[Elecraft] K4/0 failure to power on and unexpected shutdowns, plus production hold

[Eric Swartz]

Based on reports of power-on failures and sudden shut down issues with
recently shipped K4/0s we decided to pause shipping near the beginning of l
ast week so we could investigate it.  Fortunately we had not fully ramped
up to full production, so the quantity shipped was limited.

If you have a problem of this type with your K4/0 please contact us via
support at elecraft.com or a direct phone call so we can get a better feel for
your symptoms and determine if and when your K4/0 needs to come back to us.
This will also give us more information on the details of each failure.

We are all hands on deck working in engineering and production to determine
what has caused this problem for some customers and not others, and to get
it resolved as quickly as possible.

In some cases the problem appeared immediately after unboxing and for others
some time after the K4/0 had been in use and had gone through multiple
successful power on/off cycles.  This apparently allowed the problem units
to slip past our production testing, even after burning-in K4/0s for
multiple hours and 100% testing of production K4/0’s, including multiple
power cycles, after burn-in had completed.

Once we determine the root cause of these problems and implement the
solution we’ll resume shipping and make sure all related customer problems
are repaired under Warranty.

We will also update everyone via this group and other discussion groups
once this is resolved, and will also email all K4/0 owners directly.

I deeply apologize for the inconvenience and frustration this has caused on
your end.  We hope to have it fixed shortly.

Regards,
Eric   WA6HHQ


*elecraft.com <http://elecraft.com>*