I have a 10 inch coil that has the sheathing around the coil cable starting to crack and in some spots parts of the cable have fallen off. It was working fine but then noticed them after close inspection. Is there a fix for it? Or can it be fixed? What about using electrical tape all over the cable. Help?
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10" Tornado coil
- Thread starter prodrigsr
- Start date
OldBeechnut
Well-known member
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?21,1847622,page=1
Cable can be ordered from McMaster Carr
Black
9204K12
20/4
0.25"
Cable can be ordered from McMaster Carr
Black
9204K12
20/4
0.25"
jimmyjiver
New member
Hi,,does the fix have to be waterproof?...............JJ
Critterhunter
New member
There was a bad batch of 10" Tornados for a short while where I've seen people report the outer insulation would crack and fall off like you are reporting. Look VERY closely at the inner wires. Is the insulation there in good shape with no signs of it degrading? If so, then I'd risk just taping over the outer insulation with electrical tape very tightly to isolate it from the elements again. I would not, however, trust that sort of fix using it in water. Chance it might get in there and wick it's way down into the vitals of the coil's pre-amp or something.
Another possible fix that might be water proof is to take some clear silicone rated to stay flexible and not crack in hot or cold weather and rub a rather thick layer of it across the entire cable. It's going to be a messy/fussy job but the stuff in the big tubes meant for caulking guns is thick enough to put a nice thick film onto the cable without it running off it. It might help to work with the stuff being somewhat cold so it's thicker and more prone to sit in place where you put it without thinning out too much. I'd leave the cable outside in say about 40 degree weather for about an hour so it has some time to start drying/thickening up and then bring it inside to finish it's cure in proper warm tempertures. I did this to thicken up some clear silicone I was working with to seal over a leaky Pro Pointer switch cover that was jamming up the internal switch with dirt, after cleaning the switch with contact cleaner. Worked like a charm to have the caulking somewhat on the colder side so it would maintain a thicker covering like I wanted and not flow away on me.
With all my coils, even though they are epoxy filled, I unscrew the wire nut on a coil and then seal that hole and the threads under the nut cap with clear silicone (Shoe Goo works well for this since it doesn't have to be bought in large quanties in a caulking tube). I also put enough of it gooped onto the coil cable where the sleeve above the nut slides down with it so that it seals that. That way double insurace of no water wicking down inside. I hand tighten the nut and then turn it just a hair more with a wrench. Not too much or you might crack it.
Being able to remove that nut in the future is a pointless matter IMO. There isn't enough wire under it to fix a short in any real way, and if the coil ever needed service there is nothing that can be done to fix an internal problem (a factory won't fix something internal on an epoxy filled coil), short of cutting the casing apart with an angle grinder and then chipping away at the epoxy or using a solvent to remove it from the vitals to fix something. I have seen this done by people but usually by the time you've removed the epoxy enough you've put the windings out of alignment and it's a mute point. About the only thing I'd attempt to fix in a bad coil would be a bad component on the pre-amp circuit, which are somewhat unique to have in a coil, but these BBS units have them to boost the weak RX signal. Bad windings are pretty much a lost cause since that's probably and issue with the varnish on the wires wearing away and shorting them to each other. By the time you track down that by removing epoxy the windings are probably going to be toast in several places.
NOTE: Sealing the coil nut may void warranties and use my advice for taping over the coil cable or other such things at your own risk. It's very easy to let the magic smoke out of a detector. For one thing if you short the right wires together in a coil cable there is a good chance it'll blow the control box. Also, I was reading elsewhere that a guy back engineered the transmit circuit on the Sovereign's motherboard and said it's a very fragile design to abuse. Meaning (he said) do not unplug or plug in coils with the machine powered up, and that's got nothing to do with anything shorting but just suddenly removing or installing a load on the circuit.
Another possible fix that might be water proof is to take some clear silicone rated to stay flexible and not crack in hot or cold weather and rub a rather thick layer of it across the entire cable. It's going to be a messy/fussy job but the stuff in the big tubes meant for caulking guns is thick enough to put a nice thick film onto the cable without it running off it. It might help to work with the stuff being somewhat cold so it's thicker and more prone to sit in place where you put it without thinning out too much. I'd leave the cable outside in say about 40 degree weather for about an hour so it has some time to start drying/thickening up and then bring it inside to finish it's cure in proper warm tempertures. I did this to thicken up some clear silicone I was working with to seal over a leaky Pro Pointer switch cover that was jamming up the internal switch with dirt, after cleaning the switch with contact cleaner. Worked like a charm to have the caulking somewhat on the colder side so it would maintain a thicker covering like I wanted and not flow away on me.
With all my coils, even though they are epoxy filled, I unscrew the wire nut on a coil and then seal that hole and the threads under the nut cap with clear silicone (Shoe Goo works well for this since it doesn't have to be bought in large quanties in a caulking tube). I also put enough of it gooped onto the coil cable where the sleeve above the nut slides down with it so that it seals that. That way double insurace of no water wicking down inside. I hand tighten the nut and then turn it just a hair more with a wrench. Not too much or you might crack it.
Being able to remove that nut in the future is a pointless matter IMO. There isn't enough wire under it to fix a short in any real way, and if the coil ever needed service there is nothing that can be done to fix an internal problem (a factory won't fix something internal on an epoxy filled coil), short of cutting the casing apart with an angle grinder and then chipping away at the epoxy or using a solvent to remove it from the vitals to fix something. I have seen this done by people but usually by the time you've removed the epoxy enough you've put the windings out of alignment and it's a mute point. About the only thing I'd attempt to fix in a bad coil would be a bad component on the pre-amp circuit, which are somewhat unique to have in a coil, but these BBS units have them to boost the weak RX signal. Bad windings are pretty much a lost cause since that's probably and issue with the varnish on the wires wearing away and shorting them to each other. By the time you track down that by removing epoxy the windings are probably going to be toast in several places.
NOTE: Sealing the coil nut may void warranties and use my advice for taping over the coil cable or other such things at your own risk. It's very easy to let the magic smoke out of a detector. For one thing if you short the right wires together in a coil cable there is a good chance it'll blow the control box. Also, I was reading elsewhere that a guy back engineered the transmit circuit on the Sovereign's motherboard and said it's a very fragile design to abuse. Meaning (he said) do not unplug or plug in coils with the machine powered up, and that's got nothing to do with anything shorting but just suddenly removing or installing a load on the circuit.