996T Backlight has mind of it's own

Status
Not open for further replies.

k46tank

Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2003
Messages
12
I have had an issue pop up on my two month old 996T. I have the backlight set to "low-green" since I work midnights and the rest of my radio equipment has green lighting. At some time during the shift, and sometimes more than once, the backlight will change to high-green. When I push the Power/volume selector, the radio thinks that it is still set to low and changes to medium-green. I then have to cycle through high-green, the red settings and off to get back to low-green.

I have the auto dimmer set to off and I have the orange dimmer wire taped off so it will not inadvertently come into contact with either a load or ground.

I thought I had seen another post on this problem but I don't recall seeing a fix. Any suggestions:confused: or do you think that a trip back to Uniden is in my scanner's future?
 
Joined
Jun 21, 2006
Messages
1
Location
Village of Rocks, Maryland
Same issue

I contacted Uniden about this same issue. Their initial response was "we have not heard of this being a problem", a later response indicated that this is a repair issue. I will be sending in my unit for repair in the near future. If you want to contact them before you send yours in, you may want to refer to my question number W059567-072406. It looks like there are three of us in this boat (so far).

BTW, my problem cropped up after about 2 or 3 days.

Good luck.

Kevin B.
 

mswells

WB6JLB
Feed Provider
Joined
Nov 29, 2003
Messages
138
Location
Phoenix, AZ
BackLight problem

I also have the problem with the backlight changing it's intensity by itself. Do you think its a hardware problem with the radio, or will a firmware fix come out for it ??
 

N1508J

Member
Joined
Dec 21, 2005
Messages
89
Location
Not allowed...infraction.
Ahhhh yes. join the crowd. Mine has been doing the same thing. See some of my post and it should link you to some of the other post people have about the same issue. One in particular thought it might be the AC supply or a problem with the switch. In my post I point out that the rig changes intensity in the car or on the AC supply. It only changes from low or medium to high intensity. If it is in high it will stay in high. Color does not matter. It will change when I am looking at it from across the room when it feels like it. It may take hours or it may do it a few seconds after power up. My theory is that perhaps Uniden got a batch of bad integrated circuits that have a bug and it is intermittent and therefore a bitc* to track down. I'm not too worried about mine so long as the rig works but someone using the rig at night in a car would not be happy! Good luck!
 

k46tank

Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2003
Messages
12
That is exactly what I am experiencing. I started noticing it after just a few days also, however it may have been doing it from day one and I didn't notice because I was so busy getting it mounted and programmed . I don't think it is a problem with the switch. If it were the switch that was "accidentally" closing, then the firmware would see it as if the user had pushed the button and purposefully changed the setting. However, the problem I have, and I am assuming that everyone else is having also, is that when it changes intensity, the firmware "thinks" that it is still set on dim. When the button is pushed it goes to medium and the light goes from bright to medium. I agree that the problem lies in the circuitry somewhere.

I guess I will be giving Uniden a call and arrange for a repair. Does anyone know if Uniden wipes the memory when they perform repairs, or if they will transfer the programming over to a replacement unit if they replace rather than repair the bad one?
 

DaveIN

Founders Curmudgen
Database Admin
Joined
Jan 5, 2003
Messages
6,515
Location
West Michigan
Did anyone call Uniden directly about the problem?

I missed this one, thanks: W059567-072406
 
Last edited:

k46tank

Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2003
Messages
12
I have not called them yet. I am getting ready to go on vacation, so it will have to wait until I get back.
 

RFL

Member
Joined
Jun 16, 2006
Messages
21
Location
SE Michigan
DaveIN said:
Did anyone call Uniden directly about the problem?

I missed this one, thanks: W059567-072406
I called them today and Tech Support is not aware of any problems with the display intensity.
 

N1508J

Member
Joined
Dec 21, 2005
Messages
89
Location
Not allowed...infraction.
That's odd! I though another owner had called Uniden a couple weeks ago about the backlight problem. It was in one of the original post where the backlight problem was first discussed! Perhaps Uniden is rotating techs that ain't heard tell of the problem
 

Woodie

Member
Joined
Aug 6, 2006
Messages
15
Looks like a Firmware issue to me. Mine stays low until the first received call. Mine did it right outta da box.

Cheers
 

justdan

Member
Joined
Jun 4, 2006
Messages
18
Location
Cary, NC
Have had my 996T for a couple months and had no backlight problems but have always had it set to a high green setting. Just turned it to low green to see what happens. So far so good for 20 min.

FWIW, my guess (hope) is the problem y'all been seeing is a firmware bug as well. Based on previous posts ... perhaps its where two memory locations are used -- one for managing/remembering what the user has the backlight set to and one in a memory-mapped IO space that is read by the display device and that last location is being overlaid when the supposed firmware bug occurs. Or maybe it is a hardware problem with the display itself ... who knows ... uh, OK, Uniden might :)

-Dan
 

k46tank

Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2003
Messages
12
Update.....Any advice UPMAN?

Here is an update to my problem.

Sent the unit in to Uniden in Ft. Worth on October 13th. They received it on the 18th and put it in line for repair. On November 4th they sent out a replacement unit and I received it on the 6th. Mounted it back in my car last night and guess what...............about an hour later the backlight changed from low green to high green by its self. Same as the old unit, when I pushed the button to chance the intensity, it went from high to medium (obviously it "thought" that the backlight was still on low) then cycled through the red settings and off and back to low. It did this several times throughout my shift.


I guess I will be calling Uniden and see what they have to say.

UPMan....any advice????
 

Mark01

Member
Joined
Feb 27, 2003
Messages
126
Location
S.E. Michigan
On November 4th they sent out a replacement unit and I received it on the 6th
If Uniden is sending back repacement units instead of repairing the unit, they may not have the fix for these units as yet.
My unit had the same backlight problem,when set to Manual in the menu, the Low Intensity Green would switch to High Intensity Green after a period of time .I got my vendor where I purchased the unit to swap me out a different unit, the new 996T that I recieved last week has the same backlight problem,even worse on occasion a keypress to the Scan/Search button is enough to set the backlight off with it switching to High Intensity Green .
 
Last edited:
M

mormandy

Guest
Same problem for me

I just leave it set to medium light and it stays the same. I contacted them and they said they hadn't heard this before. Sounds like a load of BS to me. Sounds like they have heard it plenty of times. As long as the light keeps working I guess I will live with medium or high level, but it makes me wonder. Is this a bad omen? Will the light die prematurely? I wonder if I shouldn't push the issue...hmm....
 

DaveIN

Founders Curmudgen
Database Admin
Joined
Jan 5, 2003
Messages
6,515
Location
West Michigan
Curious, are you using the automatic or manual setting in the backlight menu?

Setting the Dimmer
If you connect the orange wire to a wire in your car that changes state when you
turn on the headlights, the scanner can automatically dim the display when you
turn on the headlights.
Tapping [VOL] overrides the menu setting and cycles through all backlight
settings.
[MENU] ->-> Settings ->F
-> Set Backlight ->F
-> Set Dimmer ->F
Auto — Use this setting if you have connected the scanner to your vehicle’s
headlights using the orange wire. If you have connected the wire, the scanner
automatically dims the backlight when you turn on the headlights. After selecting
this option, select either:
+ Polarity — If the headlight wire is connected to +12V when the headlights
are on.
- Polarity — If the headlight wire is connected to vehicle ground when the
headlights are on.
56
Manual — Use this setting to manually set the dimmer level to High, Middle,
Low, or Off. To guide you in your selection, at each setting the display shows
what you can expect to see.
 
Last edited:

k46tank

Member
Joined
Jun 14, 2003
Messages
12
Mine is set to manual. I have capped and taped off the orange wire just to make sure that it isnt accidently bumping into anything and picking up stray voltage or grounding out. I have been in contact with Uniden several times and they are aware of the problem, they just aren't sure how wide spread it is.

I would encourage everyone that has this issue to contact Uniden. Even if you don't plan on having it fixed it will at least get the problem on record.
 

datainmotion

Member
Premium Subscriber
Joined
Jan 9, 2001
Messages
2,300
Location
Colorado
Maybe I missed it but are all of you using the 3-prong power connector? I use the "barrel" power connector and I've never had a problem.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Top