XTS5000 & XTS5000R

[Danny37]

I have a regular xts5000 and was wondering how well do these radios handle being wet from the rain compared to the xts5000R models. One thing I noticed about my xts5000 is that there's a pretty decent gap around the emergency button for water to get in.

I've had my xts5000 in light rain before and it always worries me, it works fine however but it still haunts me from time to time.

Also can you exchange an R housing to a regular radio if it provides a more watertight seal?

 

[FFPM571]

there is no difference in the R vs standard in the case. Its how its sealed and vacuum pressure tested at the factory.

 

[Danny37]

there is no difference in the R vs standard in the case. Its how its sealed and vacuum pressure tested at the factory.

So in terms of water resistance there's no difference between the two?

 

[GTR8000]

There's a huge difference in water resistance between the two. The 5000R can be submerged in up to 6 feet of water, assuming the housing is intact. The 5000...not so much.

As @FFPM571 stated, it's the seals and the process of making the R model air/water tight that makes all of the difference.

 

[Danny37]

There's a huge difference in water resistance between the two. The 5000R can be submerged in up to 6 feet of water, assuming the housing is intact. The 5000...not so much.

As @FFPM571 stated, it's the seals and the process of making the R model air/water tight that makes all of the difference.

So rehousing a non-R radio with an R housing makes it useless since the back port pin needs to be drained.

 

[rescue161]

It doesn't need to be "drained." That port on the frame is to test the integrity of the seals. Motorola states that you connect the port to a vacuum pump and pull to 5 or 6 PSI (I can't remember) and leave it for 1 minute. If it holds, then the seals are good and the radio will be okay will be okay if it's submerged. If it does not pass that initial test, then you connect a pressure pump and pressurize the radio while dunking it into a bucket of water to be able to see where the bubbles are coming from. You have to keep the housing pressurized during this test or the radio will fill up with water. A coworker couldn't get a radio to pass the vacuum test and dunked the radio using the pressure pump. The problem was that he forgot to install the main seal... Radio filled up immediately. You have to make sure that when using the pressure pump that it at least holds some pressure. It it doesn't, you need to pull the radio apart and visually inspect the seals to look for obvious tears, holes or otherwise missing seals.

 

[Danny37]

I w

It doesn't need to be "drained." That port on the frame is to test the integrity of the seals. Motorola states that you connect the port to a vacuum pump and pull to 5 or 6 PSI (I can't remember) and leave it for 1 minute. If it holds, then the seals are good and the radio will be okay will be okay if it's submerged. If it does not pass that initial test, then you connect a pressure pump and pressurize the radio while dunking it into a bucket of water to be able to see where the bubbles are coming from. You have to keep the housing pressurized during this test or the radio will fill up with water. A coworker couldn't get a radio to pass the vacuum test and dunked the radio using the pressure pump. The problem was that he forgot to install the main seal... Radio filled up immediately. You have to make sure that when using the pressure pump that it at least holds some pressure. It it doesn't, you need to pull the radio apart and visually inspect the seals to look for obvious tears, holes or otherwise missing seals.

Does Motorola still offer this service since the radios are end of life already for several years.

 

[FFPM571]

Motorola probably don't anymore but there were shops who had the vacuum pump to do it.

 

[rescue161]

Our shop still has the pumps for the 2500s. We only sent radios for flat-rate that we could not fix ourselves. Most of the flat-rates that we sent out were software/firmware related problems. We rebuilt 2500 and 5000s from the ground up. If you send a 5000 to Motorola today, they will send it right back. They ended support for the 5000 in 2013 I think. The 2500 runs out this coming December.