Battery Seals

[surfman]

Which ones are the updated ones? I have a new pack of the red seal set.

 

[wvrick]

The red ones are the old pre-2016 seal.

 

[stateguyt]

Gray is the current color

 

[Ben Town]

Use a little silicon grease if your water hunting , can’t hurt
Ben

 

[LawrencetheMDer]

Here in Florida we have grains of sand the size of atoms. It will float in the air with a little breeze. In water, the micro-sand will engulf you and your machine. It will stick to just about anything and especially anything sticky. So if you use silicone, Vaseline, whatever, be sure that none of it is on the outside of the unit; otherwise, when you go to recharge the battery micro-sand will be everywhere, and often a vacuum cleaner can't touch it. Also, double-check the USB connector cap, clean and tighten. Micro-sand lives here as well.

 

[Jason in Enid]

And if you put silicone (or anything else) on the o-ring, you MUST take it out, wash with soap and water, then use a Q-tip to clean out the seating channel EVERY TIME you charge or change the battery. If you dont, you will get sand and other debris sticking to it and compromising the seal.

This style of O-ring doesnt require lubrication and you do more harm than good by adding it.

 

[Ben Town]

That’s good to know that the new seals need no silicon help.
BT

 

[Jason in Enid]

That’s good to know that the new seals need no silicon help.
BT

The old one didnt either. Theres a lot of confusion about using silicone (or any grease) on o-rings because some applications require it, others don't. When you have a container that seals by one part sliding inside another and it has an O-ring in a groove (think of the ring on a car's engine piston) THAT design needs lubrication to prevent the o-ring from getting hung up and rolling out of its ring seat. Then you have the flat face-to-face seal like in the CTX where on surface simply smashes flat the o-ring against the opposite side.

If this were a strictly liquid situation it wouldn't matter if you put a grease on the o-ring as it serves no function. Once you put it into an environment of sand and shells, and plant matter and hair and everything else you encounter in beach locations, that grease traps any foreign matter that touches it. It doesn't take very much of that debris to compromise the sealing surface. It only takes a few drops of seawater getting inside the battery compartment to short and corrode everything to crap. You may not even notice the problem, but only days later when you go to charge the battery pod that all the contacts are now corroded green junk and battery no longer works or charges.

This is why a lot of in-water hunters went to a slightly thicker o-ring. A little more compression gives more safety, but you can't go too far or youll snap the plastic latches.

 

[PryorCreekJoe]

Also the gray seal/o-ring has a flat side and a round side. Make sure that you seat the flat side to the machine and the round side to the battery. And as several have said, use a q-tip to clean out the grooves after removing the o-ring(after EACH use) You just can NOT be to careful when you pull the battery to recharge it. Water hunting (especially SALT water/sand) takes a completely different mind set than dirt hunting where it comes to maintenance of the machine. The salt and sand combo will seize the shafts and contaminate the whole detector if you are not careful.

 

[mackoutback]

Been following this topic and still a little confused. I have a 3030 with a Red seal fitted , can I replace it with a new Grey seal or do I need to replace as a complete modified battery kit?
Cheers Bob.

 

[Jason in Enid]

Been following this topic and still a little confused. I have a 3030 with a Red seal fitted , can I replace it with a new Grey seal or do I need to replace as a complete modified battery kit?
Cheers Bob.

You can replace it with the new grey seal, no problems!

 

[mackoutback]

Thanks Jason