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The CTX 3030 is a "Leaker"... but does anyone have...

S

seahunter34

New member
I do not care what ML says, or anyone else for that mater- my CTX 3030 is not waterproof- I repeat: IS NOT WATERPROOF! And I suspect neither is yours. Mine has leaked twice now in saltwater with the utmost of care/cleaning/handling, resulting in total battery terminal corrosion- dead machine! Twice ML has made full repairs, but now it's out of warranty and I've not submerged it since! Just to be clear, I have years of shallow water detectiecting under my belt and have used many machines.

The truth needs to come out that the CTX 3030 suffers from a design flaw. A flaw that permits leaking into the battery compartment. If it happens to be saltwater, your 3030 and battery are toast! ML needs to admit this is a serious problem and offer a resolution to every CTX owner. This is not some cheap machine and ML should make good on the flaw! Even if they have to ship every CTX owner a newly designed machine! Why should I be a Guinea Pig for ML? I spent a lot of money on a machine that's supposed to be waterproof! So ML should make good! I will state right now... submerge your CTX in saltwater for hours at a time and you will be risking a dead machine. Eventually it will leak, because last time I was told by ML the leak has to do with temperature change and one has to clean the gasket with every submersion, including every re-submersion even if you just step out of the water for a minute! Temperature change will cause the gasket to change and if there are any debris such as sand present, it will leak. As crazy as this sounds to have to clean non-stop, this is what ML told me!

My obvious answer is to just go back to the Excalibur and CAN the CTX! Which I may just do. But, as much as I love the Excalibur, it's no match for the CTX in shallow water jewelry hunting. I've scooped lots of gold with Excaliburs, but the 3030 cleans house! With every past use of my 3030 I out-hunt myself! The 3030 just sees the gold Excaliburs can't. I'm frustrated and want to continue to use the CTX for shallow water hunting. I do not believe using silicone grease or teflon tape will change anything with actual days of in field use.

So, I'm starting to wonder- why not modify my CTX? I've done some crazy MODS that worked out great on other water machines and I'm no MODS expert! What I'm thinking is perhaps using marine epoxy to permanently seal a CTX alkaline battery pack in place so it will never leak again! Then perhaps powering up the CTX with an Excalibur battery pod cabled through a WP plug? Obviously this would require some thought- but I bet it could be done! I do not care about my warranty if this MOD would work and I would MOD 2 machines for travel. I would appreciate any ideas on how such a CTX MOD might be accomplished? In the past some MODS have prov-en worthwhile and a waterproof CTX 3030 would be worth the effort.
 
I guess I won't be taking my CTX swimming as I planned on my vacation coming up in a few weeks.
It's just not worth the risk for me. So the AT Pro has to do the dirty work now..
 
Sir,

I am not disagreeing on your specific situation. May I suggest you wrap a thick rubber band over the seal and locking latches.

Seems to work for me.
 
Not to side with Minelab but they placed a line in the manual that states "not all portions of the CTX 3030 is water proof". While one would think the battery would be water proof I have yet to have any issue with water. I have in the 28 months of use. had the battery latches come undone while in use. I solved this by a very large rubber band. I did note that when the rubber band is around the latches and battery. The battery is pulled up just a bid, making the battery seal better! I have also placed dielectric grease on the battery connections in the event water gets in. There won't be a short. This has worked for me. See pictures:
BCNJ
 
can u find a slightly bigger o ring, a good quality one not the cheap ones , a little dielectric grease on battery contacts in case, then put a rubber band on should fix it .
 
Mine stays underwater most of the time when I am beach hunting and no problems whatsoever. No plumbers grease or rubber bands. Although that is a good idea I have not had any leaks. If it is Minelabs fault your machine leaked I think they will fix it regardless. Some have had problems with Minelabs service but I have not. (only used their service twice) Keep us posted.
 
I submerge my CTX quite frequently in the ocean, no problems as of yet and I've had it for two years now.
 
Minelab told me NOT to use a rubberband around the battery clips, when I mentioned that after the last time mine leaked a little. I haven't used one since, and no problems.
 
I understand why they say to not use a band around the battery seal. It would make it just like your coil cover, sand will go in and no come out. HAve you ever seen how much sand packs into a coil cover in a single water hunt? I don't want that same condition in the battery opening.

Yes, I have had my CTX in the water, and no it hasn't leaked.
 
I'm not sure why you say it's out of warranty, the CTX 3030 was released two years ago and has a three year warranty.

Wayne
 
The CTX is an expensive $2500.00 machine. It is supposed to be waterproof but, it leaks.

In addition, it has another big problem with a hard to read (due to the glare) display screen that scratches easily.

Something tells me that this is a machine that was rushed into production without too much thought being put into the details. Minelab should have tested the CTX making sure everything worked well before putting into production and putting it on the market.

Is Minelab aware of these problems? Are they trying to get them fixed? If we send our machines back to Minelab will Minelab replace these poorly designed parts with parts that work well?

We, the users, shouldn't have to invent fixes to fix Minelab's problems on a $2500.00 top of the line machine. Minelab should be fixing them for us.

Minelab are you listening?
 
why would you be operating your machine without a screen protector? I think that was the first thing I did before I went out detecting with it.

Besides that the glare never really bothered me that much.

As far as waterproofing I am a guy that spent almost the whole summer in a creek detecting with it. I did not have any leaking problems. Each time this comes up people seemingly crawl out of the woodwork with the problem.

if the CTX has such a widespread problem with leaking we should be hearing about the issue weekly.

If I was going to follow anyone's lead about things I should do to prepare the CTX for going into the water, it would be BCNJs...
 
I've recently experienced problems with USB port leakage. I finally got it back up and running today thanks to some good suggestions from fellow hunters on this forum. I just hope the fix lasts but I'm getting pretty gun shy with this machine. I did a lot of searches on various hunting forums this weekend. I found lots of posts about leakage, mostly about the battery pack and the USB connection. I contacted Minelab last week and was told the battery pack and usb port should be checked after each and every use. I love this machine but like I said, getting a little gun shy when I take it into the water.
 
I agree one hundred percent minelab needs to adress this issue and a lot more like the usb connected issue thats happening to ctx 3030 users the ranbow effect on the screen in certain lighteing condistions i dont care the bottom line is a $2500 dollar machine should'nt leak or have a rainbow effect on the screen. The resale value on the ctx 3030 is suffering because of all the issues just look on the forums there selling for close to half price or less this is rediculous...... Get it right minelab
 
I agree GKMan, certainly should have a screen protector on. Gonna spent that much money, PROTECT IT. Common sense. Some people will just never be happy. This forum is a good place for them to vent, that will help until they find something else to complain about, instead of just enjoying the machine.
 
Consider how many CTX are used in water compared to the number of leakage problems. Most of those leaks were due to sand, which points to a failure to keep the o-ring clean. A few due to the latches opening. Assuming everyone now has observed the warning, and takes basic precautions (silicone grease, etc.) then leakage should be a thing of the past. On the other hand, the ML design is poor and should be fixed in the next iteration.
 
qkslvr said:
I'm not sure why you say it's out of warranty, the CTX 3030 was released two years ago and has a three year warranty.

Wayne
Click to expand...

3 years control box & coil
WM-10 6 months
Shaft ?? but Mine has been replaced twice!
 
Buried Crap NJ said:
Not to side with Minelab but they placed a line in the manual that states "not all portions of the CTX 3030 is water proof". While one would think the battery would be water proof I have yet to have any issue with water. I have in the 28 months of use. had the battery latches come undone while in use. I solved this by a very large rubber band. I did note that when the rubber band is around the latches and battery. The battery is pulled up just a bid, making the battery seal better! I have also placed dielectric grease on the battery connections in the event water gets in. There won't be a short. This has worked for me. See pictures:
BCNJ
Click to expand...

Agree 100%....the rubber band IF placed over the clips and seam where the battery seals helps to keep sand out of the sealing area along with preventing possibly bumping the clips open. Only thing I would add is IF you submerge the machine, be smart and pull the battery when you get back to the car OR home instead of waiting until the next trip to find out it leaked....

Cliff
 
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