Brand new to GMRS and may have killed my radio trying to set it up.

[WRQM273]

So, I need a little help. I was excited to try to get on the air tonight and make my first transmission. I was setting my wouxun 1000g on a desktop power supply, wouxun dwc30win, I put some quick disconnect pigtails on the wire so I could go between desktop and my vehicle. Unfortunately i only had one side of the pigtails so I reversed one for the desktop power supply to make it work. In all of my excitement I forgot that I had done that and hooked it into the power supply backwards. Of course when I powered up, the radio smoked out. Can it be repaired? Or did I just kill it permanently? I still have my handheld radios, but have not figured out how to get them online to do anything more than listen in. Any help there would also be helpful.

[SteveShannon]

Is there a fuse in the power cable that might be blown?  The manual makes it appear like there is.

[okinater]

Might have smoked the reverse polarity protection diode?

[WRQM273]

1 hour ago, okinater said:

Might have smoked the reverse polarity protection diode?

More than likely. So a possibility of saving the radio if thats all that went? 

[SteveShannon]

8 minutes ago, WRQM273 said:

More than likely. So a possibility of saving the radio if thats all that went? 

 A reverse polarity diode is usually used in series with a fuse. The diode and fuse combination provide an easier path for current to flow than the radio circuitry.  If you connect the radio in reverse, the diode allows full current to flow in a short circuit, bypassing the radio circuits in order to avoid damaging them.  A fuse is placed in one lead to power and the short circuit blows the fuse, preventing any current from flowing through the radio.  Once you replace the fuse and connect the power in the right polarity you should be good to go. That’s why I asked if there was a fuse in the power line that could be changed.

However, there are other reverse polarity protection schemes as well.  If there’s no fuse accessible from outside the radiothen you may have to open the radio and find one.  Before doing that I would strongly recommend contacting the dealer to ask about customer service. They have a far better knowledge of the circuitry of the radio than I do.

[WRQM273]

On 5/14/2022 at 7:09 PM, Sshannon said:

Is there a fuse in the power cable that might be blown?  The manual makes it appear like there is.

Ill have to check. But it did blow ALOT of smoke out of the back of the radio...

[BoxCar]

Oh, gremlin snuck in and turned the magic smoke generator on. That's not good 'cuz it takes the whoopies away.

[SteveShannon]

2 hours ago, WRQM273 said:

Ill have to check. But it did blow ALOT of smoke out of the back of the radio...

Sounds bad. I would call customer support right away.  You’re almost certainly not the first person that has done this. Hopefully they can save you some stress. Let us know what you learn. Hopefully it’ll be something easy, like an electrolytic capacitor that sacrificed itself. They put out a bunch of smoke when reversed.

Edited May 16, 2022 by Sshannon
Added comment.

[Lscott]

You need something like one of these refill cartridges that IBM makes for their stuff to fix your radio.

[Screech]

8 hours ago, Lscott said:

You need something like one of these refill cartridges that IBM makes for their stuff to fix your radio.

But, IBM just relabeled the product Lucas sells in the UK.