TYT MD2017 / Retevis RT-82 Public Alpha 2.0 version

[VK3KYY]

I also found out:
- battery consumption high, especially when tx

I have tested the current consumption at 5W Tx and its 1.3A. This is much less than the MD-UV380 at 5W, which consumes 1.7A

Please reload the official firmware, and check the power output on the High power setting, and measure the current consumption of your radio e.g. using a PSU set to 8V.
Note. The output power on the High setting is not likely be 5W becuase the official calibration data in all supported radios is normally very inaccurate.

Then reload the OpenGD77 and use the calibration menu to transmit the same power, and compare the current consumption.


Battery consumption on Rx is dependant on the Eco setting. Default setting is Eco = 1, which an average level of economy, but may take more current that the official firmware, but the response time of the firmware is 100% better on Rx than using the official firmware

If you want slower response times and bettery battery life, then increase the Eco setting number.

Please read the User Guide for full details

[SP9RQA]

Hello.

This is my first post on this forum.
I own an MD2017 with serial no: 1806D00643.
The display and keypad are working fine, but I have also noticed increased power consumption in RX mode.

Chris.

[VK3KYY]

Hello.

This is my first post on this forum.
I own an MD2017 with serial no: 1806D00643.
The display and keypad are working fine, but I have also noticed increased power consumption in RX mode.

Chris.

How much additional current in Rx. i.e how many mA ?

[F1RMB]

Also, for all the people complaining about power consumption, do you dim the screen, use backlight/dimmed backlight with timeout ?
Default settings are no timeout, 100% backlight.

Settings "Brightness" to ~70/80%, "Min bright" to ~8%, "Timeout" to 5s will improve things (ECO > 1 mode also, using the latest Beta).

[S58SMS]

I had eco to 0, i will test on 1 and suggested other settings and report later.

[SP9RQA]

Hello.

This is my first post on this forum.
I own an MD2017 with serial no: 1806D00643.
The display and keypad are working fine, but I have also noticed increased power consumption in RX mode.

Chris.

How much additional current in Rx. i.e how many mA ?

I measured the current consumption for exactly 1 hour, and the battery percentage dropped from 99% to 88%. The current consumption needs to be measured with an oscilloscope because the meter reading fluctuates from 60 mA to 200 mA. The screen is continuously off.

[VK3KYY]

I measured the current consumption for exactly 1 hour, and the battery percentage dropped from 99% to 88%. The current consumption needs to be measured with an oscilloscope because the meter reading fluctuates from 60 mA to 200 mA. The screen is continuously off.

Do you have GPS turned on?

Using display timer 5 seconds to turn off the display backlight

I tested my radio by modifying the Eco timing to make it possible to measure the current using a Fluke multimeter, and the peak Rx current is 166mA and the standby current is 48mA, with supply voltage of 7.8V from a lab PSU

Eco 5 has 1:33 duty cycle (receive for 1 period, standby for 32 periods).

So average current is 48 * 32 + 166 = 1702 mA mS, which is less than 55mA average current.

So if you are saying that your radio has consumed 11% of battery capacity in 1 hour, your projected battery capaciy is around 500mAH, rather than over 2000mHA

Are you confusing the % readout to be an indication of battery capacity i.e mAH rather than voltage.


I tested the radio in bootloader mode, which is minimal CPU and the Red/Green and this takes 43mA.

So in the standby period the OpenGD77 firmware is only consuming 5mA more than when nothing is functional in the radio.

Its not practical for us to lower the standby current below 48mA


I do not believe the firmware is taking any more Rx current than the official firmware, and I'm almost certain its taking much less.

[SP9RQA]

You are right, I had the GPS enabled.
After turning off the GPS, the current consumption values for each Eco mode are as follows:

0. 160mA
1. ~100mA
2. ~80mA
3. ~52-70mA
4. ~38-50mA
5. ~28-50mA

[VK3KYY]

You are right, I had the GPS enabled.
After turning off the GPS, the current consumption values for each Eco mode are as follows:

0. 160mA
1. ~100mA
2. ~80mA
3. ~52-70mA
4. ~38-50mA
5. ~28-50mA

I don't know if you tested the official firmware, I think it would probably be equivalent to perhaps Eco 2, however we default Eco to 1 because some people prefer faster response to Rx signals.

Im my testing, the official firmware is very very slow to respond to DMR signals

[BH7HQT]

I used the Alpha 2.2 version Firmware on a MD-780(TYT MD 2017 Chinese Version,no GPS module avaliable)。
The firmware works well,I succesfully make a QSO by ARISS.
The trackball does not worked very well both in High and Low modes.(Up or down needs two or three times movement.)
More test is needed.
Thanks for your work on OpenGD77.