Welcome to the new FlexRadio Community! Please review the new Community Rules and other important new Community information on the Message Board.
If you are having a problem, please refer to the product documentation or check the Help Center for known solutions.
Need technical support from FlexRadio? It's as simple as Creating a HelpDesk ticket.

Voltage decreases when transmitting

Santiago Mejia HI8O
Santiago Mejia HI8O Member ✭✭
Lately when I transmit the voltage reading on my 6300 decreased. Normally it is at 13.5 and when transmit it goes down to 11.5. Any suggestion? 73, Santiago HI8SMX

Answers

  • VE3DZP
    VE3DZP Member ✭✭
    edited February 2020
    Need a heftier power supply if the voltage is dropping and the rig is OK.
  • Johan _ SE3X
    Johan _ SE3X Member ✭✭
    edited April 2020
    Hi Santiago, there are fuses inside the cabinet and they need to be cleaned sometimes. Take them out, clean with de-oxit or similar or rubb them with a cloth. 

    If you have fuses on the DC cord betwen radio and PS, do the same. Make sure your cabling is as short and as corse as possibel.

    I've done this with my 6700 and doing this and thinking about cleaning internal fuses can make wonders for this type of problems.


    GL! Johan
  • Al_NN4ZZ
    Al_NN4ZZ Member ✭✭✭
    edited February 2020
    Hi Santiago,

    Here are some notes you might find helpful.  

    http://www.nn4zz.com/FLEX6700.htm#Low_Voltage_Lockup

    Regards, Al / NN4ZZ  
    al (at) nn4zz (dot) com
    6700 Win10 SSDR V2.4.9


  • Chris DL5NAM
    Chris DL5NAM Member ✭✭✭
    edited February 2020
    .... and before you do this, measure the voltage direct at power supply connectors if you transmit and you will see your psu is to small :-)

    The last work what you can do is what Johan says.
  • Al_NN4ZZ
    Al_NN4ZZ Member ✭✭✭
    edited February 2020
    There are 3 places to measure the voltage to determine where the problem may be.  Power supply issue, cable / connector issue, fuse issue. 

    Measure:
    - at the power supply while both RX and TX (suggest 14 - 15 V here)

    - at the power pole connector on the back of the radio  ( should be about 0.1 V less than at the supply)

    - at the radio side of the fuse with an app like SDRMonitor.  expected drops are in my notes. 


    Regards, Al / NN4ZZ  
    al (at) nn4zz (dot) com
    6700 Win10 SSDR V2.4.9



  • Jean Drolet
    Jean Drolet Member ✭✭
    edited February 2020
    It is normal that at the radio terminals the voltage overwrites but also the amperage.

    In the FlexRadio manual it is recommended to have 13.8v +/- 15%. I always adjust to 14.5 volts at the radio terminal
  • Dan KG0AQ
    Dan KG0AQ Member ✭✭
    edited February 2020
    If it is not a power supply issue try cleaning with Deoxit and "slightly" reforming PowerPole connectors per this thread  https://community.flexradio.com/flexradio/topics/undervoltage-powerpole-issue

    I had a similar issue and it solved it 100%

    73 Dan
  • WA2SQQ
    WA2SQQ Member ✭✭
    edited February 2020
    I had this problem. I got my total voltage drop, end to end, down to just .2v Made a new power cord from a flexible 10ga wire, applied a small amount of a conductive silver grease to the power pole connectors and to the internal power fuses. Voltage is measured with the stacks program. Running my power supply at 14v
  • Mike W9OJ
    Mike W9OJ Member ✭✭
    edited February 2020
    I took the cover off my 6300 with the intention of cleaning the fuse connections but it appeared I would have to perform major surgery to extract the 30A green fuse. Is there any easy way to get to that thing that I might have missed?

    73 de Mike W9OJ
  • Neal Pollack, N6YFM
    Neal Pollack, N6YFM Member ✭✭
    edited February 2020
    What is "The Stacks Program" and where do we find it?

    Thanks,

    Neal
  • WA2SQQ
    WA2SQQ Member ✭✭
    edited February 2020
  • Steven WA8Y
    Steven WA8Y Member ✭✭
    edited February 2020
    Use a voltmeter to determine where the voltage drop occurs. While TX into a dummy load; Measure voltage at Power supply. Measure voltage as supply line as it enter the radio (inside the radio). Measure voltage on the input side of the fuse, next measure voltage on the output side of the fuse.
  • Rich McCabe
    Rich McCabe Member ✭✭✭
    edited February 2020
    It's hard not to get voltage drop with 12 volts DC if you use any significant length of cable. I am a fan of power poles but they contribute as well.

    I have a total of about 10' of cable to power the flex which will drop the voltage for sure. So one of my RigRunners is placed under desk at back of radios. I am powering the Flex with a 16" chunk of 10 gauge and the rig runner is powered with TWO 10 gauge runs back to my 50 amp Astron.  I am running 13.5 volts at receive and 12.5 at 100 watts TX.

    Best thing you can do is cut the cable as short as possible :)

    My voltage is not ideal but when you are dealing with a long run its not easy.

Leave a Comment

Rich Text Editor. To edit a paragraph's style, hit tab to get to the paragraph menu. From there you will be able to pick one style. Nothing defaults to paragraph. An inline formatting menu will show up when you select text. Hit tab to get into that menu. Some elements, such as rich link embeds, images, loading indicators, and error messages may get inserted into the editor. You may navigate to these using the arrow keys inside of the editor and delete them with the delete or backspace key.