Some Excellent Info From Ism On SEF Plugs, & Coil Plug Replacements In General

[Critterhunter]

Don't think he'd mine sharing this PM with you guys and so I told him I was going to post it here...

Just a note about the 12x10 SEF. I shortened the cable but when I looked for a 6-pin mic connector I realized I didn't have any extras so I decided to use the one on the 12x10 tail I cut off. The solder posts are thin flat metal tabs instead of the heavy round post I am accustomed to. So when I was resoldering the wires, one of the posts broke clean off. It aparently had been cracked somewhere during assembly because it just fell off as if it already was ready to break. That leads me to believe that others may have problems in the future especially if they hip mount their box. Well I had to order some more and the radio supply houses want almost $4 each so I ordered from Futurlec for $.80 each. They are the same as the $4 ones but they take 2 weeks to get here. Thats OK because the ground is parched and hard to dig because of the long dry spell. WE NEED RAIN!!!

Great info on a good cheap source for new plugs. I knew my 12x10 was bad before I traded my 15x12 for it, and so she threw in an extra $50 to sweeten the deal as I was confident I could fix the 12x10 she gave me because I suspected it was going to be a short in the cable due to her hipmounting, and also because she mentioned several other of her coils had shorts in them as well probably due to hipmounting. Not just SEF coils, either.

It looked like somebody tried to solder the shorted wires to the connector using too much heat, because I found either 2 or 3 that just broke right off when I wiggled them. At first that had me scratching my head because I resoldered the wires and it still wasn't working, but then one pin broke right off. I checked the others and as said at least one other or maybe two also broke right off when I wiggled them a bit.

That's why it's important for people fixing plugs to not just solder the wires again. Wiggle that pins well and see if they come apart. I had even checked my pins from both sides with an ohm meter and never noticed any problem until one broke off later, because they were still making some kind of contact to both sides even with a crack or short in them. Wiggle'em good and check, or just replace the plug to be sure if you have a problem.

Not having another coil connector laying around, I knocked out the bad pins with a thin nail and a hammer, and then went up to Radio Shack and got another identical mic style plug (but it didn't have enough pins so I couldn't just use this connector as a replacement). I knocked out the good pins from the new plug and put them in the SEF plug. Problem solved! I didn't replace all the pins on the SEF plug. Just the bad ones. Thus far no trouble with the connector, but I don't hip mount and I make sure I don't have a sharp bend on the shaft near the plug anyway, so I don't think I'll have a problem.

When I water hunt I use the stock 10" Tornado that stays on my water shaft (the original GT shaft), but even with that coil I make sure to loop the coil cable around the loop at the bottom of the Minelab chest/hip bag before plugging it in. That's what that cloth loop is meant for on the bag.

 

[Ism]

I received the 6-pin mic connectors yesterday. They are different than previous connectors I've purchased from Futurlec. The best connectors have a round post that is hollowed out. They are difficult to solder but they are very robust. The new ones are similar to the ones shipped with the SEF coils but slightly more durable. I had no problems with reassembly. These connectors are a good deal @ 80 cents each even with the lower quality posts.