Ace 250 Gone Wild?

[undertaker]

Has anyone had a problem with their Garrett Ace 250 giving off out of controll erratic signals that run back and fourth on your monitor? It has happen to me two times. The first time it straighten out within ten minutes. The second time it took a day and a half to get it back to normal. My brother had it happen to his once. My sons acted up today and just about ruined his day of detecting although it did seem to straighten out by the end of our hunt. Doesn't seem to have anything to do with the coil because if you unhook the cable it still reads out of controll. Tried different sets of batteries and that didn't seem to help. Does anyone else have this problem? It seems to fix its self with in time but when your hunting a hot field its furstrating when your buddys are digging relics and your standing there holding a useless detector in your hands. I thought it might be moisture getting in the controll box although I cant see where these detectors have been in damp areas.

 

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[VERMONTPACKRAT]

My ACE will do that if I am arround power lines some times. I also found an inground "dog fence" that messed up my MD for about 10 min.


Probably not much help, VPR

 

[Keppy]

That happned to my GTI 1500 and i had to send it to Garrett for repair............==Jim_K==

 

[cntrydncr1]

when a cell phone rings or the batteries are dying I get that.

 

[Cokeman Sam]

I had the exact same problem. I contacted Garrett, sent in my machine, and they sent it back telling me that nothing was wrong with it. Possibly could have been underground power cables or sensitivity up too high. Whether they fixed it or not, now it works just fine. They were great to deal with over the phone, e-mail, and through snail mail.

 

[undertaker]

It sounds like varying high electro magnetic feilds might be the problem. What I still can't figure out is how these erratic signals can affect the veiw monitor when the coil cable isn't even attached to it. Also when my sons Ace started to freak out my brothers Ace and mine were working fine. All three detector set exactly the same and all three in the same place within... (a few feet of each other). Seems to me if it was caused by a surge all three detectors would have acted up. We have had great hunting with our 250's and if this problem occurs once in a while we will just have to put up with it.

 

[undertaker]

My son told me yesterday that he talked to a Garrett Rep who told him to box it up and they will repair it free of charge. I guess all he has to pay is shipping. The Rep. told him it might be a crack in the coil where water or moisture is entering. I think water might play a role in it because both times mine acted up it was not long after I wipe it down with a wet cloth , which I do after every hunt. I asked my son if he clean his off with a garden hose lol and he told me where I could stick that hose.

 

[Leon]

The pronlem could very well be in the coil,, Loose wire inside...
When you un-hook the coil it could be acting the same as a loose wire within the coil itself?..
I had the same problem with my Cz3d and sent it back to Fisher's... They fixed it up in no time and told me that the coil had a very small crack in it...
Hope ya get'er figured out, & Happy hunting~

 

[grumpyolman]

Just having the coil disconnected does not rule out electromagnetic interference. Ever been on an AM radio and driven past a different stations transmitting tower? Older radios will allow you to hear both stations at the same time. More modern radios have better shielding and better components so it isn't as noticeable. A method of tracking a locater beacon when you really get close is to disconnect the antenna (coil) and use the receiver without the antenna to close in on the signal. The EMI goes through the case into the electronics and gets amplified inside. Much easier too, when the receiver, the ACE 250, has a plastic case.

 

[NHDUG]

It seems as though everyone covered most of it.....but no one mentioned who else is around you with another detector...if there is someone close by it could be their machine causing the riff.....if so and they have a detector that can change channels(freq.) have them do it....and if this is not the case and it isn't sens. set too high...then I would send it in.

 

[Uncle Willy]

Just like a computer you have to reboot your detector when it acts crazy. When it does that just press and hold the power button for about ten seconds or until the detector beeps and then you'l be off and running.

Bill.

 

[boogeyman]

You probably already figured out your problem. But you might want to think about underground cables a little more. On one occasion while testing a detector in my backyard I got all kinds of interferance, like another detector really close by, tried the same place with another detector same thing. Then about a year and a half later I had a power outage. Power company came out dug up the offending cable and there was a nick in the jacket that took a few years to corrode all the way through. After they spliced in a new cable no more interference.

I've also seen where a cable faulted and was putting about 70 volts through 18 - 19 feet of soil and fried a cable TV pad (terminal post). The pad actually caught on fire.

So, I guess I'm convinced that stray current can travel a long way and do strange things to detectors

 

[Dr. Ace]

If you are around another Ace 250, the detectors will really go crazy. I found this out by accident. I was detecting with a friend, and we turned our detectors on close to each other, and both our detectors were absolutely going nuts. When we moved away from each other the problem cleared up. You really have to be careful how close you are hunting to another detectorist. It also really depends on the location. Sometimes I can hunt nearly next to another detector, and sometimes I have to be 50 yards away to avoid problems. Don't discount the proximity of another detector.

HH,

Dr. Ace

 

[extractor]

That has happened to me. Our ground out here is highly mineralized , sometimes it overloads the Aces brain. Just turn it off. Then turn it on. Then press the power button in and hold it in a few seconds, it should make a slightly different beep , release the power button. The brain is now reset. Hopefully this cures your problem in hot fields.