Adjusting to the E-Trac

[NH Bob]

I've tried all kids of screen setups and tone variations you can emagine.
I have come to the conclusion that no matter what I do, i will never be an Explorer.
With that reality I did the ext best thing. I set it up in with ferrous 18 as the base line for now and kept the top compleatle clear.
Conductive sounds and played with the Variability until it sounded just like my SE on silver and large cents.
I just have to learn to live with some nulling. I just look at it as a trade off. I'll make it work for me.

 

[Rigit]

will never be an Explorer. I'll make it work for me

That because its not an Explorer!! and was never marketed as one, if everyone would just accept that fact then they could get on with enjoying a new concept in detecting instead of trying to convert the E-Track into an Ex II or Ex SE, why would you want your rand new machine to be same as the one you already have beats me do the same as NH Bob and think OK "I'll make it work for me".

 

[John LA]

I had a S, XS and SE. The E-Trac is very similar.

 

[jeff & Maria]

n/t

 

[Hard Nosed Dave]

The guts of the E-trac are completely different. Only 2 pcbs................All models of the Explorer's have 3.
[attachment 104610 RIMG0029.jpg]

From what I can see, there are a lot less possibilities that would make the pcb's susceptible to separation with the way they are held in place. It's a far better method of assembly construction. I feel it's mainly to do with that 1 single Philips screw , that you should be able to see in the pcb, in the foreground of the picture above.

[attachment 104611 RIMG0031.jpg]

[attachment 104609 RIMG0030.jpg]

In my opinion, one of the benefits of what I can see out of all of this , is the reliability and less chance of the PCB's coming separating from each other IF you were to say accidentally drop this detector. This has NOT been a big problem in the past with the Explorer's for me but it COULD explain some of the occasional weird problems experienced my some users of the Explorer's in the past.


There is still the usual "dremalling" of the values off the face of the main cpu chip and also to the smaller one's. This was also what occurred inside the previous Explorer's. The main CPU is not as easy to view and the actual lcd is mounted above it. I am not game( to separate these .............not yet anyway). So telling the difference is not going to be easy.

Realize that utilizing the COMPLETE abilities of a cpu is also reliant on many factors and the simplicity of connection between components has to also be a consideration.

In this picture used as an EXAMPLEdisregard the black bits)
[attachment 104613 300px-Motherboard_diagram.png]




It might help to understand that the MAYBE same CPU in the Explorer generation MAY have been used differently because of a "re jigging of location" and a re-programming with a faster access to relevant components. There is no way of telling this and we are only going to ever know based on what we are told because viewing the values are not an option for us who want to assert ourselves that there IS a different CPU.

I also feel that the consolidation of the amount of components on the PCB's may also indicated that less was used to achieve more. This fact might also confirm the use of a faster cpu to achieve the result...........I think.


BUT

more so to the point ,

based on what I have tried detecting with the E-trac as compared to the Explorer's, searching in some CERTAIN soils and ground conditions......it's NOT really the same. It's SIMILAR.....in my opinion a BETTER detector in many respects. It's an easier detector to use, that I feel has somehow been modeled in many ways around...dare I say it(it's just my opinion)....the Whites MXT or it's M6.

AS IT'S BEEN SAID.....TIME WILL TELL


David E Di

 

[Rigit]

Great post Dave, thanks for being brave enough to pop the lid on your new toyand give us all an insight into the construction, lets hope that the message gets agross now its not an Explorer, well at leasr not on the inside.

 

[Hard Nosed Dave]

n/t

 

[Jim upstate NY]

could have made most of the improvements, without taking something away is all I am saying.. if they are selling it for 300 bucks more retail, then they should have added all the extras and kept the existing features as well is all I am saying.. if it turns out it isn't able to do more than the SE why did I pay 300 bucks more for it?

 

[Erik in NJ]

Can you tell who the manufacturer of the CPU is or how many pins it has? What about on one of your Explorers? If you ever get the urge to remove the boards, please put up some nice hi-res scans of them. I'm tempted to buy a broken Explorer just to take it apart!

 

[Rigit]

Quote "if it turns out it isn't able to do more than the SE why did I pay 300 bucks more for it? "


I understand how you feel, but I think its more a case of it can do a lot more than the explorer appart from giving you the FE tones scale you prefer. I will be testing it onone of my favorite farms tomorrow, this farm has produced Medieval, Saxon and Roman coins and artifacts

 

[digitrich]

Does it look like the USB port can accept new programming??? Is there any way to tell? If it could, then the machine could be updated my ML.

 

[Erik in NJ]

As it is right now, the USB port will only send/accept patterns and settings. Minelab has somehow blocked its use for code upgrades - probably to protect their code base. I think they could have protected their code and allowed for software upgrades much like the iPhone does. So I think this was a very poor design decision by Minelab. From what I understand, the prototypes could do it, but this function was removed. A real shame.

 

[digitrich]

You tell it how you see it as do I, don't let the bashers get you down, it is people like us who cause improvements to be made. Shame, that some people are afraid to say anything bad. What's going to happen? They are going to be kicked off the forum?:NO Mine Lab is going to refuse to take their money for their next machine?:NO People don't realize that their observations, both good and bad are helpful to others. Thank you for being both brave and honest with yours. Maybe some of these points will help to get us a better machine.

 

[digitrich]

I assumed they would use the USB for diagnostics and such to save shipping back and forth. Andy posted that they had a release date and some of the ideas got pushed to maybe the next model.

 

[jbow]

n/t

 

[NH Bob]

n/t

 

[Arturo de Zorro]

I remember buying my first xs at the beginning of 2000 and about 2003 I got the Explorer II and then Sept. 2006 the SE which I sold after a month, it just wouldn't lock on as good as my Exp. II, boy did I get ripped for posting that, then later they made a change on the coil because many were replacing the slimline on the SE with the old style 1050 Exp. coil and I guess that's why the SE has the Pro coil as standard now.

 

[D&P-OR]

HEY jbow-----I know what you're thinking----BUT you are going to have to wait THREE YEARS for the next one!!!!!!! MAN--I'll be OLD by then!!!

 

[Hard Nosed Dave]

I have no way of telling if the USB port can accept new programming.

I've been searching around the net for some sort of usb port probing software that might allow access or other levels of access. Haven't found one yet.

I can tell you that , on tone of the PCB's of all the Explorer's( maybe even the Quatro and maybe others) there is are 12 pin connector that might be for M/L access or programing/probing/diags. I am pretty sure this is for an ribbon rs232 serial connection. I do know that there was a propriety software package that was used by M/L to access the Explorer at this point(this is was told many years go).

David E Di

 

[Hard Nosed Dave]

My camera has died.
This is the best I can get from my scanner to show you PCB 2 out of an Ex XS with the 12 pin connector that I am talking about.
Soon as I get my camera going again I'll take a higher def pic.
.