View Single Post
  #7   Report Post  
Posted to sci.electronics.repair
Jeff Liebermann Jeff Liebermann is offline
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 4,045
Default OT--Actual elecytronics repair question

On Tue, 11 Jan 2011 19:31:52 +0000 (UTC), Meat Plow
wrote:

Yaesu VX-5R tri-band hand held. Momentary contact power on/off button.


I have the same radio. Mine is the somewhat later v1.1.

Recently I have to push several
times on this rubber on/off button to get the radio to come on.


Yep. I had the same problem about a year ago. When I opened the
radio, I found wet and greasy goo around most of the keypad buttons.
My guess is a mixture to condensed bad breath and exuded rubber
plasticizer molded into the rubber. I cleaned up the mess with
alcohol and it's been fine ever since.

But it
always takes just one touch to turn it off.


Debounce circuit? I do have to hold the on/off a bit longer to turn
it on than to turn it off. My guess is about a full second to turn it
on, and just a tap to turn it off.

And the radio works fine
otherwise including all the other buttons. Just have to play around
pressing the button maybe three/four/five times. Sometimes it powers on
when pressed once! But always shuts off with just one easy push.
This indicates to me that it's not a problem with button contact but
rather a microprocessor problem.


Good logic, but without knowing the exact failure mechanism, it might
be problematic. If this is a deteriorating situation, where it worked
normally in the distant past, I would tend to suspect that something
has deteriorated rather than failed.

If not, there's the possibility of firmware problems, which a total
reset and reload from the programming software might fix. I had some
problems with VX-5 Commander:
http://www.kc8unj.com
and ended up buying the official Yaesu software (by RT Systems)
http://www.rtsystemsinc.com

Discuss.


Methinks a frizbee is cheaper than throwing a discus around.



--
Jeff Liebermann
150 Felker St #D
http://www.LearnByDestroying.com
Santa Cruz CA 95060 http://802.11junk.com
Skype: JeffLiebermann AE6KS 831-336-2558