Equinox leaking causes

pulltabfelix

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The Minelab technician told one forum user that replacing your shaft with a carbon fiber shaft has to be done carefully. He said most Equinox water problems come from putting back the control unit on the shaft the detectorist will tighten the four screws too tight to achieve a strong water tight seal and it has the opposite effect of pulling the brass fittings (that the screws fit into) out from the plastic housing which ruins the water seal.

Still sounds like a design flaw to me.

Update: this was misinformation from another post. replacing the carbon fiber shafts has nothing to do with the water tight seal on the Equinox. Of course do be careful in tightening down any screws that screw into a nut or threaded stud imbedded in plastic. Just tighten it with your hands, not an electric screwdriver with high torque setting. When the screw wants to stop, just maybe 1/4 more turn. No need to tighten down to make any water seals become tight. That is a misconception due to people worrying about water leaks on the 800.
 

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smokeythecat

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I heard it was because the head can "flex" in use due to its thinness. That breaks the seal. Makes more sense as a lot of the units failed before the carbon fiber shafts were available. Your idea is also probably correct. So that's strike #5 on the nox. Head flexing, carbon shaft installation problems, loop ears snapping off, nose heavy, arm cuffs breaking. Made in Malaysia. I'll make sure I never go to Malaysia. Their manufacturing quality matches living conditions, health care, etc. Too much money to buy a time bomb...in form of a detector.
 

cudamark

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It finds the goods though, and is still the best all around detector I've ever used. If something happens to mine, I'd buy another in a heart beat.
 

sgoss66

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pulltabfelix -- there is some misinformation here, in what the Minelab tech apparently told one of our forum members.

FIRST -- I want to note that on an Equinox, the "watertight seal" DOES NOT OCCUR at the handle-to-shaft interface. Take your handle apart and remove it from the shaft, and note that there is NO RUBBER GASKET OR O-RING between the two parts of the handle that fit together around the shaft. The watertight seal occurs farther up inside the handle -- at the door of the battery compartment (there are two rubber o-rings inside the battery door), AND, as I understand it, farther up inside also, where the handle and the control box meet/join. SO -- the handle-to-shaft interface is NOT a "watertight seal," and so there is no benefit to be gained by trying to over-tighten the screws, for any perceived "helping the unit to be watertight" reasons.

SECOND -- You would not want to over-torque those screws for any OTHER reason, either. ANYTIME you are screwing a screw into a threaded insert, and that threaded insert is installed into plastic, you want to be careful not to over-tighten/over-torque. Reason being, if an "improper" type of threaded insert is spec'd/used by a manufacturer (i.e. one without OUTSIDE threads, or barbs, to keep it from pulling free from the plastic), OR if the plastic itself is brittle, or simply not sufficiently strong, then there is risk that the insert can be pulled loose from the plastic if you over-torque the screws. And so, IF Minelab has had cases where these inserts are indeed "broken loose" from the plastic, then it likely suggests either weak/brittle plastic, OR improper inserts are being used (no outer threads or barbs on the inserts). The reason I say this, is because a person should NOT be able to generate sufficient torque, using an Allen wrench/key, to pull an insert free from plastic. If you are using an electric drill, or impact wrench, that's a different story. But with an Allen key, this should NOT HAPPEN. I would also note that any such issue of screw overtightening doesn't have anything directly to do with a carbon-fiber shaft per se; tightening the screws too tightly is possible at any time, irrespective of what type of shaft is being used. Bottom line, it is always good to keep in mind not to "over-torque" those screws, so as not to risk damaging one of the threaded inserts, but this is true no matter what shaft you are using.

THIRD -- while I agree that over-tightening one of those screws to the point where one of the inserts is pulled loose IS, obviously, a problem, the problem would be that there would be no way to ever tighten that screw again (no insert to screw into). BUT -- pulling the insert loose would, I am 99.9% certain, NOT have ANYTHING AT ALL to do with affecting the water-tight seal of the unit. Here's why. If you remove your control box/handle assembly from your shaft, you will see that those threaded inserts are HOLLOW. They HAVE to be hollow/open-ended, as such inserts are designed to allow the ends of the screws to extend through/beyond the inserts when the screws are tightened. And so, since a screw is NOT a "water-tight seal" (i.e. water can seep past a screw that is screwed into another metal item like a nut, or a threaded insert), and since those inserts are "open-ended/hollow," then that means that the unit must be designed to be watertight BEHIND/BEYOND the location of the threaded inserts (or else, simple water leakage past the screws themselves would cause unit failure). And therefore, accidentally pulling loose an insert would not have any affect on the water-tightness of the unit. NO -- you don't want to over-tighten a screw, and risk breaking the insert free from the plastic. But, the reason is NOT because the unit would no longer be watertight, it is instead because you would then not be able to tighten one of your four screws, that hold attach your control box/handle assembly to your shaft.

The bottom line is this...as a carbon-fiber shaft builder, I wanted to chime in, because obviously, such misinformation could lead to hesitance on those wishing to switch over to a carbon-fiber shaft, and yet would have no effect whatsoever on "fixing" the water leak issues with the Equinox. If the Minelab tech really said this, to one of our Equinox-using forum members, I'm quite disappointed. The fact is, using a carbon-fiber shaft DOES NOT, in any way, risk the "water-tightness" of your Equinox. Period. Obviously, there is a well-known issue with some Equinoxes failing, due to water water intrusion into the control box. As such, I would like to believe, and will choose to do so until there is more solid evidence otherwise, that Minelab is being honest enough with their customers to take responsibility for the failures as being either a part of a normal, small, anticipated, "acceptable" rate-of-failure, or a manufacturing defect, BUT not instead trying to shift any of the blame onto customers, OR onto aftermarket equipment manufacturers, for these failures.

FINALLY, I will note one last thing that should entirely debunk the information apparently provided by a Minelab tech. Felix, you said that the tech said that "most" of the leakage issues come from these inserts being pulled/broken free from the plastic handle. So...let's just accept for one moment, for the sake of argument, that an insert breaking free, does affect the watertight seal (even though it doesn't). With this assumption in place, I ask this question...how many times have we heard someone on a forum, Facebook, or elsewhere who is using an Equinox, mention that one of their threaded brass fittings broke free from the handle, when tightening the screws? NOW -- how many times have we heard someone using an Equinox mention that their machine suffered a water intrusion? Personally, I have never heard of a customer having a threaded insert break free (though I am sure there have been a few), but I have heard dozens, if not hundreds, of first-hand accounts of water intrusion issues. SO, ask yourself, does it make sense that "most" of Minelab's Equinox water issues are to be blamed on Equinox users -- i.e. that "most" the "leaks" are the result of Minelab's customers tightening their screws too tightly, to the extent that the brass inserts are being pulled/broken free from the plastic handle? Does this seem accurate/true/correct?

Steve
 

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JerV3

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Yeah but they find the silver and aren't and arm and leg to purchase.

Great machines I am recovering a ton of great stuff every week with these machines.

There out hunting every brand detector we own right now.

Love the Nox and 15 inch set up.

Jer
 

smokeythecat

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An 800 with the two additional coils you really need to cover most commonly occurring conditions is well over $1,000.00. Add in a carbon shaft rod. That is the definition of an arm and a leg.
 

GoDeep

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Paid $550 (with my military discount) for my Equinox 600 when they first came out. I added a pair of wireless headphones off amazon for 35.00 (they wirelessly connect with the equinox with nothing else needed). I already had a shovel and pinpointer, so all in i was at $585.00.

Owned it for 3 years and just sold it a few months ago with zero problems.

Keep in mind, it is NOT waterproof, no matter what you try to convince yourself since the ads say it is waterproof, it isn't. I accepted that from the get go, didn't submerge the control and it was the best 3 years of detector ownership i've had.

This was and still likely is, the best bang for your buck detector on the market.
 

cudamark

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An 800 with the two additional coils you really need to cover most commonly occurring conditions is well over $1,000.00. Add in a carbon shaft rod. That is the definition of an arm and a leg.

Just about any detector needs other coil options for particular applications, so, that pretty much a wash. At least the coils don't cost as much as say a Deus, Excalibur, GPX, GPZ, etc. There's really no need for a carbon shaft either, but, it's a nice upgrade. Other detectors can also benefit from CF shafts too. I've had mine in the surf, rain, mud, and it gets a shower after every hunt. That's waterproof enough for me. If I'm going underwater, I'll use an Excalibur which was designed for that. I paid $900 for a White's machine over 30 years ago, so, it seems to me the EQ800 price is a bargain in comparison considering inflation and the upgrade in tech you're getting. After all, the Excalibur and Etrac are in the $1500 range and the CTX is a grand more than that. You get all the options on a Deus and you're up in that range too. For either Nox model, it's an absolute bargain IMO. What other detector is as good for all facets of detecting? None that I know of.
 

GoDeep

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Just about any detector needs other coil options for particular applications, so, that pretty much a wash. At least the coils don't cost as much as say a Deus, Excalibur, GPX, GPZ, etc. There's really no need for a carbon shaft either, but, it's a nice upgrade. Other detectors can also benefit from CF shafts too. I've had mine in the surf, rain, mud, and it gets a shower after every hunt. That's waterproof enough for me. If I'm going underwater, I'll use an Excalibur which was designed for that. I paid $900 for a White's machine over 30 years ago, so, it seems to me the EQ800 price is a bargain in comparison considering inflation and the upgrade in tech you're getting. After all, the Excalibur and Etrac are in the $1500 range and the CTX is a grand more than that. You get all the options on a Deus and you're up in that range too. For either Nox model, it's an absolute bargain IMO. What other detector is as good for all facets of detecting? None that I know of.

Smokey means well, but just doesn't like the Equinox, Smokey owned one for a few days when it first came out before selling it as they felt it was too nose heavy and bothered the arm, but here we are 3.5 years later and Smokey still wastes no opportunity to criticize it.

Here's the problem with the Equinox, it's probably the best selling detector by 10, 20 or even a 100 fold over many detectors, which is leading to numerically more reports of failures, when in fact, as a percentage of units sold, it's failure rate may be the same or less then other models. Without stats on total sales and failures of all models, we will likely never know.

Think of it this way, if you sold 100 times as many Equinox's as another brand, yet they both had the same failure rates, you'd still receive over a 100 times as many failure reports on it, giving the illusion it is worse then the other when it's the exact same!
 

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Dan(NM)

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I spoke with one of the repair tech's at the Minelab repair center. I asked him about the leaking issue.

3 of the problems are with the battery compartment. One was the o-rings, second was the actual screw that held the battery door shut, cracking issue and 3rd was the one way bladder. Apparently the one way valve wasn't glued into place properly and was, from what I could gather, the biggest issue when it came to water intrusion.

He said there were quite a few failures with the new replacement pods when they did the pressure test before sending them to the customer.

I forgot to ask about the brass inserts, if that was an issue or not, he never brought it up. He never did mention anything about aftermarket shafts, more of a defective parts problem.
 

smokeythecat

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No, I didn't like the "waterproof" stretch of the truth, the price or the fact it hurt my wrist to use it. It does work well, just don't get it wet, put it bright light or feed it after midnight! How's your memory on that one? Remember which movie?
 

vferrari

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I call mine, Gizmo (the Mogwai…)

It and my Deus both love to gobble up relics…especially with my new Nox 5x10 coil - buh bye nose heavy Equinox.
 

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sgoss66

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I spoke with one of the repair tech's at the Minelab repair center. I asked him about the leaking issue.

3 of the problems are with the battery compartment. One was the o-rings, second was the actual screw that held the battery door shut, cracking issue and 3rd was the one way bladder. Apparently the one way valve wasn't glued into place properly and was, from what I could gather, the biggest issue when it came to water intrusion.

He said there were quite a few failures with the new replacement pods when they did the pressure test before sending them to the customer.

I forgot to ask about the brass inserts, if that was an issue or not, he never brought it up. He never did mention anything about aftermarket shafts, more of a defective parts problem.

Thanks for the information, Dan. Now THAT all makes sense. I know a couple of the guys up there in PA at the repair center, and they are good guys; what they are saying makes logical sense, regarding the failures.

Steve
 

sgoss66

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No, I didn't like the "waterproof" stretch of the truth, the price or the fact it hurt my wrist to use it. It does work well, just don't get it wet, put it bright light or feed it after midnight! How's your memory on that one? Remember which movie?

Smokey -- it hurt your wrist because it is NOSE-HEAVY! The wrist takes the brunt of the abuse, when a machine is nose-heavy. While you never have believed me, what you needed was a carbon-fiber shaft, to shave a few ounces of weight, and then about 10 to 12 oz. of counterweighting! :)

Steve
 

smokeythecat

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Steve, when I was using mine, you hadn't come up with the shafts yet.

I probably should watch the "Gremlins" movie again.
 

sgoss66

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Steve, when I was using mine, you hadn't come up with the shafts yet.

I probably should watch the "Gremlins" movie again.

Smokey -- I know, just pulling your chain! :)

Steve
 

ARC

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Equinox leaking causes = BAD DESIGN.
 

midalake

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I spoke with one of the repair tech's at the Minelab repair center. I asked him about the leaking issue.

3 of the problems are with the battery compartment. One was the o-rings, second was the actual screw that held the battery door shut, cracking issue and 3rd was the one way bladder. Apparently the one way valve wasn't glued into place properly and was, from what I could gather, the biggest issue when it came to water intrusion.

He said there were quite a few failures with the new replacement pods when they did the pressure test before sending them to the customer.

I forgot to ask about the brass inserts, if that was an issue or not, he never brought it up. He never did mention anything about aftermarket shafts, more of a defective parts problem.

Hi Dan

Had a friends machine with brass inserts problem. We had those inserts out. They dead end into the plactic housing of the Equinox. Unless there was serious cracking of plastic I see no way for water to get though that location. We re-epoxied his into place and now he uses a custom grip, not the pod for a grip.
 

smokeythecat

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I would say if you REALLY want to get in the water get an Excalibur. That's what I just recommended to a friend who is on a quest to find a lost locket in a lake.
 

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pulltabfelix

pulltabfelix

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It finds the goods though, and is still the best all around detector I've ever used. If something happens to mine, I'd buy another in a heart beat.

agree 100% and get a new 3 year warranty.
 

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