My water proof Compadre

[machineman]

I just finished my water proof compadre mod. The compadre is the first detector that I bought and I still like it the best. I got a new 7" compadre and decided to mod my old 5.75" verison in to a water machine. It has volume, and sens, and disc on the inside (waterproof pots are $50 each so I didnt use them). It works so far (tested in pool) I will be happy to share any info I used to help others buld on mod similar designs.
Parts
Compadre, small water proof box ( from Dicks), Small on off switch, 10k ohm pot and 100 ohm resistor(sens), 5k ohm pot( volume) some knobs for the new pots, 9v battery holder, water tight cable clamps, rubber switch nipple. I found a pair of minelab excal headphones on ebay. I could only get one side to work so I took out the old buzzers and used some 300 ohm speakers I had. Then re sealed them in. Used some 1/4-20 nylon bolts and electrical conduit to hold control box to shaft. I used pvc and a heat gun to make the internal mount for the parts.

 

[finnfoto]

sweeeeeet.

 

[machineman]

I got the question about the switch. Its an on/off switch. I changed out the normal Compadre disc pot (100k ohm with switch) to a normal 100k ohm pot. I didnt have water proof pots so I figured the next best thing would be to set up the detector how I like to run it, and then just turn it on and off from the outside. This would reduce the amount of opening and closing the box when potentially wet or dirty. I generally run my Compadre set about Iron and leave it there, so this works for me.

 

[finnfoto]

Perfect setting. Thats how bI run mine as well. Love the toggle idea. . Great mod.

 

[machineman]

Here is how to mod the sens pot. I got this from a guy on the geotech forum.

Tesoro Compadre modification - easy
Posted by Pepso
Tuesday 12 October 2004, 02:05:52


There can be added panel mounted sensitivity knob very easily, because there are free solder pads intended for the potentiometer. Just remove VR4 trimmer and connect potentiometer with one resistor.
Add the slim-line coil connector also and I believe after that your Compadre is upgraded to Laser Scout or Cutlass MicroMax.

 

[finnfoto]

 

[foiled again tab hunter]

n/t

 

[machineman]

yes they are water proof. I I got some headphones from an Excal. The buzzers didnt work well so I put in some of my own speakers. Then sealed them with silicone.

 

[machineman]

I got a question about prep on the compadre for this conversion. This is all from memory so I cannot guarantee that I got all steps correct.
First, take out battery, remove control box from shaft. Then take off face plate. Using a small allan wrench remove the knob, and then unscrew the nut holding in the pot. Set the face plate aside.
There should be room to loosen the strain reliefe for the coil cable, loosen the relief, this will allow you more room to pull the board out.
I used a digital camera to take pictures of all the wires before going to the next step. This will help you replace wires correctly.
You now need a soldering iron. Use the iron to remove the coil wires, headphone wires, speaker wires and the battery wires. If you plan on copying mine then you need to remove the wires form the on/off disc pot as well.
Remove the on board sensitivity pot. As shown in post 5 of this thread.
Drill out the box for your connectors. 2 .holes for the strain reliefs ( coils and headphones) and one for the on/off switch. Also holes for the new mount this will depend on how you plan to do it.
Now you can start adding the new parts.
Replace the sensitivity pot as shown in post 5.
For the disc you can use the original pot or get a new one. I used a new one because they are slimmer, without the switch.
Connect a new battery connector.
You will have to put a pot inline with the headphone or speaker wires for the volume control. You can remove the other wires you dont use.
I used a pvc pipe and a heat gun to make a mount for the board and internal pots. This is somewhat difficult but could be done with a piece of foam, wood or such.
Run the coil wire, and headphone wire through the strain reliefs. Dont tighten them till the end so that you can have more working room.
YOu should now be able to put all the parts in.
Attach the control to the shaft and go detect.
Pm me there are any more questions. I will respond to this thread. Thanks
I have tested this down to 5 feet so far and all is good. I haven't been anywhere deeper yet.