I got my new Excal II yesterday and charged the battery for about 15 hours, I think. Took it to the beach this morning to test it out and everything worked fine except for the threshold. It's way too loud even at the minimum setting just before clicking the unit off. It ran very stable with no falsing at all and gave good signals on targets (nothing exciting found). So I began to think about the low battery thing concerning a loud threshold. I had the detector on for about 3 1/2 hours when I decided to leave. Came home and put a tester on the battery and it read 12.8V. The instruction manual does say to give the battery an initial charge of at least 16-17 hours so now I'm wondering if I didn't charge it long enough. Does anybody know at what voltage it should start to affect the threshold? The threshold could still be adjusted but it was already too loud at bare minimum so any increase was totally unbearable. Any help would be appreciated. Thanks. --Jerry
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Help Please with new Excal II...
- Thread starter thinkin2
- Start date
Will try and answer your question, as with the new Excal II as you say the thresh-hold becomes nonadjustable and louder as the battery depletes. I find that around 12 volts and below it's time to recharge or change battery. Fully charged you should have a voltage of around 14.25 volts or around there. Make sure that the battery is making good contact from the male prongs to female, as I have found out that there are variations in dia. of holes on the batteries. I have had this problem before and it will cause problems.
It may also take a few charges of the battery to bring it up to par.
Try the two things I mention, charge your battery again for another 8-9 hours and check the contacts.
It may also take a few charges of the battery to bring it up to par.
Try the two things I mention, charge your battery again for another 8-9 hours and check the contacts.
When the battery gets low the threshold control becomes useless, niether up or down, doesn't sound right to me that the threshold is that loud from the off and that you can increase it, i just checked the battery that i'm using that is about ready to recharge but still working fine, its been off for about 24 hours and is reading 11.2v. I also have an old nicad battery(from my old 1000) with a duff cell that reads 12.8-13v when fully charged and it still lasts a good 4-5 hours, hopefully it is only the battery
I don't think it's the battery either but I talked with a nice lady at Kellyco and she suggested I turn the machine on and completely discharge the battery and then charge it back up and see if that helps. I also have a call in to Minelab and am waiting for them to get back to me. The detector works well in every other way so I want to keep it. I'll send it to Minelab if necessary. Im familiar with a low battery on my Sov GT so I would expect the Excal II to be similar to that. I think it needs some kind of adjustment or switch or something but we'll see what the battery re-charge does. Thanks again. --Jerry
If its that new Kellco should sort things out, you shouldn't have to go to the expense to send and get it returned, on the excalibur 2 you don't get the screach every 30 seconds or so when the battery is down like you do on the sovs, the threshold just starts to rise to full volume and is uncontrolable with the threashold knob (other than being able to turn it off)
Yep, I guess I really shouldn't have to start paying shipping charges and down time as soon as I open the box. If the battery re-charge thing doesn't solve the problem I'll call Kellyco back and ask for another one. It really gets frustrating to spend so much money and contiuously have to try and resolve problems like this. I must say that Kellyco has been really good when I've had a problem. I have never had to deal with Minelab before as this is the first of their detectors that I've had a problem with. Thanks for your comments. --Jerry
Ok - here is the scoop on defective products. If you used your charge card you have 60 days from the date of the statement that the charge appears on to have your problem rectified by the retailer. Metal detectors are not automobiles - if it's a bad unit within 60 days, i say get a brand new one - none of this shipping it back at your expense for repairs crap...that's just plain outrageous.
Your CC company will honor a full chargeback if you do not get a new machine or full refund without ANY additional cost to you at all.
Your CC company will honor a full chargeback if you do not get a new machine or full refund without ANY additional cost to you at all.
Okay, so I tried what the lady at Kellyco suggested with no change. Threshold is still there and what I would call loud at minimum setting and my hearing is deaf in one ear and less than great in my other ear. Could some of you Excal and Excal II users please just tell me whether any of you have experienced this? All of my detectors have always had the ability to adjust threshold down to barely audible or silent. The lady at K was trying to tell me this is normal but in fairness to her she was in Fla and not hearing what I was hearing. So, just to be completely fair, can you guys adjust your threshold down to silent? Thanks for all of the help so far. --Jerry
thinkin2 said:Okay, so I tried what the lady at Kellyco suggested with no change. Threshold is still there and what I would call loud at minimum setting and my hearing is deaf in one ear and less than great in my other ear. Could some of you Excal and Excal II users please just tell me whether any of you have experienced this? All of my detectors have always had the ability to adjust threshold down to barely audible or silent. The lady at K was trying to tell me this is normal but in fairness to her she was in Fla and not hearing what I was hearing. So, just to be completely fair, can you guys adjust your threshold down to silent? Thanks for all of the help so far. --Jerry
Jerry, First -did you check your voltage on the battery after recharging? Should have been above 14 volts.
As I said before, what your are describing is a battery problem - this may or may not be the case, could be in the detector. Do you have a friend you can barrow a battery from to test?
Yes I can adjust the thresh-hold on the Excal II down, but once mine drops below 12 volts I
Thanks, Sandpiper. Yes, I checked the voltage this morning before turning the machine on and it was over 14V. Plus, it's not that the threshold is unsteady at all, just too loud at minimum setting. I should be able to turn the control knob a little ways before the threshold sound even comes up and then be able to adjust it up or down, right? No way to do that. What do you mean by making good contact with the battery? I would assume this isn't the problem since it powers up but who knows. Also, the battery takes a charge so I think I would rule the battery out. Must be something in the control switch or somewhere in the unit, I guess. I'm sending it back Monday. Thanks for taking the time to help. Have a great weekend. --Jerry
thinkin2 said:Thanks, Sandpiper. Yes, I checked the voltage this morning before turning the machine on and it was over 14V. Plus, it's not that the threshold is unsteady at all, just too loud at minimum setting. I should be able to turn the control knob a little ways before the threshold sound even comes up and then be able to adjust it up or down, right? No way to do that. What do you mean by making good contact with the battery? I would assume this isn't the problem since it powers up but who knows. Also, the battery takes a charge so I think I would rule the battery out. Must be something in the control switch or somewhere in the unit, I guess. I'm sending it back Monday. Thanks for taking the time to help. Have a great weekend. --Jerry
Over 14 volts, great. Yes your right - with that voltage you should be able to turn over half way up before getting a tone. What I was talking about on the contacts I had one battery that had bigger holes and didn't make good contact this caused me a few problems, very unstable, falsing, you could check that, but really doesn't sound like your problem. Maybe another thing you could check to rule out the battery is to run the unit for 5 - 10 Min's. and recheck voltage. It's kind of like a car battery you may be reading 12 volts but as soon as you put a load on it, the voltage will drop and it won't supply the amperage needed. other than that, like you - my guess would the unit itself. Get it sent back, keep us posted. A great weekend back at you!