in a radio with a short 4593 battery which allows access to the bottom set of contacts still exposed below the inserted radio and battery. There is 5v on the two center contacts before inserting, and afterwards it does go down to the values associated with the batteries temp and capacity, so that seems to be working ok, but the SVA never applies charging voltage to the battery and it never seems to fully power up.

I don't have a display mic for it, so i don't know anything more than what i am getting from this units front panel.

The charging light never comes on either by the way.

Ideas? Common failures?

I read through a lot of old posts on here but nothing concrete presented itself. I also did not find it anywhere near as hard as mentioned to open this thing up, it was easy! After seeing some pictures of units torn apart i took a thin putty knife and worked down the right side releasing the four catches then just flip the lid off! Bingo, done.

Taking apart the bottom is almost as easy, but you have to remove the knob from the right side first then release the right side and lift it out first.

Another related question also..

Does the Saber VA use the same amplified speaker as other convertacoms, like the Genesis series MVA?

Anyone know the pinout of the 25 pin d-sub on these?

From the level of audio I get from mine, I doubt you would need one, it's pretty loud by itself.

There is an onboard amp for the speaker so I doubt another amp in line would be of benefit.

My audio line is somewhat buried in the center console, and I don't recall what pins are used for the speaker, but pin # 11 comes to mind for one of them, DON'T take that as gospel though.

You'll have to probe the DB25 with a unsquelched radio to find the speaker high line.


Enterprize.....One to beam up!

Ok, well the first thing i have to do is get it working. For that i am going to need a schematic since it won't do anything at this point. The only thing that comes on is the button backlighting.

I connected a mic, PTT doesn't work either.

I need info on the NTN 5487A, myself.

Seems like a lot of owners do! There has to be a schematic out there somewhere to figure this thing out.

Hi Guys,

Um, http://www.batlabs.com/saber.html about 2/3 the way down the page..

Hartley

Hartley wrote:Hi Guys,

Um, http://www.batlabs.com/saber.html about 2/3 the way down the page..

Hartley

Those number aren't any good, NLA according to MOL.

Hi Guys,

ah.. I was talking about the pinouts of the DB-25 - wasn't that what you were looking for? I don't see any mention of part numbers..

Hartley

Ohh. Yeah it is on there, oops, missed that. Well that will help if i ever get this POS working.

Still need the schematics.

No problem.. incidentally, it won't charge (or do much at all except light the lights) if you don't connect the ignition lead...

I know a lot of folks would like a schematic, and if the manuals are NLA, then Motorola surely can't complain about one being scanned & distributed..

73 DE Hartley

Hartley wrote:No problem.. incidentally, it won't charge (or do much at all except light the lights) if you don't connect the ignition lead...

I know a lot of folks would like a schematic, and if the manuals are NLA, then Motorola surely can't complain about one being scanned & distributed..

73 DE Hartley

If only it were that simple. As mentioned, ignition lead connected and it don't make a difference.

I traced the power from the ignition sense lead all the way to the processor, or whatever you want to call it, under the shield on the PCB, voltages are good, the unit just isn't responding regardless.

I just got a SVA and an SVA suitcase, the Suitcase has a regular speaker, not sure if the electronics in the case have an amp. the other SVA has the amp'ed speaker, looks to be the same as the Jedi one, but not sure yet.

Sandy

The suitcase would have a 45 watt amp.

NO, THe suitcase would have a 12 watt amp built in the speaker or
possibly a standard speaker. Now if we are talking RF then we are
talking about a 45/35 watt vhf/uhf RF amp. As for audio the
suitcase itself would not have an audio amp but rather depend
on a "power voice" integrated speaker amp unit. These are usually
an accessory to the sva when there is a need to hang the speaker
on a car window etc. to make it heard by persons a distance from
the car. You can wire a speaker directly to the proper
pins of the sva and the radio's audio output will drive it.
The amped speaker gets its audio from the same 2 pins and
loads it with a heavy resistor then feeds a power amp. Also the amped
speaker picks up a logic line from the saber and uses it to
bias the amp to a hard mute condition when the radio is not in
open squelch logic state. Phrawg

I should have been more clear, yes has a vhf amp, but the speaker is a non-powered speaker. I'll double check, but that is what I recall. This is the 1755a (I think that is the p/n) black suitcase where the speaker and sva are mounted on top.

Here is an interesting question, any reason I can't swap out the motorola vhf amp, and switch to a dual band (144/440mhz for ham usage) amp? I think the rf out to the amp is direct from the sva, then the amp to antenna jack is also direct.

Sandy

That would be a very reasonable swap and no reason it would
not work. The sva to amp and amp to antenna are as you said,
straight through. That would allow you to use either a u or v saber
at will. Phrawg