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Will replacing the earpads with Peltor hy80 gellpads void the warranty?
- Thread starter beachdude
- Start date
Critterhunter
New member
Did you follow some of the thread links in the Excalibur Accesseries sticky? Many threads on the topic of modifying the Excal headphones without cutting into wires and such, so you'll probably be able to find out from there if it's a warranty killer or if it can be reversed for warranty work.
deepdiger60
New member
Minelab
OldBeechnut
Well-known member
Got back to beachdude and I informed him, save the old earpads, if you happen to need to send the excalibur back..just peal off the gelpads and slip the originals back on, the originals have like a 1/4 inch lip around the mounting base. Just pull this lip over the ear cups mounting base...
I would almost bet they would have a issue with the HY80's, best to return untouched. (looking)
I would almost bet they would have a issue with the HY80's, best to return untouched. (looking)
dewcon4414
Well-known member
Of course they would lol. Those pads come off and go back on easily..... i really dont see that being an issue. To me thats like swapping the shafts.
Dew
Dew
replacing the earpads with @#$%& hy80 gellpads. Do you think it blocks out a lot of surrounding noise. Is this the short cut in doing the complete mod. Do you feel as though you can here deep signals or are you still experimenting. Where did you purchase them ? for the best deal
Ron
Ron
Ron I still haven't got mine yet. I ordered them from skygeek and they are quite expensive, but anything has to be an improvement on those stock koss headphones. I am hoping they will cut down on a bit of wind/wave noise and make the stock headphones feel a bit more comfortable. When my detector goes out of warranty next year I will probably attempt OBN's p3ltor earmuff mod, or find that Mr. Goldmeister and get a set off him.
OK ...I was looking at that site but wanted to get some feedback on performance. I was hoping that I wouldn't have to do the big mod !! if I could just get away with using these cushions. So please let us know what you think when they do come and you have a chance to fool with them.
Thanks Ron
Thanks Ron
OldBeechnut
Well-known member
The silicon pads do help but your best route is the Pel-tors if you want to nail the faints.....the silicon earpads do get hot in the summer also. I would rate it like this, on a scale from one to ten, ten being perfect on blocking out all noise.
Stock yellows................................3
OldBlues.......................................4
Stock yellows/silicon pads............4
Pel-tors 105's................................8
Gold Masters.101's.......................7.8
Pel-tor 105 / silicon pads...............8.5
GoldMasters..101's/silicon pads....8.3
Stock yellows................................3
OldBlues.......................................4
Stock yellows/silicon pads............4
Pel-tors 105's................................8
Gold Masters.101's.......................7.8
Pel-tor 105 / silicon pads...............8.5
GoldMasters..101's/silicon pads....8.3
Thanks for all that.. good synopsis, well said, I have a pair of #105's but I have not attempted to do the switch over. I do have one question. I have the yellow headphones on my Excalibur and was wondering about the foam pad ...do I keep it when making the switch ??? or chuck it. ??
Ron
Ron
OldBeechnut
Well-known member
Keep them just incase you have to send her in...Minelabs frown at any modes.....
Critterhunter
New member
Two local hunting friends have Excals. One has the old blue headphone 800 Excal. The other has a new 1000 Excal with the yellow headphones. My friend with the blues tried the other guy's machines and said the audio is no where near as good with those yellow headphones. I think I've read this before, so any of you yellow headphone guys who are out of warranty might want to look into replacing the headphones. Appears the speakers in the yellows are no where near as good in audio quality.
OBN...Any words of advice on that? Are they only a blue/yellow thing, or are there in fact versions of both headphones that don't have as good as audio on them besides just the yellows versus the blues?
PS- I hope people realize how big of an asset OBN is to the Excal community. This guy has paved the way with tons of mod threads, videos, and other such stuff for the Excalibur. Without him, and a few others, out there breaking new ground with various Excal mods and knowledge, these topics would be much harder to research. Here's to you OBN...
You've done more for the Excalibur than anybody I know off hand. Mel is another, and if I'm missing a few other names I apologize as I'm lousy with remembering names...
OBN...Any words of advice on that? Are they only a blue/yellow thing, or are there in fact versions of both headphones that don't have as good as audio on them besides just the yellows versus the blues?
PS- I hope people realize how big of an asset OBN is to the Excal community. This guy has paved the way with tons of mod threads, videos, and other such stuff for the Excalibur. Without him, and a few others, out there breaking new ground with various Excal mods and knowledge, these topics would be much harder to research. Here's to you OBN...
You've done more for the Excalibur than anybody I know off hand. Mel is another, and if I'm missing a few other names I apologize as I'm lousy with remembering names...
OldBeechnut
Well-known member
Thanks Critter, it all started in 1960 when I tore my 9 transistor radio apart..
I have to give you credit, you really have opened the door for many here on the Sovereign/Excalibur forum, making it one of the most informative around.
Your friend is correct, the blue have a better audio quality. The differences in the two are, the Blues, the Piezo Buzzer is, I think, 32mm, and the Yellows are close to a 50mm. Several other factors in the design, the mounting plate on each buzzer is different design and material, and the old blues have a space at the top and bottom where the audio pressure is allow to escape from behind, to your ears, like a bass reflex speaker. One of the big factors, I guess would be the material each is mounted on, very hard to match the old blues......
I have to give you credit, you really have opened the door for many here on the Sovereign/Excalibur forum, making it one of the most informative around.
Your friend is correct, the blue have a better audio quality. The differences in the two are, the Blues, the Piezo Buzzer is, I think, 32mm, and the Yellows are close to a 50mm. Several other factors in the design, the mounting plate on each buzzer is different design and material, and the old blues have a space at the top and bottom where the audio pressure is allow to escape from behind, to your ears, like a bass reflex speaker. One of the big factors, I guess would be the material each is mounted on, very hard to match the old blues......
Critterhunter
New member
Thanks OBN, but I just like to research stuff so all I've done mostly is find threads from guys like you on the Excal or Sovereign and link threads to their messages in posts in the stickys. I won't claim to be nearly as experienced with the Sovereign as some having only owned one about 3 years. I've owned a lot of detectors over the years but this one has so much to say with it's rich language that I don't think I'll ever outgrow it, unlike some other machines I've owned.
My main strength is I know the ins and outs of batteries pretty good and other random aspects of certain electrical things due to my prior interests (like you) and experimenting/troubleshooting electrical junk, combined with some schooling in a related field to get some formal education on certain aspects. My knowledge is real spotty though. Some aspects of electronics I understand pretty well, but others I'm still lost with. The only reason I know a good bit about battery technology is it too was a hobby of mine for years, and then later I got into electric RC planes and that really schooled me on researching various things on battery care/chargers/battery chemistry.
Speaking of which, did you see my post to you in the other thread about your lipo conversion? I'm interested in hearing why you sounded like you plan to use a 4 cell lipo instead of a 3. I'd read that post because there are a few things I wanted to point out about LVC and other issues or risks with using a 4 cell.
Either way, back to the topic...So guys with the old blue headphones...Any advantage to replacing those, or is there just a few simple mods like say gel pads or new muffs for those that make them just as good as replacing the entire headphones would do, eliminating the need for a total swap out?
My main strength is I know the ins and outs of batteries pretty good and other random aspects of certain electrical things due to my prior interests (like you) and experimenting/troubleshooting electrical junk, combined with some schooling in a related field to get some formal education on certain aspects. My knowledge is real spotty though. Some aspects of electronics I understand pretty well, but others I'm still lost with. The only reason I know a good bit about battery technology is it too was a hobby of mine for years, and then later I got into electric RC planes and that really schooled me on researching various things on battery care/chargers/battery chemistry.
Speaking of which, did you see my post to you in the other thread about your lipo conversion? I'm interested in hearing why you sounded like you plan to use a 4 cell lipo instead of a 3. I'd read that post because there are a few things I wanted to point out about LVC and other issues or risks with using a 4 cell.
Either way, back to the topic...So guys with the old blue headphones...Any advantage to replacing those, or is there just a few simple mods like say gel pads or new muffs for those that make them just as good as replacing the entire headphones would do, eliminating the need for a total swap out?
OldBeechnut
Well-known member
Good for you BD, once you have used them, the stockers are uncomfortable. There are cheaper one's, like 21 dollars from aircraftspruce.com, they take a little more work to put on.
Have not checked out yet, but will have too. The reason I choose the 4 cell was I seen this...What do you think? Not sure but hunter makes claims of better performance, depth..One area I have yet to study, the excalibur battery and the gain, if any...
TP1300-4SPP45
1300mAh 4-Cell/4S 14.8V
24 x 31 x 98...........mm
OR
TP1300-4SPP65
1300mAh 4-Cell/4S 14.8V
24 x 31 x 98...mm
Seen this on another forum some time ago..
Have not checked out yet, but will have too. The reason I choose the 4 cell was I seen this...What do you think? Not sure but hunter makes claims of better performance, depth..One area I have yet to study, the excalibur battery and the gain, if any...
TP1300-4SPP45
1300mAh 4-Cell/4S 14.8V
24 x 31 x 98...........mm
OR
TP1300-4SPP65
1300mAh 4-Cell/4S 14.8V
24 x 31 x 98...mm
Seen this on another forum some time ago..
Critterhunter
New member
Shoot me a PM with a link to that thread, because I want to set that guy straight. 
He's feeding people some very bad info. Needless cost using just about the most expensive brand names of chargers and lipos, but more importantly risky extra 4th cell higher voltage way beyond reason that might blow things up.
I don't see him wiring that battery up internaly to bypass the voltage regulator on the Excal or anything, so he's not going to get a dime's worth more preformace feeding it 4 cell voltage over the 12.6V of a 3 cell. The regulator will only take in say 10 to perhaps 14V or so, but regardless of the input voltage the output remains a static set voltage to stabilize the circuit board for steady operation, otherwise a detector would constantly be drifting out of tune as the battery drained. Regardless of whether the input voltage is say 10 volts, 12, or 14, the output stays fixed to the electronics at say 9V or whatever the Sov/Excal circuit board is using.
All he's doing is risking frying his voltage regulator. Don't know what the high end input voltage of the Sov/Excal window of input specs is, but I would think over 14V is redlining it as the regulator is designed for a roughly 12V 8AA series pack. If he's claiming better performance and that's not just his imagination then he probably was using borderline rechargeables before where the cells were weak and sagging the voltage in and out of LVC under load, causing instability issues. I've seen the same claims made on other detectors but the regulator makes it more of a "perception" thing IMO, unless it's the weak battery issue that was causing issues before.
Besides, those Thunderpowers and that Triton charger are premium bucks. Far many other less expensive lipos and chargers that do just as good and even better. My $20 computerized Accucel 6 charger does more than the Triton will from memory on various types of cell chemistries, etc. Last time I checked a comparible charger was around $100 on up. Trust me on that. The RC community researched the charger I'm using extensively and it's the hottest item among the more "price conscience" of the RC crowd. But it, like the Triton, is not a good choice for a novice at batteries. Not hard to set them up, but requires a bit of reading on the net to know what you are doing with various battery types. If you decide on the Accucel, there is a huge thread out there on the web talking about proper settings, or I posted a thread I made in the battery sticky where I walk you right through how I set it up for nimhs, nicads, and lipos. You'll know you found the right thread if you see me listing the settings on it's menu in direct order and then explaing how to set them. Kered picked two of them up he likes that charger so much.
Far better though to buy a simple plug-n-charge lipo charger if you don't want to read up on charging technology and proper settings for various cell types, only wanting a charger to do lipos and not one to do other battery types too. Just make sure to get a charger that isn't putting out more than the charge rate ability of the lipo or it could be big problems. Most lipos will at least handle a 1C charge rate. A 1 hour charge time, or equal in amp rate to the capacity of the pack. For example...my 750ma Rhino packs I charge at .750 amps. That's the nice thing about a computerized charger, because I can set the amp rate specifically without having to drop it to say a static setting of like 500ma which would take longer to charge. Lipos can charge at 1C with no worries of stressing the pack. Some lipos now even will allow higher charge rates, but I always stick with 1C because it's easy to do the math and also added insurance I'm not stressing the pack's life.
Oh yea, here's my response to you on the 4 cell thing and a few other issues with doing a lipo conversion...
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?21,1787241
He's feeding people some very bad info. Needless cost using just about the most expensive brand names of chargers and lipos, but more importantly risky extra 4th cell higher voltage way beyond reason that might blow things up. I don't see him wiring that battery up internaly to bypass the voltage regulator on the Excal or anything, so he's not going to get a dime's worth more preformace feeding it 4 cell voltage over the 12.6V of a 3 cell. The regulator will only take in say 10 to perhaps 14V or so, but regardless of the input voltage the output remains a static set voltage to stabilize the circuit board for steady operation, otherwise a detector would constantly be drifting out of tune as the battery drained. Regardless of whether the input voltage is say 10 volts, 12, or 14, the output stays fixed to the electronics at say 9V or whatever the Sov/Excal circuit board is using.
All he's doing is risking frying his voltage regulator. Don't know what the high end input voltage of the Sov/Excal window of input specs is, but I would think over 14V is redlining it as the regulator is designed for a roughly 12V 8AA series pack. If he's claiming better performance and that's not just his imagination then he probably was using borderline rechargeables before where the cells were weak and sagging the voltage in and out of LVC under load, causing instability issues. I've seen the same claims made on other detectors but the regulator makes it more of a "perception" thing IMO, unless it's the weak battery issue that was causing issues before.
Besides, those Thunderpowers and that Triton charger are premium bucks. Far many other less expensive lipos and chargers that do just as good and even better. My $20 computerized Accucel 6 charger does more than the Triton will from memory on various types of cell chemistries, etc. Last time I checked a comparible charger was around $100 on up. Trust me on that. The RC community researched the charger I'm using extensively and it's the hottest item among the more "price conscience" of the RC crowd. But it, like the Triton, is not a good choice for a novice at batteries. Not hard to set them up, but requires a bit of reading on the net to know what you are doing with various battery types. If you decide on the Accucel, there is a huge thread out there on the web talking about proper settings, or I posted a thread I made in the battery sticky where I walk you right through how I set it up for nimhs, nicads, and lipos. You'll know you found the right thread if you see me listing the settings on it's menu in direct order and then explaing how to set them. Kered picked two of them up he likes that charger so much.
Far better though to buy a simple plug-n-charge lipo charger if you don't want to read up on charging technology and proper settings for various cell types, only wanting a charger to do lipos and not one to do other battery types too. Just make sure to get a charger that isn't putting out more than the charge rate ability of the lipo or it could be big problems. Most lipos will at least handle a 1C charge rate. A 1 hour charge time, or equal in amp rate to the capacity of the pack. For example...my 750ma Rhino packs I charge at .750 amps. That's the nice thing about a computerized charger, because I can set the amp rate specifically without having to drop it to say a static setting of like 500ma which would take longer to charge. Lipos can charge at 1C with no worries of stressing the pack. Some lipos now even will allow higher charge rates, but I always stick with 1C because it's easy to do the math and also added insurance I'm not stressing the pack's life.
Oh yea, here's my response to you on the 4 cell thing and a few other issues with doing a lipo conversion...
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?21,1787241
OldBeechnut
Well-known member
Critter, here is the link, I'm not sure if it will post.
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/beach-shallow-water/279927-excal-2-mod.html
http://www.treasurenet.com/forums/beach-shallow-water/279927-excal-2-mod.html