MXT Pro Giving a Non-Stop Foil Signal

[Wannabe Treasure Hunter]

I've been swinging this MXT Pro for 10 years or so now and this is the first real issue. It recently started giving a Foil Signal all the Time and has gotten real chattery. It has the original 950 Coil on it. Any ideas on things I could check before sending it off for repairs? Even if I can't check it, what are common causes for an issues like this?

 

[Davers]

I've been swinging this MXT Pro for 10 years or so now and this is the first real issue. It recently started giving a Foil Signal all the Time and has gotten real chattery. It has the original 950 Coil on it. Any ideas on things I could check before sending it off for repairs? Even if I can't check it, what are common causes for an issues like this?

I'm not an expert by far , but all my Whites machines got chirpy & noisy when I hit a tree or branch , so IMO it sounds like your coil . But

GL

 

[Wannabe Treasure Hunter]

I'm not an expert by far , but all my Whites machines got chirpy & noisy when I hit a tree or branch , so IMO it sounds like your coil . But

GL

This one has always done that, but now it's Non-Stop and not just when I bump something. I do plan on putting another coil on it to see if it is the coil before sending it off for repairs.

 

[Carl-NC]

Yes, try a different coil.

 

[Wannabe Treasure Hunter]

I tried a different coil today and it was still doing the same thing.

 

[Carl-NC]

VLF detectors have 2 channels, a ground (X) channel and a target (R) channel. They are combined to produce the target ID. I'm going to guess that the ground channel has somehow died in which case only the target channel is working, and everything will appear to be foil. Here is a way to check for this:

1. Place Trac mode to Ground
2. Turn the detector on, then switch the Trac mode to Salt
3. Pump the coil over regular ground (no target). See what kind of response you get.
4. Pump the coil over a nail on the ground. See what kind of response you get.

I believe when you first turn the MXT on it defaults to a certain ground setting. When you pump over clean ground, it will normally squawk a couple of times and then go quiet. The same thing should happen when you pump over the nail. But if the ground channel has died, you should either get a fairly quiet response from clean ground or a consistently noisy response (never goes quiet), whereas the nail will constantly respond as foil and never go quiet.

Let me know your results.

 

[Wannabe Treasure Hunter]

VLF detectors have 2 channels, a ground (X) channel and a target (R) channel. They are combined to produce the target ID. I'm going to guess that the ground channel has somehow died in which case only the target channel is working, and everything will appear to be foil. Here is a way to check for this:

1. Place Trac mode to Ground
2. Turn the detector on, then switch the Trac mode to Salt
3. Pump the coil over regular ground (no target). See what kind of response you get.
4. Pump the coil over a nail on the ground. See what kind of response you get.

I believe when you first turn the MXT on it defaults to a certain ground setting. When you pump over clean ground, it will normally squawk a couple of times and then go quiet. The same thing should happen when you pump over the nail. But if the ground channel has died, you should either get a fairly quiet response from clean ground or a consistently noisy response (never goes quiet), whereas the nail will constantly respond as foil and never go quiet.

Let me know your results.

Thanks. I will be trying this and will let you know the outcome.

 

[Wannabe Treasure Hunter]

UPDATE:

Since I was contemplating sending my MXT Pro off to get the above problem fixed I figured that I couldn't make it any worse than it was, so I decided to split the case and spray all the switches with CRC's QD Electronic Cleaner. I thought about this because not long before this problem I had a problem with the headphone jack not making a good connection, and I had cleaned it using cotton Swabs and Rubbing Alcohol, and it took a few Cotton Swabs that came out Black before I got it to where they came out clean, and that sure enough fixed my headphone connection problem. Anyway I used the lil red plastic straw with the spray cleaner and stuck it in the lil holes on the switches that had holes and sprayed it till it was running out of each of them. The ones the straw would fit in I just put it up to the smaller opening and sprayed till it was running out. Stuck my Battery in it the next day and no noise, and since then I hunted with it a few times without any problems. So I'm suggesting that if your Machine starts acting funny, that before you send it off, give some spray electronic cleaner a try. My machine was made in 2013 and has seen heavy use over the years and I don't know why I hadn't considered that dirt was my problem. I've used the spray cleaner for years on old style car radio controls and other contact style switches and had just never considered it for the MXT Pro.

 

[JCR]

Glad you got it working. The MXT is a good & fun machine.