The day my v3i went into a coma....

[burlbark]

I had my v3i quit working on me. It would sometimes boot up if I tapped the case repeatedly. This just started happening last Saturday.

It would turn on but would only give me a flash across the screen and then go dead without booting. I called Sweethome and they said send it in and we will take care of you. I talked with the tech for 20 min and I discussed my electronics background with him. I have designed some circuits for various purposes and felt comfortable opening the detector up and see if it was anything obvious. I was advised not to but was told it should not hurt my warranty as it was already dead.

I unscrewed it and examined all the surface mount components and made sure that there was no corrosion or bridges caused by foreign objects. I checked the ribbon tape and noticed that one of them was not seated parallel in its receptacle. I did a little adjusting of this and checked all the others. I also noticed a solder splat on the silk screening but it did not appear to cause any problems but I removed it as a precaution.

I also noted the contacts for the battery where as sharp as needles, literally. At startup the current demands are the greatest and even after cleaning these contacts with an eraser the slightest amount of carbon fouling or oxidation would not allow the current to be sufficient to boot. I radiused these pinpoints to the diameter of a pin itself by just knocking the tip off with a fine diamond file.

I then assembled the detector back together make sure that all plugs stayed orientated in the correct direction. The plugs could be reversed and there are additional locations on the board to do so, be very cautious and take picture if you have any questions before disassembly. Of course Sweethome is the ideal people to be doing this but I could not handle sending my detector off and it was dead.

I have now used my detector for 2 days and turned it on and off 20 times or so with no failure. Here are some pics that I thought should be present in the annals of internet history...

 

[earthmansurfer]

WOW

That electronics background helped.

It was cool of White's to say what they did after you told them your background.

Start hunt'n...

 

[leojack]

Hey B..Bark: my V3i behaved the same way with strange screen behaviors,and signal loss.I wish I had ur expertise with boards but alas sweethome was my only choice.They've had it for almost three wks and not a word about any progress.I'm starting to get antsy especially after reading about your fix, that sure sounds like crappy workmanship to a non-electro type like myself....Can you speak to that issue or is it the standard of the industry.My experience with Whites m/d has been nothing but reliability and performance I sure hope that hasn't changed.I Your pix of the guts of the thing gave me pause would u expect the sort of workmanship u describe,
Sharp Pins,splashed solder,crooked ribbons,this worries a guy who dropped $1700 for the best of the best.Hope they get it rite but a recent post by a guy who noted that it sometimes comes back to u with the same probs, would be very disappointing for me.I would have to make a fuss if that happens.I'll be on here again with the results of my repair.......Jack from pa

 

[Rob (IL)]

As Burlbark said the only thing that was a problem was his battery contacts. I don't think he was inferring shoddy workmanship. What he saw was not "crappy workmanship". It's like when you are buying a revolver and then if you know what you are doing you get it and polish some parts to make it better. I'm sure all our contacts are just as sharp.

Glad you found the problem, it's probably the last you will see of it. I love to tinker. ROB

 

[burlbark]

Hey B..Bark: my V3i behaved the same way with strange screen behaviors,and signal loss.I wish I had ur expertise with boards but alas sweethome was my only choice.They've had it for almost three wks and not a word about any progress.I'm starting to get antsy especially after reading about your fix, that sure sounds like crappy workmanship to a non-electro type like myself....Can you speak to that issue or is it the standard of the industry.My experience with Whites m/d has been nothing but reliability and performance I sure hope that hasn't changed.I Your pix of the guts of the thing gave me pause would u expect the sort of workmanship u describe,
Sharp Pins,splashed solder,crooked ribbons,this worries a guy who dropped $1700 for the best of the best.Hope they get it rite but a recent post by a guy who noted that it sometimes comes back to u with the same probs, would be very disappointing for me.I would have to make a fuss if that happens.I'll be on here again with the results of my repair.......Jack from pa

Oh.... dont start thinking this way.... I have nothing but admiration for the workmanship I saw. The sharp battery contacts is the only thing that I can say that could use some attention.

The ribbon very well could have worked itself side ways from vibration. I carry my detector almost everywhere I go. I drive a modified Turbo Supra that has a heck of a exhaust and is lowered as low as you dare go on the streets. It has a fairly harsh ride in the sport setting and I am sure that the vibrations experienced by my detector is 1000x what most would ever see. And honestly the ribbon may have not been the culprit, the contacts may have been.

The splashed solder was not making any obvious contact and these boards are made on a "pick and place" machine and then go through a reflow oven. All boards of this complexity go through a thorough inspection process and functionality test. They just cant make electronic components any better than this without extensive cost, such as and not limited to.... Hand picking components and matching values, individual trace examination and through hole inspection. You are buying the best.... Without a doubt.

Of the thousands of v3i that have sold less the a dozen (around 6) have been found to contain a failed pcb board. This is on the lines of equipment meant for space travel and even those units have a redundant system built within, and sometimes a backup for the redundancy.

You can rest assured that your detector has a serious failure it is going to either come back reflashed because of a bios error or you are going to have new electronics within it. Either way Whites will treat you right. I understand the frustration of waiting but when summer comes around everyone grabs their neglected detector and sends it to Whites asking for service. Some show up with dead batteries, but they have to do a thorough check using their inspection process on each one of these units. This is why the wait is what it is and why I decided to check for myself.

 

[leojack]

Hey B..bank:thanks for the reply and your explanation of your findings in the box.I read alot these days without my m/d,so sometimes my reading between the lines is off target a tad.As noted I have full confidence in Whites CS and cant wait for its return,which incidentally I understand perfectly, that at this time of year things do slow down.I didn't understand all of the terminology used in ur explanation but wonder how you have a statistical account of the # of failures( just curious).Are u an employee or an informed consumer, how does one become privy to such data?Apologies for my poor selection of terms inre workmanship,as I pointed out I've been a White's guy from the 70's and the coinmaster era,but not a techno-guy so hope this soothes some knee jerk impressions of criticism:just curiosity.Thanks for reading .Jack from pa.

 

[burlbark]

Hey B..bank:thanks for the reply and your explanation of your findings in the box.I read alot these days without my m/d,so sometimes my reading between the lines is off target a tad.As noted I have full confidence in Whites CS and cant wait for its return,which incidentally I understand perfectly, that at this time of year things do slow down.I didn't understand all of the terminology used in ur explanation but wonder how you have a statistical account of the # of failures( just curious).Are u an employee or an informed consumer, how does one become privy to such data?Apologies for my poor selection of terms inre workmanship,as I pointed out I've been a White's guy from the 70's and the coinmaster era,but not a techno-guy so hope this soothes some knee jerk impressions of criticism:just curiosity.Thanks for reading .Jack from pa.

Sorry I dont have any statistical number on the failures, I have an educated guess of 1 in 5000 considering the whole line and within the warranty period. I am not an employee but have a local dealer who is up on the topics and I have a long standing relationship with White as many do here. I know a couple of them on a first name basis and I really like to talk... I also browse all the forums and watch the reported failures, very few of them turn out to be actual faults of the circuitry. Whites will sometimes agree with the customer just to keep them happy from what I have seen. Dont worry your detector will come back better than ever.

The v3i is a true masterpiece of machinery and technology combined. If you understood the amount of planning and designing in order to make the circuitry work as it should you would be amazed. Every bit of component on the pcb board has to be in agreement with one another. It is in the realm of impossible for your average person to design and implement this detector.

I keep pushing for a hybrid machine... Water proof multifrequency/pinpointing pulse detector, but it aint going to happen all at once. I expect to see a waterproof version in a couple of years of both the high end detectors. That is a long time and the resale value on Whites stays strong so I just buy the newest and then sell the back up detector after I know I got a sure thing going.

There is something coming out pretty soon for the beach hunters.... My lips are sealed.

 

[leojack]

" I have an educated guess of 1 in 5000 considering the whole line.......B...Bark thank you for your reply,and the assertion of your local dealer.
I will remain skeptical until my v3i returns.An educated guess has credence for most,I've been burnt too often as we all have in life, friend.I will surely post the result of my units return.I'll not belabor this thread anymore until results can be recounted accurately without bias.. Jack from pa

 

[Rob (IL)]

There is no reason to worry, make sure to tell us what the problem was. By the way, have you found a post where Whites didn't satisfy the customer? ROB

 

[thebeatmachine]

A tiny piece of solder could have been loose in there and have been causeing a short Especially if you saw a solder splatter.

 

[burlbark]

A tiny piece of solder could have been loose in there and have been causeing a short Especially if you saw a solder splatter.

It helps to read through the thread....