Icom 7610 Heat Sink, Loose or Detached ADC Heatsinks
Note: This does not include all Icom 7610 transceivers, just a small percentage of the ones sold. Adam VA7OJ/AB4OJ is compiling a list of the affected radios along with serial numbers. We should have a range of the affected serial numbers very soon. Please visit The Icom 7610 Group.
Icom 7610 Heat Sink Photo
In this photo there is a heat sink that has come off of the chip EP8200.
Courtesy of Adam VA7OJ/AB4OJ.
In this photo, this is what it should look like.
IC-7610 interior bottom view (courtesy Icom Inc.)
Icom 7610 Heat Sink Solution
From what I have read in the forums, Icom says to remove the bottom cover of the radio and look for evidence that a heat sink has fallen off.
Remove 6 JIS screws at the bottom, 2 on each of the two sides, and loosen the two holding the handle by a tad. Then lift the bottom cover off.
Be careful that any completely dislodged heatsink(s) does not fall out and hide itself in some corner of the room. If one has fallen completely off inside the radio, be sure to find it, since it could one day short out something. - Chen, W7AW (Icom 7610 Groups.io)
If needed, reseat the heat sink (being careful not to touch a capacitor that is close to one corner of the ADC) and hold it down firmly in place for 30 seconds. That should fix it. Do not attempt to glue it with epoxy, Super-Glue, Loctite or any other non-heat-transferring material. Any such action will void the warranty. Please visit the Icom 7610 Groups.io forum for more direction.
If you are not comfortable doing this you may want to wait until Icom gives further direction.
There will be more to come. I hope to check mine this weekend and provide more photos. Please visit the Icom 7610 Groups.io forum.
Update: Video Icom 7610 Heat Sink Check
UPDATE: 7-26-2017
Icom released a technical bulletin. "We have found that IC-7610 radios within S/N range of 12001000 – 12003470 could be susceptible. " - Icom
Thank you again for coming by and I appreciate all of the comments. If you have a question please comment below. I will do my best to answer it and your experience will undoubtedly help others as well.
Sources:
Icom 7610 Groups.io forum
Has a list of serial numbers affected been determined yet?
I am watching the forum and not yet.
The heat sink in question is a secondary heat sink for this chip, basically overkill and I am sure Icom will have a timely fix soon. If you look at a detailed view of the Anan 7000 they use the same chips set for there ADC but chose to not use a secondary heat sink like Icom did, on both radio’s the main heat sink which is on the bottom of the chip get soldered to a copper land onto the PCB during the wave soldering oven plus as you look close you will see two Philips screws that are at the center of the main board which attach it to the main cast chassis of the radio. Anyone who has ever been involved with manufacturing of PCB’s should be able to understand the above. I kind of feel after the Flex PEN with there radio’s issues about heat sink that once something happens with another companies product its like everything else on the internet today, rumors fly like diarrhea. I am sure we will see a simple solution from Icom and from what I can tell it has only happened on a very small amount of 7610’s .
Hi James,
Good to hear from you. I agree, it need not be a huge concern. I’m happy Icom likes the overkill because I’m kinda that way myself sometimes.
I haven’t seen many complaints about it, but I can understand those who are upset. I don’t want a 10 cent heatsink shorting out something in my new $4k radio.
On the other hand, I’m a Ham for goodness sake, so I’ll just take the bottom cover off and have a look!
It does seem like a strange coincidence that the new Flex and the Icom 7610 had the same thing happen with heatsinks. I’ve seen the posts about it too.
Thanks for the info Jim.
73,
Rich, K0PIR
The board that the FPGA and most of the SDR part of the radio faces down so if the heat sink does fall off or get lose its falling down onto the bottom cover, yes you are right its not a nice thing that would happen on a $4k radio or by now closer to $3k but the amount of numbers that I have seen posted on Adam’s forum have been less then 30 radio’s out of 3000 7610’s sold WW, seems like the adhesive conducting tape may have been a bad batch at the Icom plant in Japan. Hey its not the first time any company has has some slight issues with an OEM part or supplier yet I feel confident Icom will make things right.
I did watch your YT video which was done very well BTW and as long as an owner unplugs his power cord and removes the top then bottom covers like you have shown can easily check if the heat sinks are in place. The ADC 16 bit package that Icom used in these radio’s is the HD model which temp ranges from -40 degree C to 85 degree C and from temp infrared measurements that one of Adam’s group measured that chip doesn’t go above 70 degree C without the secondary heat sink attached. If you look at the Anan 7000 they use the same chip without any secondary heat sink so this issues has been way overblown thanks to some simple minded VK ham who likes to make video’s and big issues out of small ones.
I cannot imagine over 3000 7610’s withing a little over 6 months time, maybe not the numbers that the 7300 was doing but give them another two years.
I like yourself looked at the Flex 6400 yet the Icom gave me two independent RX’s and could be use completely stand alone without any computer giving all the overall performance were the Flex to get the most from there radio’s needed the computer to do that, I guess I am just old scope and I like a good top of the range RX over the fish finder.
Really like your You Tube video’s BTW plus no add pop ups, great stuff!
73’s
Jim
Was thinking about buying a used one but I think I’ll wait until we get a list of serial #s
73
Rick W2JAZ
Hi Richard,
I understand, but it might be a week or two for the sn’s. Maybe you can get a better price LOL
If it’s effected, it’s not hard to check.
See the post by James too.
Best 73,
Rich, K0PIR
I’ve looked for evidence that the IC-7610 built-in LAN port actually works with RS-BA1. So far not a single video showing the built-in LAN working, no explanation, no menu settings.
Does it work? The radio works as a USB device with ICOM Remote running on a connected computer via USB cable, but does NOT seem to work if ports are forwarded to the IC-7610 IP address, or a LAN computer tries to connect to the Radio.
What’s up with that LAN port? How should it be configured to work with the built-in ICOM REMOTE feature, or is it best to ignore that port and use USB port 2 ?
Thanks for an answer., Jeff, W6FCC. If you have interest, join our group https://www.facebook.com/groups/RadioElmer/ and explain how to make this work with the 7610 LAN port.
Hi Jeff,
Nice to hear from you and that’s a great question. I have been working on remoting into my Icom 7610 and I’ll do a video on it too at some point.
I don’t use the LAN port for my desktop PC that is next to my radio. I use the USB cable. I am anxiously waiting for the USB3.0 update so we can start using that port on the radio.
Anyway I’ll be doing a video and article on RS-BA1 and remote operation in the near future.
Thanks for commenting and have a great weekend.
Best 73,
Rich, K0PIR
The board that the FPGA and most of the SDR part of the radio faces down so if the heat sink does fall off or get lose its falling down onto the bottom cover, yes you are right its not a nice thing that would happen on a $4k radio or by now closer to $3k but the amount of numbers that I have seen posted on Adam’s forum have been less then 30 radio’s out of 3000 7610’s sold WW, seems like the adhesive conducting tape may have been a bad batch at the Icom plant in Japan. Hey its not the first time any company has has some slight issues with an OEM part or supplier yet I feel confident Icom will make things right.
I did watch your YT video which was done very well BTW and as long as an owner unplugs his power cord and removes the top then bottom covers like you have shown can easily check if the heat sinks are in place. The ADC 16 bit package that Icom used in these radio’s is the HD model which temp ranges from -40 degree C to 85 degree C and from temp infrared measurements that one of Adam’s group measured that chip doesn’t go above 70 degree C without the secondary heat sink attached. If you look at the Anan 7000 they use the same chip without any secondary heat sink so this issues has been way overblown thanks to some simple minded VK ham who likes to make video’s and big issues out of small ones.
I cannot imagine over 3000 7610’s withing a little over 6 months time, maybe not the numbers that the 7300 was doing but give them another two years.
I like yourself looked at the Flex 6400 yet the Icom gave me two independent RX’s and could be use completely stand alone without any computer giving all the overall performance were the Flex to get the most from there radio’s needed the computer to do that, I guess I am just old scope and I like a good top of the range RX over the fish finder.
Really like your You Tube video’s BTW plus no add pop ups, great stuff!
73’s
Jim
Hi Jim,
Thank you for the comment and good information. This will help many.
Best 73!
Rich, K0PIR
UPDATE: 7-26-2017
Icom has just released a technical bulletin. “We have found that IC-7610 radios within S/N range of 12001000 – 12003470 could be susceptible. ” – Icom
See: http://icom.custhelp.com/app/answers/detail/a_id/3007
Hello, what new about the heat sink in Icom 7610 ?, just check mine today and one get loose in 8 months old 7610 , I don’t know how the chip will work without the heat sink but I know the loose aluminum heat sink inside the radio is disaster waiting to happen especially when we move the radio around , should I contact Icom ?
Yes, contact Icom and they will help you.
73!