Problems with XPR 6000 series ch switches.

[N4KVE]

From: Service FSB-fsbservc [mailto:fsbservc@motorolasolutions.com]
Sent: Thursday, November 13, 2014 1:52 PM
To: Service FSB-fsbservc
Subject: FSB Notice: FSB10934B - MOTOTRBO™ XPR™ 6000 Series Portable radios may exhibit problems with the Channel Selector Switch operation.

SUBJECT: MOTOTRBO™ XPR™ 6000 Series Portable radios may exhibit problems with the Channel Selector Switch operation.
MODEL / SYSTEM AFFECTED:
XPR6100, XPR6350, XPR6380, XPR6550, and XPR6580 series portable radios manufactured between January 2011 and September 2014 as denoted by Serial Number date codes TMA through TQT.
See Appendix A for specific Model Numbers / APC codes affected.
Note: Not all radios will experience the symptoms described below.
SYMPTOM:
The radio may spontaneously move to an unintended channel when the Channel Selector switch or the radio is bumped. The user may also experience a condition where they change the channel via the Channel Selector Switch and the radio ends up on an incorrect channel (Ex. Radio on channel 5, user turns switch to channel 7 and the radio ends up on channel 12). The user may then experience missed communications or transmissions on the wrong channel.
CAUSE:
Multiple causes including premature wear out, piece part issues and even improper repair of the Channel Selector switch.
The FSB can be found on Motorola On-Line (MOL) at the following link:
https://businessonline.motorolasolutions.com/…/FSB10934_B.p…

 

[com501]

Yay, finally we can get them done FOR FREE under warranty. The FSB says they will ship up to 100 switches at a time and reimburse for labor OR shipping plus warranty repair. Finally someone recognized a serious problem.

I'm calling Vertex tomorrow too, since I have quite a few of the Vertex clone of the XPR with the same issue and see what they will do.

 

[Mars]

For those who are without MOL access, here's the SRN. There was an unresolved configuration issue with our upload manager, which would've prevented the SRN from being uploaded yesterday. That's resolved now.

 

[N4KVE]

Funny, I had a 6580 that came from Canada that was 2 years old, but still NIB. It did exactly what is described above after 1 month of use. I temporarily fixed it, & swapped it for a UHF 6550. It's been fine since. GARY

 

[kc2obw]

We have about 32 6550's at my job. We just got one of them back from the depot that was having this issue, however the radio in question kept getting dropped.

 

[Pyotr]

The gold-plated surface of channel switch’s code disc is quickly wears in radio DP3600 / DP3601. Radio is spontaneously switching to lower-numbered channels. Only on the channel "1" is always "OK".
MOTOROLA is not providing spare switches and their replacement is very consuming operation.
I’ve found a nice solution to this problem:
- Each channel is placed in a separate zone;
- Assign zone name same as the corresponding channel name;
- Appoint one of the buttons for selecting zones (optionally due to the selection of zones is on the menu already);
- Set channel switch to mode “1” and do not use it anymore;
- Now paging zones buttons "<-", "->" and pressing "OK" button is a choice of channels;
Note: Zones in the radio always automatically arranged in alphabetical order, regardless of their location in the CPS.

 

[madden]

This is actually pretty crazy. We must have sold about 2000+ of the 6000 series in the last 3 years. So far we've seen almost a 50% turn-in-for-repair rate on them for this issue. If the radio is under warranty, you could have gotten it fixed already for free (at a warranty center). And if you are a Warranty Center (like we are) you could have been getting reimbursed as well... that goes back to 2007 when they first issued them.

I'm sure this FSB is just to acknowledge the problem. If your unit is not under warranty, it still doesn't count, as clearly shown there as only in the last 3 years of mfg dates will be accepted. The FSB is pointless.

 

[com501]

Most of our customers only bought one year warranties, so for them, this is good. Still, there are a plethora of radios with the same issue that fall outside the date code that they won't cover.