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GT repair is expensive!!!!!

B

badarse

Active member
Wow I could not believe my ears. Sent my GT into Kellyco back in September for repair. Unit would turn on but no threshold and coil was dead. I told them no rush, check it out when you can. So when they had a spare moment they would do exactly that. Curious as to what was going on after all these months, I called the other day and was told I need a new mother board and a new control board so basically a new GT box. I was quoted 715.00 plus shipping. Last time I had a mother board changed it was closer to $200.00. Now it's $585.00 Also in the past there was no charge for checking it out, not so anymore. Was about $50.00 to get it back. Well no sense having it returned as it was little more then a boat anchor at this point so I told them to keep it. I figured maybe they could use some parts to help someone else out. So take good care of your GT.

Bob
 
A. Codan (Minelab's parent is starving for cashflow) - they are publicly traded company so this information is publicly available.

B. Sale of spare parts has always been a profit center for Minelab – not a customer service.

C. "Zombie" detectors are the enemy of cash flow – the sooner they really die the sooner a new detector will be sold.

"A" above is a fact - B. and C. are my opinions only.
 
You did the right thing in my book. Way over priced. You can find an entire used unit for that price by watching the forums.
 
Sorry for your gts demise... any idea what caused issue? Perhaps you should have had them ship it back to you in case you buy a replacement, that way you would already own some spare parts...
 
No clue. Was working fine then pffffftttt. I'm thinking because the damage was to both boards something shorted out but that's just a guess.
 
They charge $37.50 to diagnose a detector and that cost applies towards the repair if the customer decides to get it fixed.....

Motherboards are expensive, example a new motherboard for Excal is $750... When I sent my excal in 7 years ago to minelab for repair work, they still charged a diagnose fee to find the problem then but since I chose to get it repaired that fee was applied to the repair and so I was not billed for it.
 
lytle78 said:
A. Codan (Minelab's parent is starving for cashflow) - they are publicly traded company so this information is publicly available.

B. Sale of spare parts has always been a profit center for Minelab – not a customer service.

C. "Zombie" detectors are the enemy of cash flow – the sooner they really die the sooner a new detector will be sold.

"A" above is a fact - B. and C. are my opinions only.
Click to expand...

They try hard to repair the detectors, they still work on the old sword excals and they haven't been supported by minelab for years. If you sent one to Chicago repair center when it was open they would tell you they aren't supported and can't be repaired, the repair center at Kellyco will still try to repair them. Once the motherboard goes then your talking some money to repair....
 
Unlike the Xcal they have also been discontinued...... i suspect part shortages on the older ones will soon be felt, especially if ML wont make an attempt on the older models. You do get a warranty after repair...... but as you can see we are now a throw away nation, cost more to fix stuff than replace it.

Dew
 
Bob,

My condolences to your dearly department Sov GT.

That repair / replacement price is enough to give one hemorrhoids. I am curious as to how old your machine is / was before it departed. I feel if the electronics in a detector hasn't malfunctioned / died in the first few (3-5) years, then the electronics will have a good long life. At least that is my theory.
 
I'm guessing quite old as Kellyco said it was one of the earliest units they've worked on. Not sure when the first GT's were released but this one was probably among them.

Bob
 
The GT is the last model Sovereign that were made, so it is the newest Sovereign and would have though that parts would be no problem for these.
I think the problem we are seeing with a lot of different products is no one is actually can diagnose and repair them, just putting new board in as no one wants to spend the time to see what the actual problem is. Another thing we are seeing is the IC chips have the number ground off so a repairman do not know which IC does what. and I know many companies will not send or post the schematic on them as this will give away the secrets on how they work so competitors can copy them. Now this leaves only the actual Minelab repairmen and designers that work on them as they know what everything does and how they work. Now these guys have to make money like everyone else does and some of these repairs are quick while some take days to trace the problem down, so the repair cost can get really high if you know what I mean. Now they have to warranty them too and if they fix a problem and what cause it does it again then it is back to square one.
What is happening is when like the GT was made Minelab had so many extra circuit boards made that were never put in and these are being used to repair those that the technicians don't want to send the time or cant spend the time figuring out what the problem is, so they just put a new board in and we know that is where most of the cost is as the rest of the detector don't cost that much to make. They just figured on yours, if they replace both board they will have it fixed, but will they as it maybe a simple fix like a broken wire so it is not getting any power which they will repair when the 2 boards didn't fix the problem.



I used to repair TV until the new digitalis one came out as this is micro circuity and cost more to get the tools to work on them then you could ever collect enough to come out on the deal from what new ones cost. When I was repairing the reg TV I got in many that were told they cost more then what they are worth, but were simple fixes like bad connection circuit boards I just had to re solder and worked like new. The reason they were told it was not worth fixing as the shops didn't want to spend the time finding the problem. Several the back were not even taken off or you think they would see the fuse was blown as most from use the fuse get weak and they are fuse so very close to the start up AMP they will blow when the fuse get slightly weak.

Anyway the problem is most things are throwaway as the labor cost is much too much so they make the product so when it goes bad to throw it away and not repair it. Some things there are parts for them for maybe a year or 2 then parts are not available.This is real true to detectors and IC chips as they will order like 4000 and when they run out, they are out and have to order 4000 again in order for them to be made which is not feasible as by then there is a new model out that don't use that chip, but a different one.

Time for me to get off my soap box, but I just had to say my 2 cent worth.


Rick
 
So so true Rick. Thank you for your thoughts. Hopefully they are working on a new generation Sovereign. :)
 
Rick(ND) said:
The GT is the last model Sovereign that were made, so it is the newest Sovereign and would have though that parts would be no problem for these.
I think the problem we are seeing with a lot of different products is no one is actually can diagnose and repair them, just putting new board in as no one wants to spend the time to see what the actual problem is. Another thing we are seeing is the IC chips have the number ground off so a repairman do not know which IC does what. and I know many companies will not send or post the schematic on them as this will give away the secrets on how they work so competitors can copy them. Now this leaves only the actual Minelab repairmen and designers that work on them as they know what everything does and how they work. Now these guys have to make money like everyone else does and some of these repairs are quick while some take days to trace the problem down, so the repair cost can get really high if you know what I mean. Now they have to warranty them too and if they fix a problem and what cause it does it again then it is back to square one.
What is happening is when like the GT was made Minelab had so many extra circuit boards made that were never put in and these are being used to repair those that the technicians don't want to send the time or cant spend the time figuring out what the problem is, so they just put a new board in and we know that is where most of the cost is as the rest of the detector don't cost that much to make. They just figured on yours, if they replace both board they will have it fixed, but will they as it maybe a simple fix like a broken wire so it is not getting any power which they will repair when the 2 boards didn't fix the problem.



I used to repair TV until the new digitalis one came out as this is micro circuity and cost more to get the tools to work on them then you could ever collect enough to come out on the deal from what new ones cost. When I was repairing the reg TV I got in many that were told they cost more then what they are worth, but were simple fixes like bad connection circuit boards I just had to re solder and worked like new. The reason they were told it was not worth fixing as the shops didn't want to spend the time finding the problem. Several the back were not even taken off or you think they would see the fuse was blown as most from use the fuse get weak and they are fuse so very close to the start up AMP they will blow when the fuse get slightly weak.

Anyway the problem is most things are throwaway as the labor cost is much too much so they make the product so when it goes bad to throw it away and not repair it. Some things there are parts for them for maybe a year or 2 then parts are not available.This is real true to detectors and IC chips as they will order like 4000 and when they run out, they are out and have to order 4000 again in order for them to be made which is not feasible as by then there is a new model out that don't use that chip, but a different one.

Time for me to get off my soap box, but I just had to say my 2 cent worth.


Rick
Click to expand...

Rick you are spot on. The labor charge is $75 an hour, how many hours do you work on something trying to find the issue before the labor cost becomes prohibitive.? I talked to tech, they had over 3 hours working on the Sov GT and the only way they could get it to run properly was by replacing both motherboard and controller board, they tried just a new motherboard, it wouldn't run correctly, then they tried the controller board it still wouldn't run correctly, replace both boards and it ran fine..
 
Wow... $715? That's crazy. You pick up a used for for less.

That being said, Kellyco has fixed and modified my two quite reasonably.
 
Rick(ND) said:
The GT is the last model Sovereign that were made, so it is the newest Sovereign and would have though that parts would be no problem for these.
I think the problem we are seeing with a lot of different products is no one is actually can diagnose and repair them, just putting new board in as no one wants to spend the time to see what the actual problem is. Another thing we are seeing is the IC chips have the number ground off so a repairman do not know which IC does what. and I know many companies will not send or post the schematic on them as this will give away the secrets on how they work so competitors can copy them. Now this leaves only the actual Minelab repairmen and designers that work on them as they know what everything does and how they work. Now these guys have to make money like everyone else does and some of these repairs are quick while some take days to trace the problem down, so the repair cost can get really high if you know what I mean. Now they have to warranty them too and if they fix a problem and what cause it does it again then it is back to square one.
What is happening is when like the GT was made Minelab had so many extra circuit boards made that were never put in and these are being used to repair those that the technicians don't want to send the time or cant spend the time figuring out what the problem is, so they just put a new board in and we know that is where most of the cost is as the rest of the detector don't cost that much to make. They just figured on yours, if they replace both board they will have it fixed, but will they as it maybe a simple fix like a broken wire so it is not getting any power which they will repair when the 2 boards didn't fix the problem.



I used to repair TV until the new digitalis one came out as this is micro circuity and cost more to get the tools to work on them then you could ever collect enough to come out on the deal from what new ones cost. When I was repairing the reg TV I got in many that were told they cost more then what they are worth, but were simple fixes like bad connection circuit boards I just had to re solder and worked like new. The reason they were told it was not worth fixing as the shops didn't want to spend the time finding the problem. Several the back were not even taken off or you think they would see the fuse was blown as most from use the fuse get weak and they are fuse so very close to the start up AMP they will blow when the fuse get slightly weak.

Anyway the problem is most things are throwaway as the labor cost is much too much so they make the product so when it goes bad to throw it away and not repair it. Some things there are parts for them for maybe a year or 2 then parts are not available.This is real true to detectors and IC chips as they will order like 4000 and when they run out, they are out and have to order 4000 again in order for them to be made which is not feasible as by then there is a new model out that don't use that chip, but a different one.

Time for me to get off my soap box, but I just had to say my 2 cent worth.


Rick
Click to expand...
Sov GT will be supported by Minelab at least till 2020....
 
There seem to be three issues here:

1. It is often impractical to repair a detector without board-level replacement

2. It is not practical to have unlimited quantities of replacement boards in stock for decades

3. While companies like Whites and other US companies charge very reasonable prices for replaceent parts including whole boards, ML's spare and replacement prices,have always been extremely high.
 
4. Minelab released the CTX as a multi replacement model. Good-bye to the Explorer and Sovereign and probably some day the Safari and E Trac. The CTX is indeed a great detector, but for us Sovereign guys it just can't replace what we love. We are a small group of loyal users watching the extinction of something future generations will never understand.
 
I wonder if you could still get it back - there are guys with electronics background like me who would like to take a look at it. Often it takes a special set of skills to fix something like this - no schematics and just recognition of a few of the parts etc. i'd buy this off of you just for the chance of trying to fix it. See enough of these and you get spare parts, see failure trends, at least isolate issues to one of several boards etc.Please guys put your dead detectors up for sale - don't trash them or give them to Minelab. I couldnt offer much because I would likely be spending hours trying to conceptualize the desiign and then check common fault areas like power supplies/regulators,capacitors, xtals, traces...
Send me a PM if you have something of interest and no other options.
 
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