Thought my machine died...

[Daniel Tn]

I'm still not exactly sure what happened. Was hunting yesterday in the river and a storm was coming. All the swimmers were packing it up and leaving and I was out there as long as it wasn't lightning too bad. Well the storm just nicked us and it rained for about 5 mins and quit and the sun came back out. It was hot and humid and since I was wearing my waterproof headphones I decided to dunk myself and cool off. My machine was working fine up to that point...it was when I went under and came back up that it started going totally erratic. I honestly think it was the headphones getting wet that done it because the machine itself had been in the water the entire time. It was like I was under powerlines the whole time or something with all the erratic noise. I'd turn the machine off and then back on and it didn't help. I had a gut wrenching feeling my machine was about to take the trip to TX but after a few minutes I tried turning it on again and it was fine. Have any of you guys ran into that? Just out of a blind guess, do you think it was picking up the electricity in the air from the storm? Once the storm was gone the noise was gone too but it just struck me odd that it only started doing it when I dunked the headphones in the water.

 

[BigCatDaddy]

I haven't dunked my Grey Ghosts yet and probably won't unless I just have to, but if I do, I'll see what up!! Be sure you set those 'phones out to dry, some develop a nast mildew problem, not sure about the Garretts. Most have drainholes to let water in and out to equalise pressure. If this just sets in there...ugggghhh!!

 

[jim tn]

Daniel, I had the same thing happen with two other detectors when thunder and lighting was near. Once the storms passed, detectors settled down to normal. HH jim tn

 

[ralph]

This is just speculation, but its possible the headphone cord may be acting as an atenna picking up static from the charged air caused by the lightning. or even possibly back feeding into the control box.

 

[TRIPLE-SSS]

I hope the detector doesn't act like a conductor when there is a storm, might want to think twice before deciding to detect in a storm.
TRIPLESSS

 

[Daniel Tn]

I aint skeered of a lil lightning. I would rather die doing something I enjoy anyway haha. Well the detector is dead for sure. Called Garrett and they were gone for the weekend. It goes crazy with and without headphones now.

 

[Daniel Tn]

I was getting ready to pack the thing up and decided to try something. I had just changed batteries the other day to a brand new set and that was the only thing I could think of that I had done diff with the machine. I opened the battery compartment up to see if there was moisture in there and there wasn't...but then I decided to try a diff set of batteries. Problem solved. Now I have no idea why a brand new set of batteries would have been bad or what the deal was there. Once I changed batteries it was fine. I bought a bulk pack of batteries and the ones I replaced the bad set with are out of the same package and they work fine. Weird.

 

[Jerry-Wi]

I have had that happen several times over the years and with brand named batteries. Usually just one cell is dead but that is enough to drop the overall voltage so there is a problem. I am going the rechargeable route when I get it back with the new upgrades.

Jerry

 

[Johnny Cache]

My pro has been having similar problems. It started a few weeks ago...out of the blue it just goes haywire. The numbers bounce like crazy, and it chirps like a room full of birds. I tried everything--new batteries, resetting the machine, praying...the only thing that works is turning it off for a few minutes. Today I hunted for 3 hours, and had to turn it off 4 times for 10-15 minutes each time. Whoa, don't start with the hate mail, I really love my AT Pro, and I am a huge Garrett fan. I can't wait to get it fixed.