RH96 - bad display?

[motorola_otaku]

Did a search and didn't see this particular topic discussed before, but has anyone else had a random and complete failure of the display in the RH96 head? Mine worked great for about 30 minutes after installing it (it had previously worked fine for several months in another vehicle install before being put up for about half a year) and then suddenly the display went blank. The back light still works, and the head itself is still functional because the volume and squelch controls still function. I didn't get a chance to pull it out and take it apart last night, but before I do I was curious if this was a known problem and if there were any common fixes for it.

 

[Dewey]

While this doesn't seem like the problem that you are having, it doesn't hurt to make sure that you have "Control Channel Output" turned off on the scanner. Another thing you didn't mention was which radio you were using it with... you have to be using the latest control head firmware to use it with the XT series. I hope you get things worked out.

Dewey

 

[motorola_otaku]

And then without warning it started working again, but with horizontal lines of the display faded or not working at all. I've got a feeling (read: I hope) this is going to wind up being a loose flex issue.

 

[garys]

And then without warning it started working again, but with horizontal lines of the display faded or not working at all. I've got a feeling (read: I hope) this is going to wind up being a loose flex issue.

It's possible. The 996T and BC 15 were known for that. I think that's there's a thread on it here, maybe even a sticky. No reason why the RH96 shouldn't suffer from it too, although this is the first report I've seen.

 

[motorola_otaku]

Well, I got it apart today and there's nothing obviously wrong.. the flex between the front panel and logic board was firmly seated and not torn, and there aren't any cold solders to the display (which is hard-soldered to the front panel.) So at this point I can only assume the display unit itself took a sh*t.

However, the front panel layout looks almost identical to the front panel in the 996 radios themselves.. anyone know if that's an orderable part from Uniden?

 

[motorola_otaku]

Update: I ended up swapping the front panel board of the 996T with the RH96 board. They are 100% electronically identical and function identically, except the RH96 board doesn't have green LEDs installed (the solder pads are there, however) and the 996T board lights up green instead of amber when used in the RH96. No joy on making the LCD display on the original RH96 board work; it's just toast.

 

[commscanaus]

Thanks Mr Otaku!

You have just confirmed what I had suspected.
The front boards are identical and therefore swappable.

I am going to swap the front board from the 996T mounted in the rear of the car and put it in the RH-96 in the dash. The display colour won't matter since the scanner itself is hidden.

The amber of the RH-96 just looks like crap when all of the instrument/dash lighting in my car is green.

As far as your display issue goes- maybe the LCD has slipped ever so slightly and the connection between the LCD module and PCB has been compromised?

I only took my RH-96 apart briefly to asses the possibility of adding green LED's but was put off by the microscopic size of the SMT LED's used. The ones I have are way too big.

Off to swap some boards..........

Regards, Commscanaus.