New replacement AU-510 dead in 30 minutes

Mark_WS7M

Seriously bummed and disappointed.

My first AU-510 was working fine but decided to **** some blue smoke. Flex scheduled a replacement. I waited three weeks for it.

The replacement arrived today. The ticket said it would go through a burn in. I hooked it up, it booted. Everything looked good. The ATU tuned the antenna just fine (1.7:1) so I ran 500w FT8 for a while as a test. I then backed it down to about 350W.

After about 30 min I saw the error popup for return loss.

Now the radio does not output any power no matter what. The ATU always comes up in BYP. Hitting tune clicks quickly, does nothing else and returns immediately to BYP.

I tried tune at various power from 1 to 50. No power output. I tried CW no power output.

I powered down the radio, unplugged it. Waited, plugged it back in, rebooted. Same behavior. I powered it down, held the power button until white button changed to red, it booted, still same behavior.

Basically the new radio, supposedly burned in at Flex that took 3 weeks to get is DEAD in 30 minutes.

I've created help desk ticket but this is seriously depressing. If Flex cannot get it right either with a repair on this radio or another replacement in a timely fashion I'll probably seek a refund. This is pretty bad…

I had not even shipped back the first defective unit yet. Its in my car waiting to go.

Sad…😩

Trucker

Sorry to hear that. My first run AU-520M hasn't skipped a beat. ( knock on wood) I did have one scare a while back when I keyed up thinking I was connected to my dummy load. It turned out I wasn't and the protection system kicked in super fast. After I calmed down I made certain that I was actually hooking up the Aurora to the dummy load instead of one of my other radios. Then I keyed up and my inline watt meter and the power output meter on the radio both showed nearly 550 Watts output. Since then I have not had any problems. I hope Flex Radio sends you another radio by overnight shipping and it doesn't give you any more problems.

Good luck

James

WD5GWY

Arnold Goldman

good luck my first 6600M had a dead speaker; my 8600M had terrible fan noise; so far my 520M is ok; had a VFO rubbing noise but that i took care of by backing off the vfo knob as instructed; good luck i know its frustrating right out of the box

Mark_WS7M

Thanks guys… It is frustrating. I have tried multiple "factory resets", different ant port, changing the settings etc. The Aurora thinks it is transmitting but it is not. The ATU clicks then turns off and goes right to BYP.

The problem I think is, I don't think they have replacements in stock. It took 3 weeks to get this replacement. So I suspect if they do offer a replacement it will be another few weeks.

Arnold Goldman

they should give you a new one and let the customer wait!! jut my opinion

Mark_WS7M

It's gonna be replaced. Last new replacement took 3 weeks. So we will see how long this one takes.

W7NGA

I just bought a Yaesu FTDX101D and packed away my 6600 and TGXL. I had tried to sell the Flex but no one wants to buy the older technology apparently .. even at fire sale pricing. A week after my Yaesu purchase Yaesu started offering a $500 factory rebate. Sadly, I had purchased a week too early. Drat! I thought, what the heck .. write them, tell my sad story, and see what happens. Three days later a check for $500 came in the mail from Yaesu. I was thrilled, and thrilled also with the radio. The receiver outperforms the Flex and is a joy to operate. My Flex is also a great radio but I missed knobs and switches .. I am old, and I am olde-school I guess. 🙃

W7NGA - Dan, Seaside, Oregon