I recently purchased a TDL 450H radio from a local surveyor i know that retired a few years ago. I have been working on a 6 mile road project in a remote area in Northern Ca. My base is a R6-4 and rover r8-4. I regularly used those two GPS with the internal radio only, but you struggle getting out over a mile or so from the base. When i worked for other companies before starting my own business the base/external radio setup could run all day but for this setup i am using it might make it four hours then i am getting radio link down.
The issue i am having is you set up the base with external radio then a few hours later the radio drops. When you go back to the base the external radio will still be transmitting but the base is turned off. I bought a new deep cycle battery, thinking my old one was the problem but that didn't fix it. I tried powering the base/radio with the deep cycle only and then also using the little internal battery in the R6 in addition to being connected to the deep cycle. I checked the voltage on the deep cycle when i got home and its been 11.5v-12.5v so i don't think that's the issue. I think the radio turns off automatically if it drops below 10v? Anyways the radio is still on, its the base that turns off. I have run this base/rover with internal radios and they will run off the internal battery for 3-4 four hours until the battery is dead, or all day with an external battery, it never shuts off like this.
I have no idea why this is happening. From here all i can think to try is a new power cable for the radio/base. IF it works for 4 hours then how could the cable be bad???? I could also try running the R8 as the base and r6 as the rover. I can't keep having this down time paying prevailing wage going back and forth from my base. At this point i would be better off running the R6 internal radio with the whip antenna and the external battery. The guy i bought the radio from had some PDL radios too. I'm not familiar with those models but maybe i would be better off with one of those?
I'm going to ask my dealer Monday about this. I am guessing they will say i need to mail them the radio, update the firmware, buy a new cable etc...
I'm using CMRX format with 38400 baud. All the equipment has the newest firmware for those older models since i bought them used from dealers. The TDL radio has 4.01.120 firmware and i have been broadcasting at 25W.
I was running into this problem as well, same radio but running R10-2 base. I have found that even when plugging in with deep cycle battery the base seems to want to run off the small battery inside the receiver itself (even though it will power by deep cycle through the survey style settings). My workaround is to get my base completely fired up and running, then pull the small battery out, (base stays on) THEN put your small battery in for backup… I hadn’t run into issues in a while doing that, but haven’t been doing a lot of long range work lately… hope this will work for you.
Can the TDL 450H be used as a repeater? If so, instead of connecting it directly to the receiver, use it as a repeater. In addition to resolving your current problem, it allows you to locate both the receiver and radio in the location best suited for their needs.
Is your cable setup a splitter so both your receiver and external radio are both using the same external battery?
Your dealer might not be of much help as external radios have been very out of favor for well over 10 years
Having the same problem here but with a repeater instead of base radio. Currently have bought an extra external battery and power cord so the base and repeater have independent power sources. Haven't had a recurrence yet but it also hasn't been long enough to be sure the problem has gone away.
Turn the broadcasting wattage down to 8 or 16. Number one reason it’s draining your battery. And I also advise using it as a repeater