Uh, oh...my SE Pro is on the blink, about to die...

[sgoss66]

In the last week, my SE Pro has developed a glitch -- it will at times fail to turn on. If you press the power button, you hear through the headphones it "attempt" to turn on, for a fraction of a second, but then it does not. Pressing the power button repeatedly, gives the same results. You hear a "powering on" sound briefly, and then nothing. SO FAR, I have been able to, after pressing the power button over and over again, maybe a couple dozen times, managed to get it to turn back on. The strange thing is, once it's on, I can then turn it off, and back on, and back off, and back on -- with no problems. Once it's been "running," it will turn off and on with no problem. It's only (so far) been when it sits for a couple of days, that I have this trouble getting it to power up. The other weird thing is, once I finally get it up and running, it's fine -- it works properly, with no performance issues whatsoever noted. It seems to be an issue with the power button, or something within the "startup" circuit (don't know the proper "tech" words, here!) -- since I do hear that "sound" when attempting to turn it on. Has anyone else ever experienced this type of problem?

I am dreading the idea of possibly having to send the machine in a being without it for a month or more, and I am dreading the cost (as my machine is not under warranty -- I got is used a couple of months ago). There have been some not-so-good stories posted here recently about Minelab customer service/repairs; I guess I may be finding out soon.

I spoke with a gentleman at Minelab, and he gave me the procedure for sending it it; he says once they receive it, it's 10-15 days turnaroud time. He says they will call me as soon as they recieve it, to let me know it arrived, and then they call again once the problem has been diagnosed to notify me what the problem is and what the charge would be to fix it. I asked him about the possibility that if the cost to repair it is exhorbitant, if they might be able to offer any "upgrade to a new machine at a discount" options, and his answer was that if that turns out to be the case, I would need to speak with his manager to see if that can be approved.

I'm going to continue to use it until the problem gets worse (which I assume it will), and then I guess I'll be sending it in...

Steve

 

[D&P-OR]

Steve-----There's been a couple of us that had that problem in the past---probably several others that had the same problem but didn't post on it.-----On an XS I had, it was doing that same thing PLUS turning itself on at times while going down the road in the motorhome!---They replaced the whole unit on that XS.--------I had another one, an EX 2 that just flat out quit working--it wouldn't turn on at all.---On the EX 2, they just replaced the power switch (unit)--whatever is involved in that.-----Fortunately both of those detectors was still under warranty.----With yours being out of warranty, just get them to give you a repair estimate and take it from there (deciding if it's worth the cost to repair it versus getting a replacement).------You gotta get you a "fall back" detector man---these things go "gunny bags" once in awhile (whether new or used) and it just sucks being without a detector of some kind to use in the mean time.------Let us know how things turn out.---------------Del

 

[sgoss66]

Del --

Thanks much for the info. I do have a "fall-back" detector (my Fisher Gold Bug Pro), but I normally use that one when prospecting, or jewelry hunting, and for occasional clad hunts. When I want the deep silver, though, which is what I usually hunt for, I grab the Explorer!

In an ideal world, I'd like to have an E-Trac AND an Explorer -- and then could choose to use either on a particular hunt (and by default would have an awesome silver machine as a "backup" should either of them come in need of repair). However, finances will simply NOT allow that! Maybe I should look for an old XS or Explorer II as a backup silver machine...

Thanks, Del...

Steve