What does the "factory upgrade" for the VX3 do?

[vx3 man]

Well I called service center and it is a upgrade,its for the early vx3 before March 2012, upgrade is for a more stable operation and better depth that's what the tech said.

 

[SteveP(NH)]

Thanks for the info, I wasn't too happy with the depth I was getting before and mine was made last year and sold in January of this year so it fits the profile for the update. I wish I could get out before the weekend to check it out but things at work are going like a house a fire right now and I am working with the pedal to the metal.

 

[Carl-NC]

The VX3 has had no software upgrades. The so-called daughterboard is not a daughterboard; it is what we call the "DAQ board" (data acquisition) and has 2 processors on it, one for running the TX/RX ciruitry and one for audio. It is exactly the same DAQ board and exactly the same processor code as used on the V3i, and has not changed since the V3i release, which was well before the VX3 release.

Occasionally we get V's (both V3 and VX) that seem to have stability problems and out of superstitious habit we re-program the DAQ board and sometimes the Pod board. Centerville probably re-programmed the DAQ board and mistakenly called it an "update". It was neither and update nor an upgrade, and will be no different than any other VX3.

- Carl
(White's Engineering)

 

[SteveP(NH)]

Thanks for clearing that up Carl. Whatever Centerville did, I sure hopes it gives the machine better depth than it had before and also that the audio doesn't stop working completely again. I'll give it a good work out tomorrow and see how it does.

 

[Rob (IL)]

Thanks for the final word on this Carl. Your information is always appreciated.

 

[Carl-NC]

Eh, I was gently reminded with a dope slap that the audio processor is on the Pod board, not the DAQ board. So the DAQ board has a single processor that runs all the TX/RX circuitry.

- Carl

 

[ak_1234]

I dope slapped him again by the way . The DAQ board has one processor to deal with the transmitter and receive signals for the coil as well as the audio. The pod board has 2 processors - one for the real stuff, one that is just a dedicated handshaking processor for the wireless module. The DAQ board is the board in question here and is still the same as the V3i. No software changes from V3i to VX3 - no need since no user interface software is on it. The pod board does have different software between V3i and VX3 - for obvious reasons - the user interface was modified. The number of processors has no bearing on the gist of the question though, just wanted to make sure that there wasn't confusion on what board did what. Audio is on the DAQ board, not the pod board. This is what he meant, just got the terminology wrong for the little wireless handshaking processor. His answer is still correct - no upgrades or updates for VX3.

 

[Larry (IL)]

Thanks Anne, we can always count on you........

 

[Schultzie]

That's gonna leave a mark.

 

[SteveP(NH)]

Wow that was a great fix. Depth is where I would expect it to be for a machine in this price range, much improved and in the same range as my Explorer SE PRO and Teknetcs T2 SE. Audio ran all day with no problems.