Can/Shoud I Seal a Cracked/Chipped 8.5x11 DD Coil and with what?

[Wildcat1750]

Wednesday I was out hunting in 50 degree WX with my Ace250 & 8.5x11" DD Coil. After dipping the coil in a creek I got erratic signals that continued even when I swung the coil in the air. They went away when i dried off the coil. At home I noticed a crack and a small chip in the bottom of the coil. I've always hunted with a coil cover and protect it from casual impact but I've had it for a few years and an occassional rock strike could have caused it.

Anyway - My idea is to seal the crack/chip to water proof it. Any suggestions? I want to be able to fit the dust cover over it again.

Thanks for Looking!
Nick

 

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[austin_luker]

Negative, there are wires in the coil that make the DD loop, if those wires also cracked you will get crazy falsing or coil may not even work. Send it back to Garrett see what happens.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Also if you got water in the coil and there are any exposed wires that the resin didn't completely cover during manufacturing the wires will rust and fail after several months.

 

[Professor of Engineering]

Hello Wildcat1750,

IMHO, I would send it to Garrett for repair or replacement, they have a great service department. I had a 5"x 8" AT Gold coil fail out of warranty, sent it to Garrett to determine the problem...found out it was toast. They offered me a new replacement for half price...happy me!

Regards,

Doc

 

[John-Edmonton]

You can try, mix a batch of resin or get some truck box "Brush-on Bed Liner,"​however, that may only be a temporary fix. Best to replace the coil.

 

[John-Edmonton]

You can try, mix a batch of resin or get some truck box "Brush-on Bed Liner,"however, that may only be a temporary fix. Best to replace the coil.

 

[Wildcat1750]

Negative, there are wires in the coil that make the DD loop, if those wires also cracked you will get crazy falsing or coil may not even work. Send it back to Garrett see what happens.

Also if you got water in the coil and there are any exposed wires that the resin didn't completely cover during manufacturing the wires will rust and fail after several months.

Hello Wildcat1750,

IMHO, I would send it to Garrett for repair or replacement, they have a great service department. I had a 5"x 8" AT Gold coil fail out of warranty, sent it to Garrett to determine the problem...found out it was toast. They offered me a new replacement for half price...happy me!

Regards,

Doc

You can try, mix a batch of resin or get some truck box "Brush-on Bed Liner,"​however, that may only be a temporary fix. Best to replace the coil.

Thanks for the advice & input, austin_luker, Treasure_Hunter, Professor of Engineering, and John-Edmonton. I will probably contact Garrett about it and see what happens. I still have the original stock coil to hunt with as a back-up. Nick

 

[RobRieman]

They are not going to fix the coil if you send it in. They will just sell you a new one. If it works when it dries out, 2 part epoxy the crack and use it until it fails and buy a replacement.

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

I had some small cracks in the bottom of my coil and was heading to the beach. I was worried about salt water damaging it, so I coated the bottom with 2 part Sherwin Williams polyurethane. It is now indestructible, really. Works fine, water proof and gravel proof.

 

[Wildcat1750]

I had some small cracks in the bottom of my coil and was heading to the beach. I was worried about salt water damaging it, so I coated the bottom with 2 part Sherwin Williams polyurethane. It is now indestructible, really. Works fine, water proof and gravel proof.

Not a bad idea, pa-dirt_nc-sand! I have some left over from repairing my cross country skiis.
(With all this snow my coil has had ample time to dry out I think.)

 

[bowwinkles]

Wildcat, should you choose to get a factory replacement, make sure you do a very close inspection of it once received. I was at Cabelas and noticed that the Garrett new equipment coils were rough and did not appear to have the fit and finish as they use to. Maybe aftermarket replacement could be a better choice.

 

[austin_luker]

Yes after market if you are not going to try and warranty the coil, Either NEL or Mars are both good brands. I like NEL better lots of threads about both on forum.

 

[John-Edmonton]

Yes after market if you are not going to try and warranty the coil, Either NEL or Mars are both good brands. I like NEL better lots of threads about both on forum.

There have been some excellent results from users purchasing after market coils. They tend to go deeper, as they are slightly larger. Sometimes a large after market coil, due to it's enormous size, cannot be operated at a full sensitivity, as the receiving coil is just sending back too much information for the machine to process. So, you end up running it at a lower sensitivity to compensate for the overload, resulting in less depth. This will become more apparent, as the ground you are searching becomes more mineralized or is saturated with lots of junk targets. Also, read the warranty on a new after market coil carefully. If it does not perform well on your metal detector, you have no way of knowing if it is the coil or the electronics. The manufacturer of the machine ie Garrett, Tesoro, Fisher, Whites etc. will not warranty the electronics on after market coils. The coil manufacturer can blame the metal detector electronics, and suggest that the coil is fine due to their own quality control. You are stuck in the middle and really have no way of knowing if the coil or the electronics are faulty.

There have been some excellent results reported from purchases of after market coils. There have also been some disappointments. If you purchase, say a different Garrett coil for your detector and it is faulty, Garrett will replace it. If you buy an after marker coil, and it proves faulty, you now have a dilemma.

My first after market coil, a 5" concentric for an old Garrett (about 18 years ago) only worked for 3 hunts, then quit. I emailed the company and even wrote a letter regarding a faulty coil, and never heard back from them. I had to eat that one. My second after market coil worked fine....as good as was advertised.

After market coils are expensive! Please....do your research on the coil before you purchase it.

 

[Andy Nunez]

John's right. The optimal coil for your machine is the coil that came with it. They were designed to work well with each other. Having said that, I have stuck a Cors Cannon coil on my 400 (the brother to the NEL Thunder) and it works fine. I am getting a larger coverage area for field hunting (90% of my hunting, then 9% yard hunting and 1% beach hunting) without sacrificing sensitivity (I never ran full sensitivity anyway, just one bar below). My advice is to always learn your machine with the factory coil before switching out. I have been highly satisfied with the ACE series because of the low mineralization of soil in my area. My worry is that the moisture already in your coil has started to damage it, even though its fully dry. Garret makes good small coils, which a lot of people love for trashy areas. I am thinking of getting one after I get a set of Z-Lynk headphones. Good luck.