Excal I 800 serious problems! HELP!!

[Nutriasub]

I bought a used excal last year, and in last summer it really gave me great results, even on tiny gold.
This year I had to buy a new battery, got it wet the next day and it worked great, getting a little gold again, and all the rest of a good hunt.
This morning going early to the beach I accidentally hit the coil with a street lamp, and when I got to the waterI started giving me problems, it didn't detect anything, only my big wacht. Switched to pp, and I found a couple of coins, but only copper ones (5 euro cent, and 1 euro cent) but I had to go really slow, and the noise change was almost a whisper.
I tried with my gold wedding band, and it did not make any signal, tried on PP and on disc, with the sens quite high ( on this excal I I had it on 10-11)
Also tried more threshold, and nothing.
Went back home disappointed, and tried air tests with all the euro coins, 2,1 50 cents, 20, 10, 5 a big silver ring, a wedding band, na dot did not give a signal on any of them. Tried my watch and it did sound, but almost touching the coil. And I tried on PP, disc, with sens all the way, and also on auto...
I'm lost...I have put the new batery charging and will try tomorrow with a fresh one.
Also tried wiggling the wires, disconnecting an connecting the batery.
All e help its very very welcome!!
Thanks

 

[Ron from Michigan]

Probably the impact with the street lamp damaged the coil or caused a leak my guess you will need a new coil.Good Luck Ron

 

[hershey1]

OBN has a video on changing coils I think. You can try to dry your coil out with a hairdryer. If you are successful put a couple of coats of marine epoxy on it to reseal the coil. You might take your coil loose and put on a piece of paper. Check in an hour or so and if you see a wet spot on the paper concentrate your repair to that area. Good luck.

 

[Nutriasub]

Thanks a lot for the help, I really appreciate it.
I watched the OBN video, and although it seems not so hard, I'm not that good with electronics, and I think I rather send it to Minelab, and they can change the coil.... I o ly hope that it's not too expensive...
I tried drying it, to see if works, but still same kind of signals
Thanks again

 

[OldBeechnut]

Your looking at a bill of about 300.oo+, if it is falsing a lot, going crazy there is a short. Water in the coil wires will cause the signal to go faint, and that is saltwater.

 

[foiled again tab hunter]

was your Excal working good in the dry sand & then went bad when you entered the water ?........If you find a crack I agree with hershey1 dry it out.....then test it to see if it works properly if not, then dry it out some more until it works right.....then use some Marine Epoxy to seal the cracks or even the whole coil top, bottom, & ears.......good luck & let us know what happens & if you send it in what Minelab found out & what was the repair cost...Tab.

 

[Nutriasub]

I had it drying all day today, tried this morning early, some more air tests, PP, seen maxed out, and when you get the coins next to the coil, I mean touching the coil, then it makes noise, if you get it about one inch away nothing. The big watch still makes noise clear.
I will have it drying tonite and I will try tomorrow morning, but it doesn't look good.
There are no cracks or crevasses on the coil, and it tried wiggling the wire, and all it's good, even with sens all the way up.
I contacted minelab Europe,and they say with shipping, Ikelite, seals, and coil, about 320

 

[Nutriasub]

Update
This morning I went to the beach to try the machine again, I was not very hopeful, but I wanted to give it a try before sending it.
Put it on PP, max sens, and here we go.
I was very surprised to find several different coins, at different depths, coins that weren't giving me any signals on the air test with the dry coil.
On the swing it was giving me the same falsing at the end of the swing, but only on the left side, and the rest of the arch was silent.
The signals were clear and well positioned, I also found pull tabs, a small key chain, and pieces of coke cans.
So what the hell is going on?i
Next time I'm going to take a wedding band on a cord and see if it will detect it...my hopes are up.
Thanks for the helps guys!

 

[foiled again tab hunter]

if your coil is 2 in off the sand then you've lost 2 inches of depth.....I also feel like you get more depth in disc than pp....hope this helps....Tab.

 

[Nutriasub]

Tab, thanks a lot, I will try that.
What do you think it's happening with the coil?
Why it only falses on the left side of the swing, and not at the other end?....

 

[foiled again tab hunter]

as far as falsing on the L/H swing not sure....do you have a lot of loose cable near the coil ?...........if so tighten it up some or bring the coil wire straight up the shaft & then wrap the excess around the shaft...I think it's in the first sticky you can see different ways hunters have done the coil wires....hope this helps some...Tab.

 

[foiled again tab hunter]

n/t

 

[Nutriasub]

Went again this morning, and with the same settings, I tried lowering the coil on the swing, and lowering the sens, but in either case it still falsed on the left of the swing, and only then.
Put it back on max sens and it detects very well, all kinds of metals and depth is very good.
Found lots of very deep cookies and tiny pieces of trash.

Switched to disc and all kinds of falsing all the time, not just on the left part of the swing. When a target is found the falsin stops, and it gives a somewhat clear signal.
I wiggle the wires on PP and no falsing occurred.
I only have 10 more days of water detecting, so I'm going to stick with PP.
Today I found a stainless ring, about 3,5

 

[Nutriasub]

Thanks to Tab I wrapped the wire coming from the coil, straight up the shaft about one foot, and MAGIC, all is stable, no noise, just clear signals!!!!
Thanks again to TAB!!!

 

[foiled again tab hunter]

n/t