For years this radio has been my dream. I already did own a Kenwood TS-450SAT. A very nice radio. But the other day I saw a TS-850SAT on internet for sale. In the corner of the shack was a Icom 910H which I never used. I traded the Icom in for the Kenwood TS-850SAT. A pretty nice deal, I thought!
After close inspection it turn out the TS-850 has a serialnumber in the 20-million…. Bummer! That numbers turn out to have several leaking problems. But the salesman ensures me he checked the rig and there where no traces of leaking capacitors. He also gives me a 6 months of warranty. So with a good feeling I went home and plugged in my brand new TS-850. The rig performes excellent. Really cool features (e.a. slope tuning) and a good quiet receiver picked up at least twice as many station as my TS-450SAT does.
But now lift up the hood to check the dealer claims.
The capacitors of the CAR-board ARE leaking, let there be no confusion about that. Now I can do two things: bring back the TS-850SAT to the dealer to let it fix. But he already replied my e-mail with above picture saying: this is no proof, if you want it fixed, you have to pay half of the bill.
Well, I’m not want to pay anything since he promised me 6 months of warranty.
The other thing I can do is fix the problem myself. So I ordered the 10 capacitors of 10 µF/25V. I hope they arrive tonight. I will replace them immediately! The 47 µF-one wasn’t available so I have to search a little bit harder for that one. But before I order, I’ll inspect all boards for these faulty blue smd capacitors and replace these too.
