Etrac problem...anyone experienced this?

MercMan

MercMan

Jr. Member
Sep 15, 2010
76
0
North Carolina
Detector(s) used
Minelab Etrac, Excalibur II
Etrac problem...anyone experience this?

Turned the machine on today to do a little detecting. It started just sounding off random beeps. Hold it up in the air or to the ground changed nothing still a barrage of random sounds. Turned it from manual to auto and it goes away. Reads about 16 on sensitivity but not random beeps. Turn it back to manual and goes haywire again. Turned it off and did a reset by holding the on button. No help. Removed the stock coil and put on my 5" sunray same problem. I then flipped it to the sunray probe in manual and it calmed down and had a steady threshold. Probe would read a target like normal. I then removed the sunray and replaced it with the stock shaft. Same problem no matter which coil I had on. I then discovered that if I would lay the detector on its side while it was doing this it would calm down and have a steady threshold. Turn it back upright and it goes crazy.

Any thoughts on this. Had four days of detecting planned after the holiday but I am starting to think that is a dead horse now!! :laughing7:

Tom
 

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Did you try it in more than one location. Possible EMI?
 

pull the coil cover off and clean it and put it back on, Just my thought, hope it works good luck and happy hunting.
 

I did try it in different locations including my own yard. Same problem. The weird thing is when it is doing it I can turn it on its side and it stops. I could just search vertical dirt walls.....;)

Coil cover is completely off.

Thanks guys.
 

Very weird....

I would call Minelab Monday. They have an EXCELLENT customer service department!
 

Still sound like EMI.
Cell phone in your pocket?
Invisable fence in the yard?
Neighbor (or you) have Wi-fi?
All are known to cause problems.
 

Not EMI or Sensitivity. Motherboard is toast. $897 to repair/replace.

Ouch!!!
 

Bart@Big Boys Hobbies said:
Very weird....

I would call Minelab Monday. They have an EXCELLENT customer service department!
Click to expand...

They are really good they were able to tell me the motherboard was burned without ever opening the box! Just received it back from service and they never bothered to open my box. Just wrote "not under warranty" and "erratic signals" on my box and when I did not want to repair it for $897 they just put it in another box and sent it back to me. Unbelievable!

If I had not already ordered a replacement I would seriously be looking at another brand. Nine minelabs in a row and this might be my last one.
 

The broken one was purchased from Kellyco.


It does behave like a burned motherboard. Why does turning it on its side make it stop?
 

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Don't minelab have someone in Florida that works on detectors that's out of warranty ?
 

That should have read "It does not behave".

You may be thinking of the certified minelab techs that are based at Kellyco. That is where Minelab had me send the unit. If there is someone else I have never heard of them.
 

I'd contact ML CS, and insist on sending it to the Illinois facility. They could use the feedback on your experience so far, and I've heard nothing but good things about the Illinois repair center.
 

ok if it is the mother board maybe u can fix it, it looks like it works alright maybe a diod or resister, that can easly be repaired by u, its broke now what can it hurt
 

Longhair said:
I'd contact ML CS, and insist on sending it to the Illinois facility. They could use the feedback on your experience so far, and I've heard nothing but good things about the Illinois repair center.
Click to expand...

I have not heard back from them since 7/6/12.

gunntekk1 - That is my next move. A lot of my ham radio buddies repair boards all the time and if I can not even get a response from Minelab it is worth a shot.
 

Thanks Bart. I did get a response from the Tech at Kellyco. Still would have been nice for them to at least open the box and turn on the detector before quoting a price to repair it.
[FONT=&quot]The erratic noises on the E-Trac is actually a common failure. We get a few of them in every now and then, but because the machine is digital and most of the components sit on a PCB board, when we detect a problem that is links to that area, all we can do is replace the PCB. It's much like the mother board on a computer. Feel free to contact me if you have any other questions.[/FONT]
Click to expand...
 

I have the same problem with my Etrac. My problem turned out to be an issue with the battery. I would try another batter in it before you spend any kind of big money on it. When I took the rechargeable battery pack out and put the one with the double A batteries in it the problem went away. I contacted Minelab about it and I had a new battery pack within a week and I haven't had the problem since.

Hope this helps and maybe you'll get lucky and that's all it will be.
 

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