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E8285 questions

 

Hi all-
I have a E8285 I'm sending to a friend. I already did the ZL1CVD "downgrade" and getting ready to install his calibration IC. But in setting this up for him I see a message about "AA batteries are low". I've looked thru manual and cannot find anything about them, like in my E6380's. I? do see some reference to a battery on "Memory SRBC: and "regulator kit" both 3V batteries. Does it mean one of these batteries? I also see no info on the type of battery. I want to get stuff in advance before I crack it open. Also I have some old Cisco 20MB PCMCIA 20MB cards. Chris sent the "2.04 downgrade" and "RFTools" on that type card but the 8285 won't format a fresh one for me claiming it is a ROM only card. I see very sketchy info on setting these cards up in an old laptop but when I stick one in my laptops nothing happens.

Anybody able to in-confuse me here? Are there AA batteries??
GeorgeC W2DB
 

Thanks a bunch. I still might have some sort of problem because I stored a bunch of tests last nigh including "poweron" and none exisited this morning.

GeorgeC

On 9/3/2023 12:48 PM, fwbray@... wrote:
I was wrong in my prior post about this problem.? Here's what Keysight has to say:

Error Message "AA memory backup batteries are low"

This message is a firmware carryover from the E6380 that conveys erroneous information as there are no AA batteries in the E8285A. After further investigation it was determined that the backup battery on the regulator board is not needed because it is a backup to the primary NVRAM battery located on the memory board. Our first attempt to eliminate this message was to trap it in firmware and not display the error message. While this approach worked, it overlooked the possibility that the backup battery would be ignored and over time could leak battery acid, creating a bigger problem. Another solution was designed to replace the battery with a voltage divider circuit to satisfy a battery ok condition. Recommendations for the customer in order of least disruption 1. Ignore the error message. This is a backup to the backup, no data will be lost. 2. Apply service note E8285A-xx This replaces the battery with a voltage divider circuit as this backup is not needed. 3. Replace the battery. part number: 1420-0338 4. Upgrade to a firmware revision that traps for this error message so that it will not display. This solution has potential "gotcha's": - manufacturing customers usually do NOT want to upgrade their units - if this is considered a design flaw who pays for the fw upgrade? - communicate to the customer that the fw upgrade may drastically change the functionality of the unit, i.e., frequency range will be limited to the cellular and PCS bands. This first shows up in firmware revisions >= A.05.xx. - FYI A.04.53 was the first firmware to support frequency reduction. Battery error trapping was NOT implemented in this revision. R e f e r e n c e s ---------------------------- See PCO 11445, battery removal.

(c)Copyright Keysight Technologies 2000 All rights reserved This information is subject to change without notice and is provided "as is" with no warranty. Keysight Technologies shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages in connection with the use of this material.
 

?
First, I don¡¯t have an E8285 but I do have a 8935 that has similarities.
?
On my unit there¡¯s a holder for AA cells on the rear of the chassis. ?It sounds like yours has something similar. ?You may have to remove a cover to get to them. ?
?
The batteries are just ordinary AA cells. ?I use good quality ones so I won¡¯t have to change them for a few years.
?
If you can find a manual online, that can help locate them.
?
Good luck. ?
?
KE6CD?


On Sep 3, 2023, at 9:00 AM, George Csahanin <george@...> wrote:

I have a E8285 I'm sending to a friend. I already did the ZL1CVD "downgrade" and getting ready to install his calibration IC. But in setting this up for him I see a message about "AA batteries are low". I've looked thru manual and cannot find anything about them, like in my E6380's.?

Anybody able to in-confuse me here? Are there AA batteries??
 

I was wrong in my prior post about this problem. Here's what Keysight has to say:

Error Message "AA memory backup batteries are low"

This message is a firmware carryover from the E6380 that conveys erroneous information as there are no AA batteries in the E8285A. After further investigation it was determined that the backup battery on the regulator board is not needed because it is a backup to the primary NVRAM battery located on the memory board. Our first attempt to eliminate this message was to trap it in firmware and not display the error message. While this approach worked, it overlooked the possibility that the backup battery would be ignored and over time could leak battery acid, creating a bigger problem. Another solution was designed to replace the battery with a voltage divider circuit to satisfy a battery ok condition. Recommendations for the customer in order of least disruption 1. Ignore the error message. This is a backup to the backup, no data will be lost. 2. Apply service note E8285A-xx This replaces the battery with a voltage divider circuit as this backup is not needed. 3. Replace the battery. part number: 1420-0338 4. Upgrade to a firmware revision that traps for this error message so that it will not display. This solution has potential "gotcha's": - manufacturing customers usually do NOT want to upgrade their units - if this is considered a design flaw who pays for the fw upgrade? - communicate to the customer that the fw upgrade may drastically change the functionality of the unit, i.e., frequency range will be limited to the cellular and PCS bands. This first shows up in firmware revisions >= A.05.xx. - FYI A.04.53 was the first firmware to support frequency reduction. Battery error trapping was NOT implemented in this revision. R e f e r e n c e s ---------------------------- See PCO 11445, battery removal.

(c)Copyright Keysight Technologies 2000 All rights reserved This information is subject to change without notice and is provided "as is" with no warranty. Keysight Technologies shall not be liable for any direct, indirect, special, incidental or consequential damages in connection with the use of this material.
George Csahanin
 

I have 8935¡¯s too but this is different, no compartment, etc.

GC



radioman762 wrote:

First, I don¡¯t have an E8285 but I do have a 8935 that has similarities.

On my unit there¡¯s a holder for AA cells on the rear of the chassis.
 

Re battery
8935 battery is totally different to E8285A. No similarities whatsoever. E8285A has 2x batteries - one on the regulator board and another on the memory board. Both are lithium 3V solder in types. I normally replace the memory board with a CR2035 solder in socket then fit a cell - this way I don't need to solder to it next time. The other is a cylindrical 3V like ER14505 also solder in.

Re PCMCIA cards.
This series of HP/Agilent analyzers can only format PCMCIA SDRAM cards. The PCMCIA card I supply for RF Tools and firmware is an EEPROM type of card and the HP correctly identifies it as a ROM card so wont/cant program it. To program those cards you need to use an older PC. I keep a very old Acer that runs Windows 98 just for this purpose. Its PCMCIA bridge chipset can and does program PCMCIA linear flash cards which the HP can read. I could also only find a very old program to do this.

73 om de Chris ZL1CVD
 

Thanks Chris, yeah that was all I was able to find. Going to crack it open tomorrow to change the eeprom on the downconverter and change batteries. I have 3V lithium solder in ones I use in Motorola Micoms that will fit fine.?

GeorgeC W2DB

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