JRC NRD-545 - running hot

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pnoelw

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Is it normal for this receiver to run very hot on mains power?

It's only something that's come to my notice recently so I don't know if it's always been like that. The plate on the back left (viewed from the back) of the receiver is almost too hot to keep my hand on. The radio is sitting in a well ventilated position but the ambient temperature is around 25-28C. South African Highveld summer.

I've had the radio since new - about 12 years. It's still performing flawlessly and at the moment it's feeding data for MPT1327 decoding so is on for the whole day. I hope it isn't on the way to failing!
 

FKimble

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May be you can pop the cover and check for a failed internal fan. If not either at least add a case fan or put a regular fan on it ti help disipate the heat. Maybe leave the case off.
 

ratboy

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If I remember right, the 535 and 545 both get pretty hot, but I'm not absolutely sure. Maybe you might want to email Universal Radio and see what they say..
 

majoco

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I'd be inclined to pop the top and see what's getting hot. If it's the power transformer I'd be looking at the smoothing capacitors - if they are bulged they could be breaking down and passing current to ground and overheating the regulators and power transformer. Look for scorched printed circuit board by the rectifiers too. Can you run it from a 12volt external supply to see if the radio itself is drawing too much current.
My NRD515 only gets moderately warm after a couple of hours of operation, the Kenwood R2000 similar but their most of the heat comes from the voltage regulator heatsinks.
 

SCPD

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As Martin suggested, it sounds like something is getting ready to fail. You are leaving it on all day and that's cutting its life short. It sounds like the weather conditions are not ideal either. If the receiver looks OK internally then you probably need some extra cooling -- be it a fan or additional heat sinks.
 

pnoelw

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Thank you for all your replies and suggestions. I run all my other rigs off the shack DC supply but I've run out of capacity so I think I'll have to save for a bigger unit.
In the meantime, I'll have a look inside for any obvious damage. I would have thought that a radio of this calibre should be able to run 24/7 without any issues.
 

majoco

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Even the best equipment has failures - it only needs one component although JRC did tend to use the best at the time. Running hot is definitely hard on electrolytic capacitors and they can only get worse.
 

pnoelw

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Well, I opened the top yesterday and took the transformer out with the back panel. Everything looks fine. I ran it for a few hours last night with the floor fan going and everything was definitely cooler. I think I'll look for a small/mini desk fan - about 10 to 15cm, and use that in future.

I also noted that one of the warnings in the user manual does say that children shouldn't be allowed to get near it as it will get very hot when running for extended periods.

Thank you to everyone who made helpful suggestions....and a very merry Christmas to you all!
 
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