Yesterday I got a fault message on the K4 screen. It disappeared before
I could see it fully, but I did get "tighten heatsink screws". The fan
was working as its speed was speeding up and the KPA500 temp saw about
60+C (it may have been higher). I was running 100 watts PSK31. The
KPA500 did switch to STBY (I think).
I can not find any record of what the message was. I can not find
"heatsink screws" referenced in the K4, KPA500 or KPA1500 manuals. Both
the K4 and KPA500 are factory built.
PSK31 has a longer duty cycle than FT8 and I was running FT8 at higher
power with out the amp temp going above 60C, earlier. I switched to
barefoot and ran 80W PSK31 without issue.
Question 1) Before I take the KPA500 apart, is this a problem or just
duty cycle? I would think the KPA500 would be able to handle 100W key
down.
Question 2) I saved the K4 backup and diagnostic logs to USB disk (the
next day). I could NOT find anything that looked like the error
messages. I find many messages disappear before I get a chance to read
them.
Wish 1) KPA500 add FAN CTL for both OPER and STBY or set STBY to run at
NOR and OPER to be adjustable.
Wish 2) K4, allow checking date/time for all past error messages. I may
have had a KPA500 over temp message while long winded on SSB (but only
200W)?
Wish 3) K4, HOLD error messages until "confirmed". Messages like KPA500
on/off (info) only need to be short time (??), but if away (maybe
confirm). Either way "this" will be an issue for the contesters, so
have a way to save for later recall, as in write to USB if one is
installed. Fn could write to USB disk with time stamp? OR, are there
documents on how to read the diagnostic logs?
73, steve WB3LGC
I will also send to support if no one has a good idea about the fault.
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