Caution about BRP CB radio

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

I don't know if my one off experience is indicative or not but I thought I would share my woes just in case.

Two years ago I bought a Can Am CB radio off eBay and installed it in my 2013 RT. The radio was old new stock manufactured in 2010. This last spring on my way home from SpyderFest I drove through some really heavy rain and the CB quit. After a couple of days everything started working again, except for the transmit function. I figured the connectors had leaked water and caused a short and failure. A subsequent inspection by the dealer indicated that was not the case.

Last week I sent it in to RadioSound to have it repaired. I got word today that they cannot repair it as it too water damaged, i.e., corroded, inside. In other words, when I drove through that heavy rain last May water leaked INTO the CB. Can you believe that? The idea that water could leak into the radio just totally flabbergasts me. RadioSound does not stock any units at all so as far as them giving me some resolution I am SOL. They build CBs for BRP on order and send all the units to BRP. I now have a junk CB on my hands.

My recommendation is, if you have installed a CB radio yourself, thus negating any BRP warranty, or you have one past the warranty period, take some sort of preemptive action to ensure the radio is sealed against any water leakage. I would hope the newer CBs are water tight but who knows?

I'll see if my dealer can make some headway on getting some resolution from BRP on this, but I'm not hopeful.

 

[GOZFST]

Sorry for your problem and good advice on keeping them waterproof, but really can't blame BRP if they don't warranty some thing bought off EBAY.

 

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Sorry for your problem and good advice on keeping them waterproof, but really can't blame BRP if they don't warranty some thing bought off EBAY.

Generally speaking I agree. However, to me anyway, this seems to be such an egregious design or manufacturing deficiency they ought to be willing to do something. I mean, one could argue that functionally it is not suitable for its intended purpose, i.e., use on a motorcycle which will be subject to getting wet during ordinary use.

 

[GOZFST]

Fair enough.

 

[finless]

The unit is sealed and so are the connector sockets on it. It should not have leaked. They are of course not fully water proof (e.g. can't be submerged fully in water) but rain should not have caused it. My bet is your unit had a seal problem from Radio Sound when shipped to BRP. Not the first time this has happen to just the base Spyder Radio unit! There was even a service bulletin on water intrusion for the radio.

Alas because you did not get it at a dealer or have them install it, you might not have a way out if Radio Sound won't cover it.

Bob

 

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Update on a sorry situation.

The unit is sealed and so are the connector sockets on it. It should not have leaked.

You can say that again, but it sure did. Here are a couple of pics of one of the two circuit boards inside there. It's obvious it stayed wet for some time, and apparently even had standing water in there.

Radio Sound would not touch it. BRP, not surprisingly, said sorry, no way, would they entertain any kind of warranty accommodation. I thought maybe I could clean the boards and get the CB to fully function again, or get it cleaned enough that Radio Sound would be willing to repair it, but that's a no go. If you look close near the big heat sink, just left of the transformer, on the top side photo you can see where a circuit trace, and maybe even some resistors or some components, have burned up. On the other side of the transformer near the capacitors it looks like the board traces and components burned up there also. There must have been a serious shorts in there somewhere.

I think you can understand why I feel BRP should have been willing to do something to make up for such poor quality control that allowed this to happen.

Top side of circuit board.

Bottom side of board.

 

[finless]

Wow that is bad! They should cover that in my opinion as it is not supposed to leak!

Bob

 

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Wow that is bad! They should cover that in my opinion as it is not supposed to leak!

Bob

Dealer opened a case w/ BRP. That's what they responded to. I may call Customer Care but since I've opened up the radio I don't hold out much hope!

 

[Marker]

I had the cb/comm system on my 2010RT. The system never worked right from day 1. BRP blamed J&M headsets for causing the problems.
on my 2015RT I went bluetooth and and a portable cb with the bluetooth dongle mounted on the handle bars.

The cb has better receptionn and transmission range than the BRP unit

 

[SpyderAnn01]

Unfortunately I have heard of several others who have had nothing but trouble with the BRP CB.

 

[pegasus1300]

Just a thought but you might give Sierra Electronics a call and offer to send them your pictures to see if it is something they want to mess with.They are pretty amazing people over there
Sierra Electronics Toll Free: 1-800-338-6938
Local: 937-335-8939
Fax: 937-339-6671
Email: [email protected]

Second thought,did you ask them if they would sell you the affected boards and you would swap them out. I don't see why they wouldn't do that them selves,seems like it would be easy enough to do. Good luck

 

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Just a thought but you might give Sierra Electronics a call and offer to send them your pictures to see if it is something they want to mess with.They are pretty amazing people over there
Sierra Electronics Toll Free: 1-800-338-6938
Local: 937-335-8939
Fax: 937-339-6671
Email: [email protected]

Second thought,did you ask them if they would sell you the affected boards and you would swap them out. I don't see why they wouldn't do that them selves,seems like it would be easy enough to do. Good luck

I contacted a couple of other outfits about repairing the CB before I knew what condition it was in. Both said nope. I don't recall if Sierra was one of them.

The lady at Radio Sound who I talked to said they build the CBs for HD, Victory, BRP, and whoever, on order only. When the order is complete they send all of the units to the buyer. They keep no stock on hand at all. Since they wouldn't touch it I doubt they even have replacement boards in stock. Kind of like light fixtures at Home Depot and Lowes. They order a few hundred thousand from a factory in China and when they're gone, they're gone. They don't bother to order spare parts at all. When one craps out, you replace it.

 

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

I had the cb/comm system on my 2010RT. The system never worked right from day 1. BRP blamed J&M headsets for causing the problems.
on my 2015RT I went bluetooth and and a portable cb with the bluetooth dongle mounted on the handle bars.
The cb has better receptionn and transmission range than the BRP unit

I'm not too crazy about converting to BT. Hard wire headsets work with very few problems and I don't have another set of batteries to keep charged up! But, if I end up having to buy a new CB at full price then changing to BT may be the smart money way to go. This would be especially attractive if I and/or Finless can figure out how to capture the PTT signal to operate the transmit function on a handheld CB.

 

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

Not surprisingly I struck out with BRP Care. It was worth a try though! Fortunately I have a lead to buy a near new CB to put into my 2014 RT-S.

 

[theBeast]

CB Install

I don't know if my one off experience is indicative or not but I thought I would share my woes just in case.

Two years ago I bought a Can Am CB radio off eBay and installed it in my 2013 RT. The radio was old new stock manufactured in 2010. This last spring on my way home from SpyderFest I drove through some really heavy rain and the CB quit. After a couple of days everything started working again, except for the transmit function. I figured the connectors had leaked water and caused a short and failure. A subsequent inspection by the dealer indicated that was not the case.

Last week I sent it in to RadioSound to have it repaired. I got word today that they cannot repair it as it too water damaged, i.e., corroded, inside. In other words, when I drove through that heavy rain last May water leaked INTO the CB. Can you believe that? The idea that water could leak into the radio just totally flabbergasts me. RadioSound does not stock any units at all so as far as them giving me some resolution I am SOL. They build CBs for BRP on order and send all the units to BRP. I now have a junk CB on my hands.

My recommendation is, if you have installed a CB radio yourself, thus negating any BRP warranty, or you have one past the warranty period, take some sort of preemptive action to ensure the radio is sealed against any water leakage. I would hope the newer CBs are water tight but who knows?

I'll see if my dealer can make some headway on getting some resolution from BRP on this, but I'm not hopeful.

I recently had the BRP cb antennae installed, I am using Midland portable CB. BRP dealer recommended Not to have BRP "CB" installed when we purchased new RT limited last year. Shows you how reliable BRP thought of there CB's!:banghead:

 

[theBeast]

CB mount?

I am using the same Midland CB on our RT, where did you get that "mount"?

I had the cb/comm system on my 2010RT. The system never worked right from day 1. BRP blamed J&M headsets for causing the problems.
on my 2015RT I went bluetooth and and a portable cb with the bluetooth dongle mounted on the handle bars.

The cb has better receptionn and transmission range than the BRP unit

 

[theBeast]

Temporary mounting of CB, looking for better way to mount, BRP antennae installed. Any ideas?:yes:

I had the cb/comm system on my 2010RT. The system never worked right from day 1. BRP blamed J&M headsets for causing the problems.
on my 2015RT I went bluetooth and and a portable cb with the bluetooth dongle mounted on the handle bars.

The cb has better receptionn and transmission range than the BRP unit

 

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

I recently had the BRP cb antennae installed, I am using Midland portable CB. BRP dealer recommended Not to have BRP "CB" installed when we purchased new RT limited last year. Shows you how reliable BRP thought of there CB's!:banghead:

The problem with using a portable is that you have to use Bluetooth. I'm not ready to jump to that. I'm of the opinion that newer is not always better. I like the hard wired headset. And then of course there is minor inconvenience of not being able to use the PTT of the bike, but instead having to add a separate PTT for the portable.

I don't think reliability of the CB has been a particular issue with the factory units the past 3 or 4 years. From what I've read it's its transmission quality mostly, and then there was a problem with some units caused by signal interference with the CAN bus that was taken care of with updated units and harness for 2014. There have been suggestions here about improving the transmission so I will search for those before I install it in my 2014. A big part of the problem, I believe, is the lack of metal to create a good ground plane for the antenna. As far as reception I've had no problem with that. It has been strong and clear. The various settings of the audio and CB system have an impact on how well it works.

Finless said that back when my CB was made, in 2010, that even the audio units had water intrusion problems. That would indicate there was a general manufacturing issue with Radio Sound not specific to the CB radios.

 

[jaherbst]

When you buy something off ebay and install it yourself and expect anyone to warranty it in my opinion you are "asking for the moon". As you stated

it was old "new stock". Just phishing, but was the problem maybe with your install or the reason you got it on the cheap from eBay is that it was a

little defective to begin with?

I cannot by any stretch of the imagination understand why you would try to hold BRP responsible for this. They did not manufacture it nor did they

sell it. If you would have bought it directly from the manufacturer then maybe you would have cause to expect them to help you.

I am sorry to have to say this and it is not directed solely against you. Many people try to buy things on the cheap and do installs themselves as we

all have through the years. I have found out that a lot of times this comes back to haunt us and we expect more than we deserve. If you pay the

price and get professional installs then you can and should get resolve. I am not pointing fingers but have learned this the hard way.

"Let the Buyer beware" is still true. There is a lot more to be said about this but I probably have said too much already. I do hope you get your

problem resolved to your satisfaction.

Jack

 

[IdahoMtnSpyder]

I do have to say Jack, I take a little bit, but not much, umbrage at your comments.

When you buy something off ebay and install it yourself and expect anyone to warranty it in my opinion you are "asking for the moon".

Here is a quote from my email to Radio Sound asking about repairing the CB.

What will your charge be to repair an out-of-warranty CB radio for the Can Am Spyder.

Does that sound like "expect anyone to warranty it" to you?

As you stated it was old "new stock". Just phishing, but was the problem maybe with your install

I installed it in full accordance to the BRP instruction sheet. Nothing about the install process breached the enclosure of the radio.

or the reason you got it on the cheap from eBay is that it was a little defective to begin with?

No defect was identified in the ad nor apparent upon inspection when I received it. It did, however, possess the latent defect of having an enclosure that was not water resistant.

I cannot by any stretch of the imagination understand why you would try to hold BRP responsible for this. They did not manufacture it nor did they
sell it. If you would have bought it directly from the manufacturer then maybe you would have cause to expect them to help you.

If they did not sell the radio to someone then it had to have been stolen, otherwise how else would it have ended up in the market? Radio Sound does not sell them to anyone else.

Sorry, but BRP stands in the role of manufacturer. They had the radio built to their specifications and to their order, the same as many other components of the Spyder. If the front wheel of your Spyder suddenly developed a crack who in your mind is the manufacturer. The outfit that molded "Made in China" into the wheel? I don't think so. Under law companies are not carte blanche free to wipe their hands free of responsibility for latent defects. My thought was that maybe BRP would be willing to acknowledge the fact that the radio enclosure leaked water as badly as it obviously did was not the level of product quality they would be proud of, and would be willing to make some adjustment in replacing it. Here is a quote from my email to BRPcare.

Is there ANY hope that BRP would be willing to make some accommodation on replacing this radio? Even replacing it at half price would be fair and acceptable to me. I believe you will agree that water getting into the radio like happened with mine is a totally inexcusable failure of quality control during manufacture.

I am sorry to have to say this and it is not directed solely against you. Many people try to buy things on the cheap and do installs themselves as we
all have through the years. I have found out that a lot of times this comes back to haunt us and we expect more than we deserve.

Very true. I bought the radio with no expectation of warranty coverage, but when I opened it up and saw just how much of an utter failure in quality control was exhibited in it, I hoped that BRP would make an admission of quality control failure and be willing to offer some sort of good will adjustment. I hoped, not expected.