Garrett Ace 400i Information and Questions

[Greenhornet_au]

I had a coil problem with an ACE 250, no change to the screen, but did get odd readings to none at all when using the machine.
Coil replaced and all fixed.

I do get screen fadeout with low battery capacity, have you put in a brand new set of batteries and checked the battery contacts
are tight against the battery ends?
Check for cracks or breaks of the battery contacts themselves, could even be a cold solder contact of wiring.

Lastly the way they are constructed the screen makes a contact with the circuit board internally, maybe a poor contact there,
dust can play a part in that.

ALL the above is a fast job to check if you work on these things, just what you may be charged for it, I can't tell you how much.

I just doubt it would be the coil causing a disappearing screen display.

Disconnect the coil and see if it happens, screen should stay on even if the coil is disconnected,
turning on your machine with no coil for a short time should not hurt it.

 

[Goldpick]

Is it still under warranty, if so maybe worth contacting the closest Garrett agent for repairs/replacement parts.

 

[junkdog]

Thanks for the feed, new battery pack ,did the coil disconnect, will dig into the control box today, ickshovel:

 

[grubstake]

Thanks for the feed, new battery pack ,did the coil disconnect, will dig into the control box today, ickshovel:

It may pay you to check out YouTube before starting any brain surgery, so you know what to expect inside the control box:





There's other such videos on there too - these are just the first possibly relevant ones that I found.

Good luck!

 

[junkdog]

Hi all. Well I got around to having a sticky beek at the 400i,,,,some how the coil has disconnected it self. tried another coil all is good ,..so has anyone delved into a ACE coil. to fix it....or is it a chuck away and get a new one . open for info...maybe the pin connection numbers and what they do. ickshovel:

 

[Nugget]

The Gold Monster 1000 wasn't my cup of tea. So, after a bit of a break, I'm back swinging a 400i. I had considered getting an AT Max, but my last 400i left such a good impression that I decided to grab another one, and at a fraction of the cost.

I'll keep this thread updated with any noteworthy finds

 

[Goldpick]

Good to hear you are back having a swing Nugget, look forward to your finds and maybe some more comments on the Ace 400i.

 

[Ded Driver]

I ran my GM1000 over some Marigolds, Daffodils, Sunflowers & Dandelion ... all gold flowers, supposedly, not a squeak from any of em layful:
haha, Ive tried it in the park & on the beach ... its dynamite on anything aluminium
best kept for quartz gold seams

 

[Toysandthings]

The Garrett ace 300i n 400i and the ATpro are now available with a pin pointer as a garrett special offer.

Cheers.
Lee

 

[DataGlasses]

I did start off with a Garrett and found basically everything but gold, does seem these are popular in the U.K where old medieval coins and trinkets can still be found. My main complaint was no ground balancing. I dug up so many hot rocks!

 

[phil]

ive one of these machines has done little work kept in great condition the other day the screen went silly could read about half of it put new batteries in checked coil plug ect still keeps doing it rang a bloke from garrett in oz he said it sounds like a chip needs replacing and it will cost at least $250 maybe more to fix out of warranty now has this happened to anyone else this machine has done very little was good to use any info appreciated thanks

 

[Greenhornet_au]

Sounds more like a cold soldering joint on the screen edge or a loose cable connecting to it off of the board.
I cant imaging they are much different to an ACE 250 internally.
Do you have a picture of the screen disfunction please?

 

[phil]

hi mate i have not im not to tech savvy but you half see the numbers and it jumps around a lot

 

[meanfreddy]

Sounds more like a cold soldering joint on the screen edge or a loose cable connecting to it off of the board.
I cant imaging they are much different to an ACE 250 internally.
Do you have a picture of the screen disfunction please?

I have the ace 250 and it failed no electronic people in my town would touch it, so I got some felt tip and some shelite and did the whole mother board over, then got electric soldering iron and did every joint on the mother board, put a battery in it and worked like a champion, guess it was only dry joints

 

[meanfreddy]

hi mate i have not im not to tech savvy but you half see the numbers and it jumps around a lot

As below my 250 failed put shelite or lighter fuel on every joint then hit every one with hot soldering iron then worked like a champion I bought mine out of usa, so must have robot problems soldering the joints, if bought in aust, send back to Adelaide if under warentee and let them fix it, mine they would not fix under warrentee as bought in usa nearly half as cheap there when aus dollar was dollar for dollar

 

[meanfreddy]

ive one of these machines has done little work kept in great condition the other day the screen went silly could read about half of it put new batteries in checked coil plug ect still keeps doing it rang a bloke from garrett in oz he said it sounds like a chip needs replacing and it will cost at least $250 maybe more to fix out of warranty now has this happened to anyone else this machine has done very little was good to use any info appreciated thanks

Mine 250 failed when only used twice was only dry joints, see my other answer how I fixed mine, but my whole machine failed, but that's what Garrett would do put in new chip regardless and charge you plus postage, my whole sports 250 kit with 2 coils in usa was less than what they were charging to fix, my omega lost half screen sent back to usa and they replaced screen free but to send back was around $100 and usa postage is crippling

 

[Jaros]

You must "tin" the solder bit by making it on from a minute or clean the tip of the soldering iron wit a steel brush or steel wool .
It must contain clean visibly clear copper. Don't use the crap they sell on Ebay -it's garbage

 

[phil]

thanks guys for your input greenhornet has nicely offered to help me out big thankyou but to all

 

[Greenhornet_au]

A gift arrived at the Post Office today.

Some pics for you guys, ACE 400 bits.

I must say it seems like a very sensitive machine compared to the ACE 250.

At first when I put the batteries in the unit it had no fault on the screen, but within minutes the low half of the display was at 'half' contrast appearing to be faded out.
This is definitely just the lower half across the entire screen, considering the screen connections to the main board are along one edge (image 4) and are soldered by hand and this is a double sided main board, I think there are some cold joints there. Had this before.
So tomorrow I will go over the soldered pins with some magnification, and check, then re-solder and check the result.

Also the batteries are connected via 'pads' on the board, sometimes that connection is poor, so a blob of solder on each of the wire ends usually fixes that too, and cleaning the 'pads'.

Debating offering some volume control and maybe night light for the screen ....
Not done that yet, but should try it on my ACE 250 first
Parts would be cheap enough.

 

[Jaros]

Quality control is not getting any better no matter what you buy.