FreqMeister
Member
My AR8200 stopped working from the AA batteries and would only work with external power. It turns out to be a rather disappointing design issue for an $800 receiver but at least the fix is fairly easy.
Carefully taking it apart requires removing several VERY tiny screws including the screw on the front side of the wrist strap tab. Once the case separates be careful as the radio is divided into both halves with ribbon and other cables connecting them.
In the lower corner you'll find AOR took a rather questionable shortcut in the interest of making it easier to manufacture. The stiff wire from the bottom battery is just sandwiched between one of the PCBs and the plastic case. There's no solder, no connector, and not even a spring. It's only held in contact by the modest pressure possible from the one tiny screw into plastic in the corner of the case.
In my radio the pressure from that one tiny screw apparently slacked off enough over time and/or there was some surface corrosion of the dissimilar metals and the connection failed. If your radio has this problem you can try gently tightening both screws in the bottom of the battery compartment first. If that doesn't fix the problem you can disassemble it as outlined above and try cleaning both the battery wire and the pad on the PCB. To make sure mine doesn't fail again, I soldered a short wire wrap wire from the non-component (opposite) side of the PCB to the battery terminal as well as left the "sandwich" contact in place.
When you re-assemble it make sure the battery wire is aligned properly and open all the rubber side caps or they might get in the way. Also make sure the "eject" slider is properly aligned. The short machine screw(s) are for the side where the wrist strap tab is. The self tapping screws go everywhere else but be careful to try and re-use the old threads. If you're not familiar with repairing Asian handheld radios or similarly delicate work you might want to leave the repair to someone else.
Carefully taking it apart requires removing several VERY tiny screws including the screw on the front side of the wrist strap tab. Once the case separates be careful as the radio is divided into both halves with ribbon and other cables connecting them.
In the lower corner you'll find AOR took a rather questionable shortcut in the interest of making it easier to manufacture. The stiff wire from the bottom battery is just sandwiched between one of the PCBs and the plastic case. There's no solder, no connector, and not even a spring. It's only held in contact by the modest pressure possible from the one tiny screw into plastic in the corner of the case.
In my radio the pressure from that one tiny screw apparently slacked off enough over time and/or there was some surface corrosion of the dissimilar metals and the connection failed. If your radio has this problem you can try gently tightening both screws in the bottom of the battery compartment first. If that doesn't fix the problem you can disassemble it as outlined above and try cleaning both the battery wire and the pad on the PCB. To make sure mine doesn't fail again, I soldered a short wire wrap wire from the non-component (opposite) side of the PCB to the battery terminal as well as left the "sandwich" contact in place.
When you re-assemble it make sure the battery wire is aligned properly and open all the rubber side caps or they might get in the way. Also make sure the "eject" slider is properly aligned. The short machine screw(s) are for the side where the wrist strap tab is. The self tapping screws go everywhere else but be careful to try and re-use the old threads. If you're not familiar with repairing Asian handheld radios or similarly delicate work you might want to leave the repair to someone else.
