Battery question

[Ism]

Since I have upgraded to V3.0, I only had to charge the Deus once. I have gone out for about 5 hunts for a total of 10-12hrs. Most of them have been with Tx power at one (shallow jewelry hunting).
My battery indicators all register full charge. This is not normal. The coil should show that it's discharging and so should the controller. I checked the headphones and they show full charge also.
I am thinking its a V3.0 install issue and I need to reinstall.

But here's my concern....The last two times I've hunted the grass has been wet and my coil gets soaked. After about 2 hrs hunt the Deus went crazy like I was next to a powerful EMI source (2 completely different locations over 10 miles apart).
The TID displays a number in the 50-60 range and it won't go away. I cycled power but it remained the same.
I figured the battery was low and my indicator is faulty but when I perused the forum I found no reference to low battery/erratic behavior.

The post I saw was about seeing "no coil" indicator but nothing about erratic behavior preceding it. Now I'm wondering if the new replacement coil is having troubles with moisture.
I have yet to charge the coil or controller. Right now it's sitting in my house clean and dry with the power on for over 20 minutes and no erratic behavior yet.
While I am beginning the process of troubleshooting the problem, has anybody else experienced these issues with their Deus?

 

[Ism]

Shortly after I typed this, my controller indicator dropped one segment on the battery indicator. So my concern about v3.0 charge indicator glitch is no longer an issue.

 

[samandnoah]

No issues like yours, but I had noticed that -- nothing scientific or quantitative -- it feels like the battery charge is lasting longer.
Rich

 

[Ism]

Not sure if its because the detector has been on for a couple hours or because I had the coil submerged in water for about 1/2 hr.
However, while sitting in a program, without movement, it will randomly go haywire and start chattering like crazy. After about 30 seconds to a minute the erratic behavior subsides.
What occurs in the video, also can be reproduced by tapping the coil or sweeping it through the air. It seems that movement or field change (as in sweeping over the grass or through the air) will set it off.
Sent an email and video to Detector Electronics.

 

[Andy Sabisch]

Sounds like a coil issue . . . . . Detector Electronics will take care of the issue in short order

 

[Deusdigger]

No issues like yours, but I had noticed that -- nothing scientific or quantitative -- it feels like the battery charge is lasting longer.
Rich

After reading this post, I checked the battery level on all of my components and they are all at full charge. I used the detector, small coil and headphones last weekend for about 5 to 6 hours and have not charged them since. With V-2, they would not have had that much charge left in them so maybe V-3 is kinder to the batteries. If so, that

 

[Ism]

Ran the detector until the coil discharged (took about 6 hrs today). It went from full charge to zero charge in the last hour (I checked it every so often). I never saw a gradual reduction in charge on the indicator.
I recharged everything and took it out to the front yard. Swung the coil over the grass and it went crazy. Tap the coil and it goes crazy. Can't even use it.
I am a bit perturbed since the coil is a waranty replacement as of the week before last. It looked new but I'm beginning to think it's a refurb coil.
Now I have to send it back at an aditional cost of postage and insurance and be without for another week.

 

[Henrikras]

Dear Ism.... You could replace the battery by you self. See this utube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bND5Ius163o&sns=em
Its not so difficult.
If you could measure the output at your charging unit, it should Be close to 5,0 volt, just to Be safe that this unit isn't causing your battery problems.
Ps. Maybee a good idea to get one off those XP Deus Emergency Charger... (Just to Be safe out in the field in the future).
Henrik

 

[Ism]

Henrik,
I already have an emergency charger. Never needed it since I am not an all day hunter.
Contacted Detector Electronics, they confirm that its a bad coil. It's on its way back to them for warranty replacement.
They are very good at service and quick turn around, but Murphy's law is killing me!

 

[Ism]

Got my replacement coil today and paired it to the control box and headset. No problem and the detector is working as it should. I will give it a good run tomorrow morning.

The first attempt to pair the coil was unsuccessful. I can only assume the coil battery wasn't charged. The coil light was flashing very slowly and during the attempt to pair wasn't flashing at all.
So I placed it on the charger but I couldn't get it to go into charge mode. I wiped the pads with my finger to remove any build-up that might have been preventing contact but to no avail.

Upon closer examination I found that the pins are off to one side of the pads and do not touch when the clip is properly seated. The only way I could get the coil to charge was to remove the coil cover and put the clip into the proper position.
The photo was difficult to take but it gives an idea how badly misaligned the pins are.

Once again it looks as if I will have to send the unit back. This is not the fault of Detector Electronics (XP Deus authorized dealer), however it is really soaking me in postage charges.

 

[jcgam]

Do you think the problem is caused by the pins on the charger or the pads being out of place? If the pins are off then shipping the charging clip would be much cheaper.

 

[Ism]

Actually I could be wrong about the factory QC. These replacement coils are most surely refurbs. The part of the coil that houses the contact pads can be removed.
It looks like it was removed and reinstalled. It may be possible to get it misaligned by a mm or two. If you look closely you can see the repair sealant around the seam.
But that doesn't matter anymore, I got another defective replacement coil. Check out this video....It shows a completely different malfunction than the other problems I had.

[video]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxB3n2B64aU[/video]

 

[Ism]

The coil is not defective as far as operation is concerned. I got to thinking and decided to update the coil to v3.0.
That solved the reactivity problem. Now to find a way to fix the charging problem.

 

[Ism]

UPDATE:
Detector Electronics made good by sending me a charging clip and coil cover. I am very happy with their resolution to the charging alignment issue.
If there is still a misalignment, I will modify my extra clip to allow the 2mm lateral adjustment to put the pins on the pads. The coil is a new coil (confirmed by Mike).
I hope they don't think I was trying to take advantage of the series of problems, I just wanted to be where I was before I had to get warranty repairs. They went beyond my expectations.
Thank you Detector Electronics!