Excalibur Coil Change Questions

[MHirschmann]

Hi Guys,

I would appreciate any information on changing coils on an Excal.

I am thinking about getting some "B-u-l-g-i-n" waterproof connectors so that I can swap between a 15" WOT and the stock coils. One question I have is, will I lose noticeable performance by putting a connector in-line. I know with many other electronics, you can expect to lose 20% of performance each time you splice in a connector. For those that have put a connector in-line, could you please post which ones your used?

I would greatly appreciate pics or tips/tricks on the best way to get a WOT coil onto one of my excals. If a straight solder of the wires onto the board is the way to go then I will do that.

I would also appreciate if someone could post up a "how-to" with pics walking us through a coil change as I have not found a clear (idiot-proof) guide to getting a WOT onto an Excal.

Thank you in advance for any and all help, I GREATLY appreciate it. -Marc

 

[Critterhunter]

You are not going to lose one dime worth of performance by splicing in a coil connector, or for that matter even if you lengthened a coil cable (within reason). As far as the plugs, how to wire them, and color codes along with WOT color code info/etc...ALL the info you'll ever need is in the Sovereing/Excalibur forum in the coil sticky. Keep scrolling through the pages, but around page 5 or 6 or so maybe, you'll start to find a bunch of threads on various Excalibur coil change info with various coils, including the WOT, and including hardwiring to the circuit board, cable splicing, or using a waterproof plug. Those stickys in that forum are there for a reason.

 

[MHirschmann]

Thanks Critter, I really appreciate it and I didn't know that info was in the sticky.

 

[OldBeechnut]

Hey Marc, I used the Bulgin Mini's, and had a problem with them leaking. I do know they have a few other types and read some work and others don't. It is nice to be able to switch out the coils for different locations but if you hunt in the water I would highly recomment going the hard wire route to the board. One other option is going with the type Eric uses. From what he posted His seemed to hold up very well...let me check and see which he used.

 

[otlew]

I have to second Oldbeechnut comments. I tried the Bulgin Minis and had poor results. Maybe we just aren't assembling the things correctly, as I hear others have had better luck.

 

[OldBeechnut]

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?21,1598891,1600765#msg-1600765

 

[MHirschmann]

Thank you very much Joe, I think I will do a little more research on the mini connectors before making my decision. I would hardwire the WOT, but I like the option of switching coils easily and quickly as I am sure the WOT will come in handy, but own't be my primary hunting coil. I am not sure what I want to do at this point as I am surely not willing to go through all the effort (and expense) to get the mini connectors, just to have them leak. I would like to try to hardwire the WOT just to see how much I like it, but it seems getting the WOT on there is quite the task. I don't want to mess with my detector too much at this point as it works flawlessly. I think I will do some more research into connectors and go from there. My water season is about over here in Minnesota anyway so I am in no rush. Getting all this figured out would make for a fun winter project.

I really appreciate the help/advice and hopefully I can figure out what I want to do here sometime soon. -Marc

 

[PowerDetecting]

If you do a youtube search there is a 20 minute video by Oldbeechnut he shows you how to step by step.

*Edit Looks like beechnut has commented on this allready though