Leica TCRA 1105+ Repair

I wouldn't be so sure about Leica being a dead end. My local Leica dealer, Kuker Rankin, will service such things, I think. We sent in a TCRA1205 recently for evaluation. They declined to service it, but only because it hadn't been serviced since new (2006), was working fine, and they didn't want to open a can of worms. They said they could and would service it if it failed. So don't write your Leica dealer off until you have talked to them.

BTW, I have a Leica TRCA1105 (c.2000) sitting here unused. It lights up and all the motors seem to work. I don't know much else about it, and nobody here knows how it works. Last serviced in 2009 and has probably been in the closet ever since.

I'll start my post with the standard surveyor's refrain, "It depends."

I have some old legacy equipment that is currently unusable because the internal battery has died. I cannot find any Leica service shop that can replace the battery and reload the software because Leica does not allow any service rep to have the software. My legacy equipment is the Leica T2002 digital theodolite, two DI2002 distomats and GHP1AP prisms. I picked up the equipment in the past at huge discounts over their retail pricing. Which reminds me that the NGS uses a T2002 and two DI2002s to establish and check the CBLs. I wonder if they'll get any assistance when the internal battery dies. Anyway, for the time being, I use my new-style T-2 when I want to use the Distomat(s).

It's not that I need to use that legacy equipment. I recently purchased Leica's GS18 as a base and Leica's GS18I as a rover (for static observations and when I'm outside Leica's SmartNet network) and Leica's MS60. It's been an interesting year being an old dog trying to learn new tricks. All I'll say is that the equipment runs flawlessly. Errors are a clear example of PEBCAK.

This topic reminds me of a question I was wondering....does keeping a charged battery in the TS when stored help prevent the internal battery from dying and losing the firmware? This is the one reason I always try to keep a battery in the backup Leica 1200+ robot. I'm afraid one day it will not wake up again.

The "main" battery that you leave in the stored gun will probably self discharge at a rate similar to the board battery. So I don't think that you would gain much.

Notably, the Leica TCRA1105 I wrote about above has been forgotten in storage for many years - possibly since as early as 2009 - but it lit up immediately when we put a charged battery in it.

My Leica sales rep told me that if my GS18s sit for a while to place a battery in them for a few hours. Otherwise, I might have to reload the firmware. Sounded odd to me at the time.

"The “main” battery that you leave in the stored gun will probably self discharge at a rate similar to the board battery."

Most instrument power batteries are lithium-ion, which will self-discharge (even under no load) at a rate that appears to be about 0.5% per month (after an initial self-discharge from full charge to 80% charge at a higher rate). The RAM maintenance (internal) battery, on the other hand, is typically a lithium primary cell, which is designed to hold its charge for 10 years under no load. I've had some Trimble internal cells last for almost 20 years before finally having to change them out, and these were in instruments (4000SSi receivers) that spent most of their time disconnected from a power battery.

There is an ex service tech in Poland who is capable of changing the batter and flashing the firmware.

In the case of the TCRA1105 the batteries are NiMh type -the main power, at least-, and therefore self discharge much,much faster.

Sorry, I meant shorter term storage. I'm using the s5 daily, but I will still use the Leica once every week or 2 usually.