Need help with Excal problem

sandnsea49 · Nov 11, 2010

I just got to Florida and charged my Excal batteries, went to the beach plugged one in....NOTHING. So I tried the other one....NOTHING. I just used it this summer, no problems. What could be the problem? All I get is a click from the earphones and NOTHING. Man I hate to send it in, so any help is appreciated.

mlayers · Nov 11, 2010

Sorry I can not help with your problem. I just got my Excal this summer. Sure hope you fin out what is wrong with it. Are you there or the winter I see you are from Ohio. When you get back up give me a shot maybe we can get a hunt together.......Matt

OBN · Nov 11, 2010

Check your charger, make sure it's working. Check batteries with a meter or I guess you could do the old tongue trick

Smudge · Nov 11, 2010

One of the worst things about the excal chargable battery is that there's no indicator light to show its charging. Since it would be unusual to have both your batteries go bad, it may be the charging plug.

I guess it also pays to get the standard alkaline battery backup for situations such as this. Are you close enough to a dealer that maybe you can get one?

erikk · Nov 11, 2010

U had one of these U would know for sure

erikk · Nov 11, 2010

OldeBeechnut said:
Check your charger, make sure it's working. Check batteries with a meter or I guess you could do the old tongue trick

What kind of a reading will the tongue give U Low, Med or High? :dontknow:

sandnsea49 · Nov 11, 2010

I did charge the batteries with a new charger as my other one went bad. It

made a popping sound when I plugged it into the battery pod. Since then my machine does not work, even with a different battery. So I bought a new charger and checked the charge with a meter. One registered 12 volts(the newer one) the older one register 9 volts. Neither one allowed the Excal to work.

Les West Central Fl · Nov 11, 2010

Sounds like a short. Can you check the connector on the detector, open the connector and see if the wires are shorted inside the plastic.

erikk · Nov 12, 2010

Re: I did charge the batteries with a new charger as my other one went bad. It

sandnsea49 said:
made a popping sound when I plugged it into the battery pod. Since then my machine does not work, even with a different battery. So I bought a new charger and checked the charge with a meter. One registered 12 volts(the newer one) the older one register 9 volts. Neither one allowed the Excal to work.

Fully charged mine read 13.6

TexasDigger1 · Nov 12, 2010

Erikk,
Can you send me the info on all this stuff? Thanks, John

U had one of these U would know for sure

erikk · Nov 12, 2010

TexasDigger1 said:
Erikk,
Can you send me the info on all this stuff? Thanks, John

U had one of these U would know for sure

sent U an e mail

Treasure_Hunter · Nov 12, 2010

sandnsea49 said:
I just got to Florida and charged my Excal batteries, went to the beach plugged one in....NOTHING. So I tried the other one....NOTHING. I just used it this summer, no problems. What could be the problem? All I get is a click from the earphones and NOTHING. Man I hate to send it in, so any help is appreciated.

A good reason why you should always have at least one AA battery back as a backup, (I have 2, both came with my Excals.)......Curious why you didn't check the detector/batteries in prep for your trip.....Sorta like checking your boat engine before you take it to the lake only to find it want start.....

Harold in Fla. · Nov 13, 2010

Take the end apart that plugs into the battery and check that, sometimes they corrode and short out, it might be that,

Dano Sverige · Nov 13, 2010

Excal battery packs need to cool down for an hour or so after charging sometimes. Happened to me.Charged it,unplugged,drove to beach (10 mins) switched on...nothing! Drove home and an hour or so later,switched on...worked fine! :dontknow:

OD_hunt · Nov 15, 2010

You mentioned the batteries worked recently and that you charged both... Assuming you charged them (fairly) equally, they should not differ from each other by 3V. It's a bit much so either the charger is not working properly (AC mains connection, cable damage) or the charger worked fine and the batteries were drained by an overload (short or salty water perhaps) in the detector side of things. Maybe check the fly-lead between battery and detector as mentioned previously. If your new charger is bringing the batteries to a good charge, with both having similar Voltages, then the fault is with the detector. The batteries are unlikely to both have been damaged, unless you had them in extreme hot or cold temperatures for a long time...

Good luck :wink:

Indasurf · Nov 15, 2010

Dano Sverige said:
Excal battery packs need to cool down for an hour or so after charging sometimes. Happened to me.Charged it,unplugged,drove to beach (10 mins) switched on...nothing! Drove home and an hour or so later,switched on...worked fine!

Something must be wrong with the machine! When you charge a detector battery it doesn't need to cool down before you can use it. :icon_scratch:

general · Dec 4, 2010

Just got an email that my backordered AC for excal was being shipped by kellyco. Not cheap around 70$

sandnsea49 · Dec 5, 2010

I went to my friend Les's house and we found out is was the charger. We charged it up on his charger and it worked fine. I had burned my original one out, bought a radio shack one which only charged to 12 volts. I thought this was what I needed since the battery is a 12 volt. It turns out the charger needs to be a higher voltage, say 15 volts, that's the voltage on the minelab chargers. So I will order a better, higher voltage charger. Thanks to all for the help.

Treasure_Hunter · Dec 5, 2010

sandnsea49 said:
I went to my friend Les's house and we found out is was the charger. We charged it up on his charger and it worked fine. I had burned my original one out, bought a radio shack one which only charged to 12 volts. I thought this was what I needed since the battery is a 12 volt. It turns out the charger needs to be a higher voltage, say 15 volts, that's the voltage on the minelab chargers. So I will order a better, higher voltage charger. Thanks to all for the help.

You would be better off to go to Onlybatterybacks.com or EBay and ordered the 1600mah NiMH battery pack with a peak detection charger for the Excal...That is what I am using.....Gives you a full charge in 2.5 hours and will out last the stock battery by almost twice as long..

http://cgi.ebay.com/1600-BATTERY-CH...671?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item588a98535f

http://www.onlybatterypacks.com/items.asp?db=48

gravediggermax-vabeachva · Dec 5, 2010

Treasure_Hunter - the best for the buck

probably 7 or more of these in va beach alone, 10 counting the 3 i have

red light while charging and green when done.........15min. to around 40 or less.

can not go wrong for 18 bucks
.
.
.
http://www.onlybatterypacks.com/showitem.asp?ItemID=11535.48

have excal plug options, GT plug.........etrac/explorers