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Full power transmission will crash and restart itself

Clear
Clear Member ✭
edited April 2019 in FLEX-6000 Signature Series

Answers

  • Mike-VA3MW
    Mike-VA3MW Administrator, FlexRadio Employee, Community Manager, Super Elmer, Moderator admin
    edited April 2019
    No, it is not normal.  

    Items to test:
    • Run the same test, but transmit into a dummy load - this will help eliminate RFI as the problem
    • Measure the power supply voltage at the radio to make sure you are not having a voltage brown out.
    Those are the 2 majout items that can cause the radio to crash and reboot.

    Mike

  • Paul - GI4FZD
    Paul - GI4FZD Member ✭✭
    edited December 2018
    Take the mfj out of circuit if you are using internal atu
  • Clear
    Clear Member ✭
    edited December 2018
  • Clear
    Clear Member ✭
    edited December 2018
  • Burt Fisher
    Burt Fisher Member ✭✭
    edited April 2019
  • Mike-VA3MW
    Mike-VA3MW Administrator, FlexRadio Employee, Community Manager, Super Elmer, Moderator admin
    edited December 2018
    Burt, what make and model of power supply are you using and how old is it?  
  • Burt Fisher
    Burt Fisher Member ✭✭
    edited December 2018
    Astron 20A but resets below 20A, age unknown but the meter is constant and it doesn't reset if the ATU is engaged.
  • Mike-VA3MW
    Mike-VA3MW Administrator, FlexRadio Employee, Community Manager, Super Elmer, Moderator admin
    edited December 2018
    My Astron 20A fails every time on the low bands and both a 6600 and a 6600M.  It isn't RFI as I can run 2000 watts out the back of the amp without issue.   The SS-25 does not.  That is from personal experience. 

    With the ATU, you may not be using the same amount of current.  Just to be sure, I would add an amp meter in series on power cable and see how it goes.  

    I'm pretty confident this isn't a radio issue, but a power supply issue.
  • Burt Fisher
    Burt Fisher Member ✭✭
    edited December 2018
    The power supply already has an ammeter, it doesn't get near 20 A  at 80 watts. But it crashes
  • Mike-VA3MW
    Mike-VA3MW Administrator, FlexRadio Employee, Community Manager, Super Elmer, Moderator admin
    edited December 2018
    When it crashes, what happens to the voltage when measured on the back of the radio?  I bet is sags down around 11V.  Are you sure you can trust the Amp meter readings?   Also, analogue meters are pretty sluggish.   I would swap out that power supply and test again.  

    I would also clean the contacts at the fuses.  It only takes about 0.2 of an ohm resistance at 18 amps to drop 3 volts.   

    Areas you need to check:
    • Power supply sag
    • Less than 0.5 ohm resistance in the power delivery/power cord 
    • Clean the area the fuses 
    • Try another power supply - as a test, raise the idle voltage of the power supply to 14.5 volts instead of 13.8V
    However, since my 25 year old Astron 20A is doing the same thing on 2 different radios, I am highly suspecting the power supply and once I get up to my remote station, I am going to swap it out for another power supply.

    It does not do the same thing on the SS25 or the Alinco DM-330MVT supply in my case.   Feel free to feed back after you have done the above tests.

    73


  • Mike VE3CKO
    Mike VE3CKO Member ✭✭✭
    edited December 2018
    Good point Mike, I have 3 Alinco DM-330 and one is dedicated to just the Flexradio. Even so I experience crashes/lockup in the past on 80m when using an amp. I have beverage antennas on both RXA and RXB so I moved the amp a few feet more away from the 6700 and loaded up on ferrites on everything connected to the radio including looping the power cord through a larger ferrite. That took care of it.
  • Mike-VA3MW
    Mike-VA3MW Administrator, FlexRadio Employee, Community Manager, Super Elmer, Moderator admin
    edited April 2019
    Tim and I discussed this this morning. 

    The RS-20A power supplies just don't have enough and I went and dug up the specs.  The RS20A is a 16A continuous supply and 20A ICS.  We need closer to 25.  

    This is why the SS-25 is a 20Amp continuous and 25A ICS (Intermittent Communication Service - aka - peak).

    If you have to run an RS20A or similar, go into the the radio and set your maximum TX  power to about 80 watts until you have a chance to upgrade your power supple.  This is in the TX menu.

    Mike

  • Mike-VA3MW
    Mike-VA3MW Administrator, FlexRadio Employee, Community Manager, Super Elmer, Moderator admin
    edited December 2018
    Burt, sounds like your RS20A is working as designed.  It is browning out just past 16 amps and that is all it can do continuously.  It is a 20A peak meaning, ok enough for SSB only and not for any constant carrier modes like CW, RTTY or FT8.
  • Joel H
    Joel H Member
    edited April 2019
  • Mike-VA3MW
    Mike-VA3MW Administrator, FlexRadio Employee, Community Manager, Super Elmer, Moderator admin
    edited April 2019
    I wanted to follow up on this for everyone.

    By accident, I ended up with an Astron RS20 on my 6600 at my remote, and like others reported, it would crash on TX even into a dummy load.

    Last week, I changed the RS20 for an RS70 (ok, overkill, but I had one left over from using an SGC500 amp).

    Problem solved in that the RS20 would voltage sag at full power and then the radio would brown out and reboot.  I can now run full power FT8 or any other mode without issue.

    The RS20 is not a recommend power supply for any Flex 6000 series radio as previously mentioned.  

    Mike

  • Mike-VA3MW
    Mike-VA3MW Administrator, FlexRadio Employee, Community Manager, Super Elmer, Moderator admin
    edited January 2019
    Hi Joel

    This sounds like an RFI issue getting in the radio on unmatched load and some common mode currents.  Do you happen to have a choke on the RF feedline between the radio and the Amp?  

    I had to do that to solve a 6M SWR issue between the radio and the B26 amp.  The minute I choked the jumper cable I was using, the SWR went from 2.5:1 to 1.4:1 even on a dummy load.

    Not exactly your problem, but one worth looking into as a possible solution.

    Mike

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