ET and Rain.

[RacerX]

It's been raining like cats and dogs here and I love hunting parks in the rain (no people). Anyway, I did a search here on the ET forum and it seems the general consensus is the ET is sensative to moisture from ordinary rain (read old posts about ziploc bags and saran wrap etc).

I decided to get it from the horses mouth and the following is the reply directly from ML after I asked if I could use my ET in the rain.


"Hello Richard,


The great thing is that the answer is YES you can! It is water resistant not water proof so don

 

[bcoop]

Thats good to know

Thanks
BCOOP

 

[Jason in Enid]

That's really good news. Thanks.

 

[dirt doctor]

I put my SE thru 3 hrs. of mud , rain and hail the other day with one of those Minelab environmental covers and she held up just fine . I couldn't read the ID as the clear plastic cover had a bit of condensation on the inner part and at times looked like I poured chocolate milk on the outer part but all I really needed was the tones anyway .I didn't find anything but clad and junk but it was good to be able to get out and hunt .

H H ,
George

 

[Jesse W. McComas]

I Used mine Last march at the Blue & Gray hunt where it rained all three days. I did not even have the rain cover on. Water was dripping of the machine as well as myself. This machine never failed to work and lasted all day in the rain for the three days I was there. I found a lot of nice relics and two coins of note. An 1862 Gold Dollar Coin, & a 1876-CC Seated Liberty Quarter with a hole in it. This machine is one tough piece of equipment, Period! HH...Jesse.

 

[ziphius]

What did you find dirt doctor? You gonna post it on Kinzli? By the way, the rumors are true......I bought an e-Trac, first coin I dug was a 1909 wheatie!

 

[E-Trac-Ohio]

IMPORTANT - Be sure not to lift the coil end of the detector up in the air - higher than the control box when it's wet !
Water can run down the inside of the leg and get in the control box - game over !
I also hang my machine from the ceiling ( in a coil down hill position) when it has water, snow or ice on it - to make sure no moisture gets into the control box.

HH --- Mark

 

[dirt doctor]

Honest Jim just clad and tabs . My last and only silver scored in 2010 was 64D quarter on the 5th . Haven't been getting out to any good new spots but I plan to and soon .
Congrats on your new E-trac and a nice first find . I will be looking forward to seeing your future posts

H H ,
George

 

[osok43]

Thanks Racerx for taking the time to do that.
I'm in Ca. and the rain has kept me in for days. Now I have no excuse. lol.

 

[grumpyolman]

I hope all that is accurate. I sometimes see over 2 inches of rain in 24 hours. I'd love to put on rain gear and take it out, but I am afraid that much water falling from the clouds is gonna kill the ET. Help me and show me that I am paranoid. Jim

 

[kered]

I have been out in some real heavy rain and i mean heavy, me wet to the skin even with waterproofs on and my etrac(without the sunray probe) never missed a beat, it also gets hosed down every outing in the showers that are installed on most beaches. no problems so far. What i do do is take off the cover when i get to the car so any moisture can escape instead of condensing on the inside

 

[jbow]

I wouldn't worry about the pod, however the pod cover for the Explorer SE will fit it. I once fixed a plastic water bottle to cover the headphone jack. You just cut the top off the bottle and put a slit in it far enough so that it will slide all the way on to the battery holder, or almost all the way, cut a small hole in the bottom for the headphone cable/plug to fit through and strap it on with a couple of velcro ties. You can add a little tape or cling wrap around where the cable goes in.

Julien

 

[RacerX]

however the pod cover for the Explorer SE will fit it.

Is the ET "pod" slightly taller than the SE? My cover seems to fit okay but the black part that is intended to come down onto the foam grip rides a little high and partially covers the lower control bottons, I've seen the cover on the SE and it doesn't do that, so I'm wondering if the ET is taller or if I happened to get a cover that was cut slightly small.

 

[Ray-Mo.]

n/t

 

[mikeeatsbugs]

i hate to admit this, but im a "LETS SEE HOW THIS WORKS!" kind of guy. so... i took my e-trac completely apart. the x-1 probe seems to be sealed up pretty good from inside the box so no real worries there. and at the base of the control box, ther is a large rubber grommet around the wires that come out of it, and pretty much seals it from water intruding by coming up the shaft. in my opinion, the seams in the control box itself would be the only place water could get in, but you would probably have to drown it pretty good. (almost on purpose!) now the headfone jack and batteries arnt sealed up all that good so id try to keep them out of the weather.


P.S. ---i aint an e-trac expert, but i did stay at a holiday inn express!

 

[kered]

I wouldn't worry about the pod, however the pod cover for the Explorer SE will fit it. I once fixed a plastic water bottle to cover the headphone jack. You just cut the top off the bottle and put a slit in it far enough so that it will slide all the way on to the battery holder, or almost all the way, cut a small hole in the bottom for the headphone cable/plug to fit through and strap it on with a couple of velcro ties. You can add a little tape or cling wrap around where the cable goes in.

Julien

I do the same on the Etrac but mine is held in place by the arm rest, slacken the screw, pass the cut bottle 1/2" under the rear of the rest and then tighten down again, makes things much easier when changing batteries than pull ties

 

[digitrich]

water will run down into the control housing...I put a piece of rag in the hollow of the upper shaft when I go into the surf so water won't run up the shaft. I change it every trip so it doesn't stay damp and let moisture rise up into the housing causing condensation either.

 

[grumpyolman]

After reading this thread several times, and being a suspicious person, I too called Minelab and asked about the relative water resistance to the machine. In an earlier post I said we sometime get 21/2" of rain in 24 hours. That's not monsoon but close.

Minelab returned my call and told me IF I USED THE COVER, not to worry, and if I didn't have one I could call and order one. I don't like that cover. In fact I really dislike it to the point I'd almost not rather hunt that hunt with that darn thing on. So my interpretation at this point is don't hit the heavy rain unless you have a cover of some type installed.

Do appreciate the post about exploring the Sunray X-1 and how water tight it might be.

Really!! Has anyone regularly used this machine in a rain environment without some kind of cover? If they have and it didn't cause damage, I might risk the investment and hunt with no cover. My old Cz7A Pro was stated to be highly rain proof and I hunted with it without a cover all the time with no problem. Jim

 

[mikeeatsbugs]

i use mine alot in the rain without a cover and havent had any problems. i not as careful as most and tend to roughhouse things abit, and id say minelab builds one tough machine.