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Snake Radio Customs calls out Mike's Radio Repair LOL
- Thread starter loosecannon
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Do not send your radio to any of these people. There's only one person I trust to touch my radios and he's typing this right now. I know exactly what will be done, I have full control of the costs, and I know exactly how it was working before and after and why. The DIY method is the best.
Nothing is guaranteed once you put your radio in the mail
Nothing is guaranteed once you put your radio in the mail
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The only person I trust to touch my radios is my wife, but albeit, she aint got a clue whar shes doiing LOL
I have mixed feelings about washing out electronics. On one hand I fear doing it and on the other hand I do know that most problems occur from the device being powered ON when it gets wet.Several amateurs have literally washed out commercial AM broadcast transmitters with a garden hose after first removing the transformers. After drying out in the sun for a day or two everything was fine. I once dropped my cell phone into a stock pond on one of the machines at work. I quickly fished it out and frantically pulled the battery. It had shut itself off by that time. I wiped it off and when I got home I dunked in a glass of distilled water then took it apart and blew it out as best I could with an air hose. I used the water to help neutralize any nasty corrosive chemicals in the stock we use. (recycled paper manufacturing plant) I sat it on the back deck in the sun and by the end of the day it was working again. I used it flawlessly for two years after that before upgrading to a different phone. A buddy of mine basically did the same thing to an HT after dropping it into a lake. It sounds bad but it is not bad in some cases. I guess you should probably try it on a junker radio first maybe. LOL
Added emphasis mine.
That's the ticket. And that's fine.
If you wash electronics and it's just a board with a bunch of QFPs or something, fine.
Ultrasonic cleaning with nothing that is going to hold water or will be damaged by water like transformers, fine.
We are talking about a board with crystal filters, transformers.....
And with a household cleaner and garden hose.
There are not many CB radios that can be cleaned using this method.
People who take a swim with cell phones would take the phone apart and let it bake in Sun or would drop them in dry rice to absorb the moisture. It's worth a shot to save you from buying new, however I don't think I would want to try it out just for the hell of it. I know for certain i would not want my radio hosed down like Snake did in the video.
Forget the rice idea. People think that works really well based on the fact that rice absorbs water but simply leaving it open to the air and in the sun works FAR better.
Well, when electronics are cleaned they are often cleaned ultrasonically.
They are immersed in a distilled water + detergent solution to break up flux residue and other contaminants.
Shooting plain city or well water that likely has dissolved metals plus Windex is bad.
It will develop problems as the water dries and inside of those variable inductors and transformers will rust/oxidize.
Based on the number of transformers I have seen him pull out in other videos I just skimmed thru I suspect that it's because he washed it with city water.
I just saw a couple of his videos where he starts out checking the radio and it's working then halfway he describes these transformers had "failed" so he replaced them.
It was just "bad luck"
It's pretty obvious that he is actually causing him and his customers issues with improper cleaning and servicing technique.
They are immersed in a distilled water + detergent solution to break up flux residue and other contaminants.
Shooting plain city or well water that likely has dissolved metals plus Windex is bad.
It will develop problems as the water dries and inside of those variable inductors and transformers will rust/oxidize.
Based on the number of transformers I have seen him pull out in other videos I just skimmed thru I suspect that it's because he washed it with city water.
I just saw a couple of his videos where he starts out checking the radio and it's working then halfway he describes these transformers had "failed" so he replaced them.
It was just "bad luck"
It's pretty obvious that he is actually causing him and his customers issues with improper cleaning and servicing technique.
the transformers I was talking about are simply the plate and filament transformers and the modulation transformers IF they are not sealed from the factory. These carry high voltage and any water is bad and hard to bake out. Crystal filters should be sealed and Rf transformers will dry out. I`m not advocating doing this a s a matter of course mind you but it is not as bad as you may thing. I had ice shards fall off a 200 foot tower and smash holes in the roof of my TX building one spring. It dumped gallons upon untold gallons of water into the Harris 5 Kw FM transmitter that was running at the time with 4500 volts on the plate. After the fireworks finally shut the TX downn and we got it cleaned up and set up fans and a hair dryer LOL the only damage we had was a blown rectifier bank in the three phase power supply. The Harris 10 watt exciter mounted in the TX cabinet had water running out of the corners of the cabinet and it too was fine after drying it out.
City water is not a great idea I agree. As for his suggestions about what should be replaced............I place ZERO stock in what he says. He can`t dazzle the masses with his brilliance so he baffles them with bullshit.
I am with you.. but I am also thinking.... it's a consumer electronics device vs. a commercial FM transmitter.
Obviously that's your thing but I am betting that Harris did not use the same transformers. Unless they did? Beats me.
A lot of that gear is rugged. It's designed to run 24/7/365. Definitely not a CB radio.
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