ACE 250 gone haywire! Help please!

[MountainFan]

I was trying my 250 around an 1800s homesite over the weekend. I'm still very much a newbie and trying to get used to the machine. As I was digging my 3rd target (the first 2 were just old nails ) I set the machine down beside me. After a few seconds, it started going nuts! It was beeping and bouncing around like I had stuck the coil into a recycling bin! I thought maybe the batteries were the culprit, so I changed to a new set of (cheap!) batteries. Still no better. Took the coil cover off to see if a piece of metal was touching the coil. Nothing there. I turned it off, took the batteries out, and unhooked the coil wire. Put it back together, held the coil up in the air, and turned it back on. Same craziness. Any ideas what might be going on? Could it still be a battery issue?? Granted, it has sat around the house unused for about a year, but it was working fine to start the day.

BTW, it only went nuts when the sensitivity was at 3 or higher. Dropping below 3 sensitivity would quiet the machine, but it still shouldn't require that with the coil up in the air and not near anything...

 

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[Sandman]

It was good to check the coil cover and batteries first, but I think you just ran into electrical interference. These detectors go crazy with our cell phones and such now. There is a state police post that causes all my detectors but Minelab's to go crazy when they use the radio. Or it could be a solder connection broke inside which will require you to send it in.

http://www.fisherlab.com/hobby/davejohnson/Electrical Interference.htm

 

[MountainFan]

The nearest power line was probably a half mile away. No storms around. Cell phone was on but has never caused problems before. Interference shouldn't have been a problem. A broken solder connection sounds more likely, but it's still odd because it had laid on the ground for a minute and nothing touched it before it went nuts. If it comes down to sending it in to get fixed, any idea on potential cost?

 

[Bev]

My 250 did that a couple of times. I put it down to dig a target and it started going crazy. I shut it off and on again a few times and it stopped. I was wondering what happened myself.

 

[ivan salis]

iron over load --- highly minerailized ground ?

 

[VERMONTPACKRAT]

I had this happen to my Minelab last fall. I ended up replacing the coil with a 10" DD and no more problems. Junk stock coil.

I also never tried to send the machine in for repairs so I dont know if Warranty would have taken care of it or not


VPR