My new etrac has problem

[squirrel1]

I used my new etrac (my second one) for about 4 hours the very next day after I got it. Worked fine. Didn't use again until I received my X-5 coil yesterday evening. I went out in the yard and turned the machine on and then the backlight. I was hunting around trying to get the feel of the new coil and all systems were go. After about 15 minutes of use, my etrac went blank and the backlight went out as well. I powered the etrac back up everything seemed fine except it had reset back to all default settings. I then proceeded to turn the backlight back on. That was a no go. I tried again and the machine shut down again. Turned etrac back on and again tried the light and the machine shut down. It seems the backlight is overloading the machine. I'll use it anyway just without the lite and maybe something else will go wrong with it and then I'll send it in for repair. Oh well. Myo other machine has been flawless (knock on wood) and has several hours on it.

 

[Bill_S]

I thought maybe you were going to say it was finding targets deeper than you want to dig......Lol

 

[squirrel1]

I wish I'd had the problem you describe. I will probably do a master reset on it before I send it in. I would be surprised if that resolved the problem, but you never know. By the way, really like the X-5 coil. It sure separates well. Now if I could only be disciplined enough to slow down a little with it. I did make two finds today with it in a very hard hit area I've been hunting over the last 10 days using the 10x12 and 6x8 coils. That's the way I like to hunt. Bomb an area profusely and then write if off and go somewhere else.

 

[Charles in Va]

Try a different battery pack or charge your battery. I might be shuting down on low voltage. You might also clean your contacts. Good luck.

 

[Yeasty]

Make sure you have a full 18 hour first charge time on the battery.

 

[squirrel1]

By George gents you may have solved my problem. I was using the AA battery pack last night when I had problems. I still had 2 bars left in the battery window so I thought that was sufficient. I just plugged in my 1800m/a pack in and the backlight works, no shutdown. This here forum rocks or should I say the people that visit this forum ROCK. Thanks

One thing though, And everyone might benefit from this. It would seem based on this experience, one probably doesn't want to use their detector until their battery expires. Looks like it may wipe out your settings/programs.

 

[usafaviator]

I thought maybe you were going to say it was finding targets deeper than you want to dig......Lol

Hilarious! I hope I have this problem when I get out this weekend for the first time with my new ET!

 

[BarberDan]

Squirrel....also make sure that you are using the correct AA batteries. Voltages are different on batteries and the E-Trac manual recommends you not to use rechargeable lithium ion batteries, because the voltage will be too high and cause the unit to shut down.

 

[squirrel1]

BarberDan, I was using ni metal hydride rechareables. After doing a little more investigating I think I just had a bad connection between my pack and detector terminals. I have used the etrac in question and so far no more problems. One interesting thing I noticed when it was giving problems is when I would turn it on, the backlight wasn't even self testing, but the machine was working as advertised. I still have my fingers crossed. Thanks for the reminder about the lithium battery no no.

 

[Larry--IndianaHVAC]

By George gents you may have solved my problem. I was using the AA battery pack last night when I had problems. I still had 2 bars left in the battery window so I thought that was sufficient. I just plugged in my 1800m/a pack in and the backlight works, no shutdown. This here forum rocks or should I say the people that visit this forum ROCK. Thanks

One thing though, And everyone might benefit from this. It would seem based on this experience, one probably doesn't want to use their detector until their battery expires. Looks like it may wipe out your settings/programs.

I have run my batteries down until my etrac has died many a times and it has never had the programs disappear. I would certaily keep an eye on that issue.