GE CB Radio Repaired
One of my students asked me to look at a GE Mobile CB Transceiver or CB radio. It had been given to him with the hope that it could be repaired. Unfortunately, someone had connected it backwards and it had lost the magic smoke.
As usual, I always start with a good, careful visual. I couldn’t see any fuse or protection system, but what I could see was a solder joint that was totally disconnected.
Surely, a simple resolder wouldn’t repair this component, since it had been connected backwards.
After using some Amtech flux, new solder was used to reconnect the dry solder joint.
A logical place to start with diagnosis was diodes in the range of the input voltage.
On-board, one diode was found to be shorted. I decided to test it off-board.
It was a simple test and quickly found. This diode was clearly shorted. Although a 1N4002 diode was used, after checking for equivalent diodes, a replacement 1N4007 took its place. This brought the CB radio back to life.
However, this still left the original problem of the radio being incorrectly wired and causing the short.
The wiring connector had been damaged, so no wonder it had been incorrectly connected. It had already had someone attempt to solder wiring directly to the connector, so I decided to install the correct wires and cover them with head shrink.
I decided to make sure that incorrect connection could not be done. Just by adding some masking tape with the terminal orientation will make sure that it should be wired only one way.
The radio was now handed back to a happy customer. Sorry, no video with this repair guys – you’ll have to wait for the next article 😊.
This article was prepared for you by Mark Rabone from Australia.
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Note: You can check out his previous repair article below:
https://jestineyong.com/shark-upright-vacuum-cleaner-repaired/
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Albert van Bemmelen
October 2, 2020 at 8:29 pm
The shorted diode clearly protected the unit for further damage. In these wrong polarity cases we sometimes also would expect to find a defect fuse too. I guess to owner was lucky the damage was only minor.
Mark
October 6, 2020 at 6:26 pm
Hey Albert,
Yes I was glad it was a simple repair & so was the customer!
I felt it pretty important to make sure it didn't get wired incorrectly again.
Parasuraman S
October 2, 2020 at 10:02 pm
Very useful information shared! Many thanks! Any customer's happiness is happiness for us all!
Mark
October 6, 2020 at 6:26 pm
Thanks Parasuraman
Alfredo
September 26, 2022 at 3:38 am
Buenas tardes busco el diagrama de conexión del micrófono para colocarle otro ya que el original no lo poseo
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Good afternoon, I am looking for the microphone connection diagram to place another one since I do not have the original
Dany Verhamme
October 3, 2020 at 11:15 am
Correct Albert. I have experience from a CB Shop long long time ago. BUT in a correct design the diode (in reverse on the input) should withstand the short circuit current Ism or I2t of the fuse in the + lead of the power supply cable.
1N4002 is clearly not a good design (low cost solution)
Mark
October 6, 2020 at 6:28 pm
Hey Dany,
Yes, I thought it was a cheap protection system as well
Yogesh Panchal
October 6, 2020 at 12:42 am
Mark,
Good repair! Using a semi liquid flux is always good idea for clean soldering work and easy to clean using IPA.
Mark
October 6, 2020 at 6:28 pm
Hey Yogesh,
Yes I have been using the liquid flux for some time now and wouldn't go back to anything else now.
Humberto
October 7, 2020 at 10:33 am
Good repair, and thanks for sharing this article.
Shadrack ngobese
November 5, 2020 at 2:45 am
I pay R600 for book and get bonus one ,I am not complaint about what I have done ,because I fixed 10 tvs so I gain more then what I paid for one book.Iam looking foward to buy onether books