Dave Karoly Leica TCRA 1103 Plus
A long tale of woe.
Instrument Leica TCRA 1103 Plus Robotic, Article Number 723328, Serial Number 621060, Manufactured 1991. Purchased new 18 January 1996, Earl Dudley & Assoc. Upgraded to level PS 24 November 2003, Hot laser, fast lock, Earl Dudley & Assoc.
25 June 2009, set up on a clear morning. First shot gave the error code you experienced with your TCRA 1103 Plus. My shot was probably about 100 feet, it suggested lower the light or use a longer distance, neither was practical. The laser functioned good but of no use to me in the situation. Tried several times, did not try increasing the distance because that was not feasible, that suggestion was kinda useless and reduce the light was also useless. After an hour or so trying different batteries, aiming manually and so on it became obvious that nothing was going to allow me to collect data. So in the box and back to the office. The job site was about 40 miles distant, you guys out west that is just next door but to us east coasters it’s a long drive.
Earl Dudley & Associates were no longer the Leica Dealer in our area. Allen Precision had assumed that duty. I called the repair supervisor at Allen Precision, he told me to box it up and send it in and in a couple of weeks he might be able to get on the job. I asked what time they opened up the show there, he said 6 AM, I asked what would happen if I was sitting on their door step at 6 AM the next day. He said he reckoned he would have to do something about the instrument. So into the box it went and I did a quick trip home and got the traveling vehicle and headed to Atlanta, about an 8 hour drive. Got there a bit after 11 PM drove over to Allen Precision to make sure that I would have no trouble finding the place. Next morning I was there at 6 AM, they let me in the door to the repair area and they got right on the job, got it on the work rig and tried to get a measurement, same old story asking for less light or longer distance. They told me that a module was bad that has something that might be considered a variable density filter was not functioning. That is the little motor sound you get when you use the regular EDM. It has the function of controlling the required level of light returning from the target. Close to the target the more dense the filter will be. I suppose you might be able to get a reading from several hundred or more feet away, didn’t try that, so it might or might not. Luckily the Leica Distribution Center was located just a couple of miles from Allen Precision. They called Leica and they said we were in luck they had a new board that would solve our problems. One catch the board was a new design and slightly different in size, so it would not fit in my instrument unless the board it was piggy backed on was replaced by a newer board also. Long story short they got the boards and installed them, then the acid test, no dice. Another call to Leica, oh you have to have new firm ware. That was installed, takes ages and ages to install due to serial installation, took over two hours to install. Then all the tests were done and passed, took it outside and measured several fixed targets they had for test purposes. All were sweet.
This is what was what was replaced.
#547179 Light Guide $158.73, 530084 IR/XR Module $426.89, #548215 Optic Module $248.39, Misc Charge $8.00, Labor $760.00, total charge $1,602.01. Got out of Atlanta just ahead of evening rush hour, got back to Rocky Mount, NC around 11 PM.The unit still is functional, hasn’t had much use the past three years due to extreme loss of boundary surveying in our area.
I was told if the instrument had not been the Plus model with the latest tracking upgrades it would not have been possible to get parts from Leica to repair the unit.
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