Sov XS died

[johnmusk]

I think my Sovereign XS finally bit the dust. There are 2 problems.

1. When I bend the cable near where it enters the housing it makes a loud "blap" noise.
2. I get no response when passing a coin under the coil.

The "blap" thing has happened in the past, but it was only temporary. The detector does power on and gets a threshold but that's about it. I did take the adapter off the end of cable and it looks fine so I don't think it's a cable issue. I'm thinking maybe it's a problem with the coil? Any suggestions would be appreciated. I hate to toss the thing because it still finds plenty and I know it very well. Thanks.

 

[Buried Crap NJ]

Probally just a short in the wire, from flexing Pull it apart and just resolder the wire on shorter.

 

[Critterhunter]

Sounds to me like a short at the cable connector. That's the most common problem when coils fail. An easy fix if you know how to solder. Also, check both sides of each plug pin with a continuity meteer because I found two bad pins on the SEF I bought used where somebody had soldered them with too much heat and even though the wires were soldered to one side of the pins they were melted/broke inside the plug and thus didn't make contact with other side.

 

[johnmusk]

I appreciate the responses but I might have explained myself poorly. I get the "blap" when I bend the cable up near the detector housing, not down by the coil.

 

[Buried Crap NJ]

Same thing. From constant flexing the brake internally, very common of those who hit mount. Sometimes in as little as a few months, on new machines!

 

[Ron from Michigan]

John probably your coil cord connector,there are a lot of people on this forum that can fix this in a couple of minutes for just the shipping cost.Good Luck Ron

 

[Critterhunter]

Yes, that's what I meant...Your coil cable connection that plugs into the detector is probably got a short just behind the plug, but make sure you check both sides of all the pins because I had to knock out and replace several pins on my SEF I bought used because somebody soldered them with too much heat. Probably used a blow torch.

 

[johnmusk]

Thanks everyone looks like the culprit is mr. green. And yes I'm a hip mounter...but no more.

 

[Critterhunter]

Make sure after you solder the wire back you cover it with heat shrink. If you don't have a heat gun a lighter will do the job on that. Dont know how well you can solder but if you're inexperienced remember that flux is your friend for an easy soldering job.

When I chest mount my control box for water hunting I loop the coil cable around a loop in the hip or chest mount Minelab bag. It has one at the bottom for this very reason to take stress off the coil connector.

 

[Ism]

Sounds to me like a short at the cable connector. That's the most common problem when coils fail. An easy fix if you know how to solder. Also, check both sides of each plug pin with a continuity meteer because I found two bad pins on the SEF I bought used where somebody had soldered them with too much heat and even though the wires were soldered to one side of the pins they were melted/broke inside the plug and thus didn't make contact with other side.

The SEF coils are built with a piece of crap connector. Its an accident waiting to happen. Even the Chinese mic connectors I buy for 80 cents are built better.
If you are new to soldering, make sure you tin both wire ends before you solder them together.
Best thing is to get an entirely new connector and shorten the cable by 4-6 inches cause you can bet that the other wires have similar fatigue on them.

 

[Critterhunter]

I haven't had any issues with mine since I fixed the short in the wires at the connector that the previous owner had happen to them. The person who used it was chest mounting the machine for water hunting I think or at least hip mounting to hunt the beach and as a result there was a short at the connector. This person told me that it wasn't working so I traded them my 15x12 and they gave me $50 with the bad coil to complete the deal. She also mentioned she had other coils that had a short in them so I suspect that was from chest or hip mounting too? Anyway, with a little solder and heat shrink work I fixed the short no problem and since I don't hip or chest mount unless I'm water hunting (I use the stock 10" coil for that on my water rig shaft) no issues.

It's important if hip or chest mounting with any coil to loop the cable around a loop on the carry bag right before it gets plugged into the detector to keep stress off the connector. Even if other coils have a higher quality connector (although this one seems fine to me for it's purpose) the issue isn't so much the quality of the connector, it's the stress that gets put on the wires right behind it if you don't loop the cable around something before plugging it into the detector.

 

[goldnugget]

Glad you solved the Problem. I will make a loop on mine before I go dirt fishing next time.goldnugget-Charlotte,North Carolina

 

[Tin Fin]

I had something similar on my GT - but it was the headphone stress point that had a break in it - just took a different jack, trim the wire, solder in the new jack = good as new. I bought the headphones used, and they worked fine for about three months; turns out some of the static I was hearing and attributing to overhead electrical wires, was really the headphone wire going bad. Not a difficult fix, but it's always good to have a backup set of headphones, which I did, and it saved the days hunt for me. Second set sounds different to me, so I tend to not use them. Also, I'm always careful of the connection points on rigs - learned that from radio days; once you get your cable in place on the shaft, leave it there and mess with it as little as possible; check it now and again, even open it up to make sure it's clean and dry, but the less wiggling done to it, the better.