Hey Gary,
I have two coils with this same problem, an 8" and a 10".
I took them, and two of the same without the problem, to a large cable manufacturer
here in my city.
The appointment I made to speak to the owner was worth my time that's for sure.
One look and he gave me the answer as to what led to this situation.
First, looking at one of the bad cables he asked, "what environment is this exposed to?".
I answer, "sun, wind, salt water, sand, etc.", he laughed........
Then he spilled the info.
He said, "see this outer insulation here on the cables that don't have a problem?"
"This is a Urethane outer", "see this one that has broken down?", "it's PVC"....
"PVC can't endure a salt water environment, to make matters worse this PVC outer
doesn't contain the UV additive to protect it from the sun."
We back and forth a bit about how the manufacturer didn't stand behind the product
and replace the units that were obviously the result of a bad batch.
Then he asked me, "Do you know what happened here?"
I told him I had my suspicions.
It went like this he says, "Someone in purchasing contacted a cable supplier to purchase cable,
either the supplier was out of the cable the purchasing agent asked for, or the subject came up
of a cable that is the "Equivalent" at less cost for some other reason".
"Purchasing agents aren't engineers they are only concerned with cost."
"No one on the manufacturing floor said anything when the cable with the shiny outer showed up,
or if they did ask about the change they were told "That cable is the
equivalent".
Regardless, the cable was used to produce a finished product that later failed.
"These two cables "are equivalent", in every specification, the wire size, amount of wires,
current flow, maximum voltage, etc."
"But, they are only equivalent in an "indoor application", they are not equal in regards to the
environment they can withstand."
He goes on to say, "We make cable for the petroleum industry for use on their oil drilling platforms"
"All of it has a Urethane outer with the UV additive"
Guys, it took me two weeks to get an appointment to speak to this man, I think they may have done
a background check on me.
The place was beautiful, pictures of military and civilian aircraft, and several of the space shuttle
were hung on the walls of the lobby.
I was walked back to a conference room, all along the way,...... the place looked like CSI Miami.
all the walls and doors were thick clear Plexiglas.
This company makes some cable that is not available to the civilian market, government only.
I would say this guy hit the nail right on the head.
I suspected the same scenario he laid out as too how this cable came to be used in production.
So there you have it.
These are the 10" coils I showed him........
Take note:
The PVC outer is shiny
The Urethane outer is dull
Minelab stuck it to their customers, they saved some money on cable, and sold two coils
to a good many people who should have been good to go buying one.
