SL-30 Comm Failure

[Paul]

Has anyone seen this failure ? Any ideas ?

Airplane has 1200 hrs

Started the plane this weekend and turned on the SL-30 Comm radio. The display on the radio was flashing on and off. Also, was unable to change the displayed frequencies and the flip flop didn't work. No other issues with the rest of the equipment onboard.

The radio was still able to transmit and receive on the currently selected Freq.

Landed and checked the wiring harness. Removed and reseated the radio in the tray, nothing changed.

Took off to fly and about 10 minutes later the display stopped flashing-radio works just like normal and has stayed that way for the next 6 hrs of flight.

So now I am trying to figure out what may have caused that since it will be difficult to find the fault that is no longer there.

Thanks

[RV-4]

Hi Paul

I will look at the harness first, looks like it might be a loose pin or something to that effect.

YMMV

Bruno

[lr172]

One of two likely issues. The circuit board driving the faceplate functionality (display, knobs, buttons, etc.) is going bad (bad solder joint somewhere or failing component) or the ribbon cable connecting this board to the main board is loose or failing. Not a wiring harness issue.

Larry

[SteinAir]

You might also just quickly ensure the radio is tight in the tray. Larry pointed out some reasonable explanations, but we've seen tray seating issues with these before....

Cheers,
Stein

[andyrv]

Paul,

Check the pins on the back of the radio really well. I had never had a problem with my SL30 in 650 hours of operation. As soon as I loaded up with my wife to head to the Bahamas the TX light would rapidly flash and I couldn't use the radio. I thought it was dead.

When I removed it there were signs of moisture on the pins and some were slightly green looking from previous moisture. 5 cleanings with contact cleaner and the problem has been gone for the last 20 hours.

The weird thing was that the top of the SL-30 was damp but the rack above it and my audio panel were totally dry. I wonder if the heating and cooling of the radio are causing some condensation in humid environments.

Andy

[Paul]

Thanks for the thoughts.

I like Larrys ideas - will take a look this weekend under the cover of the SL-30 for possible signs in the solder joints and the ribbon connections.

Thanks

[comfortcat]

Uh oh....

Murphy's Law #232

"Problems that go away by themselves, come back by themselves."

CC