Headphone Jack replacement/Plus some finds

[Don in SJ]

For about a year I have been putting up with intermittent cutout of my headphones and also when that happened the XS speaker would sound off plus my headphones at times, Well, after my last hunt on Saturday I finally decided it was time to open up my 8+ year old XS and fix the problem. Went to Radio Shack this morning and bought two new 1/8" plugs, thought about converting to 1/4" but heck, my NDT's have two cables with 1/8" plug so why change after 8 years. The removal was only made hard by Minelab holding in the 1/8" plug by filling the space with hot glue, so I had to use the wife's hair dryer to melt the hot glue, pull out the old jack and wires and then clean up and re solder the new on on and than hot glued the new one in position.

Now have a sweet working XS again..............

The XS still running smoothly since Dec 2000, no complaints for sure as far as the electronics go, never has broken electronically (knockin on wood)...

Here are finds from a hunt last week, the jews harp is only my second one found and the cuff links were on my wish list for awhile, TALLYO

Don

 

[Chris(SoCenWI)]

Hey Don,

The 1/8 plug on my XS didn't make through the first few months of detecting. Too suseptable to bumps and bangs. I replaced mine with a 1/4 socket that hung out of the hole for the 1/8 jack. Worked just fine for many years. I sent my baby to Las Vegas last winter and they upgraded everything, including a new housing with the 1/4 jack. They replaced quite a bit of other stuff; dang near got a new detector out of the deal for a very reasonable price.

Hope with Sandy and Dick no longer there Minelab will continue the excellent service.

Chris

That hot glue method of holding components is pretty weak IMO. I haven';t popped the hood on my baby since it came back to see if they did the same.

 

[Don in SJ]

Chris, I see no reason why the plug I installed will not function properly for most likely as long as I will still use the XS, and if it does fail, which I don't know why it would, the other one did not fail, it wore out from 8 years of a lot of installing and removing the headphone plug. I think for an hour of work and less than $4 part, I can deal with that. The hot glue does hold the assembly very tight and,waterproofs the wires and solder joints at the same time. (By the way there is Hot Glue also on the circuit boards in the main unit)

I expect this plug to most likely outlast the electronics on the XS and whenever that day comes, I will be in the market for a hardly used XSII, SE, or maybe by then a used Etrac. I know an overhaul on my unit would not be too cheap, and surely could find a used one much newer for about the same cost.

I used the Sunray Stand for the first 5 years of having the XS, but the wire on that on eventually shorted out inside the plastic area and I stopped using it, and found the XS much easier for me swing without the adapter rubbing against the body as I switched arms while on the fly. I swing equally with both arms and that is a lot of switching. I also put the PVC arm cuff on mine about 6 years ago and never looked back!

This detector has been very good to me and I have used and abused it for over 8 years now in almost exclusive woods hunting, been through several coils from the hard working but the electronics on this detector have been flawless for all these years.

Now to work on the ratsafrats upper camloc that is not worth a darn, and never has been............

Don

 

[jeff & Maria]

n/t

 

[Chris(SoCenWI)]

I think Minelab upgraded me to the 1/4 jack for $10 or so. Basically they replaced the entire plastic housing, one of the circuit boards; can't remember what else but for a very reasonable price $50 or so.

The problem I had with the 1/8 is that it was pretty delicate. Didn't take too much of a bump to break it. But if yours has made it that many years you must have an ingrained sense on watching out and not bumping the plug, kind of like listeniing to the explorer song.


Chris

 

[BlackX]

Running fox on those cuffs, Don?

 

[Don in SJ]

A photo of identical cufflinks are in Warren Tice's "Dating Buttons" book, listing 1790-1820 for the era, Running Fox with the word TALLYO above it.

Don

 

[mattockman]

It's good to see some old finds again, I miss your posts.....here comes more snow though....till spring....tallyo!