Batboard

Anyone have any thoughts on this? My HT1250 starts heating up in front of the radio even when sitting idle after transmitting for a little while. I have several in use for years so I know that this is getting unusually warm. I tried a different battery but it still happens. Thanks for any input. Bill.

I forgot to include that the radio seems to be pulling the battery down REAL fast. So it must be drawing some serious current.

I had this happen on an MTX8250. Does it get so hot to the point that you can't touch the metal back plate without getting a slight burn? I never did figure out what the problem was, but I assumed something was shorting the battery. Battery life went down to about all of half an hour. I never did try to fix this problem as I figured it'd be too much work.

No, it's actually the front of the radio behind the keypad that gets real warm.

My HT1250 did the exact same thing..Including running the battery down within 45 minutes, not transmitting. I sent the radio to Motorola depot even though out of warranty. They completly rebuilt the radio inside and out (including all new front cover plastic) and returned it to me no charge. Maby you will have the same luck. Good luck..D

Thanks. I was hoping to avoid the $300 repair charge they get but I'll wait and see if anyone has an idea on what might cause that. thanks.

On many radios I repair the B+ is unswitched directly to the PA. I've seen the PA go bad and have a constant high current drain on the battery, thus causing the heat in the radio. If you could hook the radio up to a power supply with an amp meter you could check the current draw. In RX the current drain should be less than 100 Ma and transmit about 1.5-2 amps. I don't remember if that is the case with this radio or not. You could always do a board exchange if they are still allowing them due to them discontinuing the J55 PA. I think the price was $130 but I'm not sure they are still doing them.

Is there some way to disconnect the power going to the PA? I don't use the radio for transmit, so I don't need the ability. I'd just really like to be able to use this radio without it frying my hand and battery!

I have seen this on several of our radios with the voice record option board in them going bad. I replaced the option board and it has fixed this problem each time. The symptoms were hot keypad face and very short battery life.