Service center for fisher 1220-X

[freddy williams]

I have a old fisher 1220-X that has a loose wire and I cannot seem to find its location can anyone who works on them try to explain where this wire goes.
Coming out of the top of the battery box is a red wire and a black wire I found the location of one of the wires is broke off the sensetivity and the location of the other wire is unknown. Can anyone help out with this info Fisher labs is being asses about the info they act like it is some big secret. LOL I wouldn't buy fisher if it was given to me which this one detector was. thanks

[Sandman]

West Texas, the people that bought Fisher are to blame. They want you to send it in for repairs at $$$.

[liftloop]

I have a old fisher 1220-X that has a loose wire and I cannot seem to find its location can anyone who works on them try to explain where this wire goes.
Coming out of the top of the battery box is a red wire and a black wire I found the location of one of the wires is broke off the sensetivity and the location of the other wire is unknown. Can anyone help out with this info Fisher labs is being asses about the info they act like it is some big secret. LOL I wouldn't buy fisher if it was given to me which this one detector was. thanks

how did it ever turn out.

I would like to try a fisher but after reading that.

I mite stay with white's or try a tesoro

[woof!]

The 1220 dates from the early 1980's, and it's not likely that the wiring problem that Freddy described was something that could be troubleshot over the phone by tech who'd likely never even seen a 1220. I designed the thing and I doubt that after all these years even I could have solved the problem over the phone.

The problem could almost certainly been fixed had the customer sent the machine in for repair, but the customer evidently didn't do that. And probably shouldn't have-- after all, is a 1220 worth the cost of getting it fixed? I'd say it isn't.

--Dave J.

[gleaner1]

Red is positive, black is negative, and green is ground, the world around. Now go get your soldering box.

[woof!]

In fairness to Freddie, that tidbit may not provide the information necessary to figure out where the wires should go.

I would discourage any experimenters out there from believing that the color coding convention recited in the previous post is universally adhered to. Most searchcoil connectors don't adhere to it, and for most of the last century green in electronics most often designated small signal input, and not ground as it does in power wiring. Nowadays to the extent that it follows any system at all, green designates line #5 of a group.

--Dave J.

[freddy williams]

I thank eveyone comments to this question esp. Dave J i tested the wires with a amp thing from the electrican at work and the black has power to it. Still no clew where to solder the wire too they say the repairs could range from 150.00 to ? I can buy a used new machine for that.... Freddy

[LuckyLarry]

Get a closeup of the PC board, including the pots, loose wires, or other parts. Get one of both sides too. Often the lost or disconnected wire can be seen where it became disconnected. A picture at least 4"x4" should give me an idea, and one even closer would be better. At this point it doesn't really matter what the wire color codes are, what matters is what they go to.

Give it a shot, I'll see if I can help you. And put it on here, don't PM me, ok?

*I decided to see if I can help you a lot easier. The loose wire has an original length, and so does any broken wire length that originally connected to it. The complete length of the orphan wire should lead you to a place where it may have been attached. When you find such a place, use at least a 2.00 magnification to examine the cut (or broken or frayed) other end of the wire. In other words, the soldered connection. Frayed or broken wires do not match other ends that are cut at the factory. Factory cuts are precise. Broken or frayed ones (even if they are short) look like the devil compared to the factory cut. The cut end will look a lot like it got caught and cut in between these two arrows; >< A frayed or broken end will not match any soldered end at a soldered connection, and it most certainly will appear ragged. If you find a ragged or broken end on a soldered connection it isn't there by magic, it was by accident.

Matching these two detached ends is a lot like matching crime tools in forensic science, even as in tire tracks, and rifle barrel lands and grooves. Do NOT use a heavy soldering iron. Do NOT use a gun with too much wattage or surface area, or you will likely burn the circuit board and melt nearby solders or parts, and you will be sorry. For soldering, .020 through .030 60/40 flux core would be fine, and 52/32 would work too. Make sure you "tin" (heat it and get the solder to stick to it) the end of the wire BEFORE trying to re-solder it to the correctly-found post.

LL

[woof!]

I thank eveyone comments to this question esp. Dave J i tested the wires with a amp thing from the electrican at work and the black has power to it. Still no clew where to solder the wire too they say the repairs could range from 150.00 to ? I can buy a used new machine for that.... Freddy

If it's just a matter of figuring out where to resolder a broken power wire, it's probably not gonna cost $150. They're probably just trying to cover their butts because the reality is they don't have any idea what they're gonna find when they open the box. Plus, they've probably never even seen one before and probably have no documentation on it, it's probably as foreign to them as a Garrett or Tesoro would be. This is a stone age 1220 we're talking about: if there's more wrong with it than a broken power wire, it could be just plain nonrepairable.

--Dave J.