Is anybody proficient at repairing metal detectors or knowing how to fix common sympt

[Just_curious]

So here's the issue. I have a White's Spectrum XLT. Yes, I know that their old machines. I would like to upgrade, but only after I sell my machines. Anyways, my XLT would have screen problems. Sometimes only part of the display would be visible, other times it would cut off all the way. I could turn it on later and everything would be working fine. I know that this was a common problem in the older XL tees. But the fact that the majority of times the display would be 100% functional, lets me know that the screen itself should be good in theory. So I did a little research and seeing people mentioning the ribbon wire possibly being an issue, or the electrical contacts being oxidized, or something just being loose or needing to be cleaned. I did a bunch of research and video watching of people fixing common LCD screen issues that resembled what my XLT is doing. So what I ended up doing was pulling off the screen, taking off the elastomer contacts, and cleaning the elastomer strips, the zebra strips, and the electrical contacts on the LCD screen. When I put it back together, the entire screen is present, but now has horizontal lines. I thought maybe I didn't line up the connections between the PCB, the elastomer strip, and the electronics on the LCD properly. This would make it offset or not applying the right pressure, Etc.

I'm hoping that somebody in here that works with electronics a lot, or is some sort of electrical engineer, Etc might be able to guide me in the right direction to get this screen functioning properly and to get rid of the lines. It's not like the entire screen is lines, just a couple of them, and they only showed up after I attempted to clean and put everything back in its place.

If I send it to whites repair center, it will take one week for them to give me an estimate, and then also to order the part if they don't have it on hand, they have a flat rate fee of $70 perm machine, in addition to the park that the gentleman I spoke with figured would be about $50 yes. Add shipping on top of that, and we're getting pretty close to the overall value of the detector. So to attempt to sell it would cause me to lose money and not fund a new detector, and that saying if I want to even sell it at all. But regardless of if I sell it or keep it, I want to have it functioning properly and not have these issues anymore. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

 

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[Normsel]

I had the same problem with my V3i. I sent it to Whites and they completely checked it out and put a new screen on it plus other stuff. It come to $157 and I had to pay the shipping both ways. Altogether it took about 10 days. I sent it to Whites home office and not the repair center in Va. The repair center in Va tried to fix it and sent it back not fixed.

 

[Just_curious]

Yeah...i called the one in VA and it didn't seem like he knew what he was talking about and wouldn't even consider working out a deal if I sent all of my detectors in for refurbishing. There would've been 4 total. He also didn't know what a "long scan" coil was that came with the GM2 and said that they aren't able to repair/balance coils...but they could order a new one below cost at the sweet price of $130! Lol. I'm thinking, my spectrum is worth $350 at best most likely, I would have to pay $50 for the part, $70 for labor, shipping to and from.. it's just not worth it. I asked if I could order the part, especially considering the time crunch I'm on and He told me absolutely not. Seems like the VA shop isn't willing to work with the customers at all . I understand that everybody needs to make a living, but I know it's a simple repair and I will get told it's something major. Like a person taking a car to a shady auto repair center lol

 

[RustyGold]

It sounds like it’s not worth your time and investment. I would take it on the chin and make it into a clock for my man cave. Assuming it can’t be repaired for a lower cost. Good luck.

 

[Mitch Dickson]

One of the suspects in the new machines is robot built boards with surface mount parts. Then they changed the solder to something they call solder but is pretty pitiful If your an expert with a 15 watt pencil iron, you can just go over all the solder joints, especially on the processors. If your not a tech, you will ruin the board in short order! They loose ground when this wave solder nonsense gets cold. Another real short comming is those little grey or silver surface mount caps. They may or may not last till it gets to the dealer and you buy it!!! I used to work on camcorders and I have replaced thousands of them. We learned pretty quick to quit running it down and just shotgun the board! I am not a real fan of White's these days but I am not a detector tech either. Luck!

 

[Carl-NC]

As I recall, the zebra strip was a common point of failure. It's hard to get those things to work again. I also don't recall who made the display (Winstar maybe?) but I think it's now a pretty vanilla display made by lots of folks. Should be available for $15-20.

 

[Melbeta]

Just Curious, I would listen to Carl (NC), VERY CLOSELY, he used to be an Whites Electronics engineer, and he knows Whites Electronics metal detector very well. And what he tells you, if pretty much it. Hi CARL. Melbeta here...