Ex II Freaking Out

[MA Hole]

Am writing for my detecting partner and his Ex II. I also am a vet user of the XS and II and have never seen this happen:

Machine suddenly absolutely freaked out w/standard coil. Cross hairs jump all over the screen. Happens when coil is held in air with no movement. All connections have been checked. Coil cover was removed and cleaned. Wiggling the coil wire does not affect anything. There has been no water in machine. There are no power lines or other electromagnetic interference present. It happens regardless of location. X1 probe box seems to be functioning normally, and has not been wet. Machine has not been used in marijuana fields, and to my knowledge, has not consumed alcohol. Cutting sensitivity helps, somewhat. Small coil eliminates problem -- though, in my experience, machine is not behaving as though the standard coil is the problem, but rather that the machine is in some sort of electronic hypersensitivity mode.

Any suggestions for last ditch fix attempt before putting it on a plane for a Las Vegas vacation? Wondering if there is a "hard reset" that may be attempted.

We thank you for your ideas.
Dan

 

[Steve(MS)]

You could manually change the noise channel up and down and see if it will settle down, if you detector is stable while at the same place this one is unstable is does sound like there is a problem. You could use your coil on his detector to see it is coil related.
HH

 

[Charles (Upstate NY)]

Remove the coil (or in your case remove the upper shaft and disconnect where the X1 connects to the control box. The machine should now be stable as granite. If its still going nuts its the control box. If things look good connect the coil only, leaving the X1 and its switchbox out of the loop. If it goes nuts try a different coil. If its good then its the X1 or maybe the X1 switch, check the rubber boot, is it torn, does the switch seem like its functioning properly?

Charles

 

[MA Hole]

Thanks Steve & Charles
Will try your suggestions this weekend. X1 seems to be OK. Will have time to swap my standard coil on to his machine. Failing this, is there a way to reset the machine? Do you pull the batteries out when powered up? Thanks again, Dan

 

[BostonBud]

Thanks for your help. After a week the problem seems to have disappeared. Maybe something dried out??? Hope it doesnt come back. Seems to take very little to mess these Explorers up - otherwise a great detector...

Boston Bud