Help with Explorer XS

[ToddWisconsin]

Okay guys ,, yesterday I posted my four silvers with my XS .. Anyhow I need help with a problem . I called Minelab , and they are going to call me back next week , but from what I read they no longer support the XS. Anyhow here's what it does... When you remove the battery to charge it , the unit will not start back up ... If you leave the battery pack in it a few HOURS .. then turn it on .. It will USUALLY turn on and work perfect.. I can detect for hours with it.. But tonight after eight hours with the battery in the unit itstill will not start up.. One time while detecting it did this to me also.. Seems like a power supply problem.. Its not the power switch as that works perfect once the unit finally powers up.. I am not afraid to open it up and do a little soldering if anyone has any ideas? I was a sonar tech in the Navy , so I can dabble a little with electronics ... ANY help would be appreciated ... I like this detector when it works.... It sure seems like it must be a power related somewhere..I would hate to make a dust collector out of it .. But I dont have 1200 bucks to spend on a new detector, And when this one works .. It works like a charm..... I am sure others have had a similar problem with this unit .. SO feel free to see if we can get my ol XS working ALL the time.... Thank you for any help that you guys can offer

 

[Charles (Upstate NY)]

Its an XS which tells me its got some age to it, first thing I would do is clean the battery contacts on the battery, second is disassemble the handle and clean the contacts inside the handle as they were know to be problematic back in the day. You might be able to reach up in there with an eraser on a stick and clean them without taking the handle apart. If that doesn't help my guess would be power supply capacitor, you should be able to replace them. There are 3 boards, the front is the LCD screen, and two larger boards, they just press fit together and will pull apart easily. Now at one point someone at Minelag got the bright idea to glue the freaking housing onto the shaft, which makes taking the handle apart damn near impossible. I don't honestly remember when they started doing that.

 

[ToddWisconsin]

Ok Charles .. Last night I got it to fire up twice .. It will start randomly .. Hit the power button reapeatably while taking the battery in and out ... Then once in a while .. It will boot up .. I cleaned the contacts.. But they were rather clean already... Then it boots up and goes to the screen that says .. THE BATTERY IS FLAT.. The Battery is too low for proper operation " It does it with both the rechargeable pack and the alkalines .. Then it makes a scale countdown and freezes on this screen...No buttons will work at this point.. So I then take the battery out and then it will not start up again until I let it sit a while and play around with it again .. .. This morning I got it to boot up again ,, with the same "battery is flat message" .. But neither battery is not low .. And when it does finally work .. it will run the detector for many hours and show full battery on the display ... Thank you so much for the follow up .. I will keep plucking away at this thing.. I did not take it apart yet...but maybe we can get this thing going yet .. I tend to think it is not a connection .. as when I tap the unit while trying to start it .. it never seems to help.. But when it is working .. the second the battery makes contact with the springs .. the unit powers up ..Next step will be to take the unit apart and see if I can see anything obviously wrong ... Thanks again

Follow up ... I just swapped battery packs again ... The third time I hit the power button it fired up ,,, and didn't give me the battery is flat message .. I then put the other battery pack in and it is now working also... At this point .. the detector will now work for hours. Whatever causes this to happen is intermittent.. I am ready for any advice you can give me ...
)

 

[smoldrn]

I had to send mine in a couple months back, couldn't get it to come on. I pressed & held the power button, trying for a reset, but that didn't work. They told me that they did a factory reset on it, works fine now. And you're right about ML support, they have very few remaining parts for the XS. They basically told me, before I sent mine in, that if it was the circuit board, I was screwed. Good luck.

 

[ToddWisconsin]

thanks for the reply smoldrn... this is almost exactly what mine does...but once it does start it works fine..did the tuneup cost much?..i just hope i can get mine more reliable..when it finally starts up without the flat battery warning.. it works for hours..and i can turn it on and off with no problem.. My detector has not had a lot of use.. and all the buttons seem to be in nice shape and work well when the detector is working... Ill get this figured out yet

 

[smoldrn]

ML only charged me $65. for the work, plus I had $30 shipping each way, I can't complain. Mine would start up for a minute then shut itself back down. The tech said he ran some other tests on it, & everything checked out good.

 

[DaugBiscuit]

Todd, I'm guessing you have already done this but can you do a manual 'Reset' on the XS, like press and hold the power button until you get a 'Factory Reset' message?
(Forgive me for asking, I'm not trying to insult your intelligence but sometimes I forget to do the obvious myself and I assume incorrectly sometimes that everyone is forgetful just like me)

Hope you can get the problem solved w/o having to send it to Minelab.

Don

 

[ToddWisconsin]

Daugbicuit .... When my detector starts up properly ... Yes I can do a reset ... When the flat battery warning comes on at startup .. I can NOT do a reset ..It usually locks up til I take the battery out or it dies on it's own ... At this point it will not restart until it sits for a long time with the battery in it .. Or sometimes by playing with the battery in and out while hitting the power switch .. Ill give it a reset right now .. Just to do it ..But I don't think that will cure the problem... Any input is appreciated Minelab is supposed to call me tomorrow .. But I do think the power capacitor could be at fault ..Charles ... Which one in particular would I be looking at or for ?
Update ... I just got home from work ,, Watched the Packers BEAT San Diego ...LMAO.. .. and did a factory reset on my detector... All went well ... Passed the factory reset ...

 

[ToddWisconsin]

Ok guys .. I spoke with a Minelab rep who was way more than helpful and he pretty much said it is the same thing that Charles pointed out ... 95 percent of the time he says it is the springs and the battery ends .. I thought they were clean .. But he told me about a way with a 35 cal gun cleaning brass brush ... And finalizing it with an alcohol wipe as a residue can build up .. Whooo Hoo .. I am going to do that tonight .. My XS should have a long life yet .. The tech at Minelab says that this is just the way these detectors act when this happens .. THANKS FOR ALL THE HELP EVERYONE .. and Happy hunting ...

 

[ToddWisconsin]

dang ... did the cleaning ... Took the unit apart ... Talked to the service department at Minelab ... I think I may have to send this baby in .. pretty easy to take this detector apart.... cleaned and reseated All the pins for the boards .. And it still does the same things...I did get the unit to restart today... So I will use it for the next couple weeks.. Maybe Ill keep my eye open for a parts detector on ebay.. unless anyone has any other ideas... I think it is the power board...

 

[huntcav65]

did you get the xs fixed?

 

[smoldrn]

Todd, I know this is an old post, but You might have a keypad problem. I found a guy in England who makes a new keypad, as ML doesn't carry them any longer. He replaced it, & fixed a couple of problems in the circuit board. He was the European ML repair guy for years. My xs is on it's way back home this week. Let me know if you need his info.

 

[eagle3]

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