Excal 2 un-responsive this morning

[SweetCorn]

I learned a difficult lesson this morning. Drove 1.5 hrs to the beach, got down to the beach, turned on my machine and the familiar hum wouldn't start up. I fiddled with the knobs, fiddled with the connections, etc, and got nothing. Never even a blip of sound.
I came home and checked the outlet I charged it on last night, it works fine (we live in an old house and some outlets don't work) and I've had it on the charger again for an hour now and just tried to fire it up, same thing, lifeless.

I did notice it was making a strange noise some times during my last hunt, like a chirping and the threshold would disappear and come back in a second or two but it worked fine and I kind of chalked this up to mineralized sand or some other type of interference. Was this something serious??

I've had the machine since November and have been taking what I thought was good care of it.

This has me seriously bummed. I really don't want to have to send my machine off for repairs as I've heard it can take several weeks.

Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions??

Thanks

ps. Moral of the story.... take a second machine or at least check your machine before driving any significant distances!!

 

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[SweetCorn]

I think I've detected the weak link... the cable that connects the battery to the processor. If I hold it in a very specific location, I can get the machine to work, or at least I can hear the threshold. The instant I take pressure off the cable, it cuts out again.

Edited: the bad connection appears to be within the small plastic housing that holds the two plugs that go into the battery pod.

How do I get this fixed??

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I think I've detected the weak link... the cable that connects the battery to the processor. If I hold it in a very specific location, I can get the machine to work, or at least I can hear the threshold. The instant I take pressure off the cable, it cuts out again.

How do I get this fixed??

You will have to send it in for repair to the Minelab repair center.

Do you wear the excal controls on a waist or chest belt or is it mounted on a shaft?

January 20, 2017 A New Beginning!

 

[SweetCorn]

I wear the controls on the waist.

I have found a semi local dealer who I'll discuss the problem with. Not sure if it will require being sent in or not.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I wear the controls on the waist.

I have found a semi local dealer who I'll discuss the problem with. Not sure if it will require being sent in or not.

Wearing it on your waist causes shorts in the cables.

Be very careful if you have a non minelab repair center work on it, if it isn't done correctly it will leak in to the control housing then you have real problems and an expensive repair bill.

January 20, 2017 A New Beginning!

 

[SweetCorn]

Thanks for the info.
Is it better to wear on the chest? Or best left on the shaft?

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Best on the shaft, anywhere else causes flexing in the cables which causes shorts in cables.

If you don't have a straight shaft get one.

January 20, 2017 A New Beginning!

 

[fish1on]

Another option for mounting is the Anderson over/under carbon fiber

 

[SweetCorn]

I've been using the Plugger 33" carbon shaft for use with a hip mounted excal. (doh!)
I hadn't ever heard of chest or hip mounts causing wire shorts but I can absolutely see it happening. The movement from side to side would stress the connections over time.

I'd like to try a chest mount but I really think the same thing would happen.

So do people like the longer shafts where the controls are mounted behind the elbow? Plugger looks like they have 3 lengths, 39", 42" and 45". I have no idea which one I would want. I'm not a huge person, only 5'9" and I like the coil to be closer to me rather than further away from me. So probably the 39"? Or 42"?

 

[RustyGold]

I use the three piece carbon fiber shaft from plugger and I believe the shaft is 42". Mounting the controls behind the elbow makes the Excal's coil just float over the surface and so far after several years I've had zero problems with flexing cables.
Best of luck SC.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I use the three piece carbon fiber shaft from plugger and I believe the shaft is 42". Mounting the controls behind the elbow makes the Excal's coil just float over the surface and so far after several years I've had zero problems with flexing cables.
Best of luck SC.

It is un-common to get short in cables on control end if mounted on shaft.

January 20, 2017 A New Beginning!

 

[SweetCorn]

I want to give a shout out to Minelab customer service.
My machine was returned on the 14th, only 8 days after I sent it out. It's still under warranty and they fixed it very quickly. I was expecting a 3-4 week wait, it ended up being 8 days, a very pleasant surprise.
It's purring like a kitten now.

I also want to thank Plugger who gave me a custom shaft extension to help me get my mounting issues sorted out.

 

[RustyGold]

It is un-common to get short in cables on control end if mounted on shaft.

January 20, 2017 A New Beginning!

My point exactly.

 

[penzfan]

Ditto. Dave, Marty et all got my tired Excal back up and running and returned home safe to me in under a week.

I want to give a shout out to Minelab customer service.
My machine was returned on the 14th, only 8 days after I sent it out. It's still under warranty and they fixed it very quickly. I was expecting a 3-4 week wait, it ended up being 8 days, a very pleasant surprise.
It's purring like a kitten now.

 

[MLACindy]

We are happy to hear your repair was completed so quickly. If there is anything further that Minelab can do to assist please either email us at service@minelabamericas.com or call us at 877-767-6522.

 

[Twinkletoes]

I learned a difficult lesson this morning. Drove 1.5 hrs to the beach, got down to the beach, turned on my machine and the familiar hum wouldn't start up. I fiddled with the knobs, fiddled with the connections, etc, and got nothing. Never even a blip of sound.
I came home and checked the outlet I charged it on last night, it works fine (we live in an old house and some outlets don't work) and I've had it on the charger again for an hour now and just tried to fire it up, same thing, lifeless.

I did notice it was making a strange noise some times during my last hunt, like a chirping and the threshold would disappear and come back in a second or two but it worked fine and I kind of chalked this up to mineralized sand or some other type of interference. Was this something serious??

I've had the machine since November and have been taking what I thought was good care of it.

This has me seriously bummed. I really don't want to have to send my machine off for repairs as I've heard it can take several weeks.

Does anyone have any thoughts or suggestions??

Thanks

ps. Moral of the story.... take a second machine or at least check your machine before driving any significant distances!!

I had a similar experience that turned out to be a battery charger problem. No detecting that day! Went home and ordered the Minelab Alkaline battery pod as a back-up. The battery pod costs $87 but if you drive long distances to detect, it's worth it! Tt

 

[lisfisher]

Glad you got it all sorted out! As far as the weak links in the wire from pod to coil- yes I can defenetely see connection failure at the pod end from swinging,{pluggers chest harness has a fix built in for this issue} but am confused as to how the headphone wire could possibly get damaged while wearing a chest mount? The pod is stationary against the chest, headphone wire comes off left side of pod and to headphones, so no back and forth swinging to damage the end, unless I've overlooked something

 

[cudamark]

Glad you got it all sorted out! As far as the weak links in the wire from pod to coil- yes I can defenetely see connection failure at the pod end from swinging,{pluggers chest harness has a fix built in for this issue} but am confused as to how the headphone wire could possibly get damaged while wearing a chest mount? The pod is stationary against the chest, headphone wire comes off left side of pod and to headphones, so no back and forth swinging to damage the end, unless I've overlooked something

I agree, there you should be no difference in where you mount the control pod when it comes to cable flex on headphones or battery cable. In fact, there should be less on the headphone cable when hip or chest mounted. I have 3 ExCals, all hip mounted, and haven't had a cable flex problem on any of them. One is well over 10 years old now. I've had one coil go bad, but, not at the pod end. Some internal coil problem that was replaced under warranty. I zip tie the cables to the control pod so they don't flex at the strain relief, and I leave lots of extra coil cable so there is no major bending anywhere along it's length.

 

[redcobra8u]

I use the hip mount but place it on my back at the belt line. I use a Velcro strap from Michaels to take any stress off the cable. No problems for years.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I know of multiple people who have had shorts in their cables and 99% of them waist mounted them. Just saying.....