Menu
What's new
Find's Treasure Forums

Welcome to Find's Treasure Forums, Guests!

You are viewing this forums as a guest which limits you to read only status.

Only registered members may post stories, questions, classifieds, reply to other posts, contact other members using built in messaging and use many other features found on these forums.

Why not register and join us today? It's free! (We don't share your email addresses with anyone.) We keep email addresses of our users to protect them and others from bad people posting things they shouldn't.

Click here to register!

Need Support Help?

Cannot log in?, click here to have new password emailed to you

Changed email? Forgot to update your account with new email address? Need assistance with something else?, click here to go to Find's Support Form and fill out the form.

Need help rebuilding a PI1000

B

BenRunner

New member
Just got an old PI 1000. It looks like it's all there but the switch has come apart. The inside is pretty clean. There is no battery but there is a 9 volt charger with it.

I need to find out how to get the board out and where to find another switch. Don't want to break it trying to get the board out...

Thanks!
Ben
 
Hi BenRunner, I have an old PI-1000, that still works!! But, the coating on the cables has desinegrated. My PI-1000 takes AA batteries, and has a Brand New battery holder. It has the owners manual, which is pretty beat-up, and the lead weight inserts for scuba diving with it. If you are interested in buying it for spare parts, or if you can figure out how to recoat the cables, then you would have a fully functional underwater pi detector. If interested, or have any questions, feel free to call me at (302) 354-5661, anytime day or nite, up til 1am.est. Best of luck!
 
Thanks for the reply! I got this thing pretty cheap and maybe with 2 I could get one good one...really need to figure out how to get the electronics out of the box without tearing it up. I think the switch is the only thing besides the cables in the rear.

I saw mine flash once when I turned the switch to batt check but then part of the switch fell out...

I'll try to give you a call today.

Ben
 
Hello,

you have to losen the two black cable connectors on the back of the housing by losening the external plastic bolts (the caps, not the part on the box side!) to let the cables run freely while you pull the board out. Also you have to remove the metal switch cap by losening the two small screws on the cap itself (inside the box, see picture). I had to build a tool for this since in europe that is a non standard size.
Do not worry if you see an additional board in my pictures, it is a mod I made to have a better performance...

Cheers

[attachment 27228 P5090710resize.jpg]
[attachment 27229 P5090708Resize.jpg]
 
Thanks!

Got the switch out and the board...didn't know one of the allen screws went all the way through...

A contact or 2 fell out of my switch. I haven't tried to get it apart yet but did find the contact(s). Guess I'll try to get the top off and see if the switch is repairable. Bet there is no way to get a replacement. Wonder if Whites even has them?

So you did a mod? Is there anything you know of on the net for modding these??

Thanks again,
Ben
 
Hello,

yes I did a mod. I replaced the CD4017 IC that provides timing for all the signal sampling functions on the board with a daughter board based on a PIC 16F1628 to provide custom sampling timings.
The original PI1000/3000 timing is 30Khz. Pulse time is 33uS and sampling occurs 33uS after pulse shut off.
I tried several different timing schemes and got some improvements by having a pulse duration of 90uS. The shortest delay possible for this detector is 30uS due to the unshielded head. Overall is still a nice unit but the 30uS sampling delay limitation beats it when compared to a Surfmaster Pi Pro for example, that provides a shielded coil and 15uS samplig time. I made benchmarks with the two and the PI Pro is by far a better machine. I use my PI3000 as a backup unit in case mi Pi Pro should fail.

I include the schematic of my mod. I also slightly increased the voltage supply with a custom ni-cd battery pack. Everything helps...

Cheers :)
[attachment 27233 schemapic.gif]
 
Very cool:)
So you are using dip switchs to control the pulse time?

I'm just going to try to get this thing going first...any mods will be way down the road.

Do you have a schematic for the detector itself? One more question...how far past 9volts did you go?

Thanks,
Ben
 
Hello,

I use the dipswitch to select different timing schemes at poweron. Not just the pulse time but a whole timing set.

The original whites PI3000 drawings specify a maximum supply voltage of 10.5 Volts. You can get EXACTLY 10.5 Volts if you use 8 ni-cd batts. This requires to use 2 long 4xbattery holders and connect them in series. Also, as I explained in other posts, NI-cds can better handle high currents and that is what you want in a pulse detector.
Anyway , do not expect wonder results. Always remeber what Mr.Foster wrote about supply voltage: " doubling pulse supply voltage in a PI just increases detection depth by 10%". So a 1 volt difference will not add very much to detection depth.

About battery mods you can read my post on the surfmaster PI Pro here http://www.findmall.com/read.php?26,285265,285265#msg-285265
Actually that mod runs nicads up to 14 volts on a fully charged set.

Anyway a repeat that the Surfmaster is far superior if you want top performance...


Cheers
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top