Many thanks to Stephen (KD4LYO) who recently commented that his new mAT-705Plus ATU had charging issues. Shortly after I posted my first test of the mAT-705Plus in the field, he noted:
So far, not so good for me. I received the unit earlier this week. I immediately pulled it out of the box and charged it. Once finished it sat on my desk the rest of the week until I tried it out today. It was completely dead. I just went to plug it in to charge and the red power light is flashing really quickly, I could have sworn it was solid previously when charging. We will see what happens.
Stephen then followed up. Turns out, the issue was very easy to resolve:
So they really improved the inside of the tuner.
MAT-Tuner replied and said the battery had likely popped loose. Here is a pic:
Thanks for the feedback, Stephen! That is an easy fix. I bet your ATU was handled pretty “aggressively” en route to your home. ‘Tis the seasons and all of that!
You’re right, too, I do like the looks of that board inside the mAT-705Plus. A major improvement over the original mAT-705.
Thank you for sharing your tip!
One comment: Please replace these ultrafire batteries NOW with a legitimate brand that doesn’t contain the *fire name (samsung, NCR etc etc) bad things can happen
(http://www.candlepowerforums.com/vb/showthread.php?410360-Are-there-any-UltraFire-18650-batteries-that-are-good&styleid=30)
I am a 18650 Lithium fan
73
SV1QFV
I looked at purchasing the mAT-125E. When I saw the battery compartment I was concerned about the security of the batteries in the holder. I thought about taping them in place. As much as I was interested in trying out the MAT-Tuner product I decided to purchase another LDG-Z11Pro II as I am already familiar with it and it interfaces with some of my Yaesu radios.
The LDG is an excellent tuner. It’ll serve you very well, Steve.
Cheers,
Thomas
Buy USA and enjoy!
John VE3IPS
I have a bunch of LDG and enjoyed building the Z11 for my FT817 over 15 yrs ago
The Baluns are great too
Thank you for this!!
Mine was flashing and wouldn’t charge, and you just saved me a call and thinking my tuner was damages… I removed the panel, and voila… both batteries were popped out!
Thanks again,
73 Jim VE3 WYO
So glad that helped!
You saved me! Yep, same problem with me – the battery popped up out of its holder. When putting it back together, I cut a strip of cardboard box about 3/8″ wide, and slid it back together with it pressing on the batteries. It’s not real tightly pushing them down, but I doubt they will pop up again
That’s a clever and simple fix! I might do the same. Thank you!
I had the same issue after some portable use. I connected the radio in my shack, connected the tuer to the radio and to the wallplug to charger to charge it. I started immidetaly to flash fast. But i promise my did not popped out. I opend the case and looked all to be good.
After mounting out the batteries waiting a moment and putting them in again, it worked again.
So I believe the connection was bad between the holder and the battery. I will monitore this .
Okay, I have the red flashing light when trying to charge and need to open the case and possibly reseat or just replace the batteries but what tool/bit do you use to open the case? Thanks
For mine, it’s simply a hex wrench.