XTS5000 Battery Contacts

[n9upw]

Hi, we have a fleet of about 60 portables in our department that are between 2-3 years old. We have recently developed a problem with the radio "rebooting" at random. After trying many different things, I happened to notice the battery contacts one day while swapping out a battery and have come to the conclusion that the radio is loosing power momentarily while getting bumped around due to some pitting in the contacts. Now, this has only happened with about a dozen or so radios and it has happened to different terminals on different radios. Any ideas as to the cause of this pitting or has anyone else experienced this problem?

[escomm]

tangentially, are you using oem or aftermarket batteries?

[akardam]

I can't speak as to why you're experiencing the pitting, though I would conjecture that physical shock could be a factor, or possibly if all the radios with the problem are from the same batch, that there was a materials defect at manufacture time.

However, the battery contact assembly is dirt cheap (by comparison), so replacing it might be a cheap fix. If your radios are non-ruggedized, then you'll want part number 0985973B04. If you want to conduct the repair yourself, you'll also want the chassis removal tool, 6685833D01, a small flat blade screwdriver, and the basic service manual. The only gotcha that immediately comes to mind is to make sure that the gasket around the battery contact assy is seated properly when you're done - obvserve one of the radios beforehand to get an idea of how it should look.

If your fleet has any ruggedized models, you're going to want to send them to a shop that is certified to conduct the repair and return the radio to its immersability and anti-intrusion specifications with the proper vaacum test equipment, or if none exists locally, send them to Motorola.

[n9upw]

Thanks for the replies. Jeff, all OEM IMPRES batteries and a mixture of IMPRES chargers and vehicle chargers. All NiMH batteries with date codes ranging from 2007-2008. My initial thought is that guys were swapping out the batteries while the radio was on, but I don't think that's the case. There is no pattern to the pitting (some radios are spares and not used often, others are front line engine radios) and I can't explain why different radios have different terminals pitted. We have no ruggedized radios, so I'll check out MOL and look up that part number.

DSW

[GlennD]

I have seen a couple from fire but none from pd. It might be due to the fact that they have bolted leather cases to the engine cab for the radios.

[mike m]

I have a SRB about a similar problem to the XTS series batteries and it mentions specifically that contamination on the battery contacts can result in accelerated wear to the radios contacts and to the battery contacts.

If you Pm me I can send you the SRB in word form.


Mike

[n9upw]

Mike, I tried sending you a PM, but for some reason the message is stuck in my outbox and didn't get sent. Anyway if you could email me the bulletin at kb500ft (at) hotmail (dot) com that would be great. How long ago was it? I'm really scratching my head on this one. I wish I could find a pattern to this problem.