E Trac will not turn on:rant:

[DIGGER-SEAN-N-VA]

Hey diggers,
It finally happened to me, my machine will will not turn on I tried everything I could think of. Remove the battery, charged the battery, unplugged the coil, checked the voltage on the battery...everything! All it does when I press the power button is make a click/pop speaker noise. The machine is approx 2.5 years old. I bought it from Big Boys, I am not sure what to do or where to send it?
Any help would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance
Sean

 

[sprchng]

Try applying and maintaining a little firm pressure on the rubber cap that covers the end of the battery while turning it on. Could be the old cruddy battery contacts thing again. If it works you may have to polish the contact end of the battery and do some creative contact spring stretching to fix it.

 

[DIGGER-SEAN-N-VA]

I did apply pressure to the battery when trouble shooting and no luck there. I will try to see how clean the contacts are tomorrow.
Thanks

 

[squirrel1]

Do you have the regular battery holder??? If so fill with fresh batteries and try. This will eliminate a lot of things real fast.

 

[mike4663]

Mine did just what you say yours is doing, sent it to Minelab in Chicago. On mine it was the keypad and the assy/module, its been good since it was repaired.

 

[DIGGER-SEAN-N-VA]

Was it under warranty or did you have to pay? If you did pay, how much did it cost? [pre]

 

[mike4663]

No warranty, but they did not charge me either. Paper work sent with the repair had $41 for the face plate/ buttons but no amount on the assy/module. When mine went out I was in a dark area and went to turn it on pushing the on button followed quickly with the back light button(checking how much battery I had) before the detector was done going through its start up process and I herd this is the reason for the failure.

 

[DIGGER-SEAN-N-VA]

Update, after traveling 1.5 hours my machine decide to turn on when I got home This is differently an intermittent issue. Bart from Big Boys Hobbies emailed me and suggested the same thing, send it to Minelab for repair. This will happen Monday. Thanks to everyone's posts, I will update you once Minelab identifies the issue.
I was so upset about the my power problem I forgot to post my Baber dime I scored just before the machine started acting up. Fresh plowed corn field about 6" deep, just getting starting and had to stop and go get some bug spray, the rest is history. I will return once my machine is fixed.
Thanks to all

 

[ironsight]

If the contacts are clean and their springs are not sprung, try giving the control box a good slap.

This has happened to my eTRAC several times over the years, a good slap to the control box always fixed it.

Being an intermittent issue, there's a chance Minelab will return it with no problem found.
What could be happening, there are a ton of electrical connectors inside that control box.... a potential for intermittent problems especially with cheap connectors.
If Minelab can re-produce the problem, i guarantee the first thing they will do is re-seat the connectors.

 

[DIGGER-SEAN-N-VA]

Ok all, Minelab issued me an RMA # and had me send my machine to Kellyco for repairs. I made sure to double wrap it in bubble wrap and secure in a tight fitting box. I shipped it out and it arrived there the week before last. I have not received a phone call or an email. I come home this afternoon and there is a box on my porch. To my surprise, my Etrac is back home already! When I picked the box that they packed it in up, I noticed that it was packed very loose. When I opened it, my machine was surrounded by loose brown paper? To say the least, I was a little disappointed with the amount of effort placed on protecting my $1500.00 machine. Anyway "it gets better" I press the power button and "Click/Pop" nothing I cannot tell if they even opened the control up? I removed all the brown paper and the only thing in the box was a Minelab customer satisfaction survey.!nothing else. I called Kellyco but of coarse it was after 5pm and service had left for the day. Called Minelab and they took my name and RMA # and said someone would call me tomorrow. This #>%€ sucks ass. What do you guys think? I hate going without my Etrac!

 

[ironsight]

"What do you guys think?"

I'd be PO'd!

My guess and i'd hope its the case, they couldn't reproduce the problem. Trust me, i know how some technicians work!

Have you tried slapping that control box?

Sending a unit for repair to a 'store' that sells metal detectors for a living IMO is not the right place to have it fixed.
If the slap to the control box don't work, i would demand from Minelab to send it to Minelab's repair center in Illinois.

Anyhow, let us know what Kellyco says.

 

[Jeff in Pa]

I know someone who had the same problems, he "slapped" the side of the control box.. WaLa... it turned on and never had the issue again!!

One of those "Strange but true" stories.

 

[DIGGER-SEAN-N-VA]

I Spoke with the KellyCo Tech today, he was stunned when i told him that it was not working. He assured me that he was certain that he had fixed the issue. Anyways, very nice guy, sincerely concerned and he emailed me postage to ship the machine back on KellyCo's dime this time. That made me feel better. He said he would replace the face plate and wire harness and that should do it....oh yea he replaced the board the 1st time there, but that must not have been it? It is killing me not to have my baby. Lots of construction going on in my neck of the woods. I had to blow the dust off the AT Pro last weekend:Garrett: Well, I will ship it out tomorrow and see what happens. Will put an update out as soon as I have one.
HH Sean

 

[DIGGER-SEAN-N-VA]

My machine is back from Kelly Co. And works like new. They had to replace the face plate. That was the isssue. Just wanted to give you all an update.
HH
Sean

 

[EtracTom-AdirondacksNY]

Good deal, it works well now good for it. Now go find some more of those barbers.