Ctx 3030 wont power up! Anyone have any suggestions?

[John A.]

Hello minelab users! I'm having an issue powering up my ctx 3030. I had a small leak in the battery compartment 6 months ago. Terminal on the far left had some corrosion, but seemed to work after for 6 months. Then 4 weeks ago it stopped powering up. Called minelab and sent in the battery compartment so they could replace the board and the battery conector

 

[GKMan]

Ouch... Most likely not a lot you can do, besides trying another battery pack, checking the terminals for damage or more dirt or corrosion. After that you will probably have to make a call to Minelab.

 

[bklein]

Get a bench power supply set for the battery voltage and apply to the voltage input tangs to verify detector works.
If it does it comes down to just a contact problem. (Check the contact on the battery too - or replace with the Alkaline module) Sounds like you don't want to send it to Minelab? Out of warranty?
If it happened to me and out of warranty I would put on an Optivisor to see what I was doing and use an exacto knife or Dremel to scrape away the corrosion on the contacts.
Then I'd perhaps try using a very high temperature setting thin tip soldering iron (order online) to tin the exposed copper on the tangs. (heat sink the part of the tang touching the plastic - or be real fast - so it doesn't melt it) Then clean tang with isopropyl alcohol or flux cleaner.
Perhaps then coat with one of those expensive contact improvers like DeOxit.
A step up would be to electroplate the contacts - check into gold electroplating kits.

A super fix might be to take the contacts out of a charger base to replace the set in the detector box. Might be the same part.

 

[PryorCreekJoe]

bklein,

Sounds like you let one of those rouge waves at Aliso get to you!

PCJ

 

[mascard1]

Hello minelab users! I'm having an issue powering up my ctx 3030. I had a small leak in the battery compartment 6 months ago. Terminal on the far left had some corrosion, but seemed to work after for 6 months. Then 4 weeks ago it stopped powering up. Called minelab and sent in the battery compartment so they could replace the board and the battery conector

If its out of warranty..your in for a LONG wait!!!

 

[bklein]

Yeah I'm probably getting the reputation as the Aliso guy unfortunately.
Wish I had more to be proud of.

 

[JamesBondaka]

Get a bench power supply set for the battery voltage and apply to the voltage input tangs to verify detector works.
If it does it comes down to just a contact problem. (Check the contact on the battery too - or replace with the Alkaline module) Sounds like you don't want to send it to Minelab? Out of warranty?
If it happened to me and out of warranty I would put on an Optivisor to see what I was doing and use an exacto knife or Dremel to scrape away the corrosion on the contacts.
Then I'd perhaps try using a very high temperature setting thin tip soldering iron (order online) to tin the exposed copper on the tangs. (heat sink the part of the tang touching the plastic - or be real fast - so it doesn't melt it) Then clean tang with isopropyl alcohol or flux cleaner.
Perhaps then coat with one of those expensive contact improvers like DeOxit.
A step up would be to electroplate the contacts - check into gold electroplating kits.

A super fix might be to take the contacts out of a charger base to replace the set in the detector box. Might be the same part.

This is the way to go,,,,or minelab