Rf sampler smoked out my radio

[805 california]

So I got an rf sampler. Hooked it up to the radio, the other end to a 100 watt peak dummy load and bnc connector to scope. Turned on my radio and no power to radio. So I checked the radio and found a burnt trace and repaired it. I looked inside the sampler and everything was normal. I hooked the radio just up to a watt meter and everything was good. I hooked it back up to the sampler turned on the radio and up in smoke it went. It was a cobra 29 ltd chrome. I got a parts radio now, burnt wires the jack for a speaker melted.. totally hammered. Any ideas on what the hell went wrong???

 

[805 california]

So I got an rf sampler. Hooked it up to the radio, the other end to a 100 watt peak dummy load and bnc connector to scope. Turned on my radio and no power to radio. So I checked the radio and found a burnt trace and repaired it. I looked inside the sampler and everything was normal. I hooked the radio just up to a watt meter and everything was good. I hooked it back up to the sampler turned on the radio and up in smoke it went. It was a cobra 29 ltd chrome. I got a parts radio now, burnt wires the jack for a speaker melted.. totally hammered. Any ideas on what the hell went wrong???

 

[805 california]

Picture of sampler

 

[Robb]

Sounds like you hooked the pos/neg power wires to the radio - in reverse.

 

[805 california]

Sounds like you hooked the pos/neg power wires to the radio - in reverse.

Nope defiantly hooked up right way. Protection diode is fine. Happened atleast three time when I hooked up the sampler. I would repair it check on meter then hook up to sampler and it would start smoking. The third time smoked it out beyond worth repairing.

 

[Tallman]

Nothing inside the sampler box would have done that. Although the wire from the coil seems very close to the resistor that goes to ground, but it would not have smoked it.

 

[Robb]

And nothing would have burnt the trace unless it had DC current going thru it - too.
Pic of the burnt trace, please?

 

[805 california]

And nothing would have burnt the trace unless it had DC current going thru it - too.
Pic of the burnt trace, please?

I have to radio on now and it's not smoking. I bet a 100 bucks if I hook it up to the sampler it will start smoking.

 

[805 california]

I have to radio on now and it's not smoking. I bet a 100 bucks if I hook it up to the sampler it will start smoking.

 

[Robb]

Those pics are of the DC power input. Smoke from that area means there is a DC short.

The RF sampler has absolutely NOTHING to do with power, as it is a thru box with sampling.

 

[Captain Kilowatt]

I have to concur with the others. There is nothing in that RF sampler that could in any way cause that trace to burn out. Even a dead short across the output jack should not do that. It is entirely possible that the wires could have been hooked up reverse without blowing the protection diode. seen that happen many times. It all depends on the value of the inline fuse or if the power supply has over current protection or limiting.

 

[805 california]

Those pics are of the DC power input. Smoke from that area means there is a DC short.

The RF sampler has absolutely NOTHING to do with power, as it is a thru box with sampling.

So what went wrong???? Check this out, I just had the radio power on, lights on dead keying 2 watts then i hook up to rf sampler and instantly starts smoking again. Lol what the hell. I will be damned if I attempt to hook up another radio, that would be the definition of insanity lol.

 

[805 california]

I have to concur with the others. There is nothing in that RF sampler that could in any way cause that trace to burn out. Even a dead short across the output jack should not do that. It is entirely possible that the wires could have been hooked up reverse without blowing the protection diode. seen that happen many times. It all depends on the value of the inline fuse or if the power supply has over current protection or limiting.

I know for a fact beyond a shadow of a doubt that the positive and negative wires were hooked up correctly. I have the power wires hooked up to my power supply and have never removed or changed them. I just simply plug the wire into the back of the radio I'm working on.

 

[Tallman]

Maybe you have a ground loop problem. One item in your test equipment may actually have AC power as a GROUND or some other defect.

 

[805 california]

Maybe you have a ground loop problem. One item in your test equipment may actually have AC power as a GROUND or some other defect.

Yeah something isn't right. I just had a coax from the radio to the sampler, then dummy load screwed on sampler and then bnc connector to scope.