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Contacting Midland
- Thread starter whiteastro
- Start date
actually they farmed all radios out from the early years.i got couple a piddlin midlands from the 80s was built in japan n a couple other countrys
Midland International is an importing company, straight up. They hire a factory to design and built their products. They have a marketing department and engineering staff who decide which knobs to choose from what the vendor can put in on the assembly line. But that's it. The actual hardware design and production are, as they say "outsourced". Always has been, for as long as the company has been around. The overseas vendor has been the rule for many decades. Last "american"-made CB was Hy-Gain de Puerto Rico. They assembled circuit boards into radios with parts obtained from Cybernet in Japan. This enterprise got under way right around the 40-channel implosion that put 98 percent of CB suppliers out of business forever. Sunk them right away.
Fun fact. At least one 23-channel Midland radio came from Uniden. Can't remember the model number.
73
Fun fact. At least one 23-channel Midland radio came from Uniden. Can't remember the model number.
73
wasnt that big 23 channel radio in a white case? seems like long ago i owned a white midland that had made in usa. cant remember the number, like 13-730?
If the battery is lion you may find a BMS board at Aliexpress that will fit. just don't get the cell too hot when soldering the wires on the cell. You may have a dud cell too. check each individual cell for same voltage.
If you have nicad's in there you may find some at battery junction. good luck hope you get your going. Get in hot and get off before the cell gets too explosively hot. ware face shield.
If looking for a BMS board the letter "S: stands for cell so if you have 4 batteries (cell's) it will be a 4S board they are cheap.
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Thanks for the input but the batteries are NMH and there is 8 of them at 2800 mAh. I couldn't find much info on how long to charge them and the charging indicator lite never changed color indicating they were charged. Midland's instructions leave a lot to be desired. The very first time I put the proper batteries in it the proper arrangement I had trouble getting it to fire up until I tweaked a contact and then it worked fine and after a while I used the built in charge circuit but the indicator light never went out or changed color. Then I found the heavier 2800 mAh batteries to put in it and it hasn't worked since, but it does work with the 12 volt cord and the alkaline battery box so it is that rechargeable battery box. And no I am not going to do circuit board work as a experiment because I'll leave that to the experts. I have too much on my plate already. My beef is with Midland ! I've only had this radio maybe a year and bought it because of the multi features with the rechargeable battery box. End of Rant. LOL
Batteries: I have a battery (80 volt) chain saw, The battery that came with it last about 4 -5 hours. The extra I bought from another company worked great the first time. Not lasting as long but as powerful. Then a month later it wouldn't last 5 minutes.
Well it is a dud I may as well take it apart. I found one cell in the string that was dead. I bought a welding machine and the nickel strapping. got a box of batteries and replaced the cell. now it is as good as the other one.
The fist welding arc that was struck I jumped as I wasn't expecting the noise or the sparks.
I have rebuilt a few batteries with success.
Old Barney
Well it is a dud I may as well take it apart. I found one cell in the string that was dead. I bought a welding machine and the nickel strapping. got a box of batteries and replaced the cell. now it is as good as the other one.
The fist welding arc that was struck I jumped as I wasn't expecting the noise or the sparks.
I have rebuilt a few batteries with success.
Old Barney
Well I'm glad to see you had success with your project and I have heard of people arcing batteries to get them working again, but ALL of my batteries have been tested multiple times and there is noting wrong with MY batteries and I even tested the original batteries and found nothing wrong with them either.
Pshh, screw em. Buy one of the cheaper chinese radios that are being made. They are starting to prove themselves now and have all the features and coverage you need. Alot of them are solid rigs.
I have to report that I found 2 emails from Midland in my spam folder of my gmail account so I guess they aren't as bad as I thought and now the ball is in my court.
Well after 2 days of no power fiasco I finally emailed Grace at Midland radio and she called me when I was taking my mom to the hospital. She left her number and extension so I called her and ordered 2 of the battery boxes and should see them next week. While I had her on the phone I questioned her about their MXT-500 GMRS radio and she said they are suppose to come out with a MXT-575 in the middle of May so if your thinking about their GMRS radio wait until then for more features !
Had one years go, thought it was a cybernet until i opened it when it arrived and found innards very close to the cobra and panther simba type dial readout 23 channel ssb sets.
13-893. One is listed on the local ebay site:
https://www.ebay.com.au/itm/1853981...d=link&campid=5336136228&toolid=20001&mkevt=1
200 aussie dollars and tech estimates another 250 to convert it to 40 in addition to any repairs needed as its a 45 odd year old radio so ill be passing on that one.
I used to run the Midland 13-895, basically the same radio, but it had a power supply built into the bottom of the radio.
They were $369.95 new when they came out, a rather large amount of money back in the day.
I worked a lot of dx with that radio untill I replaced it with a TRC 448 40 channel radio.
73
Jeff
