A
Anonymous
Guest
I've been reading many posts over the past couple of years on many various problems with the Explorers. I wanted to bring up a simple problem on the machine to address once again to save you from having to return your detector for service. The Battery packs on these detectors have the 2 circular electrodes in the end and they are very prone to corrosion! Not the crusty obvious corrosion, but the surface corrosion that provides enough resistance that creates a voltage drop to the detector and prevents the circuits from operating properly. The electrodes will take on a hazy gray or blackish color over time, and this needs to be cleaned off periodically to keep the metal contacts bright and shiny. Also the spring contacts inside the machine itself will corrode on the ends, prevnting good contact.... unless you are very confident in your mechanical abilities, this may require sending in the machine to Minelab to check/clean those spring terminals. It requires the total disassembly of the control head and housing assemblies to gain access to these terminals. If you do get that far, pay attention to the very end of the spring that touches the battery, check that it is clean and shiny and that the spring isn't collapsed - preventing it from maintaining a tight contact against the battery. If you use your detector in damp conditions with any frequency, then you can almost expect this problem to arise sooner or later.
What I've done, once I get the machine apart and down to the springs is to clean them thoroughlly but very carefully, and sand off the contact point to remove any corrosion. Next I take some dielectric silicon grease (you can get this stuff at an electronics or auto parts store) and use a small paint brush to brush on a thin but complete coat over the entire spring and exposed metal contacts.... this seals the metal from the moisture and air and helps prevent it from corroding again. I also put a very thin coat on the end of the battery terminals them self.
A note about the battery... it is easy enough to get dust and dirt on the battery terminals, especially if you carry it as a spare in your detecting pouch, or change batteries with dirty hands, so be sure to keepthe terminals clean. The dirt will stick to the battery terminals in the dielectric grease and act as an abrasive on the spring terminals inside the machine - eventually wearing off the plating on the springs and getting into the steel underneath resulting in a worse corrosion problem. Also, the terminal ends on the battery are very soft, so don't use any rough abrasive or sharp object to clean them, or you may damage them - try a piece of steel wool or very fine sand paper on the end of a pencil eraser to do the job.
So whenever you get any quirky activity out of your machine, always check and clean the terminals on the battery and, if possible, inside the machine. I've had the entire spectrum of oddball quirks and failures out of these Explorers happen to me often and nearly every one of them was attributable to resistance across the battery terminals.
A quick way to check for this resistance? Turn your machine on and with the battery life indicator on the screen being somewhere between full and empty, take your thumb and push on the rubber battery cover on the end of the machine several times, if your battery life indicator changes up or down with the pushing, you have a bad contact between your battery and detector, and take care of it before it becomes a break down in the middle of a hunt.
I hope this tip becomes an important part of your Explorer arsenal of information! HH, Mike.
What I've done, once I get the machine apart and down to the springs is to clean them thoroughlly but very carefully, and sand off the contact point to remove any corrosion. Next I take some dielectric silicon grease (you can get this stuff at an electronics or auto parts store) and use a small paint brush to brush on a thin but complete coat over the entire spring and exposed metal contacts.... this seals the metal from the moisture and air and helps prevent it from corroding again. I also put a very thin coat on the end of the battery terminals them self.
A note about the battery... it is easy enough to get dust and dirt on the battery terminals, especially if you carry it as a spare in your detecting pouch, or change batteries with dirty hands, so be sure to keepthe terminals clean. The dirt will stick to the battery terminals in the dielectric grease and act as an abrasive on the spring terminals inside the machine - eventually wearing off the plating on the springs and getting into the steel underneath resulting in a worse corrosion problem. Also, the terminal ends on the battery are very soft, so don't use any rough abrasive or sharp object to clean them, or you may damage them - try a piece of steel wool or very fine sand paper on the end of a pencil eraser to do the job.
So whenever you get any quirky activity out of your machine, always check and clean the terminals on the battery and, if possible, inside the machine. I've had the entire spectrum of oddball quirks and failures out of these Explorers happen to me often and nearly every one of them was attributable to resistance across the battery terminals.
A quick way to check for this resistance? Turn your machine on and with the battery life indicator on the screen being somewhere between full and empty, take your thumb and push on the rubber battery cover on the end of the machine several times, if your battery life indicator changes up or down with the pushing, you have a bad contact between your battery and detector, and take care of it before it becomes a break down in the middle of a hunt.
I hope this tip becomes an important part of your Explorer arsenal of information! HH, Mike.