Spectra Standby current & cap replacement info

[turbo2ltr]

I purchased a Spectra 900mhz (modded for ham bands) A5 that the owner said worked but I think had been sitting a while.

The long story... (see below for short)
Seemed to work on first power up, then odd sounds from the speaker. Then nothing. Black goop on the audio amp. Replaced audio amp.
Seemed to be back up and running, then I accidentally shorted the power leads. Power supply was set to limit to 0.5A, didn't think anything of it but Radio wouldn't power up anymore, screen was only half working and go into a boot loop. As per some batlabs pages, I powered it up with low voltage and saw the 01/09 (IIRC) error. Ordered all new caps. I've fixed automotive ECUs with the same issue in the past so I was familiar with the process. I should have known when I replaced the amp and smelled that unique stench when that acid hits your soldering iron.

Cleaned up leaking caps on the head, and both internal boards. (also replaced the one on the PA board) Thanks to the authors of this page. http://www.repeater-builder.com/motorol ... -caps.html

The digikey part numbers they list are old and no longer stocked. The radio I have only has two different caps.

Current part numbers for these two caps. Im sure you can find others in the series for the other values if you have a differnet radio.
PCE4209CT-ND 10UF 20% 50V SMD
PCE3995CT-ND 10UF 20% 16V SMD

Finally powered it up and everything seems to be working other than the fact there isn't anyone on the local 900 repeater to test.

Short story:
But one thing I did notice is with the power leads connected, and the ignition sense wire disconnected (radio off) the standby current is 300mA. Seems very high. The radio will not turn on without the ignition wire. If you connect the ignition wire, and the radio off, it's still 300mA draw. With the radio on, its 400mA.

Is this normal? The vehicle I plan to install this in does not get driven every day so 300mA seems very high.

Thanks,
Mike

[kcbooboo]

I measured a 40w UHF A7 radio. It was the first one I grabbed.

+14V to Ignition & Radio Power Jack draws about 500mA with radio ON.

When power is first connected to both Ignition and Radio, it draws about 400mA initially, then drops to 23mA.

Radio only, NO accessory plug installed: about 400mA. This means the Emergency Input is NOT grounded.

Radio only, accessory plug installed, NO Ignition: 400mA initially, then drops to 22mA.

It should NOT turn on without Ignition voltage on the Acc Conn. Make sure you've got the Emergency Input pin on the Acc Conn shorted to ground. Pulling the plug out of the Acc Conn will cause the radio to draw a lot of current.

Bob M.