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Author Topic: kenwood ts-530s RL-1 relay  (Read 267 times)

KG6BRG

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kenwood ts-530s RL-1 relay
« on: September 07, 2022, 04:03:31 PM »

Any tips or watch out "for's" in replacing this?  I have a very nice, one owner, ts-530s that's exhibiting signs that this relay is starting to act up.  It looks straight forward to replace.  Any tips are welcome. I bought this relay as a replacement. 3rd item down.
https://www.k4eaa.com/parts.htm
cheers, Scott.
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WB0CJB

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Re: kenwood ts-530s RL-1 relay
« Reply #1 on: September 07, 2022, 04:44:47 PM »

It should work just fine. I've replaced several in TS-120S rigs.

Paul WB0CJB
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G3RZP

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Re: kenwood ts-530s RL-1 relay
« Reply #2 on: September 08, 2022, 01:05:04 AM »

If it's showing high contact resistance - the Yaesu FT102 is famous for this - the easy answer is to arrange to bleed some DC through the contacts when they closed. Any  telephone maintenance guy from 50 or more years ago (if they are still alive!) knows about that
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K8PJM

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Relay replacement works good.
« Reply #3 on: September 08, 2022, 05:02:44 AM »

I changed mine in my TS-530S with the same relay you purchased and the new one works great. Used a Pace vaccum soldier sucker to remove the old one, which was fairly easy. These tools are almost a must for easy replacement of parts.  At the very least get yourself a mechanical sucker. I recapped the entire radio using the Pace.

New relay from Ken is a direct drop in replacement.

Good Luck with your project !
Phil K8PJM
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KG6BRG

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Re: kenwood ts-530s RL-1 relay
« Reply #4 on: September 08, 2022, 07:38:38 AM »

Thanks for the responses so far, and yes Phil I have a vacuum sucker and also some solder wick.  Any issue getting the board out?  It looks like lots of plugged in connectors but I'm not sure if any wires are directly soldered to it, that may have to come off too.  When the relay gets here Monday, I'll get the radio on my work bench and see what it's going to take exactly. 
Scott
kg6brg.
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N8YX

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Re: Relay replacement works good.
« Reply #5 on: September 08, 2022, 08:24:48 AM »

...Used a Pace vaccum soldier sucker to remove the old one, which was fairly easy. These tools are almost a must for easy replacement of parts.
Though I don't have this much money in them, there are the equivalent of two IC-7851s worth of Pace power units, handpieces and tips/consumables in my rework lineup. I use the stuff frequently.
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K8PJM

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Re: kenwood ts-530s RL-1 relay
« Reply #6 on: September 08, 2022, 09:44:28 AM »

Thanks for the responses so far, and yes Phil I have a vacuum sucker and also some solder wick.  Any issue getting the board out?  It looks like lots of plugged in connectors but I'm not sure if any wires are directly soldered to it, that may have to come off too.  When the relay gets here Monday, I'll get the radio on my work bench and see what it's going to take exactly. 
Scott
kg6brg.
I took a lot of pics of each board then made a detailed drawing of the board connections. I used a Sharpie to label each plug. Were there are Tie-Wrapped wire's I carefully cut them and labeled them on my drawings. Just a lot of prep work, do with the mindset that you won't be putting it back together and someone else will have to follow you up.  The prep work is harder than the repair! All things considered these radios are not that bad to work on.

While you have the board out you may want to consider changing the electrolytic capacitors. They are getting kind of old in these radio's. In mine some of the cap's in the radio were starting to get high ESR's.
Phil K8PJM
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VK6HP

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Re: kenwood ts-530s RL-1 relay
« Reply #7 on: September 08, 2022, 06:56:26 PM »

As the previous poster says, preparation is everything.  Be careful working on the PCB's as the tracks are not particularly robust.  Clean, quick, work with a hot iron and careful solder removal with a vacuum tool will get the job done without lifting tracks or pads.  I've seen a few cases where people elect to do a mass component replacement, only to end up making a mess. But if you have good reason to do a replacement, it's essential of course.  For my TS-830's and a previous TS-530 I routinely replace all the "hard working" (PSU) electrolytic capacitors, and others as required.

Your RL-1 relay solution is a good one but, despite a lot of commentary to the contrary, the originals or direct replacements have been available from a number of Asian suppliers. I bought a couple two years ago from a Hong Kong company.  However, your new PCB and relays are certainly (relatively) future proof.

73, and good luck,
Peter.
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KG6BRG

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Re: kenwood ts-530s RL-1 relay
« Reply #8 on: September 08, 2022, 08:14:06 PM »

Thanks Peter, yes I lifted a trace off a circuit early on in my ham career, and I am aware of that.  I will endeavor to be careful.  It's such a nice example of a 40 year old radio, non-smoking and one owner, so I want to keep it as nice as it is cosmetically and electrically 100%.  Cheers, Scott.
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KD6VXI

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Re: kenwood ts-530s RL-1 relay
« Reply #9 on: September 09, 2022, 07:46:28 AM »

Thanks Peter, yes I lifted a trace off a circuit early on in my ham career, and I am aware of that. 

We affectionately called that "PC Boarditis" when I was working on solid state amplifiers in the 80s.

"Yup, this guy tried to change out his MRFxxx's.  Board developed some PC Boarditis".

--Shane
WP2ASS / ex KD6VXI
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KG6BRG

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Re: kenwood ts-530s RL-1 relay
« Reply #10 on: September 14, 2022, 02:32:26 PM »

Okay, so I've received the new relay board and the relays, an electric solder sucker, some new flux and some solder wick.  I did a bit of practice on an old bit of circuit board, and the sucker works pretty well and then some clean up with the wick, it cleans the pads well.  Any tips on getting the old relay out after I get the solder off the pads, I think some or most of the pins might be still stuck here and there.  I think there are 15 pins and I can't heat them all at once.  So I was curious how to handle this.  2 or 3 pins isn't bad, 15 might be a problem for me, maybe, but if I have trouble at this point, tips are welcome.  Thanks, scott.
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N8YX

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Re: kenwood ts-530s RL-1 relay
« Reply #11 on: September 15, 2022, 08:44:49 AM »

Which kind of electric solder sucker did you buy? I've used the squeeze bulb and powered vacuum/compressed air types quite a bit - and I find the squeeze bulb setups to be somewhat hit or miss.

Head over to YouTube and look for Pace videos featuring M. Marc Siegel. One (just shy of an hour and a half long) covers the usage of almost every hand piece their company offers and talks about removing through-hole DIP components. There's a technique you use with a Sodr-X-Tractor (or similar Weller, Hakko, etc. hand piece) that ensures you've completely cleared the solder off a component's pins, and Marc goes into this.
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KG6BRG

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Re: kenwood ts-530s RL-1 relay
« Reply #12 on: September 15, 2022, 03:22:15 PM »

I got the relay board in, and the old one out smoothly.  The sucker was a 30 watt pencil type with a plunger. It had 2 sizes of nozzles for different size pads.  It worked great, heat, suck, and done.  It all took about an hour.  I'm working on another problem but I have to post pics to make it clear, and the attachment and options below doesn't do anything.  So I guess I'll post over at QRZ and see if any of the eham experts look over there.  I wanted to sort of finish this thread and thank all who responded so far.  Scott
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KG6BRG

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Re: kenwood ts-530s RL-1 relay
« Reply #13 on: September 15, 2022, 04:09:02 PM »

I got the relay board in, and the old one out smoothly.  The sucker was a 30 watt pencil type with a plunger. It had 2 sizes of nozzles for different size pads.  It worked great, heat, suck, and done.  It all took about an hour.  I'm working on another problem but I have to post pics to make it clear, and the attachment and options below doesn't do anything.  So I guess I'll post over at QRZ and see if any of the eham experts look over there.  I wanted to sort of finish this thread and thank all who responded so far.  Scott
I couldn't see how to edit to add this to my original post, but if you want to see the post and pics on QRZ it's here.
https://forums.qrz.com/index.php?threads/help-with-a-ts-530s.830430/#post-6305801
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