ICOM M800 asks me to "Wait a moment"

[Streetcar]

Hello

My ICOM M800 controller displays

** POWER ON **
WAIT A MOMENT

when it is switched on. I am still waiting...

Could this be a problem with the optic cable between the Control Unit and the Transceiver?

I have checked power supply and other cabling to the transceiver. I have also checked all 3 fuses in the Transceiver. All OK.

Would very much appreciate any assistance with this.

[Streetcar]

If anyone is interested...

I have asked ICOM in the UK and they think its the optic cable.

[Streetcar]

Update: Now tested the cable by shining light through. Both channels conduct light, so I assume cable is fine.

[sailvayu]

Hi Streecar, sorry nobody to help you but this is an older radio and I do not think it was that popular so there are not a lot out there. It does sound like a controller communication problem. I hate to say it but might have to send it out for service and I am not even sure they still support this unit. My guess is they do not. Hate to say it but might be time to look for an upgrade.

[Streetcar]

Thanks for your interest Wayne. Yes you're right, the unit is a bit long in the tooth, I just need to convince myself its nothing trivial before I put it in the big locker.

[Streetcar]

Postscript:

Just in case anyone else has this problem on their Icom M800...

I just met a NZ yacht in Fiji who had the same "Wait a moment" error on his Icom M800. He had discovered that if you turn the set off and on again in quick succession it then worked OK. I watched him do it and can verify that this is true.

Unfortunately the same fix did not work for me, but hopefully it might be useful to someone else.

[Streetcar]

Problem solved!

Just in case anyone else has this problem. Turns out there was a blown resistor on the fiberoptic circuitboard in the transceiver. This circuitboard is where the
firberoptic signal gets converted to digital just inside the connection socket in the transceiver unit.

A friend found the problem using a multimeter.

[Four_winds]

Dear Streetcar

Thank you for posting this piece of information!
I have just bought a yacht with a IC-M800 SSB radio on-board. However, I have the same message:
** POWER ON **
WAIT A MOMENT
Would you be able to give some more information on what resistor that where gone? Pictures, or reference to the service manual?

Thank you very much in anticipation

[Streetcar]

Sorry to hear about your SSB. My investigations indicated three possible reasons (apart from the obvious power supply etc faults). All of these stem from the premise that the control unit is not communicating properly with the transceiver unit:

1. Problem with the fibre optic cable between the control panel and the transceiver unit. These are delicate and can break easily. Disconnecting it and shining a light through the cable might show this???? If this turns out to be the problem then there is an electrical wire replacement option. Search the internet or come back to me. But you may need to get an electronic engineer to do this.

2. Try the on/off switching option discovered by the NZ boat. See further up the thread. Not sure how this works, but falls into the same category as alchemy.

3. Circuitry problem like my blown resistor. This is what the guy who fixed it said:

"...there is a burnt out resistor on the optical interface board, if I bypass it, all springs into life...I'll regt a new resistor to solder in tomorrow, and then do a full test.Prognosis looks good."

As I understand it the optical interface board is the one in the transceiver unit right next to where the optic cable plugs in. I had checked this board and seen nothing obvious, so you would need to check each component with a mutimeter as this guy did. It will just take some patience.

Good luck.

If you need more help get back to me.

[Four_winds]

Dear Streetcar,


Thank you very much for your quick reply!
Your input have high value to me!


I am not near my boat at the moment. I am travelling in about a weeks time to south Spain where “Four Winds” is at the moment in order to sail her home to her new base harbour in south France.


As the yacht is 40 years old (Sparkman & Stephens Swan) and new to me the to-do list is already quite long. The IC-M800 SSB issue will not be the first thing to jump on. There will go some weeks before I will have the time to look into it.


But your message with all the information is very helpful indeed, which gives me hope that it could be an easy fix. I can't wait till I get the chance to look at it. I will keep you posted.


Cheers,


Bjorn

[bbeyhan]

Dear Streetcar,
I found your valuable information when i searched a solution to thé problem with my ssb IC M800. It gives me the same message saying POWER ON, WAIT A MOMENT.
Did you solve your problem bu replacing that resistor? Do you remember thé number Of that resistor? ( Like R1, R2... etc)?
Thank you very much for your kind reply.

[Streetcar]

Originally Posted by bbeyhan

Dear Streetcar,
I found your valuable information when i searched a solution to thé problem with my ssb IC M800. It gives me the same message saying POWER ON, WAIT A MOMENT.
Did you solve your problem bu replacing that resistor? Do you remember thé number Of that resistor? ( Like R1, R2... etc)?
Thank you very much for your kind reply.

Yes. It works fine now. No i do not remember which resistor. But you just need to test each one on that circuit board for continuity.

[ErikFinn]

Originally Posted by Four_winds

... I can't wait till I get the chance to look at it. I will keep you posted.

Cheers,
Bjorn

Hi Four_winds, Bjorn,

were you able to repair your M800?
I have the same "Wait a moment" issue and would be very interested to hear your findings.
Best regards,
Erik

[Olddan1943]

It is terrible that what was new 10 years ago is no longer supported. Sort of sucks.