Faulty Compenent Microair M760

[Guest JRMobile]

After twice sending back my new M760 to Microair for repair, I spoke to the manager this afternoon to get to the bottom of what was the problem.

 

I was told that the Q version Transceiver from serial No. 12000 has a faulty component on the board that can fail due to high humidity.

 

I believe Microair should get this information out to the aviation community (there is nothing on their web site as yet) and organise a general recall of all radios that could be affected.

 

This could be a safety issue where someone could fly into a CTAFr with no radio.

 

John Reid

 

 

[jetboy]

well thats funny they seemed to blame humidity for the P versions when they played up too

 

http://www.recreationalflying.com/forum/avionics/16573-my-radio-stopped-working.html

 

any more specific as to what "component"?

 

you need to file a couple of SDRs with the CAA for your failures if anything is going to be done

 

pity it wasnt a Toyota as a minimum theyd send you a couple of floor mats

 

Ralph

 

 

[Guest JRMobile]

Hi Ralph, they did not specify a particular component but were confident they have nailed the problem by tropicalising (spelling) the circuit board.

 

Could you enlighten us on the term SDR's

 

Cheers John

 

 

[GraemeK]

Could you enlighten us on the term SDR's

Service Difficulty Reports

 

 

[Guest 4aplat]

http://www.microair.com.au/admin/uploads/HumiditySusceptibilityM760.pdf

 

MicheL

 

 

[Guest JRMobile]

Thanks for the post MicheL

 

John

 

 

[slartibartfast]

Wallaby stuffed.

 

That's the symptom I've been putting up with for 3 years - and mine's a P rev. I'll have to check the serial number.

 

Often the second flight of the day would produce constant signal reception (noise) which couldn't be squelched out.

 

Maybe I'll find peace at last.

 

Now to understand women.

 

PS - merci beaucoup pour votre réponse Michel.

 

 

[Guest Escadrille]

Mine too! Thanks very much for this,

 

Cheers,

 

Andy

 

 

 

[slartibartfast]

I've already had a reply from microair repair. They doubt that the P rev would have the affected component, but they will wait until I get the serial number. They invited me to send it back for a bench check, but odds are it won't fail on the bench. How do I not fly long enough to send it back?

 

I think mine might be more heat than humidity anyway. At least I will stop looking for other airframe factors and concentrate on the radio now.

 

 

[Guest Escadrille]

OR buy an ICOM.. I never had one problem in two stroke and 4 stroke powered aircraft over ten years.

 

:gerg:

 

 

[Tomo]

To save me downloading the PDF....

 

What exactly is the radio doing? the symptoms for this fault?

 

 

[slartibartfast]

Microair has issued a Service Bulletin No: M760 SB-017 to its Warranty

 

Service Centres located in:-

 

USA - Erie Aviation ([email protected] )

 

Canada - Brant Aero ([email protected] )

 

France - I.P.C.O. ([email protected] )

 

Australia - Microair Avionics ([email protected] )

 

advising that we have identified a component in a range of transceivers that

 

 

 

In the cases where this occurrence has

 

appeared the LED annunciator will go green

 

and not respond to any squelch adjustment.

 

In this condition no receiver audio will be heard.

 

 

 

The units that may show this occurrence range from Serial Numbers 12092

 

through to 12466 inclusive.

 

Microair recommends that any transceivers in the affected serial number range

 

be modified at the earliest convenient time.

 

These units are to be returned to a Microair Approved Warranty Service Centre

 

for rectification. Contact details are listed above and also can be found on the

 

website at Microair Avionics under the Warranty Support tab.

 

 

 

 

 

Thanks Tomo. In getting that for you, I read it properly.

 

I still get audio, just can't squelch out the background. So it's not the same symptom.

 

 

[Tomo]

Thanks muchly Slarti... interesting.

 

 

[Guest 4aplat]

PS - merci beaucoup pour votre réponse Michel.

you're welcome !

 

 

[eastmeg2]

Hmmmm that is interesting as I've experienced something like that with my (nearly) 2 year old P series Micro M760, but so far its always come good again after a short time or a reboot on the couple of occasions it occurred.

 

As I'll be away flying ALL next week I think I'll take a spare with me. (JR's old Microair M760)

 

 

[Guest JRMobile]

Oh the irony of it all! That radio never missed a beat in 4 years.

 

Finally got to fly again ( no flying since Jan 17th) this morning to test said errant radio, No problems after adjusted mic squelch. Transmit and receive both appear as good as old radio. Maybe I will get to Temora!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

 

[Ultralights]

our 20 hr old Jabiru has the same problem... not happy.

 

 

[Guest JRMobile]

The down side to a saga like this is the loss of reputation for the manufacturer. I have sung the praise of Microair for many years.

 

Hopefully they will work through this to become bigger and better as we need good quality manufactures in this country.Part of this learning should be the dangers of doing R&D in the feild.

 

Cheers

 

John Reid

 

 

[geoffreywh]

Mine has always done this "green light and signal that cannot be squelched out" Mostly around Coldstream and the North. But not always...I assumed t that it was just a bad radio transmission from the ground sending "white noise" . Now I know what it is I shall be very pleased to get it fixed! Cheers!

 

 

[Guest JRMobile]

The saga continues – New route plan: Temora via Bundaberg…

 

We had planned to fly down to Wagga and Holbrook this week to visit some old friends and then hit Temora on Thursday.

 

Arrived at the airport this a.m. for our big adventure. Drag Jab out of hangar, pre flight, load the plane, load the navigator, start up, navs on, radio on - Oh dear - permanent green light on radio. Now remember, this is a new radio that has been back to Bundaberg twice - plus we have been planning this trip for some months, so I’m over being stuffed around.

 

Unload plane, back into hangar, remove radio, repack car and you guessed it - Plan B! - drive to Bundaberg to have it out with our man Ian at Microair.

 

Lismore to Bundaberg, seven hours and the navigator not happy. Pulled into Microair at 4.30 Qld time and get to see the Manager and quietly explain the situation.

 

Our man Ian tells me they have found a second fault with this particular batch of radios and the second fault was found a few days after ours was repaired – my radio was on the cusp….(by now, however, I’m not feeling very cosmic)

 

What am I missing here, surely a quick phone call when they found the second fault to let me know and anyone else that may have been affected, may have been appropriate.

 

To continue – after hearing further of this new issue, we pursued their third strike and you’re out policy to exchange our dud for a new radio with a serial number greater than 12466 and try our luck. We are currently sitting in a great motel on the beach at Bargara and will head back to Lismore tomorrow to install the new radio and start our holiday on Wednesday.

 

Hope we’ll see you at Temora

 

JR and nav.

 

 

[Ballpoint 246niner]

I too am on my third, and pretty XXXXed as well- the guys at Jab have been great but Microair really need to get on the front foot with this one. I got mine changed last Thursday with the latest "fix" and it was ok back to YCAB. Its a sinister problem that gets progressively worse. It appears to be some form of hysteris loss in a RC cct in the receive cct.

 

The thing I keep remembering is how they pumped up Rev Q at Bundy prior to it's release- another case of the marketers getting way ahead of the reality! More real field trials please before we become the lemmings with poor customer service at the end. The M,N,and P variants were good except for their internal VOX ccts. There I feel better now- how do you read?

 

 

[Tracktop]

Mine is in the recall list but working OK at present ( my 2nd unit) so I am a bit relutant to send it back just yet, and I need a long bad weather window so it doesn't impede on activities.

 

Interesting that it is in the receive cct. Makes me wonder if the receive ( and not transmit ) shadow I am getting is also related in some way.

 

 

[Guest pembs]

M760 q

 

Yep had to send mine back and when they tested it they said a circuit board kept blowing, so they sent me a new model at no extra cost:thumb_up: good service

 

 

[diablo]

Microair M760 Rev Q Serial #13491 - Squelch problem

 

I have the same problem on my M760 serial number 13491 (that is well outside the range quoted in the service advisory). I am disappointed as I have had the radio since September and only managed 1 flight!

 

I spoke to Graham at microair who was very apologetic and helpful. He recommended I send the set to Rick at Microair USA. He tested the set over and over again as well as completing environmental testing (which should have captured the fault) however, he could not see anything wrong with it so he sent it back to me. I fitted the radio in early December and tested it. All seemed OK. The plane was grounded till early February. On it's maiden flight with the newly returned faultless unit, guess what?

 

It failed ....

 

I did some testing at hole. The issue is intermittent. When the radio goes wrong it is useless. There is also another problem with the channel memory. Entering new frequencies works fine, but I was unable to change frequencies. The radio froze just after entering new frequency. Only way to get radio going again was to power off. Apparently this is fixed with firmware release 1.4.2.

 

It has now gone to Australia. Hopefully this will be it's last flight without me ...

 

Pains of piloting!

 

 

 

[kaz3g]

Wallaby stuffed."..".."

PS - merci beaucoup pour votre réponse Michel.

Ah... Un gentile homme Française! Kidding predictive text doesn't mess this up!!

 

Kaz