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old excalbur questions, need help

J

jkoaltrades

New member
i have a chance to buy an older minelab excalibur. it has a black body, horse shoe type coil with green headphones. it is reasonably priced and works. the guy bought it off a widow of a deceased fellow who was the original owner. the fellow never used it but stored it in his garage. that is how the battey holder (pod?) got cracked. the battery holder takes "AA" batteries, and that's fine with me, but i need to know what to do with the cracked battery holder that is definately NOT water-proof. it is cracked pretty bad, but the unit still fires up and functions. can i find a replacement, or can an excalbur 2 model battery holder work? are there any other issues that i need to check out prior to purchasing this unit? i don't really intend on diving deep with this unit, probably just use it around 5-6 foot of water. any and all help is appreciated, i'm thinking about buying this unit within the next day or so, thanks
 
Go on the ML site and contact CS they respond quickly. That was a pretty good machine, i know a guy who uses that 8" coil on the same machine and its a hot coil for him. Also if you get it right and it WORKS PROPERLY..... it would be a great machine for a MOD of the headphones and possibly the coil. Sounds like he has the AA battery pod..... those are considered water resistant.... not water tight. Worst case resale for parts.

Dew
 
I've got both, old and new..out of area right now, will check sunday when I get home on the both..If it is a good price go for it. You need a coil change or head phone change there are a couple I know and I that can swing that for you. Most of these sword models were very well built, but check for any cracking of the cables. I'm almost sure you can change a few things on the new batteries to make them fit, and I know the insides are the same. Let me get back to you sunday afternoon, with a update........joe
 
The new battery pod can be used but with minor modification. The original battery case with (square tabs) on my sword developed small cracks and leaked. I picked up a like new Alkaline Pod. Cut and filed the tapered ears off down to the first line of molded in re-enforcement points. Probably could have gone a little short of the re-enforcement points to make it look just a little neater ... but it works. I stuffed it with the after market NiMH rechargeables. Works like new; with a longer battery life due to the higher capacity NiMH pack. I do need to do a headset mod. OBN (joe) has posted tons of info on that.
Cheers,
tvr
 
Just got in sorry, will get a few pic monday, looks like it is possible TVR was able to mod his, looks like just a little cutting on the new bat../...


Nice Job TVR!!
 
well, i went ahead and bought this unit after all.:minelab:
tvr, was the newer battery holder (pod?) exactly the same inside diameter as the original? i want to know if you used the original wired cap end with the screw holes and seal?
i've used several diffrent brands of detectors before, they all had their own distinct sounds when detecting metal, (beep, beep), but it's going to probably take me some getting use to this excal., it sounds like a cat that's had it's tail stepped on:surprised: does anyone know what years they made the "sword" models? is this brand also suppose to have multiple (17 i think) frequencies? or is that just the newer ones? i can't seem to find much info on the net on the older ones, just the newer models:confused:
joe, you mentioned a need for a new coil and/or headphones, are the "stock" horseshoe shaped ones flawed? are the "stock" headphones junky? how hard is it to change these things? i thought i read somewhere that these are hardwired in? also, it appears that the cables have no cracks that i can see. what happens if the cable cracks, does water infiltrate the unit? i'm sorry for all the questions, but i'd really like to know. any and all help is greatly appreciated.
 
The new alkaline pod came with the end. I had no need to swap. Maybe here is where OBN or others can help. I assumed that the end cap on the "original" battery pod was actually original. It may not be. I bought the detector with a push button mode change and coil change to a newer style tornado coil already done. I am not sure that the end cap on the old pod had not been adapted for a new style connector.

If your Sword has the screw on battery connector with the two contacts and a positioning pin like in the pictures, then I think all you need is either a new style alkaline pod or regular pod. I did not take the two apart again to get inside diameters. The outside diameters are the same, but the old style pod is 3/8ths of an inch longer than the new one.

Pictures of the old pod are included. If your detector looks like it has a battery connection like this one, then a new style pod will only need some plastic removal to fit.
Cheers,
tvr
 
Oh and some of the other things; I believe all the Excals are the same B.B.S. technology (same number of frequencies).

From what I've read, the original coil design is a good one, nothing wrong with how the design performs unless you want a bigger coil and yes they are all hard-wired. It takes some careful work to swap them. How to do it has been pretty well documented over in the Modifications forum.

Some have reported the original headphones are better than the new ones. I don't know. The yellow ones on the unit I have are not original, although the are Excalibur headphones (the yellow ones). They do not reduce outside noise much and if the holes in the ear muffs are left open to drain water, they whistle when the wind blows. Neither condition helps hear targets. Again, there are a number of solutions to those issues posted on the Modifications forum.

It does take some getting used to the sound. I am starting to get where I can call targets by tone for some targets, but still have a ways to go learning the Excal.
Cheers,
tvr
 
thanks tvr. i guess i need to find an original battery holder for this, because i'm not sure if the newer battery holders (pod?) will work with the older battery wired cap. i don't want to mess things up trying to change wires around and such. "joe" (oldbeechnut) had mentioned having a older type pod, but i don't know how to pm him on this site????:shrug: i've even looked on the "e" bay, but have only seen newer versions. i guess i could try to either repair the one i have, or see if i can rig my own if i cannot get an original. i also search through this sites "modified" section, and couldn''t locate any appropriate info.
 
He guys, just spent a few days in the Hospital....Home and all is well, I think.....be working in the shop tonight....let me find a few things and I'll check both...joe
 
The only thing that is the same is the battery pack and the connectors..the endcaps, pods are total different.
 
Thanks OBN and glad you are OK!

So what it looks like we have is that the shaft mounting holes are the same diameter and distance from the edge of the mounting flange and go over the same size shaft tubing. With the same connector used, you can get a complete new pod and cut the plastic flange to make the new pod work in place of the old one. Just can't use the end plug from one type of pod in the other type of pod.

tvr
 
i hope you're fine beechnut (joe), thanks for the pics. tvr, how involved would it really be to swap to a newer style battery pod? if i have to take unit apart and solder wires, it'd probably never function properly after i'm done:unsure:
 
i also would like suggestions on where i can possibly purchase a original replacement pod for this unit. been looking on e-bay, none seen yet except for new models:sad:
 
Thanks jko, All is Ok..


Finding anything for that model is next to impossible. Only if you come across a used or broken. And I have only seen a few of those over the years, most were on Ebay, and went for about 275.oo as parts machine.
 
jkoaltrades said:
how involved would it really be to swap to a newer style battery pod? if i have to take unit apart and solder wires, it'd probably never function properly after i'm done
Click to expand...

Don't need to do any soldering. The connector between the detector and the battery pod looks like it is the same on the old one as it is on the new one. All you will need to do to use a new pod is carefully remove some of the plastic on the tapered part of the mounting ears so that it slides into place and clicks into the retainers on the shaft (see the picture further up this thread).

If you get one of the alkaline pods, you can get a rechargeable NiMH pack that has the 9 volt battery type of connector that the alkaline battery holder does. All you need to do with that is take off the alkaline pod end cover, fit the battery pack in and snap on the connector, make sure everything is clean and use a little bit of silicone grease or diving regulator grease on the O-ring and put it together. There are a couple of set screws that hold the pod end in place. Charge it up and you are ready to go.

Thoughts on using an alkaline pod and using a rechargeable battery pack and some sources for them is covered in this link:
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?21,1666598


Oh ... and I spent about 6 months looking for an original old type pod before I gave up and got the new style and cut the plastic to fit.
tvr
 
if my battery holder (pod) is cracked, then not only would i have to buy the NiMH battery pack and charger, but the NiMH battery holer (pod) as well, right? on e bay these holders are about $165, the alkiline battery holder is $94. also will the NiMH battery fit in the alkaline battery holder (pod) or does it have to be inserted into a strictly NiMH battery holder (pod)? this detector is the older excalibur "sword" model with the horse-shoe style coil and the green headphones, i need the newer excal 2 holder/?
 
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