Galaxy DX 94HP Big Rig will not power on...

[Lkaskel]

Good day everyone,
On the bench today is a 94HP and it is very flaky. The operator said that about 2 weeks ago the radio would not turn normally. It will sometimes turn on after a few minutes and sometime not at all. When I tried it nothing happend right away except for about a 20ma current draw when I turned it on. After 4 minutes the display lit up and we were off to the races. I turned it off after about a minute and when I turned it back on nothing happened for about another 5 minutes. I did a visual inspection and somehow this radio appears to have never been tweaked. It looked perfect. I also tried pressing on all parts of the board and wiring and nothing triggered it to work. Any thoughts on this one? I do realize that this radio is similar to many other Galaxy radios so maybe someone has had this experience with one of of them?

Anyways, thanks in advance!!!

 

[nomadradio]

Flaky power switch with a layer of schmoo on the contact surfaces?

73

 

[Shadetree Mechanic]

Shorted capacitor that has to warm up to work?

 

[OldTech03]

Good day everyone,
On the bench today is a 94HP and it is very flaky. The operator said that about 2 weeks ago the radio would not turn normally. It will sometimes turn on after a few minutes and sometime not at all. When I tried it nothing happend right away except for about a 20ma current draw when I turned it on. After 4 minutes the display lit up and we were off to the races. I turned it off after about a minute and when I turned it back on nothing happened for about another 5 minutes. I did a visual inspection and somehow this radio appears to have never been tweaked. It looked perfect. I also tried pressing on all parts of the board and wiring and nothing triggered it to work. Any thoughts on this one? I do realize that this radio is similar to many other Galaxy radios so maybe someone has had this experience with one of of them?

Anyways, thanks in advance!!!

If the power switch is the problem simply put a test probe on the switched side, turn on the switch if you have power on both sides of the switch then on to other issues. If it is a capacitor that would also be easy to track down especially if voltage is being supplied to the board one would think that a cap would not block voltage unless it's leakage is such that it's shorting to ground which would show itself on the amp draw in a far more significant way than just 20 milliamps. But who knows lets us know when you figure it out.

 

[Shadetree Mechanic]

If the power switch is the problem simply put a test probe on the switched side, turn on the switch if you have power on both sides of the switch then on to other issues. If it is a capacitor that would also be easy to track down especially if voltage is being supplied to the board one would think that a cap would not block voltage unless it's leakage is such that it's shorting to ground which would show itself on the amp draw in a far more significant way than just 20 milliamps. But who knows lets us know when you figure it out.

I was thinking that a cap shorting could drag the 8volts down? Just watching and learning over here. Thx.

 

[Eldorado828]

I agree with above posts, electrolytic cap or caps. The schematic is available here in wwdx and the path to follow shouldn't be difficult to tracewith the map. I myself have found bad caps more than once on a new (I hate to even say it) ranger made.

 

[BC Coyote]

I had a 2950 years ago that had that exact problem. I would go out and turn it on 10 minutes before I needed to use it because it took 4 or 5 minutes to power up.
It turned out to be a cold solder joint that was causing the problem. Weird.

 

[OldTech03]

I was thinking that a cap shorting could drag the 8volts down? Just watching and learning over here. Thx.

Well yes, a cap could cause issues like that, what I was wondering is if the only current spike he seen was 20 milliamps it most likely would not be a cap shorting a regulated source down to nothing. I'm kind of in the bad solder issue of some kind if the switch is not the issue. We will see when he locates the issue.

 

[Lkaskel]

Thanks everyone for your initial replies!!! I am out of the office for a few days for work. I will let everyone know my findings as soon as I get home. Thanks again!!

I will say that the power switch option does not make logical sense as it takes "time" to actually turn on but it is worth checking. That is so simple and I jumped into the deep and of the pool instead of the basic checks 1st. Such a good lesson!!

 

[SuperLid]

I had a 2950 years ago that had that exact problem. I would go out and turn it on 10 minutes before I needed to use it because it took 4 or 5 minutes to power up.
It turned out to be a cold solder joint that was causing the problem. Weird.

I have seen that same root cause and power switch.

 

[OldTech03]

Thanks everyone for your initial replies!!! I am out of the office for a few days for work. I will let everyone know my findings as soon as I get home. Thanks again!!

I will say that the power switch option does not make logical sense as it takes "time" to actually turn on but it is worth checking. That is so simple and I jumped into the deep and of the pool instead of the basic checks 1st. Such a good lesson!!

With my credentials that I will not go into you would think I would be able to find all problems in a matter of minutes but NO! that isn't the way it works. I have been guilty of jumping to the end of line only to say Ok Dennis this isn't working so do like you taught it in Tech School and that works every time.

 

[Lkaskel]

Hi Everyone,
Well, I was able to spend some time at the bench today and the issue IS the power switch. The feed side of the switch was 13.74 volts and the power out side of the switch was 2.4 volts as measured at J401. When I jumped out the 2 pins the radio turned on and turned off when the jumper was removed.

Now to the next challenge. This switch is a sealed switch and I am unsure if there are any options for cleaning/De-Oxit. Does anyone have any thoughts on how to address this other than installing a separate On/Off switch?

Thanks as always!!!

 

[SuperLid]

Hi Everyone,
Well, I was able to spend some time at the bench today and the issue IS the power switch. The feed side of the switch was 13.74 volts and the power out side of the switch was 2.4 volts as measured at J401. When I jumped out the 2 pins the radio turned on and turned off when the jumper was removed.

Now to the next challenge. This switch is a sealed switch and I am unsure if there are any options for cleaning/De-Oxit. Does anyone have any thoughts on how to address this other than installing a separate On/Off switch?

Thanks as always!!!

Order a new control from Galaxy Radios.

 

[Lkaskel]

Order a new control from Galaxy Radios.

So, there is a challenge with that even if I could get one. The amount boards that need to be unsoldered just to get to the solder points of the board mounted switch is significant. The operator does not want to spend the dollars for that amount of bench time. If there is a way to clean it then that would be the 1st choice and then possibly a separate on/off switch mounted on the radio. Thanks for the suggestion though!

 

[Enterprise312ok]

This is becoming a major issue for a lot of ranger made radios, including my 69vhp the 99 series x9 connex cx33 and probably more. should be a warranty repair Item. I have repaired about 5 and turned down more due to lack of parts on hand.