It had been noticed that the general alarm led on the front of the 5775 repeater had a habit of blinking on momentarily; typically when the repeater was keyed up ( it was also seen to flash during a transmission ).
PC based software for the repeater has a diagnostics screen, so it was to that we turned for specifics of the reason for the alarm. While it could be seen that an alarm information was posted, it cleared so quickly it was not possible to read the text. A suggestion was made to record a video of the diagnostic display and hopefully capture the alarm status message. So out with the phone…
Of course intermittent faults often don’t show when you are closely watching for them; and so it was. But perseverance paid off and finally the elusive message was displayed and captured.
“Low Voltage” – almost an anti-climax. With a meter on the 13.8 supply to the repeater, the repeater was keyed up and the voltage sagged. So we moved the meter to the 24v input to the supply buck converter, and again the voltage sagged when the repeaters was keyed up. So the problem was external to the repeater. Previously we had determined one of the two batteries making up the 24v supply was dodgy, and was now apparently even more dodgy.
We put the repeater on to a mains based power supply and it was happy. On learning about the battery issue, Keith ZL1BQE generously offered some replacements. These will be fitted soon.