Drowned CTX battery compartment

[zigzag]

I went detecting this morning and after about 10 minutes in the water my CTX shut off. Battery compartment was half full of salt water. I rinsed everything with fresh water and sprayed with WD-40. Did I mess up? What else can I do?...Ed

 

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[Flipperfla]

Sort of,
1st. Completely flush unit out, and I mean flush, like dunk in a bucket of water in and out 2-3 times.
2nd. Disassemble unit, take pix along the way so you remember how to reassemble, dry all boards with a hair dryer until the are fairly warm. If your not going to disassemble aim the dryer into the batt comp. or sit everything out in the hot sun.
3rd. Go to Home Depot, in the electrical Dept and buy a can of CRC 2-26 and lightly dust the boards, connectors. Damp off excess with a soft towel, make sure you get the spray underneath the legs of the ICs
‘
DO THIS RIGHT NOW NOT TOMORROW OR SUPPER TIME NOW!

The longer you wait the less chance of survival, don’t use WD40 on electronics just mechanical parts.
The warranty will be void probably from your 1st attempt.
DO NOT try to power up until completely dry.
If you are uncomfortable taking it apart call their service dept and send it to them right away, time is a big factor especially with saltwater. Good Luck

 

[zigzag]

Thanks pal. I was in such a rush. I just tried to do something fast. It is out of warranty....Ed

 

[Flipperfla]

You did the most important thing, clear the saltwater. I panicked the time my Whites flooded the first time I used it in water, we were a good 2 hours from the boat ramp and 3 hr drive to my bench. Blasted back the the ramp.I took it apart in the ramp parking lot, poured 3-4 bottles of water over the guts, then spread all the pieces across my dashboard of my truck and went back out. When I got back home, dusted the boards, reseated the faulty o ring, threw it back together and never had a problem with it.
One time got a high end camcorder in my shop. A guy was hunting with his Buddies. They were flushing game, he was filming in some reeds. He flooded his hip waders and down he went. His Buddies said he looked like the Statue of Liberty goin down, the last thing to go under was the camera holding it over his head. When I got the camera, when you looked at the lens it looked like it was half full of chocolate milk, smeared in river mud. That one got a good dunkin in the bucket. I could write a book on some stuff people have done. When you watch Funniest Home Videos and see a camera get trashed I was the guy that fixed them. LOL!
Any questions, give me a shout, I will be glad to help.

 

[zigzag]

I appreciate your help Flipperfla. I'm not optimistic about my CTX but we'll see in a couple days. It's been my worst year ever with detector problems. Out of 6 detectors, I can only use my dual field in the water and they're all water machines. 2 leaking Aquasounds, an excal with leaky headphones and my favorite of all is an excal in the Minelab repair shop, the CTX and the dual field. Maybe I can drown the dual field tomorrow. Lol. Thanks again....Ed

 

[smokeythecat]

One last thing you can do is put it in a plastic bag, duct tape ends shut if need be with uncooked rice inside the bag. The rice will absorb unseen moisture. It worked with my cell phone.

If it doesn't work after 2-3 days of the rice ordeal, either time to call the manufacturer or buy a new unit, depending on its age.

 

[djqix]

This is why I haven't, and probably won't take mine in the water. Whenever the urge to water hunt comes up, I'll just settle for my pulsedive for now. I'm far too afraid I'll end up just drowning my CTX.

 

[sphillips]

Maybe just take in the water while under warranty

 

[PetesPockets55]

Certainly hope your battery isn't fried.

I realize different batteries are constructed differently but I use a lot of lithium battery tools for remodeling and one of the larger ones got caught in the rain while in the charger for about 5 min. I tried the ziplock and rice technique but it didn't help. The built-in meter shows it fully charged but only lasts for about 1 minute.

 

[zigzag]

Update on drowned battery compartment on my CTX. New battery and it works just fine. Even bulkhead survived....Ed