Possible problem with new GT?

[Tony N (Michigan)]

O.K. I charged my bettery all night. I put it in this A.M. went to work. At lunch I went out on the farm and it was working great for about 15 minutes and all of a sudden I heard a little short grunt and that was all she wrote.

I unplugged the coil from the meter and put it directly into the main box and still nothing. Nothing with headphones unplugged either.

Any ideas?

Tony

 

[adam in cal]

did you take the battery out then pop it back in ?? were you using headphones ?? if not did you try it with headphones. My external speaker does not work properly sometimes its fine then all the sudden it cuts out. I ALWAYS use headphones so this isnt an issue but trey it with and without phones. Do you have an alkline battery pack too?? if yes then try it with alklines and see if it doesnt work then ....If all else fails you can beat the hell out of it but it probally wont fix anything and may even destroy it, but I suspect you may relieve some frustration ........ seirously though I hate to hear you arent having a great experience yet .......Also was the machine brand new???

 

[Tony N (Michigan)]

Yea, it is brand new.

Tried it with headphones and without.

Put in another battery pack and just a little fart when it starts and then nothing.

These are the factory rechargeable battery packs. I would think over night charging would be sufficient? Should it be longer than 12 hours to charge?

 

[adam in cal]

its not on silent search is it?? the meter doesnt work? nothing works ?? this sounds crappy I hope you figure it out without having to send it back .........

 

[Tony N (Michigan)]

No, not in silent search. The meter won't go up to 180 even on a .50 silver coin. I'm re-charging the batteries that came with it and will see if that is the problem.
I'm using alkalines now to test but even those are not making it work. But they are not new alkies.

Hopefully it is just that I didn't charge the batteries fully. I would have thought 12 hours would have been enough but they state in the instructions up to 15 hours I believe.

I'm not complaining. I know that no matter what, Minelab will stand behind their great products 110%. Otherwise I would not have bought it in the first place.

Tony

 

[thinkin2]

Have you tried jiggling a little on the coil cable to see if maybe there's a short? Just a thought but if it is then at least you'll have something to tell the folks at Minelab. Hope it's up and running properly very soon. Best of luck.
Jerry

 

[Tony from Tidewater]

The two most common problems with the sovereigns seem to be with the the batteries or the coils. After you charge your battery for the first time for 15 hrs, put a volt meter on it and check it. You should read at least 12.5 to 13.5 volts DC. Next make sure your charger is putting out the 15 volts. You can check it with a volt meter too. Do you have another coil to try or know someone who has one you can swap, to check that? If , after checking the battery/charger and coil and that doesn't work you will need to send it to Minelab. It sounds like the battery is your problem. If you need any other help,let me know. Tony from Tidewater

 

[Rick(ND)]

When it is charging do you see the light on the battery pack as it should be lit. Now if it seems to be charging and was charged over night and you hear the little noise when turned on that is normal and turn the on/off volume fully on, make sure it is not on silent search and turn up the threshold and see if you can get a threshold. If the meter is working and showing a number turn on the calibration control and see if you can get 180 while turning on the adjustment control on the back of the meter while waving a copper coin accross the coil. If it wont go to 180 and you get no threshold something is wrong and i would try one more thing turn it off and disconnect the wire running to the control box and turn on the detector again for a few seconds and turn on the threshold as you should get a threshold. If you do then it will have to be in the meter or the coil, so disconnect the meter first and run the coil wire right to the control box and not to the meter. I hope it is something simple for you.

 

[w6pea]

Make sure all of your connections are tight. How long did you charge your unit. I put my battery on the charger over night for 12 hours to make sure it was fully charged.

 

[w6pea]

Make sure the connection to the meter is tight also.

 

[Tony N (Michigan)]

I've charged the battery two nights in a row now. Put a volt meter to it and it is fully charged with the green light not glowing much.

The digimeter will go only up to about 130 on a silver 50 cent.

I have never run it on silent search.

I disconnected the coil wire from the meter and run it straight into the main housing: nothing.

I disconnected the coil wire alltogether and turned it on. No sound, no threshold with sound up full blast and threshold up full blast. Doesn't matter if it is in all metal. Tried different headphones too. Nothing. Nada. Zilch.

The real bummer is I was going to take it to the club meeting hunt this weekend. Oh well, there will be more chances in the future.

Is it even remotely possible that the grass was very wet with dew and somehow some water got into the coil and shorted everything out? But that would have only affected the coil, right?

Tony

 

[Art (NWOH)]

The box is fried. Send it in.
Getting the coil wet can't hurt anything.

HH

 

[Tony N (Michigan)]

I know of no one nearby that also has a Sovereign (Lucky for me) since I get to find the deepies.

Do you always plug in the connector to the battery to recharge it and THEN plug the plug into the electrical recepticle?
That seems to be the way the instructions say to do it. Most likely this keeps a spark from occurring if the charger was plugged in first and then plugged into the battery pack?

I've seen other appliance instructions to do that too. Make sure the thing to be chared is first plugged in and then plug it into the wall receptical.

 

[Tony from Tidewater]

charger into the wall outlet. Look for the green light. Did you get a chance to check the charger with a volt meter? I wish I could offer you more help. Just thought of something, check the springs that the battery connects to inside the detector to make sure you have good contact.

 

[w6pea]

[attachment 56641 SovereignGt.jpg]Tony

I usually plug the wallwart (charger) into the wall socket. Then plug it into the battery. Did you charge the battery for at least 12 hours. the first time I charged mine i plugged it in at about 3 pm. and unplugged it at 7 am. the next day. I have not had any problems with my Sovereign or the rechargeable battery pack and I have not had to use the AA battery pack.

Good luck Sorry I can't give you any more info. I've had my Sovereign for a couple of months now. I really enjoy it when i get out and use it.

 

[Tony N (Michigan)]

Hi w6pea, I charged my batterie around 24 hours just to make sure the battery was not undercharged.

 

[thinkin2]

using AA batteries yet? If this has already been asked please excuse me, I didn't go back and re-read all of the posts but it seems like you were only using the rechargeables. Didn't you get a pack for AA batteries, mine came with one. If the unit won't work with AA's then we know it isn't the batteries and if it does then all they have to send is a new re-chargeable battery. Hope you're enjoying it soon.
Jerry