Another Sovereign Elite Question

[54shooter]

I hope I'm not being a pain in the neck with all the questions but I'm still having doubts that my machine is working right. Last night I was out hunting and my machine would act like it went dead. I have been having this problem and when it does I remove the battery pack and replace it and it starts working again. Last night it was going dead and I would very lightly (very lightly) tap on the battery pack and it would start working again. Then It started literally blowing my ear drums out. It would kind of make a clicking sound then start at a very high but quiet tone that would build to very loud (kind of reminded me of a siren) then make a extremely loud growl and quit. This happened several times and I had to put it away as I was afraid I was going to fry it. Could it be a bad battery pack? I didn't get the rechargeable battery pack with the machine when I got it. I bought it from my dad and he offered to take any repairs that needed to be done off the purchase price. I talked to the closest Minelab dealer and he said the closest place to have it looked at is Chicago. I've tried cleaning the contacts in the battery pack and the headphone jack and that seemed to help for a little over a day. I also thought that it might be bad headphones but I have my Ace's headphones and it does the same thing with them. I also took it out to my coin garden and even with a slow swing (4 seconds per swing one way) I can't get it to hit on 3 and 4" coins very well. My Ace has no trouble with these. I'm at my wits end. I'm going to take it to the Minelab dealer tomorrow to see what they think. I just want to learn this machine but when I'm doubting that it's working right it's taking all the fun out of it for me. Does anybody have any ideas?

 

[54shooter]

I'm gonna take it out again this morning and see what it does when it's cooler out.

 

[robby4570]

I still think your HP jack has issues based on what we did over the phone the other night...

 

[ZOFCHAK]

I hope I'm not being a pain in the neck with all the questions but I'm still having doubts that my machine is working right. Last night I was out hunting and my machine would act like it went dead. I have been having this problem and when it does I remove the battery pack and replace it and it starts working again. Last night it was going dead and I would very lightly (very lightly) tap on the battery pack and it would start working again. Then It started literally blowing my ear drums out. It would kind of make a clicking sound then start at a very high but quiet tone that would build to very loud (kind of reminded me of a siren) then make a extremely loud growl and quit. This happened several times and I had to put it away as I was afraid I was going to fry it. Could it be a bad battery pack? I didn't get the rechargeable battery pack with the machine when I got it. I bought it from my dad and he offered to take any repairs that needed to be done off the purchase price. I talked to the closest Minelab dealer and he said the closest place to have it looked at is Chicago. I've tried cleaning the contacts in the battery pack and the headphone jack and that seemed to help for a little over a day. I also thought that it might be bad headphones but I have my Ace's headphones and it does the same thing with them. I also took it out to my coin garden and even with a slow swing (4 seconds per swing one way) I can't get it to hit on 3 and 4" coins very well. My Ace has no trouble with these. I'm at my wits end. I'm going to take it to the Minelab dealer tomorrow to see what they think. I just want to learn this machine but when I'm doubting that it's working right it's taking all the fun out of it for me. Does anybody have any ideas?

Taking it to a local Minelab dealer or anyone that is familiar with the machine should help determine what is wrong (if anything). I know when I switched from an Ace to a Sovereign it drove me nuts the first couple times I tried using it. What kind of batteries are you using in the AA pack? Have you tried the detector is different locations? (They don't always work well around power lines or other interference). Is the coil cover clean underneath?

The problem with sending anything into Minelab is that their charges can quickly approach or surpass the price of buying another used one. My guess is that most of your issues should be able to be figured out by someone experianced with the machine. Good luck!

 

[Ron from Michigan]

The Sovereign will increase in volume with the low battery alert.My suggestion replace the batteries in your alkaline pack.Good Luck Ron

 

[Critterhunter]

That's my first guess too. Sounds like the batteries are bad or you have a bad battery connection that is causing an intermitten short/lower voltage getting to the unit. Did you not only clean the main battery tabs inside the holder, but also clean the two external ones that contact the machine when it's installed, as well as the two main ones on the machine that they make contact with? Clean them with an eraser from a pencil and also then wipe them clean with rubbing alchohol. Oh, and bend the two main tabs out a hair as they can get compressed over time with sloppy battery pack installation. My guess is you've got some bad or weak alkaline cells though. Did you use the right type, as there are store bought batteries that don't have the right chemical makeup and are not recommended for detectors. Read the manual and see, which can be found on Minelabs site. I posted a link in the Sovereign accesseries sticky.

Beyond all that, if the machine still is going up and down in volume and such I'm guessing you've got a dirty off/on volume control pot or a dirty threshold pot. If you aren't afraid to poke around in there and don't want to spend the money to have it fixed then there is a link in the accesseries sticky to a thread on how to clean those, but be warned you might make more things go bad in the machine if you don't know what you are doing. It might not be a pot and you then destroy the pot, or you might static shocked one of the ICs on the control board and fry something else.

 

[Rick(ND)]

My first impression is the battery giving you a problem and the first thing I would do is put 8 fresh AA alkaline batteries in the alkaline pack, not rechargeable or any cheaper batteries as some of them are bad. Now try it and if that don't fix it then you know your batteries are OK. Next try it with headphones and without to see if it still does this problem if it does you know it not the headphone jack. Process of elimination is the way to go until you find it.
If you have a experienced Sovereign user or a dealer in your area have them take a look at it and see what they think.
You are never a pain here as we are here to help those with questions we have experienced ourselves so you get the most out of your Sovereigns.
Good luck and hope you find it was just a simple problem and easy to fix.

Rick

 

[54shooter]

I replaced the batteries and slightly bent out the contacts and it seems to be working again. I'll see how it goes. Thanks alot for all the responses.