XPR7550e - Cold Solder Joints

[PACNWComms]

Well, it seems that my Motorola XPR7550e also has cold solder joints (in fact 177 radios all from the same batch) near the top of the board. Dreaded issue with many series of radios, with wave soldering being used in production, the top of the board (where the antenna, channel selector, and volume/on/off knob are located) gets the cooler solder joints that fail over time. 

Or, as I put it.....Motorola Planned Obsolescence. Often times, Motorola (and other brands/model) radios end up in auction sites as they have intermittent issues related to their antenna connectors, power and volume settings (radios get bumped "Off" when the potentiometer begins to fail), or channel select issues when worn on the belt and the knobs are rubbed. 

This can often be cold solder joints from manufacture. This is not limited to Motorola (I have seen this with Kenwood as well 5100/5300 series handhelds). The fix is to re-solder the connections if the pots or antenna connector is just loose, to replacement of potentiometers if volume/on/off or channel select is too loose.

3D printing also came in handy as shields can also prevent torque on the top knobs and antenna connection, preventing wear on the circuit board connections that may be prone to poor soldering during manufacture. 

As for Motorola XPR7550e radios, Motorola has repaired them under warranty, or via flat-rate repair if out of warranty.....but will only support them for another three more years (the model was discontinued and replaced by the Motorola R7 series radio), you often get five years of production and five additional years of support. For those buying second hand, buyer beware, or use for negotiation of price. 

Anyone else experience this with their radios (any manufacture), if so, what was the fix?

[LeoG]

And Socalgrms complains constantly about cheap chynese radios that have some QC issues.  Looks like the big boy have the issues too but no one is going to mention them because they paid big bux for the radio.

[tweiss3]

Yea, I had 2 XPR3500 that had bad antenna sockets. Was fixed in about 20 minutes with the soldering station.

[WRYZ926]

I've had to repair a few cold solder joints on brand new coax switches in the last 6-12 months. And they weren't the cheap MFJ junk either.

[WRUE951]

Back in 2002 i had a RCI 2950  i bought from Bills Radio.  Right out of the box it had all kinds of intermittent issues so i eventually contacted Bills, unfortuntly after warrantee expired.  He had me send it back for a repair estimate.   After he got the radio he called back and said the whole board was cold soldered and radio was basically toast.  Before i 'went off' he said he was sending me a brand new radio at no cost.    So yes, i can attest this problem does happen and pretty sad that it's not caught in manufacturing.  Automated machinery does screw up and when it does, it does it in a much worse way than any human assembler can.  

[PACNWComms]

2 hours ago, WRYZ926 said:

I've had to repair a few cold solder joints on brand new coax switches in the last 6-12 months. And they weren't the cheap MFJ junk either.

Something to watch out for as well.....not limited to mass production radios, but other devices/accessories. 

[PACNWComms]

2 hours ago, WRUE951 said:

Automated machinery does screw up and when it does, it does it in a much worse way than any human assembler can.  

Yes!

It is not just one device, it might be thousands, or an entire shift of production "products" impacted.

I had to warn a dozen sites across the United States of this, 177 Motorola XPR7550e radios that were in the same batch and appear to have the same problem. I am used to Motorola and battery issues, but actual radios......this is getting ridiculous.

A decade ago, out of 100 Motorola radios, there might be one bad one in the batch. Now, it might be 5-6 radios, or in this case ....all 177 bought in a specific batch. I wonder how many others out there are impacted by this specific production "batch" of radios?

[tcp2525]

3 hours ago, PACNWComms said:

Well, it seems that my Motorola XPR7550e also has cold solder joints (in fact 177 radios all from the same batch) near the top of the board. Dreaded issue with many series of radios, with wave soldering being used in production, the top of the board (where the antenna, channel selector, and volume/on/off knob are located) gets the cooler solder joints that fail over time. 

Or, as I put it.....Motorola Planned Obsolescence. Often times, Motorola (and other brands/model) radios end up in auction sites as they have intermittent issues related to their antenna connectors, power and volume settings (radios get bumped "Off" when the potentiometer begins to fail), or channel select issues when worn on the belt and the knobs are rubbed. 

This can often be cold solder joints from manufacture. This is not limited to Motorola (I have seen this with Kenwood as well 5100/5300 series handhelds). The fix is to re-solder the connections if the pots or antenna connector is just loose, to replacement of potentiometers if volume/on/off or channel select is too loose.

3D printing also came in handy as shields can also prevent torque on the top knobs and antenna connection, preventing wear on the circuit board connections that may be prone to poor soldering during manufacture. 

As for Motorola XPR7550e radios, Motorola has repaired them under warranty, or via flat-rate repair if out of warranty.....but will only support them for another three more years (the model was discontinued and replaced by the Motorola R7 series radio), you often get five years of production and five additional years of support. For those buying second hand, buyer beware, or use for negotiation of price. 

Anyone else experience this with their radios (any manufacture), if so, what was the fix?

This is most likely a combination of poor soldering techniques and mostly lead free solder. Simple fix is to fire up the old rework station and go over the problem area. It sucks and it's time consuming, but it's a fact of life purchasing this crap designed for a throwaway society. I just love Kester lead.

And don't get me started on MFJ/Ameritron garbage. I never seen an American worker solder so horrifically poor.

[OffRoaderX]

1 minute ago, LeoG said:

Looks like the big boy have the issues too but no one is going to mention them because they paid big bux for the radio.

I was going to mention this but I was afraid that too many heads would explode.

[tcp2525]

2 minutes ago, LeoG said:

And Socalgrms complains constantly about cheap chynese radios that have some QC issues.  Looks like the big boy have the issues too but no one is going to mention them because they paid big bux for the radio.

Aren't Motorola radios still made in Malaysia? They are the other China.

[tcp2525]

3 minutes ago, LeoG said:

And Socalgrms complains constantly about cheap chynese radios that have some QC issues.  Looks like the big boy have the issues too but no one is going to mention them because they paid big bux for the radio.

I have to say that my two Anytone 878s kicks Motorola's butt for a small fraction of the price. And Mr. Chung gave the 878 a high rating for quality and durability. 

[LeoG]

15 minutes ago, OffRoaderX said:

I was going to mention this but I was afraid that too many heads would explode.

As you can see Randy, I don't care about heads exploding.  As a matter of fact it's really fun to watch.

[LeoG]

12 minutes ago, tcp2525 said:

I have to say that my two Anytone 878s kicks Motorola's butt for a small fraction of the price. And Mr. Chung gave the 878 a high rating for quality and durability. 

I like my $25 TidRadios and think for the price they are fantastic.  I've had several bad ones because I've bought 14 of them.  All replace as easily as making a polite email.  I've yet to have a good radio go bad.  Only radios that never worked to begin with.

[PACNWComms]

1 hour ago, tcp2525 said:

Aren't Motorola radios still made in Malaysia?

Yes, these (all 177 of them) were Malaysia built Motorola Trbo XPR7550e radios. The Trbo series is also often made in Mexico as well. 

[LeoG]

The good thing about mass production is you can lower costs and pass it on.  The bad thing is if you have a production issue it runs until someone catches it.

[WRUE951]

3 minutes ago, LeoG said:

The good thing about mass production is you can lower costs and pass it on.  The bad thing is if you have a production issue it runs until someone catches it.

They must also be using 'Auto Signer's' to sign off on QC 

[LeoG]

Their QC is probably look at one in a thousand and stamp the rest.  No way every one gets tested at some of those prices.  I've worked at a govt sanctioned military supplier and each part gets a thorough scouring and inspections.  A $100 part turns into a $1000 part because of this.

[Lscott]

3 minutes ago, LeoG said:

A $100 part turns into a $1000 part because of this.

And you get $1000 toilet seats, $700 hammers ...

I had a buddy that worked at some government contractor once. He told me they had desks full of Masters and PhD's that did nothing else but write up pages and pages of specifications for crap the government buys. Then of course it has to be "tested" to ensure it meets those specifications. Maybe if DOGE fired those spec writers, and had realistic spec's for the important stuff, we could save a lot more money.

[LeoG]

And of course that's with the lowest bidder too.

[tcp2525]

25 minutes ago, WRUE951 said:

They must also be using 'Auto Signer's' to sign off on QC 

That damn auto-pen is what got us in all this trouble in the first place.

[WRYZ926]

4 hours ago, LeoG said:

And Socalgrms complains constantly about cheap chynese radios that have some QC issues.  Looks like the big boy have the issues too but no one is going to mention them because they paid big bux for the radio.

 

4 hours ago, OffRoaderX said:

I was going to mention this but I was afraid that too many heads would explode.

I've hurt plenty of feelers when talking about BMW and Mercedes Benz's vehicles. They are the Ford and Chevy of the German auto market. I've seen plenty of beat up and worn out jalopy BMW's and Benz's going down the autobahn at 150+ mph that looked and sounded like they should be in a junk yard. Yeah I'm not impressed by overpriced German engineering.

I've also made people cry when their $2000 + custom 1911 jams constantly while my $300 1911 made overseas works like a champ. I've shot those $2000 + pistols and they didn't shoot any better than the $300-$500 pistols from a ransom rest.

And don't get me started on the whole "Mil Spec" is best line. I've had to use them $500 hammers while I was in the Army years ago. And the same hammer at that time cost $10 at the local hardware store.  The term Mil Spec is over used and also not understood by most outside of the military and contractors. Military specifications is a minimum specification that an item needs to meet. And always made by the lowest bidder that cuts corners where they can after contract approval.

It really doesn't matter what type of product we talk about, most things are designed to be thrown away after they stop working no matter the brand name or cost.

[AdmiralCochrane]

On 4/11/2025 at 4:50 PM, WRYZ926 said:

I've also made people cry when their $2000 + custom 1911 jams constantly while my $300 1911 made overseas works like a champ. I've shot those $2000 + pistols and they didn't shoot any better than the $300-$500 pistols from a ransom rest.

That's due to the American attitude that one can buy accuracy when it actually comes from practice over time.  Much the same as buying health and strength with supplements and exotic fruits.  Strength comes from work, not pills or powders.  You and I both know that most even when they do buy a product that is actually better, if they lack the skill to use it properly, it doesn't work any better than a tool of lower quality and price.   I have a couple of expensive Snap On screwdrivers that really are special in my hands, but in my son-in-law's hands they are no better than those from Harbor Freight.