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VX-8DR Power Switch Issues

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(@sareedco)
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Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 1
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I purchased a used VX-8DR off eBay.  It had belonged to a silent key and his daughter was selling it.  It looked to be in excellent shape and the price was right, so I bought it.  It was just the radio and what came in the box, no additional accessories.

When I got it, it was indeed in excellent, almost mint, condition so I was happy with the purchase.  I plugged it in to charge and when it was fully charged, I turned it on, noticing that it was a little difficult to turn on, but didn't think much of it until I went to turn it off.  That was also difficult.  A few days later, I couldn't turn it on at all.

After a bit of searching, I found a YouTube video about fixing the contacts on the soft buttons.  It looked easy to do, so I gathered what I needed, and then took the radio apart.  While most of the buttons had contacts that I could have cleaned and coated with conductive paint, the power button did not.  It appears to be a mechanical switch built into the board.

I reassembled the radio and found that the mere act of taking it apart and putting it back together had, at least partially, fixed the issue.  I can now turn it on and off much more easily.  My concern is that eventually the problem will return, and I don't know how to fix it.  Has anyone else ran into this with their VX-8DR, and are there any suggestions on how to fix it for good?


   
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AB0L
 AB0L
(@3d0g)
Maker of fjords.
Joined: 5 years ago
Posts: 178
 

If the switch uses a rubber pad (which are conductive at 10-20K ohm), the pad and contact it touches on the circuit board are cleaned relatively easy with 91% or better isopropyl. If it's a hard plastic button that presses down on a flexible foil, you've got a bigger challenge. Typically this involves tracing the circuit and doing surgery to the board to replace the foil with a surface mount tact switch.

AB0L (Formerly N0KAI)
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Kenwood TM-V71A, Kenwood TS-590S, Icom ID-4100A, Yaseu FT-891, TYT MD-UV380, TYT MD-380, Kenwood TH-D7A, BTECH UV-5X3, µBITX V5, µBITX V4, QRPGuys 40/30/20m DSB Digital Transceiver


   
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