Ace 250 water use

[grounded]

Hi folks, Question for all you Ace 250 users out there. A friend of mine has had his Ace 250 for about a year and a half and invited me to go to the beach and do some MD'ing with him. He said that they take theirs down to the beach and also uses it in some creeks that are near their place. Since it's not specifically made for water use, is it true that it won't hurt the coil at all by doing this? (I've just purchased mine a couple weeks ago and don't want to ruin it by using it how he does.)

 

[treasurefiend]

Nah, you can get the coil wet.

[size=x-large]
Just don't get any water on the control housing!!!!!!!![/size]

I use mine on the beach and get water about a third of the way up the shaft. It can go deeper, but I dont want to trip and dunk the housing...

 

[BigCatDaddy]

No problem!! I took a 150, enclosed the control box in a waterproof Otterbox and made a water machine out of it. Works great in freshwater!! So yeah, get the coil wet, just don't let the control housing hit the water or you've got a $200 piece of junk!!

 

[John 'n' W.Va]

I have had mine in salt water a lot over the last two years. It still works fine.

 

[grounded]

Thanks everyone, you've all been a great help! Now i've got no reason not to hit the water areas and also, many more places to hunt!

 

[kaptainkosmic]

your ace 250. it can be done for about $60.00 then you don't have to worry about an accidental dunking. rogue wave, splashing kids, doesn't matter if you dunk your housing its. gonna cost ya!

hh steve

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[John-Edmonton]

<center>
http://img507.imageshack.us/img507/9982/acewaterproofedbl5.jpg

http://www.metaldetecting-online.com/webbbs/upl_images/garrett/0/833/833_otteracetoo.jpg

http://www.metaldetecting-online.com/webbbs/upl_images/garrett/0/833/833_otterace.jpg

 

[Uncle Willy]

The coil is waterproof but nothing else is. Keep the control box out of and away from the water and hunt to your hearts content.

Bill

 

[BigCatDaddy]

n/t

 

[grounded]

Thanks for all of the great ideas everyone, i'm deciding on which way to do it now! The pics all turned out very nice and clear. I think if i were to go this, i'd mount the control box on a swing arm of some kind where i could then mount it above the handhold so i could still see my readout screen. Thanks again for everyone pitching in with their pictures and comments!

 

[BigCatDaddy]

When detecting in water, a display is not neccessary as you will dig anything that hits above a nail. That's why I went with the 150 for a moded water machine as one doesn't need a pinpoint cuz you can't see your coil most of the time anyways, just Beep, Scoop, Beep, Scoop till you get the target out.

 

[mcseeker]

I'm thinking of buying an ace 250 and waterproofing it. More ( detailed ) pictures and possible links of the modded machines would be appreciated!! Do you seal the headphone and coil cord to the waterproof housing with silicone etc when you do this??

 

[mcseeker]

Forgot to ask... What size / type otterbox cases fit the ace hardware? Any other case brands you can recommend?

 

[mcseeker]

Anyone? Do you need to make coil & headphone cable extensions when you go through the waterproof container?

 

[khouse]

I used watertight cable connectors. This means you have to desolder your cable ends. Then run the bare cable throught the watertight connector. Then resolder the cable connectors back on. If I had it to do over again I would have used "split cable clams" This way you don't have to remove your cable ends. Do a search for Blue Sea cable clams. Or do a search for all this stuff in the modification forum.