excal-1000 battery prong tip

[bootyhoundpa]

just want to relay a recent problem i had with the excal...... i went into a fresh water lake last tuesday morn and when the water reached the control box my unit went silent......fearing the worst i got out of the water to see what was the matter.....i tried turning unit back on but nothing.....i then unplugged the battery and re plugged it back in tight....eurecka the unit came on but didnt quite seem to be acting right..unit was very chatterry for a few minutes then settled down to normal.... fast forward one week later i turn the unit on and nothing,no sound ,nothing..... i began wiggling the wires with the unit in the on position and the power would cut in and out.....great i thought...i must have a broken wire.....as it turned out the only problem i had was that the two battery prongs which have a sliver of a gap in the middle of each prong had slowly closed over time causing a weak point of contact.....remedy--simply take a thin knife and gently pry the battery prongs gap open slightly wider ......i noticed an imediate difference....the plug no longer has that sloppy wobble feel to it even prior to tightening the round plastic screw ma jiggy...... just wanted to post this in case anyone else has this problem...its a very very easy fix....

 

[Rick(ND)]

This is where common sense will help find a problem without having to send a detector in. I think batteries and contact give more problems than we hear of and many are sent in to be repaired without stopping to check out these simple things.

 

[MHirschmann]

Great post, I just had this happen to me last week and was going to post about how I "fixed" my problem but you did it for me. I had the same experience. Drove about 4 hours north to hit a spot I have been wanting to check out for some time now, got into the water and nothing. After a few minutes of cursing and checking out the problem, I noticed it was a contact issue, bent the prongs out a bit and voila. Thanks for posting though, I'm sure someone else out there is expereiencing this problem if there are already two of us. HH Marc

 

[ufobbs]

Were these problems with the water proof NIMH battrys or the optional NICAD pack? Thanks guys......John

 

[bootyhoundpa]

ufobbs--- the problem actually was not the battery pac at all,although the problem did kind of mimic a battery problem.... the problem was the prongs which get inserted into the battery pac...theses prongs have a tiny gap split right down the middle.....that gap closed over time causing the outside edge of the prong to lose contact with the battery terminal female ends....thus temperary power failiure until i spread them back to normal width..... i believe my old excal uses the ni-cad pac for what its worth.... your welcome,dave

 

[tippyhound]

Thanks for the tip, haven't had this problem yet but it's nice to know in case I do. Rick IL

 

[ufobbs]

Aha ,Thanks for clearing that up for me, I will now know exactly where to look if it happens.

Great posting thanks.....John

 

[kered]

Disconecting the battery after use will help remove this problem as the prongs spring back into position, if left connected/compressed like any spring they lose that tiny bit of spring that helps connect