SOLDERING MY METAL DETECTOR

nomad 11

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xrunndonex

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i need to know if i have to be careful soldering new battery leads to the posts of my cz20.i've heard that with electronics sometimes you need to isolate a circuit when doing this.so someone with a lot of experience can help me out with this.thanks-nomad

Yes this is true unhook you're battery then you need to discharge the board. I don't know where to on a metal detector though :( you use a rubber screw driver though
 

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nomad 11

nomad 11

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Yes this is true unhook you're battery then you need to discharge the board. I don't know where to on a metal detector though :( you use a rubber screw driver though

i dont understand why do i have to discharge the board?when you're referring to a rubber screw driver do you mean touch the metal of the screw driver to one of the battery leads?what i was concerned about is the heat backtracking through the electronics.i dont know that much about electronics.but i know some of parts are very sensitive.WHAT ABOUT HOT GLUE???i dont know if hot glue will work on metal.
 

kyleeskastles

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I have used hot glue on many circuit board modifications/repairs fixing my kids game controllers, mine and keyboards things like that. never failed for me so i dont see why not on this application. Just dont burn anything and you will be good to go
 

OWK

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If you have removed the batteries from your detector, it should be safe to solder the battery connector of the detector. There are a few energy storage devices in your detector called capacitors, but in the detector in particular they won't be holding a very significant charge, and it will discharge on it's own after a short while (ten to 20 seconds, worst case).
 

Rob in KS

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I'm not familiar with your detector. I'm assuming that the wire from the battery pack to the circuit board came loose.
Use a low wattage soldering iron not a big soldering gun. Use rosin core solder not acid core.
If the wire went into a hole on the board, heat the copper pad around the hole and use a toothpick to push the small piece of wire that remains in the hole. Be sure it doesn't fall into the circuit. Don't leave the iron on too long, the copper can come off. Then strip the insulation from the wire (I like to use the iron so I don't nick the wire)heat the wire and apply a little solder to "tin" the wire. Poke it into the hole and apply solder .When your done the solder should be bright and shiny not dull.

If you have questions PM me
 

DDancer

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A picture of what your trying to repair would help. Rob in KS is pretty much spot on for the materials and method. I'd not worry about heat backing up into the electronics unless your soldering on the circuit board~ even then if you do it right its a very quick job and little heat moves out of the work spot. Rob mentions the word Tin~ this is a procedure that applies solder to the wire and area to be worked and speeds the solder process so that you don't have to worry about over heating the job.
 

xrunndonex

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A picture of what your trying to repair would help. Rob in KS is pretty much spot on for the materials and method. I'd not worry about heat backing up into the electronics unless your soldering on the circuit board~ even then if you do it right its a very quick job and little heat moves out of the work spot. Rob mentions the word Tin~ this is a procedure that applies solder to the wire and area to be worked and speeds the solder process so that you don't have to worry about over heating the job.

Wrong tinning is when you put solder on the tip of the soldering gun
 

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nomad 11

nomad 11

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I'm not familiar with your detector. I'm assuming that the wire from the battery pack to the circuit board came loose.
Use a low wattage soldering iron not a big soldering gun. Use rosin core solder not acid core.
If the wire went into a hole on the board, heat the copper pad around the hole and use a toothpick to push the small piece of wire that remains in the hole. Be sure it doesn't fall into the circuit. Don't leave the iron on too long, the copper can come off. Then strip the insulation from the wire (I like to use the iron so I don't nick the wire)heat the wire and apply a little solder to "tin" the wire. Poke it into the hole and apply solder .When your done the solder should be bright and shiny not dull.

If you have questions PM me

so use rosin core solder.will a 20w soldering pencil be sufficent?i'll try to post a picture of the scenario tomorrow.
 

DDancer

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That will work nomad ; sorry to but in I know your addressing Rob. Be interested to see it.

on a side note~
xrunn : that's funny. Tinning is a process for applying solder to metal surfaces like your solder gun or soldering iron tip and wires and well just about anything solder will stick too. I'm pretty sure I'm right~~ been doing it and training others to do it for years.
 

Rob in KS

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Nomad ... Oh, did we mention that you have to show your work? LOL

Ddancer, I was worried he was on the circuit board and could lift the pad if he stayed on too long. I know it's not that easy to do, but if he's never done it before.


Oh yes, it is out of warranty right?
 

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nomad 11

nomad 11

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ok guys here's what i got.you see the 2 posts i have to solder 2 new leads to them.and if you look to the left you can see where the jerk that sold me this detector melted the coil cable which i just noticed today because i pulled back the sheath or whatever its called and you'll notice the melt mark on the housing side of the battery compartment.i dont think its going to be water tight.i am really pissed that people do this to stupid people like me.they should be ashamed of themselves taking advantage of stupid people.but now i'm stuck.i have to do my best to get this thing up and running and find some gold and diamonds to alleviate my pain and grief.are you with me here??.............tried to post a picture but my batteries went dead..........stay tuned until tomorrow......................
 

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nomad 11

nomad 11

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Nomad ... Oh, did we mention that you have to show your work? LOL

Ddancer, I was worried he was on the circuit board and could lift the pad if he stayed on too long. I know it's not that easy to do, but if he's never done it before.


Oh yes, it is out of warranty right?

oh yes this is a cz20 warranty crapped out alongggggggggggggggggg time ago!!!!!!!!!1
 

xrunndonex

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Nomad ... Oh, did we mention that you have to show your work? LOL

Ddancer, I was worried he was on the circuit board and could lift the pad if he stayed on too long. I know it's not that easy to do, but if he's never done it before.

Oh yes, it is out of warranty right?

First thing I ever soldered was a chip I was replacing 5 wires that came off the chip. I sort of melted the chip I was mad because I thought I broke it. At the end of the project it worked!
 

DDancer

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No worries Nomad~ got time and you'll be scratching the detecting itch soon enough. Word of advice~ if you've not soldered before get some scrap wire and practice tinning them.

Rob~ I understand. Lifted plenty of pads myself. :) Always fun to get'em put back in place *not* and its an aggravation to lift the iron and find the pad missing. When we see the work I've a feeling it'll be a pretty strait forward job.

xrunn ~ Sounds like you got lucky. I cant really remember my first solder project. I practiced on scrap circuit boards as a kid. Dad thought it was neat so he got me a 100 in 1 electronics kit~ then I really started to play.
 

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nomad 11

nomad 11

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PICTURE

still trying to get a picture to load ?
 

xrunndonex

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No worries Nomad~ got time and you'll be scratching the detecting itch soon enough. Word of advice~ if you've not soldered before get some scrap wire and practice tinning them.

Rob~ I understand. Lifted plenty of pads myself. :) Always fun to get'em put back in place *not* and its an aggravation to lift the iron and find the pad missing. When we see the work I've a feeling it'll be a pretty strait forward job.

xrunn ~ Sounds like you got lucky. I cant really remember my first solder project. I practiced on scrap circuit boards as a kid. Dad thought it was neat so he got me a 100 in 1 electronics kit~ then I really started to play.

I think I did get lucky I need to get a solder station though I bought a cheap $7 wally world solder gun.. hey it did save me $100 though :) damn cats chewed the wires on my gaming headset
 

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nomad 11

nomad 11

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cZ20 picture

P1010116.JPG
ok guys here's what i got.you see the 2 posts i have to solder 2 new leads to them.and if you look to the left you can see where the jerk that sold me this detector melted the coil cable which i just noticed today because i pulled back the sheath or whatever its called and you'll notice the melt mark on the housing side of the battery compartment.i dont think its going to be water tight.i am really pissed that people do this to stupid people like me.they should be ashamed of themselves taking advantage of stupid people.but now i'm stuck.i have to do my best to get this thing up and running and find some gold and diamonds to alleviate my pain and grief.are you with me here??.............tried to post a picture but my batteries went dead..........stay tuned until tomorrow......................

ok guys I finally figured out how to load a picture
 

jerseyjack

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Jul 25, 2009
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It's hard to see how the wires originaly went there, looks like in the post there was a hole where they went straight down ? Anyway I don't know if people will agree but it looks like trying to do it the "right" way it might get to hot and melt the plastic. I would just make a little loop on the end of the wire and tin that first and then just get it to stick to the solder that's on there, it's not like there's going to be any pressure pulling on those wires, get as much of that plastic from the old wire off the terminal first.

In other words I'm saying just solder the wire on top instead of trying to clean out the old wire and terminal, it'll work just as good.
 

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Rob in KS

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Man that's tough. Some people have no morals. It sure looks like a poor repair job that got passed on to you. At least there is a little red on one post so you can tell which is plus. I can't say that I haven't screwed up and melted some plastic while I was soldering, but I don't pass it off on someone else.

If you put some electrical tape on the coil cable, you can make it water resistant but not waterproof.

I agree with JerseyJack, make a loop in the wire, tin it, heat the post just long enough for the solder to flow and solder the wire to the top of the post.

You could clean up some of the old wire with a pair of wire cutters before you start soldering. You could heat the posts a little to get some of the old wire off too.

The solder job is pretty simple but that's easy for me to say cause I've done literally 1000's. The main gotcha is how long you can heat the posts before the thermoplastic box starts to soften. If I was closer, I'd come over and do it for a cold one!!
 

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