I think I won the idiot award last night...

[darrenb]

I have seen some of the backlight mods done on other machines, and night hunting is starting to sound like a good idea as summer gets hotter and hotter. So I figured I'd open my 250 and see how tough it would be. Took the battery cover off, took the batteries out, removed the two screws, and the nuts for the coil connector and the headphone jack. Slid the front off and had a look inside. Didn't see an easy way to add backlighting, so I put it all back together and took it outside.... It powers up just as it always has, but the coil picks up NOTHING. I did a master reset, and still nothing. I tried a different coil.... nothing. I took it back apart to make sure that nothing had gotten damaged, I even examined all of the traces on the board with a 10x loupe. I looked at the coil connector and the solder joints where it connects to the board. Everything looks perfect. I put it back together again, and still get nothing. Anybody have any suggestions? Looks like I'm going to have to send it to Garrett and tell them that curiosity got the cat!
Thank goodness I still have my 350 in working condition!
HH
Darren

 

[andrew9091]

Long live the ace 350...I tried the 9x12 coil Darren...definitely more coins etc than trash, like with the DD coil. Im gonna keep experimenting with it.
Andrew

 

[darrenb]

Andrew, I think I'm just going to order a 9x12 too. The DD coil is excellent except where lots of bottle caps are!
Good luck and post your finds!
Darren

 

[Jerry-Wi]

Welcome to the Club

 

[flash5153]

Are you sure you didn't go deeper into it than you said??? lol

Is it just no sound,does cursor light up over a coin?? If speaker or headphone jack problem it wouldn't effect the cursor.

From my experience,,when a coil goes bad it won't quit chirping,,never silence!!

Seems it may just be a connection,,maybe coil plug.

 

[Vinnie]

Static electricity can damage the circuit if you are not grounded and the damage would be hard to detect.

 

[darrenb]

Sad part is that I work on electronics on a daily basis. I have no idea what went wrong. The machine comes on just like it always did, chirps the speaker, and looks like everything is fine. I can adjust sensitivity, change modes, and according to the display, everything is working as it should. It just doesn't detect metal. When I press the pinpoint button, all segments of the depth scale light up, and I get the muted sound like you'd get when trying to pinpoint over a really large piece of metal. I have 4 different coils, and all do the same thing. I tested all of the coils with my 350, and they all work properly. I guess that will teach me to try to fix something that isn't broke!!

 

[darrenb]

Just got off the phone with Garrett, and they said that while they aren't sure what I screwed up, they felt like it would be an easy fix. Now the problem comes in with them telling me that I can trade the ace in for 30% off an AT Pro... would knock the price down to just under $490. Decisions, decisions!!

 

[Orion42]

John

 

[INCH]

I think your caught now. The detector God has manifested himself and you have to make a DECISION If you work on electronics daily, that probably makes you pizzyed off a little. Good luck with your decision.

 

[darrenb]

Yeah, I'm really frustrated.... the bright side is that I was planning on selling one of my detectors to help fund the AT, so I guess it happened for a reason. Oh, and just so everyone knows, Garrett says there is nothing in an Ace that is static sensitive. I still used my static mat and wrist strap when I took it apart though. I don't think static is an issue here, but since I don't know what is wrong with it, it could be anything! They were a bit mystified at Garrett when I told them the symptoms I was having. Oh well, lesson learned! Oh, and John... I really do need a sign right now! Like the old saying goes... if it ain't broke, I haven't worked on it yet!
HH
Darren

 

[Muddyshoes]

You'd be better off getting it fixed and reselling it and looking for a used 1980s Freedom Ace that you can probably pick up for about $50 to trade in to get your discount. They'll take any old Garrett as a trade, working or not. Just confirmed this with Brad from Garrett.

Getting my pennies together...

 

[darrenb]

Good thinking. I'll see what Garrett is going to charge me to repair the ace, and if it isn't much, I think I'll have them fix it and send it back. I'm rather fond of the little guy... he has found some really good things for me!

 

[slingshot]

At least you didn't do what I did. My GTA 300 was acting the way yours is now so I decided to fix it and was almost finished when the detector slipped off the table and I grabbed for it and caught the wires and ripped a few printed circuit resistors off. It's still out in the shed.

 

[khouse]

If the readout works but the audio doesn't you just don't have the speaker wires clipped in good. I've a a lot opened up doing the trigger pinpoint mods. Other than that I don't see what you did wrong? Maybe you didn't reinstall the flux capacitor?

 

[darrenb]

No, the audio works fine. Basically it acts like I would expect one to act when the coil is not connected. When I pass the coil over a coin, I get nothing. The display never changes. When I power it up, the speaker chirps like it should, and all segments of the LCD illuminate just like they always have. I can scroll through the different search modes, adjust sensitivity up and down, notch in or out individual segments, and so on. It acts like it is working properly in every way until I pass it over a target, and there is no change on the display at all. I overnighted it to Garrett today, so now I'm just going to kick back and wait. I put a note in with it explaining what I did (that was an embarrassing letter to write) and a request to know what they find wrong with it. I think I'm probably going to feel even more stupid when I find out what is wrong with it!

 

[khouse]

Sounds like a wire loose in the coil connector. Remove the set screw, wire clamp screws and pull it apart and look. I think you'll find the problem there.

 

[flash5153]

When I first started detecting a bought a used compass detector. It was one of the better ones I'm told.

But I was detecting with it for a couple of weeks and was doing OK, had to keep ground balancing it but not too bad of a problem. Them all of the sudden at a new spot it just started going off constantly,,chirp chirp,,I couldn't find anything and couldn't figure out what was going on. It was really hot and I was not in a good mood.
Well there was this big 4X4 post sticking out of the ground right beside me ,,,,and,,,,, I took a swing,,,wrapped it around it pretty good!!! lol

I couldn't make the coil pick up anything after that either!!! lol


OH and btw,,,I went back to that same area after having and ACE 250 and now knowing what I was doing. That area was just loaded with all kinds of crap metal in the ground and is pretty much un-detectable. I feel bad,,that old compass was just fine!!

 

[pan4au]

I'm guessing that the coil jack is a chassis mount with out any soldered wires. If so, did you make continuity checks from the PCB to the individual terminals?

 

[darrenb]

Yes, the connector that the coil plugs into is soldered directly to the board. I checked continuity on all terminals, but that wasn't it either. The only thing I can come up with is that maybe I managed to crack a trace on the board. I don't know how I could have done that, as I didn't flex the board at all, but it is the only thing that makes sense. It is with Garrett now, and I'm waiting on them to call me and let me know what I did!
HH
Darren