New SEF Coil - no warranty on defective coil?

[bigscoop]

Here's the story. A friend and I drove over to an area Detech distributor and we purchased 2 SEF 12 x 15 coils for our Excals. To make a long story short, one of these coils ended up being bad, not functioning on either machine while the second coil works fantastic on both. So I call the distributor where we made our coil purchases and I explain the issue to them and basically this is what they said; "Since you cut the factory connector off the coil, there is no warranty." Now I could accept this if the issue had anything at all to do with the connector or the fact that it was removed, but the issue resides "in the coil or factory wiring itself" and not in the connector. Point is, this coil assembly is defective with or without the factory installed connector. Anyway, the person I spoke with said they would talk to their manager to see if they could help me out so we'll see what happens? Hopefully they'll realize that the coil assembly has a product defect beyond the connector. If not, then I'm just out the money and without the quality product advertised and paid for. Time will tell I suppose.

 

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[baywalker]

It would have been better to make a pig tail to adaptor then cutting there plug off .I know what sticklers these co. can be about warranties

 

[vpnavy]

I have had similar (not working as advertised) problems with some Amateur Radio stuff bigscoop. If the seller won't work with you go to the manufacture. I have done that twice over the years and always got a free replacement from the manufacture when the seller wouldn't help out (for whatever reason). Now, the vendor is Detech so ask your seller for their address, etc. and spend a few minutes to send them a letter, e-mail, etc.

 

[bigscoop]

Well, I am learning a lot today in regards to the whole warranty thing. Apparently, it is possible that during the molding process wires can get switched, which is then corrected at the factory installed connector. The short of this being that the coil is fine and will work for the end user. However, the problem arises when the end user removes the factory installed connector and then tries to hook these wires back up using the standard diagram. Obviously, the manufacturer doesn't want this issue, hence, "No warranty if you remove the connector." Now all of this makes perfect sense, the distributor being unable to recoup his investment in the coil from the manufacturer if he accepts a warranty refund/replacement without the factory connector being in place. Still, if any of this is true, which I suspect it is after spending a great many years in the manufacturing business, this seems to be a quality control issue on the manufacturer's end that is simply getting passed on to the consumer and the distributor. This would also explain why detector companies void their warranties when aftermarket hardware is installed, because of the obvious potential for increased machine failures due to the aftermarket issues. But the bottom line is that these issues should never be allowed to become a customer issue. Satisfied customers are what keep you in business.

 

[bevo]

are the sef coils are manufactured in russia?

 

[bigscoop]

It would have been better to make a pig tail to adaptor then cutting there plug off .I know what sticklers these co. can be about warranties

Needed to be watertight, submersible.

 

[bigscoop]

I have had similar (not working as advertised) problems with some Amateur Radio stuff bigscoop. If the seller won't work with you go to the manufacture. I have done that twice over the years and always got a free replacement from the manufacture when the seller wouldn't help out (for whatever reason). Now, the vendor is Detech so ask your seller for their address, etc. and spend a few minutes to send them a letter, e-mail, etc.

Been doing all that, so I'll give them some time to see what they say, if anything?

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Ditech is in Bulgaria....

Not taking sides, but many companies will void a warranty if you mod their product. If you cut the end of the WOT coil off it voids the warranty, if you mod an excal it voids the warranty, if you install the performance power chips in your car or truck to boost performance it voids your engine warranty....

 

[bigscoop]

Ditech is in Bulgaria....

Not taking sides, but many companies will void a warranty if you mod their product. If you cut the end of the WOT coil off it voids the warranty, if you mod an excal it voids the warranty, if you install the performance power chips in your car or truck to boost performance it voids your engine warranty....

I understand their position with the removing of the connector, just hard to accept under the circumstances. Clearly there is an issue with coil assembly that isn't in line with the design's product specs.

 

[Sir Gala Clad]

Big Scoop:
If I remember correctly, the pin out and the connector are for the Sovereign GT, which is no longer being produced by Minelab. I painfully remember this as my back order for a 12X10 SEF coil was cancelled since the US distributor (there is only one to my knowledge) could no longer get them from Ditech in Bulgaria.
I considered myself fortunate in being able to obtain the larger SEF coils for the Sovereign, as they also are most likely no longer being produced.

Rather than cutting the plug off, the next time you might consider buying the mating plug (if you can purchase it) and connecting it to the Excalibur’s coil cable. This way you will be able to return the coil if it does not satisfactorily pass your tests.
Once you are sure it is working properly, make a small egg shape mold so that you can encapsulate both connectors in a soft rubber potting compound to make it water proof. When I worked in research, we used a product manufactured by RTP and they are still in business. The downside is that you have to remove the entire potting compound to change a coil then repot to make it water proof again.

It appears to me, that this is a conformance issue, rather than a quality control issue as most likely the coil works fine. It is common practice, in small production runs to flip a wire in a connector to get it to work properly rather than trash the entire coil to keep costs down.
As many metal detector(s) need to be individually tuned/tweaked to obtain design goals it also explain(s) why detector companies void their warranties when aftermarket hardware is installed.

I suspect you are out of luck on the warranty, which should not be a problem once you flip the wire(s) to the pinout of the cut off plug. Cutting the connector definitely voids the warranty since you are not authorized to do so.

 

[bigscoop]

Big Scoop:
If I remember correctly, the pin out and the connector are for the Sovereign GT, which is no longer being produced by Minelab. I painfully remember this as my back order for a 12X10 SEF coil was cancelled since the US distributor (there is only one to my knowledge) could no longer get them from Ditech in Bulgaria.
I considered myself fortunate in being able to obtain the larger SEF coils for the Sovereign, as they also are most likely no longer being produced.

Rather than cutting the plug off, the next time you might consider buying the mating plug (if you can purchase it) and connecting it to the Excalibur’s coil cable. This way you will be able to return the coil if it does not satisfactorily pass your tests.
Once you are sure it is working properly, make a small egg shape mold so that you can encapsulate both connectors in a soft rubber potting compound to make it water proof. When I worked in research, we used a product manufactured by RTP and they are still in business. The downside is that you have to remove the entire potting compound to change a coil then repot to make it water proof again.

It appears to me, that this is a conformance issue, rather than a quality control issue as most likely the coil works fine. It is common practice, in small production runs to flip a wire in a connector to get it to work properly rather than trash the entire coil to keep costs down.
As many metal detector(s) need to be individually tuned/tweaked to obtain design goals it also explain(s) why detector companies void their warranties when aftermarket hardware is installed.

I suspect you are out of luck on the warranty, which should not be a problem once you flip the wire(s) to the pinout of the cut off plug. Cutting the connector definitely voids the warranty since you are not authorized to do so.

We tried flipping the wires to the factory pin arrangement, still no good. The thing falses over the wet and just goes ape crazy when submerged. We already know it's a coil issue.

 

[Sir Gala Clad]

Wish ya luck Big Scoop:
The coil should fail bench test and lawn/dry sand hunting as well.
The more you can find wrong the better your odds are that your warranty will be honored.

As the distributor is authorized to do repairs for minelab, they should have no trouble in determining and verifying that you were sold a defective coil.
Also if that distributor is also the sole US distributor for Ditech, which I believe to be true - they should be able to leverage the coil manufacturer.

 

[bigscoop]

I think it will get worked out.

 

[bigscoop]

In an e-mail received from the distributor, in reply to my attempt to track the history of the coil I purchased, according to the distributor rep, DETECH doesn't provide serial numbers on the their coils.



Now this is important fellas; whenever you purchase electronics you want to make 100% certain that the serial number of the item you purchased is displayed on your receipt. This is the only way "you" will have access to tracking the history of that item. In the event that the item is stolen your insurance company will probably even request this critical identification number. This was the nature of my inquiry, if it might be possible for the distributor to send me a new receipt with the serial number displayed on the receipt. A bit later I got the reply telling me that DETECH doesn't provide serial numbers on their coils. Personally, I can't image that a distributor of this size and experience isn't aware of the importance in these serial numbers or that DETECH does indeed provide them.