I've always wanted to try metal detecting but have far too many hobbies to justify the expense until.....
At a Trash & Treasure market last weekend I picked up an X-TERRA 705 for a bargain price. The gold coil had never been unwrapped and the seller told me it was hardly used. All seemed to be all there, no corrosion in the battery compartment so I took a punt.
Back home I assembled it, fitted new batteries, pressed the ON button and nothing ! In the background the wife muttered "well that was a bargain then....."
After a bit of fiddling it was time to take it apart, 4 screws and the control unit was apart, pulled 3 plugs and checked the voltage across the back of the battery compartment which was OK. Re-assembled and it worked !
Took it outside and tried to get to grips with it and it wouldn't detect anything ! On startup it came up with "CE", a quick Google and this was found to be a 'coil error'. Back on the workbench, unplugged everything and used switch cleaner on all the plugs & sockets including where the coil plugs into the control box.
Hooray, it's was back to life so must have been a problem with a dodgy contact somewhere. Now whether the fact it wouldn't turn on is why the seller sold it so cheap, who knows.
Anyway, the decision now is how & where to use it and learn about it's features.
The kids want to go to a beach at the weekend so I'll give that a try. I do head up into the Victorian High Country but not really into nugget country.
I'll see how it fits in with all the other hobbies/activities and see how it goes.
I look forward to learning more about metal detecting
Colin
At a Trash & Treasure market last weekend I picked up an X-TERRA 705 for a bargain price. The gold coil had never been unwrapped and the seller told me it was hardly used. All seemed to be all there, no corrosion in the battery compartment so I took a punt.
Back home I assembled it, fitted new batteries, pressed the ON button and nothing ! In the background the wife muttered "well that was a bargain then....."
After a bit of fiddling it was time to take it apart, 4 screws and the control unit was apart, pulled 3 plugs and checked the voltage across the back of the battery compartment which was OK. Re-assembled and it worked !
Took it outside and tried to get to grips with it and it wouldn't detect anything ! On startup it came up with "CE", a quick Google and this was found to be a 'coil error'. Back on the workbench, unplugged everything and used switch cleaner on all the plugs & sockets including where the coil plugs into the control box.
Hooray, it's was back to life so must have been a problem with a dodgy contact somewhere. Now whether the fact it wouldn't turn on is why the seller sold it so cheap, who knows.
Anyway, the decision now is how & where to use it and learn about it's features.
The kids want to go to a beach at the weekend so I'll give that a try. I do head up into the Victorian High Country but not really into nugget country.
I'll see how it fits in with all the other hobbies/activities and see how it goes.
I look forward to learning more about metal detecting
Colin
