Are the PGXL fans field replaceable?

Bill AB7AA · May 26

I ask this question because I find that I need to operate with the fans in Broadcast when I give marine weather forecasts of 10 minutes or more. When operating in B they sound like they are straining quite a bit and probably shorten their life. If they are field replaceable and won't be concerned to operate them more often in this mode.

Thanks,

73,

Bill AB7AA

Mike-VA3MW · May 26

When you operate in Broadcast mode, yes, they are working harder, but at 100%. The noise you hear is not the fan motor, but the disturbed air moving through the appliance.

Joking: Have you ever heard of a powerful vacuum cleaner that is actually quiet! :)

Most items are field replaceable if you comfortable working on electronics. That means you are ok with disassembling and dealing with funny connectors. It has been awhile since I had one opened, but I don't think it was a 10 minute job.

Also, if you buy your own fan, they all look the same but the performance from make to make is HUGE. When RF Kit was picking fans in the early days, they must have tested over 100 fans. You can read about it if you google it. There was a lot of testing on fan efficiency (volume of air vs. RPM and sound pressure). It was actually very interesting.

Bill AB7AA · May 26

Thanks Mike!

John K3MA · May 27

Might we get the important specs of the current fans so that we can find suitable replacements to have on the shelf?

Mike-VA3MW · May 27

Reach out to 4O3A for the specs. They are the manufacture of the PGXL.

Bill AB7AA · May 27

I find the fan setting to be important because I've already toasted one pair of LDMOS finals on this amp and another set on the previous. If upping the fan speed saves a set then I think it would be worth running at a higher setting. On my 10-15 minute WX reports I can see >10 degree C improvement over contest mode.

I have 3 different make HF 1.5K amps and they all operate remotely in the garage. Fan noise is not an issue so I'll run them all on full fan. A concern is that on startup the bearings might be thin on **** so a jolt on might cause some wear. It would be nice if they slowly ramped up to speed. But at $1300 a set for finals I think that fans might be a little cheaper.

Bill AB7AA

John K3MA · May 28

Mike

I will do that, but I have never gotten any replies from the past couple of communications directly with 4O3A. Does Flex not have replacement fans in stock, and might provide the information faster? Seems a reasonable request since I purchased the Amplifier directly from Flex and paid the invoice to Flex. From a customer perspective, it does not seem fair to sell a product with the Flex name on it and then pass the buck when there is a simple request, such that the customer has to deal directly with a foreign based manufacturer. If it were something more of a technical nature, I would feel otherwise, but how difficult can it be to provide a replacement fan source or specs for an amplifier that is sent back to Texas for service.

Mike-VA3MW · 1:47PM

Hi John

I'm sorry for the frustration this has caused. To address your question directly: we don't currently stock replacement fans for the PGXL. Because amplifiers like this represent a relatively low failure-rate item, we've made the difficult decision to keep our parts inventory lean rather than tie up significant capital in components that may sit on the shelf for years. It's a real operational challenge we wrestle with, and I recognize that explanation doesn't make your situation any easier.

73

WX7Y · 2:54PM

John,

why don't you just pop the cover and see what fans are in the AMP.

Are the PGXL fans field replaceable?

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