Batboard

Hello,
Is it difficult, or expensive to change the battery contacts on the Mt2000 series radios.

Thank you,
Josh

No, I have harvested the contacts off of damaged Tx/Rx boards and soldered them onto the good board.

AW

Alright.
Thank you for the response

idtat wrote:No, I have harvested the contacts off of damaged Tx/Rx boards and soldered them onto the good board.AW

AW - How did you manage to extract the old ones without damaging them?
I have tried doing this and it seems you have to apply so much heat that it screws up the little spring inside the moving contact. Is there a special soldering iron tip for this?

B U M P

AW,

Still looking for an answer to my question.

Simply heat the back side of the pins(component side) and push the pins out once the solder begins to 'flow' around the pins.

It's quite simple and easy to remove the pins, but you can't heat the pins directly, only the solder joint surrounding the pins, then simply press the pins out with a needle-like device to prevent damage to the pins.

Elevate the RF board enough so that once you get the solder to melt around the pins, you can press out the pins in a single movment that causes the pins to drop off free and clear of any obstructions.

If saving the RF board for future use, use a vacuum pump to remove excess solder from the holes so that it will be easy to reinstall new pins if necessary.

I have tried this - the pins still do not budge when trying to push them out. I destroyed a couple of the pins with too much heat - this is on already damaged rf boards so no big deal but I would like to salvage some to repair other good rf boards.

AEC wrote:Simply heat the back side of the pins(component side) and push the pins out once the solder begins to 'flow' around the pins.

It's quite simple and easy to remove the pins, but you can't heat the pins directly, only the solder joint surrounding the pins, then simply press the pins out with a needle-like device to prevent damage to the pins.

Elevate the RF board enough so that once you get the solder to melt around the pins, you can press out the pins in a single movment that causes the pins to drop off free and clear of any obstructions.

If saving the RF board for future use, use a vacuum pump to remove excess solder from the holes so that it will be easy to reinstall new pins if necessary.

You're going to say I'm crazy here, but I've done this with a couple of dead Visar boards and an HT100 board now: put the board in the oven. Put it in a cold oven, and set it to 300 degrees with an oven thermometer beside it. Watch the thermometer closely, and pull the board when it gets to 300 degrees and get a soldering iron to it immediately. The pins should practically fall out.

kf4sqb wrote:You're going to say I'm crazy here, but I've done this with a couple of dead Visar boards and an HT100 board now: put the board in the oven. Put it in a cold oven, and set it to 300 degrees with an oven thermometer beside it. Watch the thermometer closely, and pull the board when it gets to 300 degrees and get a soldering iron to it immediately. The pins should practically fall out.

Or a much easier way is to use a heat gun (such as shown HERE) for about 30 seconds to heat up the general area...the pins will fall out within seconds of the soldering iron touching them afterwards. This also works great for GP300 style accessory connectors and chassis battery contacts, maxtrac/GM300 power connectors, various mobile RF Power Amplifiers, and anywhere else a lot of heat is needed to really get the solder flowing.

Todd

I will have to try the heat gun method. I don't think the boss will approve a new oven purchase for a radio shop.
Thanks for the input......

I would deffinately recomend the heat gun. It's a fantastic purchase for any radio guy. Great for doing the Jedi POGO's displays and the ever present PA's on the HT750's etc.

I myself prefer my Master Pro Heat Big Red however the more common little tan gun also works, I'm just not that patient.

Karfield wrote:I would deffinately recomend the heat gun. It's a fantastic purchase for any radio guy. Great for doing the Jedi POGO's displays and the ever present PA's on the HT750's etc.

I myself prefer my Master Pro Heat Big Red however the more common little tan gun also works, I'm just not that patient.

Different tools for different jobs. The common little tan gun is an ESD-safe unit designed for working on circuit boards and other electronics work. The Master Proheat gun is not ESD safe, and is designed for use on adhesives, paint stripping, etc. I wouldn't use it on a board full of semiconductors, or there's a pretty good chance you'll zap something.

Replacing PA's in HT750's has been mentioned. Please give some details.