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Reverse polarity diode ar 6666


We adopted the habit of soldering a 6-Amp rectifier diode across the posts inside the radio's power socket. The diode built into most radios is a "one-time" protector. It trips the fuse when polarity is reversed, but gets overloaded and shorts internally.

Back in the day, a slip-seat driver would have to play "Edison Roulette" with his gator clips to the posts on the doghouse of a tractor. The polarity marks had been rubbed off 200,000 miles ago, and if he guessed wrong the radio would be disabled, even if he had the right size fuse in line. A 6 Amp diode would happily pop a 2 Amp or 3 Amp fuse with no damage to the radio.

Makes me wonder if the protection diode in that model is a SMT part? Haven't looked inside one of those yet.

73
 
We adopted the habit of soldering a 6-Amp rectifier diode across the posts inside the radio's power socket. The diode built into most radios is a "one-time" protector. It trips the fuse when polarity is reversed, but gets overloaded and shorts internally.

Back in the day, a slip-seat driver would have to play "Edison Roulette" with his gator clips to the posts on the doghouse of a tractor. The polarity marks had been rubbed off 200,000 miles ago, and if he guessed wrong the radio would be disabled, even if he had the right size fuse in line. A 6 Amp diode would happily pop a 2 Amp or 3 Amp fuse with no damage to the radio.

Makes me wonder if the protection diode in that model is a SMT part? Haven't looked inside one of those yet.

73
It sounds too sensible for Manufacturers to do it.
 
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What does a transient voltage suppression (TVS) diode have to do with this thread? This is about reverse polarity, not voltage spikes.

Does the poster know anything about the components he is selling (if the page is even legit)? New member and not even a hello first, just an irrelevant part behind a login.
 
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The reverse polarity diodes used by the rig manufacturers are almost useless,
even more so when they are installed on the pcb rather than directly on the power socket before the chokes,

you do often get blown pcb tracks or smoked filter chokes but they give piss poor protection to reverse polarity.

They are far too slow reacting too low in current rating & too high of a clamping voltage,
for many years I used fast 60a schottky diodes the size of a 2sc1969 soldered directly to the DC power socket before the chokes,
with about half the clamping voltage & much faster switching & not mounted on the pcb you get zero damage when using normal or even higher rated fuses & power cables & accidentally connect them ass backwards,

when I ran out of the schottky diodes I used what I had to hand,
surface mount "super barrier diodes" 2 of them in parallel on a small pcb,
faster & lower clamping than the schottkys, not as pretty or as simple to use as the schottky diodes but they give very good protection.
 

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Someone here had a story about a customer who just could not wire it correctly, and repeatedly brought the radio back because it was hooked up backwards.

The solution was to install a bridge rectifier so it could be hooked up either way...
Wow, voltage dyslexia! Mistakes happen but man!
 
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  • @ heartbreaker3473:
    Hello gentlemen and Ladies. I have the dreaded RCI-2990 receive issue where my radio gets distorted when people get close to my location. I found the C90 Capacitor, but I can not for the life of me find the C89 capacitor. Can or does anyone have a picture of the exact location of C89 ? Thank you in advance, Wes
  • @ AudioShockwav:
    Wes, it's better if you start a thread on the main forum, more people are going to see your question.
  • @ heartbreaker3473:
    Okay, sorry, will put in a forum
  • @ heartbreaker3473:
    I put it in the general disscution help area and started a new thread. Thank you for letting me know.