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Astro Saber power supply.

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 2:20 pm
by jets1961
What is the maxium voltage you can power an Astro Saber with? Like can I power it with 13.8 VDC at the battery terminals, radio side? I have a dead battery and want to bench check to see if radio will power up.

Thanks, Joe

Saber power voltage...

Posted: Tue Apr 10, 2007 2:30 pm
by Tom in D.C.
The highest voltage you're going to get from a single
cell is about 1.5 volts, and there are six cells in the
Saber pack, so I would be very careful not to exceed
9 volts DC is applying bench power to a Saber.

Matter of fact 8 volts would be even safer and better.

You might get away with a bit more but the consequences
could be pretty serious if the radio didn't want to
cooperate, and I'm not talking about just blowing the
fuse, which is a current protection device rather than a
voltage protection device.

Posted: Thu Apr 12, 2007 7:52 pm
by DJP126
13.8 VDC is WAY too high for the Saber line (including the Astro Saber). The battery supplies 7.5 VDC.

I confess i blew it up:oops:

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 9:42 am
by jets1961
DJP126 wrote:13.8 VDC is WAY too high for the Saber line (including the Astro Saber). The battery supplies 7.5 VDC.

OK,

So I confess I blew it up, I got it in the mail without a battery charger. I was coming home for a lunch hour break and could not resist powering it up after getting it in the mail (come on you know like a kid with new toy). It is: Model #: H04UCF9PW7AN . I never thought a Motorola product would be so sensitive to a power supply like that. Please point me in the right directions to repairing the damaged components. BTW it does in fact smell smoked but I can see no obvious damage. I guess I should have left the 13.8 on longer :)

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 10:54 am
by jmr061
Time to go back to shopping for another one.

Jason

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 1:16 pm
by VE9MP
KB9KST wrote:Time to go back to shopping for another one.

Jason
Yup, pretty much, with everything so small it would be damned near impossible to replace surface mounted components, but it happens to the best of us, just resist the urge and wait for a battery next time :D


Send me a PM if its no longer useful to you, I could use it for parts on a project of mine...

Posted: Sat Apr 14, 2007 5:33 pm
by jets1961
snip

I have have had good success repairing SMT in the past so humor me with the detail (anyone).

Joe
Yup, pretty much, with everything so small it would be damned near impossible to replace surface mounted components, but it happens to the best of us, just resist the urge and wait for a battery next time :D


Send me a PM if its no longer useful to you, I could use it for parts on a project of mine...[/quote]

Astro Saber reverse polarity.

Posted: Mon Apr 30, 2007 4:12 pm
by jets1961
jets1961 wrote:snip

Well I guess I will answer my own question. When I first checked the radio I missed that the fuse was in fact blown, once I replaced that (on RF board at bottom) a 33uF 20VDV SMT cap fried (on logic board) so I removed it. I will replace it as soon as I get a chance to hit Active Component. I reassembled the radio and it booted up... but no display. Took it back apart and found the ribbon cable to LCD was not seated. Once I connected that the radio was fine.

I am just posting this so when it happens to some other unfortunate individual they will be able to find a fix when they do a search.

Joe

I have have had good success repairing SMT in the past so humor me with the detail (anyone).

Joe
Yup, pretty much, with everything so small it would be damned near impossible to replace surface mounted components, but it happens to the best of us, just resist the urge and wait for a battery next time :D


Send me a PM if its no longer useful to you, I could use it for parts on a project of mine...
[/quote]