Find's Treasure Forums
Welcome to Find's Treasure Forums, Guests!
You are viewing this forums as a guest which limits you to read only status.
Only registered members may post stories, questions, classifieds, reply to other posts, contact other members using built in messaging and use many other features found on these forums.
Why not register and join us today? It's free! (We don't share your email addresses with anyone.) We keep email addresses of our users to protect them and others from bad people posting things they shouldn't.
Click here to register!
Need Support Help?
Cannot log in?, click here to have new password emailed to you
Changed email? Forgot to update your account with new email address? Need assistance with something else?, click here to go to Find's Support Form and fill out the form.
Sovereign GT 180 meter BROKEN:cry:
- Thread starter muggsc
- Start date
Sand Scoop
New member
Had one do the same.Sent it in to Minelab.It took about 3 weeks for turnaround. Was the pot switch. Cost around $35.00 to fix.
To get into it if you wish to do it yourself you need to carefully peal back the plastic face at each corner, under which are 4 screws, if your carefull it will stick back on with the glue it has when your finished.
Once the face is off and screws undone you need to undo the nut on the adjuster and all will come out, not much to it
Once the face is off and screws undone you need to undo the nut on the adjuster and all will come out, not much to it
Critterhunter
New member
Search this forum for any references to "POT"s and you'll find info on cleaning those. I bet it's a dirty pot and if drying it out doesn't work then I'd clean the thing if it's no longer under warranty. Whatever you do don't throw it out if you can't get it working! I might buy it off you and replace the voltmeter with one with a 4th decimal after the three numbers. For that matter, if anybody has a non-working meter shoot me a PM with a price.
Sand Scoop
New member
Marc is right.I had moisture get in the when I got caught in a thunderstorm. I opened it, set a fan close and it dried it where it was working again. It was later on I had to send it in to be fixed.
I had a Minelab 550 meter that woudn't read proper.Took the meter apart to look for lose wires and noticed that there was grit inside like sand.With nothing to lose I took a damp Q Tip and cleaned the sand out finishing up with a dry Q Tip.I was surprised the meter worked great after the sand was cleaned out.Hope this helps. Ron
Critterhunter
New member
Also, make sure a jumpy ID isn't due to RF noise and too high of sensitivity.
If you do have to clean the part it should come apart in some fashion. Some have a c-clip on the back holding the shaft in place that needs removed or bent out of the way. Others might have tabs on them like it looks like from your picture but it still might have the c-clip. Once you take it apart first clean it with contact cleaner that leaves no residue (some do). I think Home Depot carries the good stuff. Or, head up to your local auto parts store and look for some stuff meant to clean MAF sensors on vehicles. It should say that it leaves no residue. I think the one I have also says that it won't eat plastic if that's a concern, or just don't get any on anything that might melt.
First spray the pot surface which looks like a magnet and also the little metal feeler contacts that are supposed to contact it. You might want to bend the little feelers out just a hair so you are sure they are making good contact with the pot surface. If it still isn't working then I'd take some printer paper and rub it over the pot surface lightly to act as a very mild form of sand paper. Then spray it again and the feelers and use a q-tip to rub any oxide or dirt off them. Make sure no lent from the q-tip is in there anywhere and then I'd spray it one more time and not rub the q-tip this time to insure a perfectly clean surface. I've fixed many bad pots this way in RC servos. Just make sure you first try to fix it by just spraying the feelers/pot surface without rubbing it with a q-tip or bending the feelers. If that doesn't work then do the other steps. It's always better to try to clean them with the least amount of rubbing or bending the feelers or sanding because that can cause other problems in certain situations. It's only when you had no other choice that you should try those things.
When you pull the POT apart you'll notice it has some contacts at one end of the magnet looking thing. On the other half are the little metal feelers. When it is put back together the feelers should be contacting the magnet like surface. You don't want to put it back together with them over the contacts of the other half. They should never come in contact with those and that's why POTS have stoppers of some sort to prevent full rotation into the wire contact area. That's why POTS on Excaliburs that won't stop do funky things to a machine.
If you do have to clean the part it should come apart in some fashion. Some have a c-clip on the back holding the shaft in place that needs removed or bent out of the way. Others might have tabs on them like it looks like from your picture but it still might have the c-clip. Once you take it apart first clean it with contact cleaner that leaves no residue (some do). I think Home Depot carries the good stuff. Or, head up to your local auto parts store and look for some stuff meant to clean MAF sensors on vehicles. It should say that it leaves no residue. I think the one I have also says that it won't eat plastic if that's a concern, or just don't get any on anything that might melt.
First spray the pot surface which looks like a magnet and also the little metal feeler contacts that are supposed to contact it. You might want to bend the little feelers out just a hair so you are sure they are making good contact with the pot surface. If it still isn't working then I'd take some printer paper and rub it over the pot surface lightly to act as a very mild form of sand paper. Then spray it again and the feelers and use a q-tip to rub any oxide or dirt off them. Make sure no lent from the q-tip is in there anywhere and then I'd spray it one more time and not rub the q-tip this time to insure a perfectly clean surface. I've fixed many bad pots this way in RC servos. Just make sure you first try to fix it by just spraying the feelers/pot surface without rubbing it with a q-tip or bending the feelers. If that doesn't work then do the other steps. It's always better to try to clean them with the least amount of rubbing or bending the feelers or sanding because that can cause other problems in certain situations. It's only when you had no other choice that you should try those things.
When you pull the POT apart you'll notice it has some contacts at one end of the magnet looking thing. On the other half are the little metal feelers. When it is put back together the feelers should be contacting the magnet like surface. You don't want to put it back together with them over the contacts of the other half. They should never come in contact with those and that's why POTS have stoppers of some sort to prevent full rotation into the wire contact area. That's why POTS on Excaliburs that won't stop do funky things to a machine.
Cal,good to hear its working,any grit or sand inside the box.
Critterhunter
New member
Glad to hear it's working. Always best to try the least bit possible when cleaning one, then getting more aggressive if it still isn't working (rubbing with q-tip, sanding with paper, bending feelers). Pots can be touchy and often the cure is worse than the disease and can cause other problems.
Critterhunter
New member
Muggsc, I see in your signature file that you have a 12x10 for your Sovereign. How about a field report on that thing since I've pretty much only read one report on it from another Sovereign user which was very positive. Deeper than the 10" for you? Deepest coin dug with it? Stability and separation? Curious what you think of that coil as I'm loving my 15x12 thus far.
There's not nearly enough message traffic in this forum in terms of people giving field reports on hunts and various coils and settings and such. Breeze into the Explorer or Etrac forum and there is always a lot of new threads on this sort of thing popping up. It isn't for lack of people in this forum, as you can plainly see by all the views of various threads. I've also got a lot of PMs and talked to guys on the phone who wanted to talk about how much they like the performance of this machine, but it seems very few people want to draw any kind of attention to themselves here. One guy told me on the phone that he was eaten alive when he posted a few messages a while back and so never wants to do that again. I think it's more of the Sovereign being a "low profile" type of machine. As good or better than anything out there but sure not having the kind of look that draws attention to it's self compared to some of the more flashy machines on the market. Maybe it attracts the same kind of people who don't like to draw attention to themselves.
There's not nearly enough message traffic in this forum in terms of people giving field reports on hunts and various coils and settings and such. Breeze into the Explorer or Etrac forum and there is always a lot of new threads on this sort of thing popping up. It isn't for lack of people in this forum, as you can plainly see by all the views of various threads. I've also got a lot of PMs and talked to guys on the phone who wanted to talk about how much they like the performance of this machine, but it seems very few people want to draw any kind of attention to themselves here. One guy told me on the phone that he was eaten alive when he posted a few messages a while back and so never wants to do that again. I think it's more of the Sovereign being a "low profile" type of machine. As good or better than anything out there but sure not having the kind of look that draws attention to it's self compared to some of the more flashy machines on the market. Maybe it attracts the same kind of people who don't like to draw attention to themselves.