SDS100/SDS200: Is the SDS100 being discontinued?

[werinshades]

SDS100's are ticking time bombs as it's internal working temperature are so high and then cools down when turned off. The connector with the issue connects one circuit board directly to the next without any flex built into the design. The connectors will move when heated up and stress the solderings. I haven't heard of any SDS100 user that had the problem from day one. It always turns up later when enough stress have been put to the connectors.

I run my SDS100 from 5volt without its battery and I can feel that the battery compartment gets real hot. Heat are batteries worst enemy so there is no surprise that Unidens batteries sometimes have a short life span.

/Ubbe

Do I OWN a magic scanner then? June 2018 purchase with thin battery, received the thicker battery free of charge, I charge the batteries nightly in my scanner, I use the stock antenna, it goes outside with me in all different temperature ranges, has been on trips so doesn't just sit in one place, and the ONLY thing I can report is a broken battery clip, which was easily replaced. Unless you recently purchased one, you were never an owner but a "bench tester of a friends SDS100" is that still true?

 

[RMorganSD]

Cold solder joints can take time to appear. Vibration from daily handling over time will cause the solder joints to break loose. I have seen equipment work for years and have repaired it re-wetting solder joints.

Agree 100%. Just this afternoon I repaired some cold solder joints on the instrument cluster of a 2008 Chevy where the PRNDL display was not showing. Found seven surface mount resistors on the back driving the power to that circuit. Reflowed the solder and the display lights up once again. That one took many years to show.

I’m going to research more on this cold solder joint issue. I’m guessing there is a particular device or connector that is the source of this problem? I found a video on YouTube where a particular connector was a problem for this person, caused a crackling and several other issues. Probably the more pins that have poor joints, the more problems show up in the radio. The worst part was he got it back from Uniden after being repaired and there was a solder bridge over two pins. He cleared that one out himself.
Since this radio is out of warranty we might just open it up and have a look.

 

[fxdscon]

I’m going to research more on this cold solder joint issue. I’m guessing there is a particular device or connector that is the source of this problem?

10 page thread on that here:

SDS100/SDS200: - Cold Solder Joint

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I sent my SDS100 in for the cold solder joint issue, and after about a month away from home, it came back working again. Until today. The A/C in my house is broken, and ambient has been 85F or so the last couple days, and so the SDS100 has been running warmer than...

forums.radioreference.com

 

[GROL]

I didn't know about the IC-R30. I was aware that there are a few Ham transceivers with it. But others would point out they are not wideband receivers when actually they are. Bluetooth is not important to me. But I cannot imagine it couldn't be worked out.

I looked up the IC-R30. Very impressive features for a less than $700 receiver. Decodes digital modes you have to pay extra for with Uniden and has internal GPS and Bluetooth. Now if they just made a trunk tracking version. Only issue would be simulcast systems. And it would also need P25 Phase 2 added.

 

[belvdr]

I looked up the IC-R30. Very impressive features for a less than $700 receiver. Decodes digital modes you have to pay extra for with Uniden and has internal GPS and Bluetooth. Now if they just made a trunk tracking version. Only issue would be simulcast systems.

And lack of DMR for some folks. I agree with your assessment though. It looks very capable.

 

[buddrousa]

It has been talked about the IC-30 is no longer being made and very few may still be for sale.

 

[Citywide173]

I looked up the IC-R30. Very impressive features for a less than $700 receiver. Decodes digital modes you have to pay extra for with Uniden and has internal GPS and Bluetooth. Now if they just made a trunk tracking version. Only issue would be simulcast systems. And it would also need P25 Phase 2 added.

It's not a scanner, but a communications receiver. A subtle but very distinct difference amongst the manufacturers. I was only referencing it as an example of a wide band receiver with bluetooth integrated as an opposing opinion to that offered by the Uniden expert.

 

[palmerjrusa]

Do I OWN a magic scanner then? June 2018 purchase with thin battery, received the thicker battery free of charge, I charge the batteries nightly in my scanner, I use the stock antenna, it goes outside with me in all different temperature ranges, has been on trips so doesn't just sit in one place, and the ONLY thing I can report is a broken battery clip, which was easily replaced. Unless you recently purchased one, you were never an owner but a "bench tester of a friends SDS100" is that still true?

Did you send your SDS100 back to Uniden to get the broken battery clip issue fixed?

The battery clip on my SDS100 broke a few weeks back, despite being aware of this possibility and always being careful when changing the battery.

 

[garys]

If the far superior replacement from Jon Wiencke isn't available, try ordering one from Uniden. It wouldn't make much sense to spend close to 90 dollars to replace a part that any owner should be able to perform.

Did you send your SDS100 back to Uniden to get the broken battery clip issue fixed?

The battery clip on my SDS100 broke a few weeks back, despite being aware of this possibility and always being careful when changing the battery.

 

[werinshades]

Did you send your SDS100 back to Uniden to get the broken battery clip issue fixed?

The battery clip on my SDS100 broke a few weeks back, despite being aware of this possibility and always being careful when changing the battery.

As gary mentioned, order it from Uniden. I ordered a few extra just in case.

 

[RMorganSD]

10 page thread on that here:

SDS100/SDS200: - Cold Solder Joint

As I've mentioned elsewhere, I sent my SDS100 in for the cold solder joint issue, and after about a month away from home, it came back working again. Until today. The A/C in my house is broken, and ambient has been 85F or so the last couple days, and so the SDS100 has been running warmer than...

forums.radioreference.com

We were going to send the radio back to Uniden but after seeing posts here and since the radio is out of warranty and since my friend and I are both skilled electronics engineers and know what good rework looks like, he decided to take the radio apart and have a look.
Before doing anything we tried freeze it spray on the connector pins, had no effect.
Tried a slight warm-up with warm air, no effect.
Putting torsional stress on the chassis created a static at the speaker. Re-flowed all pins on J401 and now the static caused by twisting of the radio is gone, however the constant static during audio is still there. To be clear, the static and crackling is so bad you cannot hear what is being said.

Since this happened right after a firmware update we are now re-investigating that. The radio was updated from 1.07 straight to 1.10 without loading the other incremental updates. That might be a problem since maybe a previous package in a intermediate update was not included in 1.10?
He’s going to reload the old software and then do incremental updates and see if that makes the speaker static problems go away.

 

[RMorganSD]

SDS100's are ticking time bombs as it's internal working temperature are so high and then cools down when turned off. The connector with the issue connects one circuit board directly to the next without any flex built into the design. The connectors will move when heated up and stress the solderings. I haven't heard of any SDS100 user that had the problem from day one. It always turns up later when enough stress have been put to the connectors.

I run my SDS100 from 5volt without its battery and I can feel that the battery compartment gets real hot. Heat are batteries worst enemy so there is no surprise that Unidens batteries sometimes have a short life span.

/Ubbe

Good points all. This radio is very lightly used and he is absolutely meticulous about keeping electronics clean and properly cared for. This radio couldn’t have asked for a better home. But like you said, a design that causes such heating can’t be compensated for by good care of the user. After reflowing the pins on J401 and looking for other areas of concern had no effect, he’s now looking at going backwards with the firmware and then reloading the packages (updating) one at a time. He had skipped over some of the incremental updates between the earlier versions and just went straight to 1.10.
If that doesn’t work it’s probably going to be off to Uniden or someone else to look at.
I’m still thinking about getting one of these myself, hoping that misery doesn’t love company.

 

[werinshades]

Good points all. This radio is very lightly used and he is absolutely meticulous about keeping electronics clean and properly cared for. This radio couldn’t have asked for a better home. But like you said, a design that causes such heating can’t be compensated for by good care of the user. After reflowing the pins on J401 and looking for other areas of concern had no effect, he’s now looking at going backwards with the firmware and then reloading the packages (updating) one at a time. He had skipped over some of the incremental updates between the earlier versions and just went straight to 1.10.
If that doesn’t work it’s probably going to be off to Uniden or someone else to look at.
I’m still thinking about getting one of these myself, hoping that misery doesn’t love company.

Can you make a video so we can all see and hear it? Firmware usually doesn't cause these anomalies, and planning to send it to repair is the direction that I'd suggest too.

 

[Ubbe]

He had skipped over some of the incremental updates between the earlier versions and just went straight to 1.10.

That's ok to do. The latest firmware and DSP software will load the complete firmwares, not just a small update. So you can go directly to any version without doing it incrementally. It's not at all like a windows update where you only load a small correction. Unidens updates are like reinstalling the whole windows software from scratch. The scanner will only load the latest and newest firmware anyhow, you can't select what version to load.

/Ubbe

 

[RMorganSD]

Can you make a video so we can all see and hear it? Firmware usually doesn't cause these anomalies, and planning to send it to repair is the direction that I'd suggest too.

Well, I guess my friend has had enough of trying to repair it. I asked him to make a short video and he said he had already had it boxed up for shipment for repair. If he changes his mind and can send me a video I will post it here. He’s been letting the radio sit for a long time and I sort of lit the fire under him to try to get the thing working again.

 

[werinshades]

Well, I guess my friend has had enough of trying to repair it. I asked him to make a short video and he said he had already had it boxed up for shipment for repair. If he changes his mind and can send me a video I will post it here. He’s been letting the radio sit for a long time and I sort of lit the fire under him to try to get the thing working again.

Probably the best option.

 

[Echo4Thirty]

Mine went out yesterday for the same issues (plus a skipping rotary encoder). Now the waiting game to see how long this will take to come back.

 

[RMorganSD]

That's ok to do. The latest firmware and DSP software will load the complete firmwares, not just a small update. So you can go directly to any version without doing it incrementally. It's not at all like a windows update where you only load a small correction. Unidens updates are like reinstalling the whole windows software from scratch. The scanner will only load the latest and newest firmware anyhow, you can't select what version to load.

/Ubbe

Thanks for that info, because I was thinking and hoping maybe it was more like the windows updates. So with having reflowed the connector to no avail, and non-incremental updates being OK that just leaves a greater mystery as to what is causing this problem. If Uniden says what they found I’ll post here.

 

[GROL]

Mine went out yesterday for the same issues (plus a skipping rotary encoder). Now the waiting game to see how long this will take to come back.

Rotary encoders! What a PITA. I have had to replace one in my Yaesu FT-857D. Those radios had frequent failures of the Selector encoder. Skip like crazy. Mis, jump and even go backwards. Yaesu used an Alpine part that looks cheaply made. Also had to replace one on my BCD396XT. It would jump or not move.

 

[GROL]

SDS100's are ticking time bombs as it's internal working temperature are so high and then cools down when turned off. The connector with the issue connects one circuit board directly to the next without any flex built into the design. The connectors will move when heated up and stress the solderings. I haven't heard of any SDS100 user that had the problem from day one. It always turns up later when enough stress have been put to the connectors.

I run my SDS100 from 5volt without its battery and I can feel that the battery compartment gets real hot. Heat are batteries worst enemy so there is no surprise that Unidens batteries sometimes have a short life span.

/Ubbe

Could Uniden have made some hardware changes to the SDS100? I read a lot here about them getting very hot, but mine only gets just a little bit warm. I cannot feel any heat on the SMA connector that some have reported. Opening the battery compartment, I do not detect any heat there after it has run several hours and it was time to replace the battery. Mine was bought at the end of last year.