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Hip-Mounting Land Star - Done. UPDATE!

G

Golden Silver

New member
Hi all: For those of you who followed my original post about hip-mounting the Land Star, here is a recap and the finale. Although we know that the LS and similar models are lightweight, I still had to change arms after about 1/2 hour of swinging. I attempted to hip-mount the control housing but the cable was a little short for comfortable swinging. I had made many attempts to get an extension cable but because of the 5-pin configuration, no one had a cable I could use. Not even Bounty Hunter! I persevered to the point where I agreed to pay Bounty Hunter $25 for a 36" cable with a male connector and loose wires at the other end so that the cable could be spliced onto my existing cable after snipping off the connector. I also asked the BH Customer Service person who I ordered the cable from, if possible, throw in a female connector in case it was easier to connect to the loose wires on the new cable rather than splicing. I waited with "baited breath" and the cable arrived today.

But, boy, was I surprised at what I received! I expected a similar looking black cable as found attached to my coil. It isn't, it is grey. I exptected such cable, besides being black, to have only the male connector attached and loose wires at the other end for splicing. It isn't, it is actually an extension cable with male and female connectors. I ordered 36" I believe, and this cable is 45-1/2" long! It looks like it was put together for me! I say this because neither connector is molded to the cable and it looks like a homemade job, albeit a professional job, of course. I connected it to my Land Star, I removed the control housing and put to my side and now I have plenty of cable to wrap around the rod and actually bring it out to under the elbow rest so that it isn't hanging loose in front of me where it can caught on whatever.

I also thought about this: if any of you desire the same thing, it's worth a try but I don't guarantee that BH will replicate and I don't know if they'll also charge you $25 (a bit expensive but now that I have it, I can find it in clad any day).

Am I happy? You bet! Look at the photo of the cable. What do you think?

Golden Silver
 
Hi Golden Silver, I did keep up with this subject over the last several weeks and happy for you since your some what satisfied. Seems like a neat set up. Good luck and hh
 
Bravo, Golden Silver!
Maybe BH will take a clue from you and offer a stock detector in hip mount sometime in the near future, or at least a standard cable option/accessory named "The Golden Silver Adapter"!
It's way cool to see a company respond positively and professionally to the request of a customer.

HH and keep it swingin', twalton

Tracker IV
Pioneer 202
 
Once again...First Texas comes through for their valued customers...That is definitely a custom job on the cable...the tech may have even made it at home, but I doubt it...probably special ordered the female end from a catalogue, and just used the male ends they had on hand...the cable on the other hand does not look like standard BH stock...that was most likely special ordered as well...Do not know why they did not use their own cable...I would think the stuff comes on rolls and is cut by machine...??? Anyways, I once again have to hand it to First Texas on a job well done...I think they SHOULD offer this as an accessory...I do not think your the only one who would like to lighten up their machine to make swinging easier...many folks with injuries, arthritis, etc....



HH,

BH-LandStar
 
BH-LandStar said:
Once again...First Texas comes through for their valued customers...That is definitely a custom job on the cable...the tech may have even made it at home, but I doubt it...probably special ordered the female end from a catalogue, and just used the male ends they had on hand...the cable on the other hand does not look like standard BH stock...that was most likely special ordered as well...Do not know why they did not use their own cable...I would think the stuff comes on rolls and is cut by machine...??? Anyways, I once again have to hand it to First Texas on a job well done...I think they SHOULD offer this as an accessory...I do not think your the only one who would like to lighten up their machine to make swinging easier...many folks with injuries, arthritis, etc....



HH,

BH-LandStar
Click to expand...
I see some (older) detectors have a ton of cable wrapped around the rod and I do not see why it is done. BH could also include a longer length of calbe on future detectors making it simpler to hip mount if the person wants to go that route than having to put one through what I was put. I didn't even get what I ordered which I thought would be a stock item but getting an extension cable instead was a bonus. It saved me having to deal with my audio/video technician who could have said no for various reasons and/or might have charged me an arm and a leg above the $25 I paid BH who did a superior job to a splice.

I do have to seal the connectors' openings where the cable enters to make sure that dirt or sand do not enter and screw up the contacts since they are not molded connectors. I was thinking of white glue, making sure to hold the connectors upside down so that the glue doesn't creep in. If any of you have a better idea for a sealing product, let me know.

Golden Silver
 
Not sure if you should permanently seal the connection, or just temporarily seal it...??? If you have no plans on separating the cable at a later time, I would say make a tight connection, then hot glue it together...Hot glue is waterproof, and solid...and cheap!!!
Just make sure you carry the glue about 2 inches up the cable to get a good seal...Let it dry overnight before use

HH,

BH-LandStar
 
BH-LandStar said:
Not sure if you should permanently seal the connection, or just temporarily seal it...??? If you have no plans on separating the cable at a later time, I would say make a tight connection, then hot glue it together...Hot glue is waterproof, and solid...and cheap!!!
Just make sure you carry the glue about 2 inches up the cable to get a good seal...Let it dry overnight before use

HH,

BH-LandStar
Click to expand...
BH-LandStar, give me a little more info on hot glue, what is it and how do you "hot" it. I may just take the easy way out and wrap some black electrician's tape around the connector entrance and since this tape has a tendency to unwrap just by looking at it, I'll add some transparent packing tape which really holds. Thanks for the suggestions.

Golden Silver
 
hi goldensilver. congrats on the hip mount job. good move on your part. just goes to show what a fella can come up with when he wants an easier way of doing things. i would suggest plain ol' silicone to seal your ends with. i wonder if hunkadinka has been following this post? as you know, he had the same thing in mind. hh,
 
GRAY GHOST said:
hi goldensilver. congrats on the hip mount job. good move on your part. just goes to show what a fella can come up with when he wants an easier way of doing things. i would suggest plain ol' silicone to seal your ends with. i wonder if hunkadinka has been following this post? as you know, he had the same thing in mind. hh,
Click to expand...
Silicone sounds good and it's what I had originally had in mind but couldn't think of it. BTW, hunkadinka is following the post and contributing to it, actually originating it! I'm hunkadinka! My wife gave me that pet/nickname when we met in 1972; I'm her hunkadinka! I've used it on some forums but couldn't remember which ones. I'm also Silver Fox on TreasureNet and I tried Silver Fox here but for a reason I can't remember why it didn't take so I adopted Golden Silver.
 
Hey Golden Silver congrats....And as far as the connections I would use heat shrink tape.
 
OK...Hot glue...it is those glue sticks you get in craft stores...they go in a gun that you plug into the wall...the gun heats up the stick and you pull a trigger causing it to feed through...the hot liquid glue comes out the hot tip of the gun...work quick as it dries fast...gun and glue sticks can be had at many dollar stores, or a craft store like Michael's or JoAnne Fabrics....Also found in many hardware stores...costs no more than 10 bucks, or your getting robbed...stuff dries hard as a rock...it can be cut open or off whatever you glue, but it is pretty much a permanent seal....Silicon also would work, but it tends to dry out and crack after a while....


HH,

BH-LandStar
 
Hi all: thanks for the congrats and your suggestions on sealing the connectors to the cable. For now, I'm going to take the easiest, less-expensive way which could be permanent and that is the electrician's tape since we're not dealing with a critical situation. I'll double seal by first using a little white glue (gently) and when that dries I'll tape it. I'm using the white glue because when I used to make my fiberglass probes, I would pour the white glue into the handle opening and then insert the fiberglass section. The white glue eventually sealed solid around the probe section and it never came loose. It just has to be used judiciously.

I can also cut a small section of a straw and use that similar to heat shrink tape except I would tape the straw section. I'm not going to jeopardize the cable connectors. Thanks again.

Edward
 
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