Recommendation for Becker radio shop

Been around aviation a long time but a newbie to the soaring community Helping a friend sort out some issues in a motor glider

The Becker 3200 com radio suddenly failed. Was working fine and on the next flight nothing after starting up the engine. Will not power up. I verified that it is getting power to the radio.

The tach also mysteriously died and the fuse on the vario blew. I suspect an over voltage problem but have not finished diagnostics.

Any recommendations on a shop to send the Becker radio to?

Bill

https://www.becker-avionics.com/

They were great when I had trouble with mine.

DC




On Friday, December 4, 2020 at 8:32:08 AM UTC-5, wrote:
Been around aviation a long time but a newbie to the soaring community Helping a friend sort out some issues in a motor glider

The Becker 3200 com radio suddenly failed. Was working fine and on the next flight nothing after starting up the engine. Will not power up. I verified that it is getting power to the radio.

The tach also mysteriously died and the fuse on the vario blew. I suspect an over voltage problem but have not finished diagnostics.

Any recommendations on a shop to send the Becker radio to?

Bill

Becker USA - but I am not certain they can still repair the old 32 series radios!

+1 (954) 450-3137 10376 USA Today Way Miramar, Fl 33025, USA

The Becker radios have an internal fuse which can easily blow from the surge if you start or stop the engine with the radio turned on. Make sure the radio is off before doing so. When the internal fuse blows, the only option is to send it to Becker at the above listed address. They will replace the fuse and send it back to you pretty fast.

On Friday, December 4, 2020 at 8:32:08 AM UTC-5, wrote:
Been around aviation a long time but a newbie to the soaring community Helping a friend sort out some issues in a motor glider

The Becker 3200 com radio suddenly failed. Was working fine and on the next flight nothing after starting up the engine. Will not power up. I verified that it is getting power to the radio.

The tach also mysteriously died and the fuse on the vario blew. I suspect an over voltage problem but have not finished diagnostics.

Any recommendations on a shop to send the Becker radio to?

Bill

You have a couple of options, buy a used one, or send it back to Becker down in Ft. Lauderdale. I have been in their shop for service on my Becker transponder, call and speak with Alex. They handled my repair promptly and I walked out the door with a repaired transponder. These people are great and have a history of good service. Bob

On 12/4/2020 8:25 PM, Jim Lee wrote:
The Becker radios have an internal fuse which can easily blow from the surge if you start or stop the engine with the radio turned on. Make sure the radio is off before doing so. When the internal fuse blows, the only option is to send it to Becker at the above listed address. They will replace the fuse and send it back to you pretty fast.


I am puzzled by that. Why would an overvoltage surge, even if it is up
to, say, 20 volts, blow a fuse? Especially if the radio is not
transmitting at the time. Voltage only causes current if something
accepts it. (Unless that radio has protection circuitry that does that
on purpose.)

The OP said "The tach also mysteriously died and the fuse on the vario
blew". That, together with the radio problem, suggests that something
much worse than an overvoltage surge happened. Or is one supposed to
disconnect the tach too before starting the engine?

"Was working fine and on the next flight nothing after starting up the
engine." - Was it working on the same flight before starting the
engine? If not, I wonder what happened between flights. Battery
briefly connected in reverse polarity?

Once that other issue is (or has been) cleared, then indeed the radio
may need service.

On 05/12/2020 14:19, Moshe Braner wrote:
On 12/4/2020 8:25 PM, Jim Lee wrote:
The Becker radios have an internal fuse which can easily blow from the
surge if you start or stop the engine with the radio turned on.Â* Make
sure the radio is off before doing so.Â* When the internal fuse blows,
the only option is to send it to Becker at the above listed address.
They will replace the fuse and send it back to you pretty fast.


I am puzzled by that.Â* Why would an overvoltage surge, even if it is up
to, say, 20 volts, blow a fuse?Â* Especially if the radio is not
transmitting at the time.Â* Voltage only causes current if something
accepts it.Â* (Unless that radio has protection circuitry that does that
on purpose.)

The OP said "The tach also mysteriously died and the fuse on the vario
blew".Â* That, together with the radio problem, suggests that something
much worse than an overvoltage surge happened.Â* Or is one supposed to
disconnect the tach too before starting the engine?

"Was working fine and on the next flight nothing after starting up the
engine."Â* - Was it working on the same flight before starting the
engine?Â* If not, I wonder what happened between flights.Â* Battery
briefly connected in reverse polarity?

Once that other issue is (or has been) cleared, then indeed the radio
may need service.

There may be over-voltage protection in the form of a Crowbar circuit
which shorts out the input if a set voltage is exceeded.

I list all the US repair shops that I know of for transceiver/transponder manufacturers in my troubleshooting presentation found at http://aviation.derosaweb.net/presen...s/#transceiver. If you know of any others, please let me know. Thanks.

The Becker repair shops in the US are;

Gulf Coast Avionics Corp.
• http://www.GulfCoastAvionics.com
• 3650 Drane Field Road, Lakeland, FL 33811
• Phone: 863-709-9714
• Email:

Mid Continent Instruments and Avionics
• http://www.mcico.com
• 9400 East 34th Street North, Wichita KS 67226
• Phone: 800-821-1212, 316-630-0101
• Email:

Enjoy, John OHM

On Sunday, December 6, 2020 at 6:18:30 PM UTC-5, John DeRosa OHM Ω http://aviation.derosaweb.net wrote:
I list all the US repair shops that I know of for transceiver/transponder manufacturers in my troubleshooting presentation found at http://aviation.derosaweb.net/presen...s/#transceiver. If you know of any others, please let me know. Thanks.

The Becker repair shops in the US are;

Gulf Coast Avionics Corp.
• http://www.GulfCoastAvionics.com
• 3650 Drane Field Road, Lakeland, FL 33811
• Phone: 863-709-9714
• Email:

Mid Continent Instruments and Avionics
• http://www.mcico.com
• 9400 East 34th Street North, Wichita KS 67226
• Phone: 800-821-1212, 316-630-0101
• Email:

Enjoy, John OHM

Contact Becker in ft. Lauderdale, speak with Alex, these guys are the factor repair station.

Becker USA doesn't seem to do a very good job advertising their repair services for the US. Googling "Becker USA Ft Lauderdale" I get a hit on http://www.beckerusa.com (located in Miramar FL?). Clicking on that I get redirected to https://www.becker-avionics.com/ in Germany. From there clicking on the "International Dealer-Service" link I see only European locations on the map (zooming to the US shows diddly-squat). Digging down further through "Dealer Portal US only" I see a "support" link to http://www.beckerusa.com/support which ... wait for it ... gives me a 404 error. OOPS. Blame it on Covid?