Etrac Help Needed

[scott2433]

Hello Guys, I was wondering if someone could lend a hand. I bought a used etrac on the boards here and when it arrived and did not work. When I connected the coil, tuned it on and did a noise cancel then scanned a silver quarter I received no signal. I sent it in under warranty (fortunately it still has warranty left) and I received it back today with a note saying "Main PCB replaced, tested and works perfectly". I attached the coil, noise canceled, scanned a silver quarter and still have no signal. I performed a "Master Reset" to assure no setting were off....still nothing. I checked to assure that the coil connector was fully inserted....still nothing.

I am really disappointed on multiple fronts. I am disappointed that a member here would sell a detector that didn't work and more so disappointed that Minelab has had my detector for over a week, sent it back for a long holiday weekend and now I can't use it. Further, I am now looking at another couple of weeks before I can use it while it travels back to Florida. In Minelab's defense, they were great to deal with and paid for shipping so I really appreciate that.

A couple questions:

1. Does anyone have any thoughts on anything that i might have done wrong in testing>

2. What should I expect from Minelab now that I have to send it in yet again?

Thanks for your help/opinions.

 

[khouse]

It is possible that the board and the coil were bad at the same time? I wonder if your volume is all the way down?

 

[stasys]

Looks like you do something wrong, maybe your headphone jack inserted half way and you cant hear anything from detector? Can you see anything on screen?

 

[squirrel1]

When turned on, you do have a display don't you? Assuming you do. When you scan the quarter what does the screen tell you?? If the screen is seeing quarter consider checking your audio settings.

 

[88junior]

If your using headphones flip the mono/stereo switch on them!

 

[Big Boys Hobbies]

Some great advice to try here! Be sure you get a screen and what is it doing? Try with and without head phones. I have seen speaker go out. Holler if you don't get it.

 

[scott2433]

Thanks for the comments guys, I should have included more info.

1. The screen appears normal and I have a threshold.
2. I was not using headphones but could hear random tones.
3. When scanning a quarter the screen there is no tone and the display bounces from 10-26 to 13-01.
4. One note: I tried switching coils several times and got tired of fishing the wire up the shaft so I just hooked the coil wire to the control box and the smallest movement at the connection between the coil and the box causes a lot of random tones.
5. When I sent it in I said that I suspected the pro coil to be bad since my 8" coil seemed to work okay. Now that it is "fixed" even my 8" coil doesn't work. lol

Thanks everyone and I apologize for not including more info initially.

Scott

 

[Goes4ever]

Well it appears they did not get it fixed, hopefully they can get it figured out 4 you soon

 

[MickTwin]

Perhaps the socket underneath the Control Box is loose or defective (where the coil cable connector gets inserted)?

 

[scott2433]

Thanks everyone for your replies, it does appear that it might be the socket where the coil attaches but I would have hoped they would have caught that during troubleshooting, Looks like I get to spend another week without it.

 

[squirrel1]

Sorry to hear the bad news, especially on a long holiday weekend. One thing I'm always careful with is to hold the ring and plug in the coil. I try not to let the cable leading back into the machine twist. If you haven't sent the machine in yet there is one more thing you can try for a hail mary fix. Try putting a little rubbing alcohol just a few drops down in the connector and let dry 10 minutes and try your machine and see if it works. There could be some dirt or corrosion inside the connector. It don't take much to make a machine act up.