Sunday, March 17, 2013

Fix for Insignia portable HD radio

If you have a NS-HD01 04.00.14 or NS-HD01A with no sound, you may send the radio to me for repair:

http://www.kots.us/index.php?id=services

My two radios have been working daily, 7/24, without a problem since I fixed them last November.

Other NS-HD01 versions are not fixable and the NS-HD02 garbage does not worth of any work. More details here.
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41 comments:

  1. AnonymousMarch 18, 2013 at 1:32 AM

    Thx Sean, will give it a try and let you know the outcome. Appreciate your willingness to share. Love the radio, hate the silence.

    ReplyDelete
  2. AnonymousMarch 18, 2013 at 2:34 AM

    Sean, two questions. Based on your comments you said when you saw the chip you knew what to do. Do you have experience with this chip? Can you explain functionally what the 1K resistor and wire it doing to the chip and under what conditions? Thx.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sean ChenMarch 18, 2013 at 12:40 PM

      I've used this chip and some other D/A chips. The Insignia engineer did not use this necessary resistor (to cut down cost?). This chip outputs to the headphone jack. Without this resistor, the chip may enter an endless loop of reseting, therefore no audio.

      Delete
  3. AnonymousMarch 18, 2013 at 4:24 PM

    Sean, interesting. So why wouldn't removing the power stop the endless loop?

    Does it matter how many watts for the resister? I noticed the resisters I saw at Radio Shack were a bit bigger. Choices were 1/4, 1/2 and 1 watt.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sean ChenMarch 18, 2013 at 8:23 PM

      The reset pin needs to be pulled up to.3.3v to not reset. When you remove power, the pin gets zero voltage. Any resistor will do, as long as small enough. Note the photo is misleadingly zoomed, the resistor is shorter than 0.1 inch.

      Delete
  4. AnonymousMarch 19, 2013 at 3:47 AM

    Thx Sean. I sure have learned a bunch for your blog post. There are many others in the same situation and would benefit from what you have shared.

    What equipment would you recommend and where can one purchase the necessary tools and resistor? I have looked at the chip via a magnifying glass. I suspect you need a hands free magnifying glass, a fine point soldering iron say 15 watts, silver solder and a tiny resistor. Appreciate any guidance you can provide.

    If I decide to take you up on your 20 dollar offer to fix both my NS-HD01 and my NS-HD01a (which is still working at the moment), I do I go about sending you the radios?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sean ChenMarch 19, 2013 at 10:09 AM

      Before you try anything else, first use a wire to short pin 25 to a nearby 3.3v to bring audio back.

      Delete
  5. AnonymousMarch 19, 2013 at 6:27 AM

    note: sent a request for fix to your posted email yesterday. Thx.

    ReplyDelete
  6. Agile And Lean At ScaleMarch 19, 2013 at 11:24 AM

    OK, did some additional research. I am new to this hardware thing (software developer by trade) so I needed to understand the drawing. The resistor in the picture is a surface mount resister. The number on the resister is as follows, first two digits is the ohms and the last digit is the number of zeros to add, thus 1000 ohms or 1K ohm of resistance.

    Not sure about the solder but what I have read is that silver solder is best for surface mount components. Wire is wire but in this case getting a small enough gauge for the wire is important.

    Regarding the soldering iron, it needs to handle the small sizes for the soldering on the board. There are soldering irons with smaller watts and needle points that will help given the small size. I found one at 12 watts http://www.amazon.com/Antex-M-12w-Soldering-Iron/dp/B005ZDJ9Y0/ref=sr_1_5?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1363717325&sr=1-5&keywords=antex+soldering+iron with needle tips http://www.amazon.com/0-012in-Unplated-Needle-Antex-Soldering/dp/B000AS1X2G/ref=sr_1_3?s=hi&ie=UTF8&qid=1363717325&sr=1-3&keywords=antex+soldering+iron

    ReplyDelete
  7. UnknownMarch 24, 2013 at 10:11 AM

    Hey Sean..

    Thanks in advance.

    How can i get a Pantech Element?

    http://kingoftweaks.blogspot.ca/2013/01/pantech-element-1st-ideal-tablet.html
    Dung Ngo Viet <-------is he legit? Is he around?

    Cheers

    Thanks

    Johnny in Canada

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sean ChenMarch 24, 2013 at 10:02 PM

      All I can say is I've bought several unlock codes from him and all were delivered within minutes and worked.

      Delete
  8. AnonymousMay 13, 2013 at 8:30 AM

    Sean,
    Thanks for the quick and high quality fix to my Insignia HD radio. I would recommend your fix to anyone.

    Art

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousOctober 19, 2013 at 5:41 PM

    Sean, I just need a 1k resistor right? I don't need any other wire?

    ReplyDelete
  10. AnonymousDecember 1, 2013 at 11:29 AM

    Thank you Sean for providing such a great service. I just received my Insignia portable HD radios from you. It is so nice to be able to use them again. The turn-around time was amazingly fast.

    Colleen E.

    ReplyDelete
  11. HatuxkaDecember 30, 2013 at 7:40 AM

    I can appreciate the level of technical expertise in making these radios usable again for people who paid some significant money for them only to have them just up and quit functioning. I have not (yet) had the problems described and addressed here. My problem is that the battery in my NS-HD02 does not hold a charge. Any idea where I can get a replacement?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sean ChenDecember 30, 2013 at 9:50 AM

      You may try buy a cheap radio on eBay and use its battery. I have two that crash often, I keep them for their battery. If you want one or two, I can sell to you for $10/ea shipped.

      Delete
    2. HatuxkaDecember 30, 2013 at 12:52 PM

      OK, will e-mail you about details

      Delete
  12. AnonymousMay 31, 2014 at 7:35 PM

    How do you open the case without breaking it?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sean ChenMay 31, 2014 at 8:18 PM

      Use a thin guitar pick and be very careful.

      Delete
  13. HikingagainFebruary 12, 2015 at 6:25 PM

    Any suggestions on where I could send my NS-HDO1 for repair?

    ReplyDelete
  14. AnonymousMarch 21, 2015 at 5:18 PM

    Thanks, Sean, for the radio repair! I had my HD radio for less than 2 years when the sound stopped. It didn't make much sense to keep on buying a new radio every 1-2 yrs. I had the repaired radio back in one week and it is working perfectly! I highly recommend your repair service. Thanks again, Sarah White

    ReplyDelete
  15. AnonymousMarch 23, 2015 at 4:13 PM

    Thanks SO MUCH for this info. I fixed 3 of them so far

    ReplyDelete
  16. UnknownApril 25, 2015 at 10:14 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  17. HikingagainNovember 20, 2015 at 6:41 PM

    what is the address so I can mail my NS-HD01?

    ReplyDelete
  18. gonzobrainsMarch 2, 2016 at 10:18 AM

    What is the mailing address for sending in defective units for repair?

    ReplyDelete
  19. UnknownJuly 19, 2016 at 6:53 AM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  20. UnknownJuly 19, 2016 at 7:40 AM

    The no sound happend just recently after owning this radio for 4 1/2 years. I temporarily connected a wire from pin 25 from the chip to another area and it reset the volume back. To make this permanent, I'll most definitely will need your help, since it's too small for me to work on. I'll mail it to mail to you in time. My battery connector also broke a while ago after falling to the ground. I did manage to solder a new connection for the lithium battery, so I still have battery power. Amazing how you figured this chip issue out. That's genius. I wonder how many have been tossed these radios into the landfills over the years.. I also noticed very few of these radios sold on Ebay lately..

    Question, by disabling the reset to the chip, does this cause the battery to use more power?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sean ChenJuly 19, 2016 at 9:42 AM

      No any disabling, just fixing a design flaw made by an idiot and returning the circuit back to what it should have been done in the first place. No any side effect.

      Delete
  21. AnonymousOctober 31, 2016 at 4:13 PM

    Thanks for providing the fix

    ReplyDelete
  22. MarkBarnardBoiseNovember 7, 2016 at 2:48 PM


    I think Sean Chen must know his stuff as gurus do. I love, love, love my Insignia HD radio and have only owned the NS-HD02 until now. The volume-down button quit working. The rattle inside tells me the mount inside must have collapsed... now it's full throttle only which I remedies with a cord to the headphones which has a volume control. I since bought a lot of three NS-HD01 with NOS. Now I hope Sean is still monitoring this BLOG because from what he says, the HD01 is superior... I will know for sure once I get his helpful expertise in remedying the design flaw. Kudos Sean!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Sean ChenNovember 7, 2016 at 2:52 PM

      Only two versions are good: HD01 04.00.14 and HD01A. Other versions are all garbage.

      Delete
    2. gonzobrainsOctober 29, 2017 at 9:58 AM

      Are you still repairing these?

      Delete
    3. Sean ChenOctober 29, 2017 at 10:38 AM

      Yes, always and forever.

      Delete
  23. gonzobrainsJanuary 8, 2018 at 7:58 AM

    I get an error when posting my request. I have an NS-HD01A that freezes up. Please send Shipping address.

    ReplyDelete
  24. Brian RandallApril 9, 2020 at 6:54 PM

    Hi Sean,

    Could you tell what batteries go in a NS-HD01 and NS-HD02? A friend gave me both for free and they only hold about a hour charge each.

    Thanks,

    Brian

    ReplyDelete
  25. HikingagainMay 4, 2020 at 9:27 PM

    Hi,
    I have 2 insignia radios to fix. If you are still repairing please let me know. Thanks

    ReplyDelete

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