Silent operation useless

[michelob]

I just recently purchased a used Explorer II and I am having a problem I was hoping someone could help me out with. The first day I went out, the machine acted fine. Grant it, this is a whole new world of detecting and sounds to me since my other detector is a CZ-70Proa. So when I say fine that just means that the problem I am about to describe did not happen at all the first day of operation.

What happens is while detecting for no unparticular reason the machine goes completely silent and I lose my threshold and all capability to do anything. Almost as if the machine is turned off but it isn't. This is completely different than the typical threshold going in and out while detecting. When it does go silent it lasts for over 30 seconds long on some occasions, in this silent time, the coil does not pick up any other targets and the machine is useless during this time. Then it turns back on it emits a sound as if I went over a large piece of trash. My reaction the first time this happened was to pick the coil off the ground and hit the detect button. But it doesn't seem to matter what I do, nothing responds at all. For example, Lets say I push the pinpoint button while the silence is happening, it will not react until the thing wakes up again, then the action of whatever I may have pushed (in this case the pinpoint button) will happen in the sequential order I pushed the buttons. One or two times this happened it seemed that I had put the detector on the ground to dig a signal and the slight jar may have caused this. Although this could be a totally coincidence. Because it seems to happen most while I am going in and out of pinpoint modes. I have checked my connection to the coil and the base and it is tight. The batteries seem to be good at least the indicator shows they are. I have tried a number of things to get this to stop. I would have to say it happened more than 5 times in a 2 hour outing. I have even turned off and on the machine. Noise cancelled. Took the battery pack out and slide it back in. I am confused. Is this a setting of some sort that I have messed up or does my detector need to be repaired? Has anyone heard of this?

Any help would be greatly appreciated. By they way this is my first time leaving a post on the site, so if I have done anything incorrectly, please let me know.
Thanks for all your help in advance,
Michelob

 

[JW]

n/t

 

[Mike Bearden]

If you have another coil to try out ... I'd give that shot before sending the unit in for repairs. You may even have a coil cover full of dirt and water, pull it off and check it.
If all else fails then call Dick Schultz in Vegas as JW suggested.
Good Luck
Mike

 

[michelob]

Thank you both so much for responding so quickly. I love this forum!
Well the coil theory sounds right. I am sorry I didn't originally mention but my coil did get switched for a short moment. My cousin put on the 8" stealth coil and used it for a few hours (he has had an Expolorer for a few years and knows what he is doing). Then I switched back to the standard size coil. Shortly after this is when I noticed the problem. I must not have put the coil back on correctly or something. I am at work right now, but when I get home that is the first thing I am going to do. I know this might sound really really stupid but when attaching the coil and making sure the connection is tight, is there any other step that I am missing? Thanks again for all your help. This forum is so awesome. I love this place. If there is anyone in the Minneapolis area who would like to get together or knows of any detecting clubs please let me know or shoot me an email at slowburn@mn.rr.com

 

[Cody]

I have corrected some odd problems, I think it is in the code, simply by a reboot. Hold the power pad down for several seconds when you power up and it will go to factory defaults. Once I reboot then the detector works fine. It is not enough of a problem to me to be of concern but there are a few odd events that happen and a reboot corrects them.

You should be able to put your friend's coil back on and one of the coils will work ok so you can eliminate the coil. However, I would reboot first and see what happens.

The idea of a null can be eliminated, such as being over a very large piece of rejected metal, by going to Pinpoint which I think you did as that is all metal operation. Ground minerals and rejected targets will not null the threshold under normal operating conditions.

 

[GraveDiggerMax-VaBch-Va]

4 or 5 minutes it clears itself up and no problems for the next four hours or

i thought once it was the area of the beach, but i guess not..............once i thought it was tooooooo much sensitivity...................cut it back to 20..........same deal

i just live with it now for that short spell it does it

no clue for me
max

 

[william king]

I am not sure what is going on. Please let us know when the problem is corrected and what it was that was causing it. Welcome to the forum. Good luck and Happy Hunting(HH)

 

[Anonymous]

maybe when you switched coils, a piece of gunk next to the pins got rearranged and is now making a short across two or more pins. I went for 6 months of erratic operation, which was usually worse in humid weather, before I got around to blowing out the connector pins. The problem went away immediately, and I never did see what was causing the problem. It could have been as simple as a wire shaving or some hair stuck in there.

 

[Anonymous]

I know, because I had to cut the wire to the coil and resolder once. I let my brother do the job first and he botched it, and didn't wire in the shielding wires (the one that encircles the solid wires in the cables, maybe its a grounding wire, what do I know?). The detector just made a loud trash sound. Perhaps if the pin for that wire is making intermittent contact, you'll get the loud trash sound you mention.

 

[michelob]

Well I couldn't check the problem yet, because we have been rained out here in Minneapolis, but today the weather is much better. I am going to get out for a couple hours tonight and I will let everyone know what I come up with. Thanks again for everyones suggestions on this so far.

 

[michelob]

Well I went detecting last night for a couple hours and tried everyones suggestions. But the problem is still there. Basically I have it narrowed down to when the silence occurs, all I do is tap on the upper shaft and then the detector comes back on to normal. See during this silence time, the detector doesn't pick any targets up at all and is not responsive to any buttons I push during that time either. Someone else stated in the posts here that they are able to still detect during this time when it happens to them. I would be ok with that, but mine is useless at that point. I have the 8" stealth and the standard coils. It happens to both of them. I left Dick in Vegas a voicemail and I will see what he suggests. I will keep everyone posted as to what is the outcome. Thanks everyone again for all your help.

 

[Mike Bearden]

n/t

 

[Rhoderman]

Have you tried wiggling your headphone connector, or simply unplugging it to see if you get any sound out of your speaker?
Maybe you have a bad headphone jack?

 

[michelob]

No I haven't tried that. Thats a great suggestion! Thanks I will try that tonight. I did speak with Dick in Vegas and he was awesome! I am going to be sending it in to have the techs take a look at it. But before I do, I am going to try your suggestion. Thanks.