XS with loose headphone plugin, any way to fix it myself? And today's finds.

[bgscofield6]

My trusty Explorer XS has a loose headphone plugin. It's the smaller one, not the big one. Is there a way to fix this once I get it open?

It works about 50% of the time, and then stops sending sound to the headphones and then I have to jiggle it a bit to get the sound back.

Thanks

Here are my finds for today.

23 wheats
3 indians
1903 barber dime
1952 rosie
a couple old tokens and misc.

The foot is an advertising piece and one of the neater finds I've found lately.

 

[SNOWY]

Good finds Mr Scofield; you had a good hunt eh!
I'm a Schofield too, spelled with an "h".
~Good name...

I don't know about repairing the 1/8" plug yourself.
I've never been into that end of an Explorer, I did change a face plate of an Explorer II once.
Boy that got me into separating the circuit layers, as the face plate comes with the buttons too!
Gets pretty intricate when ya "go in.."

Good luck with your repair,
I figure sending it to Minelab may be the best way out...

* But, if you're handy.

# You are a Scofield aren't you !

 

[bgscofield6]

Yup, Scofield, but with no H. It's amazing though how many people pronounce it as if there is some magical hidden H at the beginning. Like Showfield.

I'm hoping I can just take the shaft apart at the back and maybe snip the plug off and soldier a new one on. I just want to hear from some others that might have more experience though before I do that.

 

[mattockman]

The wire itself seemed to be the problem, cause I got another one and it works fine now....I don't think you have to replace the 1/8"Female end on the detector. Is it one of these...in the pic?

 

[niterider_58]

HAY MATTOCKMAN IVE BEEN LOOKING FOR ONE OF SUNRAY ADAPTER STAND AND HEAD PHONE DO YOU HAVE 1 TO SELL. THANK YOU PHIL

 

[bgscofield6]

The wire itself seemed to be the problem, cause I got another one and it works fine now....I don't think you have to replace the 1/8"Female end on the detector. Is it one of these...in the pic?

No, my headphones plugin directly to the 1/8" end on the detector. I don't use any adapters. Where the headphones plug in, it is extremely loose and wobbly.

 

[Chris(SoCenWI)]

Mine went bad within the fiirst couple of months, I'm suprised yours lasted that long.

Fixes:

If you do it yourself you will need to pull the unit apart and do some soldering. It's mildly tricky, but your warrenty should be over years ago.

Radio shack used to sell a compatible jack that you could solder in. They still might.

I didn't go this route cause I figured another 1/8 jack would quickly break again. I ended buying a 1/4 head phone extension cord, cutting off the female end about a foot long, then threading this through the 1/8 head phone jack hole and soldering it in. Had to give up the speaker disconnect feature.

That fix worked well for several years. Last year I sent my baby into Minelab and Hans and Sandy sent me back a practically brand new machine. One of the things they did was put in a 1/4 jack in the body. Charged me $10 or something very reasonable.

Basically the 1/8 jacks are delicate little things and will not get better.

Chris

 

[mattockman]

then you must have headphones with 1/8" jack....and maybe thats why it is warn out....my adapter doesn't move around like yours would, but the cable does get beat up just from branches and from falling off cause sticky tape is bad that sticks it to battery compartment. Have you tried another pair of phones first?....Just to make sure its the jack and not your phones?.....Good luck......I feel for ya....sucks not having good relaxing days hunting.....and fideling with the thing......

 

[bgscofield6]

then you must have headphones with 1/8" jack....and maybe thats why it is warn out....my adapter doesn't move around like yours would, but the cable does get beat up just from branches and from falling off cause sticky tape is bad that sticks it to battery compartment. Have you tried another pair of phones first?....Just to make sure its the jack and not your phones?.....Good luck......I feel for ya....sucks not having good relaxing days hunting.....and fideling with the thing......

It's the jack itself. It is VERY loose right now. I can watch it wiggle all over the place, and it looks like it is about to fall into the shaft itself.

When I go home to visit my parents this week I am going to see what I can do to remedy the situation.

 

[SNOWY]

Have you tried screwing the plastic end where your headphone plug goes in __ with the ball of your thumb ?

I can't see how there's enough room in the plastic body to have a nut to hold the socket in place...
If the end with the plug hole rotates "clockwise" it's possible the end has screwed itself out __ with the plugging and un-plugging of your headphones.

Just a thought ...

 

[James N.D.]

That foot item is really neat! Nice haul on the oldies. I had the same problem with my XS a few years ago, but mine finally fell into the shaft. I had to have Rick(ND) send it into Minelab to get it fixed so I am not sure how hard it would be to take the machine apart and replace the jack. You would think it would be fairly simple. Hope you get the Trusty XS fixed so you can keep making some nice finds. Good Luck and HH.

 

[bgscofield6]

Have you tried screwing the plastic end where your headphone plug goes in __ with the ball of your thumb ?

I can't see how there's enough room in the plastic body to have a nut to hold the socket in place...
If the end with the plug hole rotates "clockwise" it's possible the end has screwed itself out __ with the plugging and un-plugging of your headphones.

Just a thought ...

The end where the headphone jack screws in is gone. I know it USED to be there, but I can't remember the last time I saw it.

 

[bgscofield6]

That foot item is really neat! Nice haul on the oldies. I had the same problem with my XS a few years ago, but mine finally fell into the shaft. I had to have Rick(ND) send it into Minelab to get it fixed so I am not sure how hard it would be to take the machine apart and replace the jack. You would think it would be fairly simple. Hope you get the Trusty XS fixed so you can keep making some nice finds. Good Luck and HH.

Thanks.

It's no as good as most of your days, but around here it's a decent day. Was in Illinois last week and had a 12 silver day, so that was nice.

 

[James N.D.]

12 Silver is a hard thing to do unless you hunt the entire day and try more than one sight. Sometimes though, you find a hot spot and you don't have to waste time on driving to other locations which is always a huge plus. Hope the Silver keeps finding it's way into your pouch Bgscofield6! Good Luck and HH.