loran set question

Mar 03, 2006 5 Replies
R

I've got a small boat loran set (it's a King 8002 aero/marine unit) that I'm trying to get working. It was working fine when it went on the shelf in my closet 5 yrs ago. When put on a 12vdc bench power supply, it powers up, gives an initial opening screen with numbers, but doesn't go any further, and doesn't respond to any key pushes.



Seems somewhere I heard these things have an internal battery. If it does, the internal battery could certainly be bad by now, as the battery goes back awhile before the set went on the shelf.



If the internal battery is dead, would that keep it from working, even though it's powered up with 12v? Also, do these units have an internal battery, or is that just my imagination? I don't have a manual for it, so can't get an answer there.


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A

Many older electronic items do employ a backup battery for the stored user data for the CPU. Sometimes, it's a goldcap rather than a battery. Both items do go bad regularly, and can cause all manner of system control related problems. In the case of a backup cell or battery, it may also have leaked, attacking adjacent print runs, that hopefully don't pass under nearby LSIs, or have thru' plated holes on them ...

If you go in to have a look, a backup battery should be fairly obvious. It may be a single coin cell type, or a small pack made up from heatshrinked button cells. A goldcap is less easy to spot. They are often, although by no means always, green. They are about the size of a calculator button cell - perhaps a bit taller. They have huge values like 0.47F, but low working voltages like 5v DC. Both batteries and goldcaps are readily available in lots of flavours, from normal component suppliers.

Arfa

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W

You might want to check and make sure Loran is still in operation. Seem to recall that it was to be phased out in 2000 or so.

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D

Loran-C is still alive and well

Dave M MasonDG44 at comcast dot net (Just substitute the appropriate characters in the address) Never take a laxative and a sleeping pill at the same time!!
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B

And just recently (one or two years ago) the stations were upgraded with modern equipment.

Bill K7NOM

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