SDS-200 Speaker Noise Again like the 536HP

[mkt853]

There's no denying the loud hum any more than someone can try to deny the dim keyboards. allend just an obvious question that you may have already answered but any difference between the earphone and speaker Jack?

As a potential SDS 200 buyer I have a question, just as a matter of personal preference I choose not to purchase a sophisticated radio like this right off the line and prefer to wait a while but if you return your radio and others return their radios with issues and the vendor restocks it for sale what is to keep someone else from getting a defective unit? Then it gets returned and restocked again etc, etc.

Does the vendor send it back to Uniden? Do they then fix it and sell it as refurbished? Who determines if it's a valid issue other than obviously the consumer who went to all the trouble of returning it with great disappointment?

There is a lot of new uncertainty about putting out the big bucks here.

I would think they could resell a repaired unit as refurbished, but they would have to make that distinction at the time of sale, and typically there would be a pretty deep discount given to get those units to move. Big electronics companies go through this all the time with returned items. Maybe there is some law that draws the line about when you are able to resell an item as new vs. refurbished, but someone at Apple once told me that if someone buys a computer, opens it, and then returns it, they have to resell it as refurbished. Not sure why, but that was just their practice that once the seal is broken, it can no longer be considered new ever again which I thought yikes that sucks for Apple. Basically you drive a new car one mile off the lot and return it, they would have to sell it as used as it would technically have a previous owner that was not the manufacturer.

 

[Stecomp]

I asked this earlier but does anybody know if there was a fix for the 536's similar random speaker noise? I fear Uniden Repair will obviously see the problem with my 200 but will say its close enough to spec and not bother with a complicated re-solder.

 

[Steve2003]

I noticed the issue started happening for me when I swapped out SD cards with a different one. Mine seems to have that random speaker noise when it's writing to the micro SD card

 

[Markscan]

Mine has this issue as well. Uuugh!


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[TomTN]

If we, as consumers, expect absolute perfection for 100% of units before a product of any kind is released, we may find ourselves never seeing new products or faced with long, unnecessary delays as companies would be too afraid of backlash to release anything.

You mean like the Unication firmware update expected last August that has yet to see public release?

It takes guts for Uniden to keep releasing products knowing full well the complainers will be shouting from the rooftops with every perceived imperfection.

 

[dfw1193]

Uniden needs to start identifying those serial numbered units which have this issue and isolate it to what production run it was then issue a recall for replacement for all those units in that production group when identified, at no cost to the buyer, providing an advance replacement unit with a pre paid shipping label to return the defective unit to uniden, thus causing no loss of use or any cost whatsoever to the buyer. This is a $700 unit, I cant believe the quality control was so poor as not to catch this, but flex had the same thing happen to them for the new M series when they came out last March 18.

This needs to be identified and fixed pronto under a recall program just
like the clock and lcd backlight issues of the bcdx36 units.

 

[dfw1193]

Im afraid if my unit has this issue on Thursday when it arrives it will be right back in the box going back to bearcat warehouse for a full refund under the 30 day return policy they have. Anyone who has paid for the unit with a credit card with this issue should be protected by the credit card companies policy, at least those who use visa do.

 

[maus92]

I would be interested in a test to see if it makes the noise when running off of a DC power cord. This would eliminate the AC to DC power supply shipped with the scanner as a possible source.

This is exactly what I would do. Eliminate house power and / or AC adapter as a source of interference or noise.

Neither my 536 or the SDS200 exhibit this behavior. Interesting that the OP has had two different model radios that have the same issue - I wonder if the share the same adapter part number / manufacturer?

 

[maus92]

Has anyone experienced this same problem with the SDS100? Thanks

Nope.

 

[jharr465]

I have both an SDS100 and an SDS200. I have the hum (or buzz) in the SDS200 as described, and it is more pronounced using an external speaker. The SDS100 is quiet - no hum whatsoever whether on an external speaker or not. I do not find the noise particularly irritating as I did not even hear it until I read the posts here and held the external speaker ( Bearcat BC7) to my ear. I doubt if I will do anything about it unless it gets worse over time. So far I am happy with both of the radios, hum or not. However, my curiosity is up and I may do some experiments (location, power supplies, etc.) to see what I can find out.

 

[dfw1193]

I noticed the issue started happening for me when I swapped out SD cards with a different one. Mine seems to have that random speaker noise when it's writing to the micro SD card

My bcd536hp has a little noise when writing to the sd card when connected to sentinnel but no noise when scanning or normal operation, totally acceptable for me.

 

[dfw1193]

You mean like the Unication firmware update expected last August that has yet to see public release?

It takes guts for Uniden to keep releasing products knowing full well the complainers will be shouting from the rooftops with every perceived imperfection.

When I spend a significant amount of money for a unit with a warranty and right out of the box there is a defect because of lack of quality control, then yes it is an issue, I guess those who have $700 to throw away just continue to buy more units till they get a good one then sell the rest.

Crazy is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. I am not crazy, I will vote, or not vote with my dollars, and if issues are not resolved I have no qualms about filing complaints with the texas attorney generals office and the FTC when the governments not shut down.

 

[dfw1193]

Just for the record though before you jump to conclusions I own both a bcd436 and bcd536hp unit and yes both of them have both the clock issues and the 536 the backlight issue but I have not returned them for repair since they function fine except for that, and honestly I fear they would operate worse if sent in for repair and returned so I just acceptted it as it is. Did not take a chance and will not on the sds100 due to the battery door issues and other things I read so once again I rolled the dice and took my chances with Uniden and the SDS200, but I will tell you this, if my 200 when it arrives has defects it will be the last Uniden product I will ever buy again regardless of whether they fix it or not. If its good then I will vote with my dollar again when they come out with the next big thing. Just my opinion since I have less patience as I get older ... YMMV.

 

[garys]

You do know that new units come with a warranty, right? And that in the past Uniden has made good on units with early production projects.

When I spend a significant amount of money for a unit with a warranty and right out of the box there is a defect because of lack of quality control, then yes it is an issue, I guess those who have $700 to throw away just continue to buy more units till they get a good one then sell the rest.

Crazy is doing the same thing over and over expecting a different result. I am not crazy, I will vote, or not vote with my dollars, and if issues are not resolved I have no qualms about filing complaints with the texas attorney generals office and the FTC when the governments not shut down.

 

[allend]

Well thanks everyone for checking their radios and giving back some good results and some bad ones. I hope I was not the only one. But I bet there will be more to come.

I am still "shocked" that this was not dealt with UpMan or Uniden. These videos show a million words of horrible craftsmen ship. I still can't believe that your company had a select number of "BETA" testers and nobody said anything. If you would of shipped me one of these units months ago when you got the prototype I would of saved your company millions of dollars dealing with returns and the headache and the blood streaming thru the streets. That's what happens when Uniden only keeps a select amount of horses in their stable for testing.

This absolutely blows my mind. I can only pray that my other SDS-200 that comes down the pipe tomorrow will not have this problem but I will absolutely will not hold my breath.

Also, for everyone that is not happy you have complete rights no matter what to return that item wherever you bought it for a refund or an exchange until its either fixed or you loose hope and just return it. Just keep a journal since this is no cheap purchase. It's not fair to buy a brand new radio for 70.00 bucks and then ship it back to Uniden. This is not our problem. When you become a dist or a retailer selling these radios then its up to the company to deal with the returns, not you having to ship it to Uniden for a few weeks. Every company will have to honor the exchange or return due to this nightmare that is starting to un-fold.

 

[dfw1193]

I give credit to Uniden for trying to make it right, however just like at work there is never enough time to do it right the first time but always plenty of time to go back and redo it right after the fact.

Just as I dont purchase a new vehicle to have it sit in the dealers repair shop after delivery I dont purchase products to lose use of them while I return them for repairs which quality control should have caught before they were ever sent to the purchaser.

Others most likely are far more forgiving and tolerant than I am again due to age, I am done ranting and giving my outlooks on life, I wish all who have purchased these new units myself included all the best and I thank Paul and appreciate his and his teams and Uniden for once again being on the bleeding edge of technology and going where no business has gone before.

I just expect when I buy something it should work as advertised without any issues, I just probably expect too much.

 

[maus92]

OK, I need to retract my earlier observation that my SDS200 does not have the "hum" issue the OP documented. In fact, mine does have a hum coming through both the internal speaker and through an external speaker plugged into the rear jack. It does not have the hum when using headphones via the front headphone jack. The hum is present when using the included AC adapter, and using a 12V power supply, both connected to house power. The last test would be to connect to a 12v battery to see the the hum is present. All this being said, the hum is not readily noticeable at normal volume settings in a fairly quiet room, and doesn't *seem* to change loudness even when increasing the volume setting. The hum starts at about 1.5 seconds after the radio is powered up prior to favorites list programming being loaded.

What other factors should I be looking at?

 

[KevinC]

OK, I need to retract my earlier observation that my SDS200 does not have the "hum" issue the OP documented. In fact, mine does have a hum coming through both the internal speaker and through an external speaker plugged into the rear jack. It does not have the hum when using headphones via the front headphone jack. The hum is present when using the included AC adapter, and using a 12V power supply, both connected to house power. The last test would be to connect to a 12v battery to see the the hum is present. All this being said, the hum is not readily noticeable at normal volume settings, and doesn't *seem* to change loudness even when increasing the volume setting.

If it's the same as the 536 it won't increase with the volume.

 

[dfw1193]

Sounds like this could have been averted by using larger micro farad filter capacitors on the ac adapter jack circuitry inside the unit to filter out the hum.

 

[dfw1193]

Might be interesting to add external filter capacitors outside the unit to see if the hum goes away. Probably 1 250uf 50v electrolytic capacitor from the center of the ac adapter jack to the ground would eliminate the hum.

That is unless inside the unit one of the filter capacitors are shorted, if the internal ones are just leaky then the external one will compensate for it and remove the hum.

Since this would be added outside the unit the warranty would not be affected, and if the hum went away would serve to prove what the defect is and how to fix it.