error fpga fan speed

Eric Gruff

Mine had the same problem and no RF out. It's been at Flex for over three weeks, and just found out it has to go back to manufacturer for memory chip replacement. I wouldn't call that fast.

Tim - W4TME

Occasionally some issues require the radio to be returned to the manufacturing facility for repair services and this does take a little longer to resolve than service we can do on the bench.  Please note that the manufacturing facility is in the same industrial park as our office, so it doesn't have to travel far.  

Even though you have been critical of our service time to fix and we understand and appreciate your frustration in not having your radio, your issue is being addressed using our established procedures to ensure a complete fix of your radio in the least amount of time possible.

Delbert McCord

So does Flex sell the fan assembly with an integrated heat sink? If this is going to keep happening I think I would like to have some onhand.

Scott N8UMW

Yes, I'd like to know that also.

Scott N8UMW

Today I opened the radio and followed the flex fan cleaning procedure for my 6300. There was very little dust inside. I cleaned it anyway. It is running at the moment, but I'm sure it will soon shut itself off again. The PA fan and rear fan in the cage are running fine. The front fan in the cage is not. Shinning my light through the holes, clearly, the front fan struggled to get up to speed, and after several boot up attempts, finally spun fast enough to boot. I think it's a fair question to ask whether or not Flex will ever offer this as a user replaceable part after the two year warranty has run out, or will this be a 200 dollar annual expense to send it in?

Michael Aust

Well, if you opened it up, getting a Part Number from it, one can Google search
and probably find one from Mouser Electronics easily !

dl9eri/oe9eri

My 6500 is now more than 3 years old and the 2 chip-coolers are making troubles from time to time and need cleaning.

I have -as out of guarantee- opened the shield for the cleaning and searched for the coolers - but - they are discontinued !

The german service center mailed me, that they get only chip-coolers from FLEX in guarantee-cases.

So what now ?

I tried to order 2 of them from the service center to replace myself if the radio shuts down because of the fan-failure with the tacho-line sensing the speed. Hopefully will get them from Norbert ?

As for changing myself - I have 50+ years of experience - was born with a screwdriver and solderiron - and repair regulary HP, Advantest etc. old measuring equipment and of couse all my amateur-radio equipment.

So what with the -out of guarantee- users of Flex - nobody able to change a fan ???  Maybe I missed the point ....

73 from Germany
Helmut  dl9eri / oe9eri


 

DH2ID

Hi Helmut,
I regularly clean all the fans of my Flex 6k5. As it is also out of warranty,
I have opened the enclosure and cleaned the chip coolers, which still run fine-
fingers crossed!
If you get an answer - and the coolers - I would be very glad to hear from you.
You can also reach me at my DARC mail address.
73, Alex - DH2ID

KY6LA_Howard

Helmut Most modern era hams and for that matter most repair techs cannot tell the difference between a screwdriver and a soldering iron. Once we evolved to surface mounted components needing microscopes and an ultra steady hand to solder, the old skill set was not needed to swap boards. BTW. I agree what's so hard about swapping fans albeit the FPGA has an integrated cooler.

dl9eri/oe9eri

This one is discontinued - not to get from Mouser

dl9eri/oe9eri

Amazing - how fast the Service solves our needs !

There are the Coolers on the way to me - in shortest possible timewindow !

Thank you Flex - notably the European Service Center with Norbert !

Happy user
Helmut
dl9eri / oe9eri

Scott N8UMW

I'm still under warranty and having this problem for the second time. You can't open the cage without voiding your warranty, so I'll have to send mine in again. Is that clear enough? Secondly, flex has yet to say, one way or the other, whether the fans will be available for a customer to order outright to do the replacement. That's the question I would like to see answered.

Manuel - W4SSB

Perhaps someone can share with us the part number of the new CPU/FPGA fans.

KC2QMA_John

Maybe FRS doesnt want anyone to know what the part numbers & specs for the fans are so they can charge $150 for a $5 fan?

Bill -VA3WTB

Not likely

Delbert McCord

the silence is deafening

Paul Burton

Tim mentioned to me that removal of the CPU fan can easily damage the chips, so they don't recommend the user trying it.

KC2QMA_John

Tim mentioned to me that removal of the CPU fan can easily damage the chips, so they don't recommend the user trying it.

Yes that sounds just like what someone that wants you to spend $150 on a $5 fan would say.

Bill -VA3WTB

 John, take yours off and let us know how it went, since you don't believe them.

Scott N8UMW

I heard around 180 bucks and I'll bet that didn't include shipping.

KC2QMA_John

John, take yours off and let us know how it went, since you don't believe them.

OK, I will charge $75 for the $5 fan.
I guess the days that hams have any technical skills are gone?

Manuel - W4SSB

It's actually much harder to change out the 2 PA fans on the 6500/6700. You have to remove some of the side sheet metal but at least the exact replacement fans are available from Digikey.

Kevin

John:

You really won't get a whole lot of sympathy for the cause unfortunately. It's pretty much an accepted fact that the box is sealed except maybe to replace a fuse, **** out dust (don't forget the toothpick) and add a GPS module. I'm surprised they didn't include **** traps.

Maybe the technical skills that are now made less effective by FPGAs, surface mount devices and super-delicate construction will move to software. While there's not a lot of tracing signals with schematics in hand there does seem to be a fairly decent amount of software work being done and a whole lot of opportunity.

There are not a whole lot of alternatives to SSDR but I really hope that changes. I'd really like to see someone with some experience/reputation get a kickstarter going on a competing GUI. I really like the Flex radio. I really don't like the software.

Original fans. Knock on wood.

Kev

Delbert McCord

The 174$ including the shipping back to Michigan. The turn around time was FANTASTIC! 

If it is indeed just to complicated for the normal user to do (and a lot of us older guys eye sight is not great, myself included) then fine, tell us that and I would understand. I have to buy new tires on my car from time to time but I replace them as inexpensively as I can. I accept that removing the tires off the rim and replacing them and then balancing them is something I can not do so I pay someone else to do it.

In my minds eye I am just seeing a fan in a computer powersupply. How about posing some pictures or a video of one being replaced? Or even finding a better quality fan even at a higher cost that would last longer. 

I personally wish I would had been reading these forums and I would have had a better idea to take care of it earlier, I myself also did make it worse by not cleaning it. I will not make that mistake again. 

Scott N8UMW

I don't know. I had mine in back in March. Still clean inside and one is failing. I have not seen one being replaced. I'm sure it does take some care and skill. I read once that a flex owner had one of their fans come loose. I can see screws through the holes. Don't know if that's fan to heatsink, or whole assembly to the board. That would be kind of cheesy if the assembly is just stuck on the chip with a thermal adhesive. But that would ensure heat sink compound does not come into contact with the chip leads. Surely, if screws hold it down, someone not being careful could easily over tighten it and cause damage. It doesn't take much. I guess we can only speculate until the folks at Flex answer, or someone that did the fan change themselves post some info.

G8ZPX

Okay guys, here is the info that the Flex clearly don't wont us to know about. The fan part number is AP0512HX-J96. There may be a slightly different part code if you want the whole heatsink assembly too (not necessary). The are often seen on graphics cards.

The life expectancy is quoted at 50,000 hours, or 5.71 years of continuous use. So, I certainly wont be leaving mine on 24/7. After 3 years of regular use you can see there is actually very little dust build-up. So, the likelihood is that the early years faults are just down to poor quality (Chinese produced) fans.

The mounting arrangement is essentially the same as a normal CPU/GPU cooler (4 machine screws +heatsink paste). With a little care and the right torxs driver these can easily be changed.

Available from Mouser http://www.mouser.co.uk/ProductDetail/ADDA/AP0512HX-J96-4P-TA-LF/?qs=8%252by%2fp8nNIU8ni7POYiYOBg==

Full spec sheet http://www.mouser.com/ds/2/6/Adda_AP0512HX-J96-A-347536.pdf

Scott N8UMW

I have seen so many of those on older video cards and other gear. I figured they had to be available. I'll bet a Chinese company i dealt with recently for a replacement Fanuc power supply fan has them. Thanks for taking the pictures.

Manuel - W4SSB

I checked both Mouser US and UK and both show that part # as obsolete and list no replacement.  Anyone know of a replacement?

KC2QMA_John

I guess removing 4 screws is way to complicated for the modern day ham

Here are some basic things to consider.

Wait till you radio is OUT of warranty or you will void it.

When replacing fans be aware of static discharge. (Ground yourself to the radio chassis)

When removing the 4 screws hold heat sink firmly so not to break thermal bond with chip.

When replacing fans with the new ones only tighten screws enough to hold fan in place (Do not over tighten screws.)

Replace Metal RF shield and your done.

KC2QMA_John

Contact mouser or digikey and they can help you cross reference  the compatible replacement.

OR

Maybe FRS will tell us what the current part # for the fan is that they use to replace fans.