Metal Detector Repairs

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Just wondering if anyone here does metal detector repairs on the side or may be able to recommend someone.
My friend has a Minelab xt1800 that is playing up . It is constantly sounding eractic noises while just sitting there , with or without the coil. I understand it's an older machine but it's all he can afford at the moment and also worthless if he wants to sell it . I think he tried minelab but they were either to expensive or wouldnt repair it due to its age.

Thanks.
 
Thanks Grub , I will get in touch with him and see how I go . Prefer somewhere closer to home if possible to avoid the posting and payment issues. Be good to drop of and pick up with cash in hand sorta thing .
 
Another option is Phil from the Gold Mining Centre, SA who was the Australian Garrett dealer for a
very long time who is expereinced at electronics.
 
Ty wolf , the machines still like brand new so its a shame to just chuck it out . Even if it costs him $150 he can at least sell it working for 3 or 400 if he wanted to upgrade . But they weren't a bad machine really with the 3 frequencies and auto ground balance , and will still find gold.
 
Ive made a few contacts with some options to follow up thanks to everyones replies. Phil from the mining centre phoned me with some tips to try first , super helpful bloke :) Hopefully the old machine will live on to search another day.
 
It could potentially just be an old battery that's not getting to the required voltage, assuming you are using the rechargeable pack, and not fresh alkalines. Or a fault with the coil.

Anyway, if your mate gets it sorted and thinks he needs a new battery I've made up some lightweight NiMH packs, of a higher capacity than the original ones. These are the plug in style as used on the earlier XT17000, Goldstriker and early Musketeer & Sovereigns. The later spring contact style works fine as long as your battery door still grips. Very easy to convert a spring style control box to accept the plug in style battery. Here's some pics:

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Actually I did mention the battery pack to him , not only for the xt but we both have sovereigns.
Whats a ball park cost to get this mod done ?

Ps , with the xt im looking into the coil as the fault at this stage , just need 5 mins to have a play with it.
 
It's a pretty straight forward conversion, I'd do it for $35 per control box. The battery packs are $70 each.
I'm in Adelaide, so postage may be your biggest killer.

If you're handy with a soldering iron and you wanted to tackle it your self, I could supply the battery pack and the extra plug required.

Let me know if you're interested.
 
Wolfau said:
Another option is Phil from the Gold Mining Centre, SA who was the Australian Garrett dealer for a
very long time who is expereinced at electronics.
Just some feed back .
Phil was fairly certain it was the coil lead connection , so I finally got around to re wiring the plug. I can now say its working perfectly again , pretty glad its going as my mate was going to offload it for $80 for parts. So it pays to try a few simple things first :)
 
Ok people here is where I'm at , took the old girl ( xt 1700 extra tracker ) to a local electronic shop for him to try and fix the problem ! A bit of back ground info for you - last time used perfect always cleaned and kept dry . Went to turn it on a while back and nothing ! The electronics bloke checked everything and told me everything is all good , power getting throu to all the places it should , switches and controls all good , connections all good , batteries charged . He said water might have got in but I've ruled that out . And yes I did post a while ago requesting info on where I may be able to take it to get repaired but didn't have many suggestions apart from some place in ballarat ! If need be ballarat it is but would like to hear back from members with possible causes that experienced users might know of or somewhere closer to home that I could take it to be looked at ? I'm in the northern burbs of melbourne . Any tips and advise will be welcomed .
Cheers for now
Diamo gold
 
Quick update
Just rang miners den and they can send it to there repair techs in bendigo !
I'm just wondering if the price they will charge would be worth it considering she is an older unit ?
Good news they have the gm 1000 in stock so I'll be going to grab one very soon !
 
Just a suggestion ,have you tried it with headphones and not just the speaker ? Sometimes the switch in the headphone jack can stick and doesnt switch over to speaker mode and the unit will sound as though it doesnt work.
Gaz
 
I'm sorry for hijacking this post, but I'm new to this forum and was wondering how to write my first new post. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. PS. I have an ft16000 which I think is the model before yours. Its a nice machine and detects well. Be worth fixing yours as a backup if nothing else.
Thanks in advance
 
Diamo - I not familiar with your detector but I'm wondering if is the speaker as well. It may be working but you're just not hearing anything.

Firey10_0 - you have just done your first post :D If you mean start a thread, suggest going into the Introduction section and over to the right is says Start new Topic. Click on that and tell us a bit about yourself :Y:
 
Yeah I tried head phones as that was my first thought but no go ! It's really giving me the ***** as I'm not keen on retiring her yet !
I would send it of to the techs at bendigo but don't want that heart attack when I get the invoice . Ha ha
If you can think of anymore scenarios I'll tick them off as I receive them .
Thanks again guys
 
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