Realistic Pro-43 dead in the water

[Golay]

Hey all. I got this Pro-43 that I listen to ham stuff on. It just died on me. Screen blank, no beep when turned on. Basically acts like it has no power to it.
The batteries are fresh. I checked the leads on the top of the battery pack with a voltmeter. That's good, so I'm thinking no possibility of corrosion in the battery pack. Took some skotch-brite to the battery contacts inside the radio. Took the radio apart without removing any circuit boards. Everything looks clean.
I see no corrosion or anything on everything I can see without starting to remove boards. Everything nice and shiny inside.
I looked on the net. The only reset I can find is to hold a couple of buttons down while turning it on. That didn't alleviate the issue.

It's basically a daily use scanner. Just up and died. Worked great, never a problem up until this. I do not have a power supply for it.
Probably the first thing I'll try if no one comes up with a quick fix is find some 9V wall wart, probably have to reverse the polarity, and see if it works.
Not a big issue if it's beyond repair. I know it's long in the tooth. But it scans so much quicker than any of the transmitters I got.
Thanks for any help.

 

[Marcy57]

You just made me think of my Pro 43 thats been sitting for years hardly
never used it has a case and all and wide open guess I should check it,
thanks...73,s Marcy

 

[Marcy57]

I hope you find out Golay whats wrong with it good luck hopefully
it is just a setting or something small? I really used the hell out of
mine back in the day ...good luck 73,s Marcy

 

[kruser]

I do not have a power supply for it.
Probably the first thing I'll try if no one comes up with a quick fix is find some 9V wall wart, probably have to reverse the polarity, and see if it works.

If you have any wall warts with the plug that fits the charge and/or power jacks on the side of your PRO-43, plug the plug into them a few times but DON'T plug the wall wart into AC power!
This may clean the switch contacts inside the jacks if they are switched while using external power. It's been a long time since I used my PRO-43 that I don't remember if plugging in an external wall wart power source switches the batteries in and out of the circuit or not but it's worth trying.
Hopefully that will work.
If not, your thought of finding the correct wall wart and making sure the polarity is correct is indeed a good troubleshooting step to try.

Even if you only have a set of those adapt-a-plug tips that RadioShack sold but no wall wart, you only need a tip (plug) that fits the power/charge jacks so you can see if that will clean up the switch internal in the jack(s) after you exercise it in the jacks a few times.

 

[consys]

I had the same issue. At first I had to bend the flat spring strips from the PC board out to make better contact with the battery pack. Later those solder joints at the PC bard fractured, I was able to solder it there OK. I think at some point I replaced the charge jack as well.. When you swap battery packs two -three times a day for years like I did, things wear out. It's been retired to desk duty on a wall wart now.

If you insert batteries while using the external power jack, it will try to charge the pack

 

[fireadioguy]

Check the polarity of you are using an after market wall plug.

 

[N2MLP99]

most electronics don't like water
should have kept it dry