How Submersible are Saber R's?

[fogster]

I've got an AS2R here on my desk, and am looking at a photo of the rugged batteries on eBay, and I'm left wondering...

What keeps water from shorting the programming contacts on the back of the radio, or from shorting the four battery terminals on the back? It seems to me like you're just asking for problems.

[Pj]

A quick search comes up with:

http://batboard.batlabs.com/viewtopic.p ... gged+saber

amoung others...

[bellersley]

What keeps water from shorting the programming contacts on the back of the radio, or from shorting the four battery terminals on the back? It seems to me like you're just asking for problems.

What would be the danger in shorting those pins? You DO have an accessory cover on them, right? I have a watertight radio that I use for marine type stuff. Even still, I invested the $20 in a good watertight bag intended for GPS and cellphones. Cheap insurance. Plus, it makes a radio float which if you're such a stellar canoeist like me, it will come in quite handy!

[Bruce1807]

There should be a cover or an approved RSM.

Your missing the function of R series products.
They should be able to be submerged in 6 feet of water for 4 hours although some have a less depth and time. You should be able to rinse the radio in fresh water, dry it off and power it on and it should work.
The batteries are either Cenelec or Intrisic anyway (Never seen an R that wasn't) so current limiting is included. The battery should be just flat.

I used to look after a lot of North Sea Oil Rigs and they had Sabers R
well MX1000 ruggedized which is the Euro version. These replaced what was probably the most rugged radio ever, For those who have seen them they will probably agree the MX300R series.
We used to get radios droped in all sorts of things and used to put them under the tap and scrub them first before working on them.

[txshooter]

These are not bad units, but chances are you will need to send them off to make sure ther seal is good if you actually want them to be waterproof. These are all Military Surplus and many of them have been opened. Once opened they are almost impossible for you or I to get a good seal.

They are still great rugged radios and should serve you well for many years to come.

[phrawg]

Another thing most folks seem to not be aware of. WATER
itself will short nothing. Water in it's purest form or distilled
is NOT conductive. It is the disolved solids and other polutants
that make it conductive. To see a dramatic demo of this, rig
a socket with a regular screw in bulb ( 110 v 25-40 watts)
so you have a couple "probes" that if touched will light the lamp.
Stick 'em in distilled water. NO light. Add various minerals etc
and watch the conductivity rise. Add salt and make the jar of
water a superconductor ! Thats why a good bath with distilled
water then a nice slow dry at 125-150 degrees will save a lot
of water damaged radio equipment. Phrawg

[nickjc]

My saber IIR sat in the back foot well of a burning BMW 325xi (engine/ front compartment fire) then a thorough dousing with water hoses and in 6+" of water for better part of a half hour start to finish...

Pulled it out and the FF looked and laughed and said "...toasted radio....."

I thought so too.....

hit the power switch and voile powered right up .....been running ever since...


YMMV

[mancow]

We took some on a canoe trip. I had a model II and was in the fast moving water for quite a while when we would stop with the radio strapped to my side under water. I never had a problem. The only issues we did have were with water getting to the contacts on the back causing odd behavior. As long as you put some tape or a cover over them it's fine.

[radio-link]

We took some on a canoe trip. I had a model II and was in the fast moving water for quite a while when we would stop with the radio strapped to my side under water. I never had a problem. The only issues we did have were with water getting to the contacts on the back causing odd behavior. As long as you put some tape or a cover over them it's fine.

But then you have to remove the cover after the readio had been submerged, to be sure that really no water ingress occured. Otherwise you will end up with green or black contact pads, what is very common with radios having their connector covers on all the time.

[DJP126]

But then you have to remove the cover after the readio had been submerged, to be sure that really no water ingress occured. Otherwise you will end up with green or black contact pads, what is very common with radios having their connector covers on all the time.

Corrosion like that happens with or without the cover on the radio. The submersible radios main failures (as far as keeping water out) were the seals. They are located under the volume and channel controls, under the clear/coded switch, under the antenna connector, the frame bottom & the large one at the top of the housing. The housing itself provides the seals for the PTT & RAT buttons and mic and speaker.

We would replace all the seals as routine service, test to see if it would hold a vacuum and then replace the housing if required. This was a real P.I.T.A. as too much torque on the hardware would break the seal and not enough torque would allow leakage.

[DES-AJ]

Another thing most folks seem to not be aware of. WATER
itself will short nothing. Water in it's purest form or distilled
is NOT conductive. It is the disolved solids and other polutants
that make it conductive. To see a dramatic demo of this, rig
a socket with a regular screw in bulb ( 110 v 25-40 watts)
so you have a couple "probes" that if touched will light the lamp.
Stick 'em in distilled water. NO light. Add various minerals etc
and watch the conductivity rise. Add salt and make the jar of
water a superconductor ! Thats why a good bath with distilled
water then a nice slow dry at 125-150 degrees will save a lot
of water damaged radio equipment. Phrawg

Yeah but sometimes the heat from a hair dryer or sun etc can force moisture further into electrical equipment and can become a real problem later. A good vacuum cleaner for a decent hour or so will draw all the moisture out of anything water damaged, it's all about how and when you do it though, obviously not on too high a power and not over parts of a board that could be pulled off... I have saved many mobile phones and one radio this way... Even saved an O2 PDA phone that decided to take a swim down into the harbour. Not for use on large amounts of water though...

Back onto the topic I wash my XTS3000R under the tap when it's dusty or dirty, just need to make sure you put the main seal in properly with the special motorola tool (Say no to screwdrivers!) and that all other gaskets are seated nicely, I'm lucky my yellow case seems to suck the battery onto the back of it quite snuggly, I've never found a drop of water on the tags/chassis, also never use an aftermarket antenna (At all if you can help it!) if you intend to be near water, I don't think transmitting and having water in your RF antenna connector would be such a good combo and I've seen some fairly bad examples of how it could get in there with the wrong aftermarket gear.