My ATX is back at Garrett for mostly self inflected repairs

[SoCalBeachScanner]

OK, I have had my ATX a couple weeks now and have taken it out into the field twice. I have 5 days of detecting time on it now. I like it, but have had several issues.
The first issue was my fault, I removed the battery covers to swap out the batteries with the rechargeable ones. I tilted the unit to get the batteries to slide out and both sides shot out fast. I managed to grab one, the other dropped a foot or so onto the kitchen counter and shattered into 4 pieces. The battery holders are some of the thinnest plastic I have ever seen. Fortunately I have two sets of batteries. Just a word of caution to others, be careful removing the batteries.
Problem 2, my ATX fails to ground balance on a regular bases every few hours of use. This has happened around 6 times now and I am certain that my settings are correct. What happens is that after several hours of detecting I decide to re-ground balance the unit just to be sure I am not over ground balanced and losing sensitivity. The unit sometimes fails to ground balance no matter how many times I raise and lower it. Retuning does no good. And yes I have double checked that I was in the motion mode. It is so noisy when not balanced that I cannot detect with it. Sometimes it will finally ground balance if I repeat the balance procedure 10 or more times. Other times I have had to shut it off and restart it and it usually works ok after that. If this continues to be a problem I may have to return it. Anyone else out there having this problem?
Problem 3, the telescoping coil poles sometimes will not retract fully back into the unit. The largest pole gets stuck on the last 6" and then the unit will not fit back into the case. I suspect it is jamming against the housing. I have managed both times to get it retracted by placing a LOT of force onto it and twisting at the same time, but I was concerned I was putting so much force on it that the housing or pole my break.
That is it. Glad to see this thread on here as there may be problems common to other units that need attention......jim

Hi Paleomanjim,

On your ground balance problem, have you tried a factory reset? Hold the PinPoint Button down while you turn on the machine. Also, you most likely do not even need to ground balance the machine unless your detecting on highly mineralized ground or highly mineralized Saltwater.
I haven't needed to ground balance my machine yet in the areas that I have been working, and it behaves very well with just a slight threshold sound. I like to run my machine as wide open as I can. I also don't ground balance my AT Pro and run it wide open. Anyway, try a factory reset on your machine, that may clear it up.

Have you taken the coil off to see if you can see scuff marks where the shaft may be hanging up? There may be burrs on one of the plastic parts from manufacturing causing it to hang up, or some debris between the tubes where they slide together. Or it just may need a slight deburring on one of the parts. I wouldn't force it or jam it in.

The battery case is the same case as the AT Pro and I have heard breaking problems due to the brittle plastic, so it's good to have spares.

 

[Paleomanjim]

Thanks, I have not tried the factory reset yet. That is a good idea and I will try it next time out.
I have been hunting at Gold Basin in the Arizona desert, very hot soil out there and ground balancing is a must. I will be traveling to souther california next month though and will try some beach hunting (a first for me!) so I will try using it unbalanced to improve sensitivity.
I did take the coil off once so that I could attach the sling. I had a hard time getting the electrical connector back on, my fingers are just too big. But I did notice some burrs on the pole ends. I'll take it apart before I go out again, may have to have my wife re-attach the electrical though....thanks for the advice....jim

 

[RedRockNv]

With the top quality plastics avaliable today you would think a 3 foot drop would be nothing for something that looks like it was made for some abuse. Sounds like a design issue that need to be addressed.

 

[sweepdog]

time to get back to the drawing board...lol

 

[SoCalBeachScanner]

With the top quality plastics avaliable today you would think a 3 foot drop would be nothing for something that looks like it was made for some abuse. Sounds like a design issue that need to be addressed.

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Actually it wasn't even a 3 foot drop. As the ATX slid back off the table, the coil flipped up, so I grabbed the coil, and the headphone connector swiped at the floor. I haven't seen any other detector that doesn't have at lease something that protrudes out further then the controls/connectors on the machine, i.e., arm cuff, bumpers, fins, or the controls/connection are recessed so they don't take an accidental hit from the side or a drop.

I will be making a lightweight guard to fit over the back of the machine, so I don't have to think about it happening again. I can picture laying the machine on the back seat of my vehicle, shutting the door, and jamming the headphone connector in. Then, here we go again

 

[jtz54]

I got the ATX, took it out a few times and was very impressed.
However, I've had a couple of incidents that were only fixed by doing a factory reset on the unit.

1) The unit will see gold down to 0.1 grams and I use a 0.15 piece for a test nugget as well as a 1 gram piece. For some reason the unit gets into a state where it won't see the small nugget. Even with gain turned up the nugget won't detect until the factory reset is done then all is well again.

2) The Motion/Non Motion mode won't switch. Shift then Motion/Non button pressed and always stays in motion mode. Only after doing the factory reset a few times does this start working again.

Anyone have these problems? Looks like I'll have to send it in.

 

[WaterWalker]

Please post the guard you are thinking about making. Prototype, patent into production...think BIG, build light and sturdy.
I would be interesting in how to hold it in place. I never noticed the Infinium's because it is protected by the arm cuff. No complaints on the Infinium!
Hopefully your bad experience will be the one in a billion. Glad it is repaired and working well for you.

 

[dmnz]

Regarding the shaft not retracting the last few inches...take care as the inner coil wiring may not be wound tight enough - so the rods don't slide over the cable. You could be compressing the cable (and damaging it). To tighten - loosen the arm cuff, lift the spring lock, and rotate the shaft 360 degrees several times to place a few more turns in the cable. ....