Control housing overheats with dust cover on.

[Dan(NM)]

I was hunting today with a rain/dust cover on the Nox, in 100-101 degree temps with the sun directly overhead. After 20 minutes my audio starts cutting out and sounding erratic. I notice my screen is looking bizarre, as you can see, every icon was lit up and there was no way to see a VDI at all. My first thought was the cover was acting like a greenhouse and causing the housing to overheat. After about 10-15 minutes of taking it off, things began to look normal once again, within 30 minutes, completely back to normal. I have a Z a g g cover on the screen, so, no dust cover for my machine during the summer months.

 

[Pyledriver]

Mine did the same. ML recommended factory reset and then let them know if it still did it. I know...sounds weird but so far so good. I swear the screen looked a bit better than previous after doing the FR... I’m keeping an eye on things and running without a cover!

 

[Dan(NM)]

Mine did the same. ML recommended factory reset and then let them know if it still did it. I know...sounds weird but so far so good. I swear the screen looked a bit better than previous after doing the FR... I’m keeping an eye on things and running without a cover!

Something else happened too, I could not longer adjust the iron bias setting after it heated up, did a factory reset and all is well.

 

[u2robert]

Are you sure it would not have done what it did with the cover off? I've heard it happen to other people and they never mention a protector.

 

[BobOso]

I have a cover on mine, no problems so far. 100+ here in Tucson also.

 

[Dan(NM)]

Are you sure it would not have done what it did with the cover off? I've heard it happen to other people and they never mention a protector.

. Went back out into the heat today did not have a problem with it.T he problem cleared up immediately after I took the cover off yesterday. Same thing happened to my buddy's machine 2 weeks ago when he was out in the middle of the day.

 

[Terra1959]

Hot cars can upset detectors also

 

[Pyledriver]

Heat can do a lot of things. However ambient temperatures and direct sunlight shouldn’t cause these issues. After my first problem-with dust cover on-I did a second test in my backyard with the dust cover off and had the same result. I wish it was something as simple as ‘operator error’ but I can assure you it’s not. I’ve already ruled out any summer goldfield activity with this machine. Luckily I have an SDC for that! Meanwhile all my hunting has been around water up to wireless signal loss depth in the water (where the hell are the dang WP headphones Minelab!?!). I’ll be testing it on land again when I get a chance.

 

[dirt doctor]

n/t

 

[TomNH]

Microprocessors run pretty hot. The NOX's electronics are sealed in the control head without
any heat sinking or air moving by. Its a small area. The heat is trapped. Dust cover adds a layer of
insulation to keep heat in. Leave off the cover. The NOX is waterproof so also dust proof. Keep
in a cool place & out of direct sun between hunts. If you take a break turn it off & put it
in the shade. Also follow any ML instructions. Any 100% "cure" for the problem would make the
NOX more $$ than anyone would pay. Its not just the NOX. If you check almost any MD owners
manual it will warn not to store it in hot places. My only beef is the NOX is black. I know its in style
but it only adds to the problem. I have a black car with black interior. Never again ! You bake like
a roast in summer. All IMHO........

HH Tom
LFOD !

 

[Pyledriver]

Great advice but in my particular case, and I think Dan’s too, the unit overheated -or whatever- while in use. The ‘hot car’ scenario does not apply when you drive to your location with AC on, get out and hunt for several hours. Storage is just irrelevant in this scenario. So far mine did it once with the cover and once without, however not since factory reset. The biggest unknown for me is that I haven’t had a hunt that duplicated the original scenario yet. I hope it doesn’t happen again but fully expect it to. As to your ‘all electronics’ statement, sorry it’s just not true. CTX never did it, 705, AT Pro/Gold, even the GoFind 60 doesn’t do that.

 

[lytle78]

Faster, more powerful processor, very small internal volume, lithium battery, Bluetooth radio, powerful transmitter/ and receiver, Lee screen - lots of heat. Bog screen exposed to direct sun for hours in use. This is a tough combination and some units are likely to have overheating issues. IPhones shut down when they go overtemp in order to save themselves from damage, maybe ML should have included that function. Sounds like not enough time calculating thermal loads and measuring them suring testing.

 

[Pyledriver]

^^Exactly. I could see this being the issue, and if so, is a design flaw. I only have about 8 hunts with the machine and 4 of those have been water hunts. Next time I’m on land, if it overheats I’ll send it in and after service probably send it down the road and go back to Excal/Deus combo. My issue is that I don’t get out much, but when I do the hunts usually require work to get to my places and tough conditions at those places. That plus my impatient nature add up to extremely low tolerance for equipment quirks cutting my time short! That said, none of my other ML machines have given me any issue, minus a slight fiddling with the battery issue on the SDC. I guess I need to plan a hot land hunt and put this to rest, lol..

 

[lytle78]

Apologies for the silly typos in my last post - can’t edit at this point.

 

[UtahRich]

No troubles for me to this point with Deano’s dust cover. Nice to have the touchpad protected from dirt on the hands abrasion.

Rich

 

[Beyonder]

100 degrees? I would keep it shaded so it was out of direct sun light.