XTS 2500 PTT button turns my portable on and off

[KD9IXD]

My first post!
I have an old Motorola XTS 2500 that I was given at work. I programmed it for analog frequencies in my area (ham operator) and when I tried to use it last night, I noticed that pushing the PTT button turns the radio on and off. If I hold it the radio power cycles for as long as I'm holding the button, releasing the button turns the radio on. This does not work when the radio is powered down.

Obviously, the radio doesn't transmit with this problem. It can receive, I believe, though the ham situation in my area is pretty lacking so I'm not 100% on that.
I have the detailed repair manual that I'm looking through and I've read that there is a special tool to take apart the radio. I did the button test as described in the manual and all the codes came up correct, including the PTT button.

I'm wondering if anyone has any ideas on how I can start fixing this.

 

[kf8yk]

Are you sure the battery isn't junk?

I've had XTS radios with bad batteries that reboot upon PTT due to the current draw on transmit.

 

[KD9IXD]

I'm not sure. I swapped out the battery this morning and had the same issue. I just swapped the battery with a one from a known good radio and have no PTT tone (could be a setting in the codeplug I missed) but the unit doesn't cycle.
The "good" radio has a battery light flashing when PTT-ing (and also a tone?), so perhaps the battery is crap. I'll try a third and see what happens. They are old radios with old batteries.

 

[KD9IXD]

Yes, it was in fact the battery. I had grabbed 2 bad ones in a row. A third battery has it working.
Thank you so much!

 

[ME801]

Have you run the battery through a full reconditioning cycle? I'm assuming it's an Impress battery

 

[IAmSixNine]

Flashing red LED when transmitting indicates a low battery, also the chirp followed should indicate low battery.
You have no PTT Tone if your keying up a conventional channel.
PTT tone is used for Trunking and MDC (if you enable Talk Permit Tone) on trunking and pre or post for MDC. I think been a while since i messed with those settings.

 

[KD9IXD]

It was not an impres battery. I got this at the radio shop I work at. The battery currently in the radio is an impres, however.

I was having a PTT tone on the one radio because the battery was too low to transmit. This one also had a flashing battery sign so I replaced that battery too. Like I said, both of the batteries that I'd grabbed were bad so they went into the recycle bin.

Its my first time working with these radios so there's a lot to learn. Thank you everyone for all your help.

 

[ME801]

In my experience Impress batteries and Impress charger, the batteries last longer. With that said they are more expensive up front, I also like having the battery level icon on the front panel to see how much battery is left.
Yes Moto stuff has a steep learning curve to use all the bells and whistles. Read thru threads here, BatLabs and CommSupport, lots of good info

 

[K2NEC]

I have nothing but good things to say about Impres batteries. They are reliable and always come in handy when you need to check the battery life remaining (especially on the 7550e it shows you your battery life, the date it was first used, and the service life left in the battery). Not to mention they recondition themselves automatically when they need to or you can manually put it into a reconditioning cycle. If you give it some time you can find nice deals on Impres batteries and chargers. I got my $60 XPR7550e battery for $25 on ebay. And a $50 Impres charger for my HT1250 for $25. Are they more expensive? Yes but it is definitely worth the extra money. According to Motorola Impres batteries last 2 years longer than non Impres batteries.

 

[2wayfreq]

Check to see that your 3 contacts on the radio are complete half circles. No flat ends or broken edges. I've see a case before of a contact having the very edge sheared off and it's enough of a gap to cause a power cycle.

 

[radioman2001]

Bad battery or bad battery contacts