Minelab Excalibur 2 Maintenance?

[Varge]

I am just about to start up with metal searching and I would very much love any kind of tip or feedback that could help me since I am inexperienced with the use of Minelab Excalibur 2. I don't want to ignorantly mistreat it so if anyone here could tell me if there are any absolute do's and don't's and how to maintenance it properly for a healthy long life that would be wonderful

also it's slightly off topic, but if anyone knows of any great starter tutorials for how to best understand the Excalibur and how to adjust the settings and read it's tones that would be highly appreciated!

in advance, thanks a lot!

Aanund ( Varge)

 

[surfman]

Do a search for Clive James Clynick on the big auction site. If you search for Minelab Excalibur you'll find his books. Covers everything you need to know. I just received the book with the audio cd. Lot of good info for the beginner. Joe.

 

[ufobbs]

The best maintenance is if use it near salt water, always when you get home rinse it very good with fresh water.And keep the coil clean.

I have seen too many wires from the coil to the unit corrode and flake off. (that was from not rinsing it)

 

[jyt2017]

The machine can be broken down. Learn to do it, makes carrying an cleaning easy. Take coil cover off every hunt or every other hunt an gently clean any sand.

Get a straight shaft, I use plugger. There is anderson an plugger. Anderson makes control guards, might want to get one of those. I don't have one, but will get one soon.

Get divers silicon spray. Coat it good after every hunt. Disconnect battery for more then 2 weeks storage.

Don't bump knobs. Gently turn knobs. You can break them easy...2.5 year old machine an mine all work like new. I am real careful.

Wrap the cord good. Use velco to stabilize the wire. If the wire has to much slack by the coil, the coil will pick it up if it moves, and false.

Do you have pets? I have two siamese cats. One is a chewer. She almost got at the wire once. We have to put all wires an chargers away. You have no idea how many phone chargers and compute adapters I have had to replace. I almost had to replace my coil cable. If you have pets, you machine needs a place to be stored and charging terminal.

One thing I have is a power inverter for a car. If I have been hunting more then charging, It comes with me and gets a nice zap on way. The inverter is 50 bucks. I only ran out of juice once. And that was my own fault.

Some one already mentioned rinsing after salt water use. Rinse it good, and coat with silicone spray.

Do not store in trunk of car, ever, in extreme temperatures.

Thats all I can think of. Enjoy the machine. By the recommended books.

 

[dewcon4414]

Ive broken it all i think. Couple of notes...... ML REQUIRES you used the coil cover and that you disassemble it EVERY time after use to include you remove the coil from the lower shaft or it could void your warranty. I broke the armcuff then bought a straight shaft from Bill. Cracked 2 coil covers and now use marine epoxy on them..... ive found the loctite to be the best. Had to replace a lower rod and coil cracked. This is related..... if you dont constantly clean and replace those rubber there is so little tollerance that the sand will begin wearing away the lower rod head when adjusting it. What you tend to do it tighten the bolt pulling the ears in.... which will crack the ears or seperate the coil on the bottome. What i did was replace the lower rod with a Whites lower and double rubbers. Its made of HARD plastic not fiber, gives more rubber space so the rod never wears ans stays tight even when adjusting no more need to crank the bolt. Headphones..... zip tie the cable coming out of the pod onto the pod just below the black cap and it wont pull. Use rubber bands or zip ties after you adjust your headphones and they wont constantly slip. Buy some jell pads and replace the ones on the headphones..... cuts out noise and feels much better. Joeb has some great musts as well.

Dew

 

[Critterhunter]

Look in the Excalibur Accessories sticky thread always stuck at the top of the forum. Several thread links on preventive stuff. Here's one of them...

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?21,1362099,1362582#msg-1362582

 

[NamVetLesTreasureSeeker]

Varge, Welcome to the EXCALIBUR WORLD!! I've been using EXCALS' for going on 14yrs., and I am an AVID SALTWATER HUNTER!! It's good to see
that some people are interested in protecting their investment from the GIT-GO!! Anyway, here are some TIPS that I have learned over the yrs.

1. ALWAYS rinse your EXCAL off with Fresh WARM to MILDLY HOT WATER after every Beach or Saltwater OUTTING!! (COLD Water will do if
that's all that's available) Hot Water DISPERSES the SALT MINERALS and SAND much better, than COLD Water!! I take mine in the
SHOWER with me!! But, ALWAYS keep a Relatively STIFF BRISTLE BRUSH in the trunk of your vehicle to BRUSH AS MUCH SAND off the
EXCAL before heading home or into the SHOWER!!

2. Get yourself a Aftermarket STRAIGHT SHAFT Right Away, if you have not already got one!! I personally recommend a ABOVE ELBOW
Straight Shaft by PLUGGER, because in my personal opinion, MUCH BETTER QUALITY, CHEAPER PRICED, and they have his NEW
STYLE SHAFT LOCKS instead of those standard CAMLOCKS, which SEIZE UP and WARE OUT!! Also, the Joe DeMarco STRAIGHT
SHAFTS are very good also, but don't have Plugger's SHAFT LOCKS, and they keep the CONTROL BOX below your ELBOW!!

3. Also, if you get a KNOBGUARD, go to your local ACE HARDWARE and get some WHITE PLASTIC or NYLON 1/4" WASHERS or SPACERS
and put ONE or TWO between the Metal KNOBGUARD and your CONTROL HOUSING (VERY IMPORTANT)!!

HOPE this HELPS, Les Robinson

 

[OldBeechnut]

My advice is get this book here, every new excal II should come with one. Covers Beginner to Advanced,
a few things...tells the purpose of each knobs function, gives various settings for different conditions, explains BBS, shows care of, what to use, many many details. And it comes with a 30 minute CD on tones and what to listen for...Great Book..Great CD

http://clivesgoldpage.com/