Dead detector

[TTKooAu]

I used my Whites GMZ this morning at the beach, brrrr cold, blowing. Started to spit a little (drizzle, so I switched off the machine and headed back to the car. On the way from there to work, I stopped off at a playground I hadn't hit before. Turned the machine on. Dead as a door nail. Put some spare batteries in, absolutely nothing.
Just had a look at it this afternoon, still dead. I bought the machine second hand locally, but I believe it is still under warranty. Anyone know where it should be sent to get checked out in Adelaide?
(got the shakes.... need my detector shots)

 

[Guest]

You have a few options.

The Whites Australian dealer is based in Dunolly, Victoria (Gold Search Australia).

http://www.goldsearchaustralia.com/index.php/contacts/?SID=e69ed1be358667708916b0804b89202f

Dean is easy to deal with.

If you email whites in the USA with serial number they will tell you how old the machine is. I think they
will help you with your issue as well as they offer excellent customer service.

http://www.whiteselectronics.com/support/service

Being in SA you have Phil at the Gold Mining Centre who is an electronics technician and used to be the
dealer here in Australia for Garretts for many years.

Check your battery lead wires. Make sure these are connected on the board and battery holder.

If your not far from Phil I would drop in say hello and get him to quickly check it.

If he can't fix it by a general check over then you may need to send it back to the USA.

Unless something got wet I suspect it could be a battery or lead issue.

Hope this helps.

 

[TTKooAu]

Thanks for the advice WolfAu.
I was tempted to pop the box and check it out, but I don't want to void any warranty remaining. Hopefully it is a quick fix. I am going into withdrawal......
I'll let you know how I get on. Thanks again.

 

[AtomRat]

I had a problem not long ago where the detector was playing up. Took out the battery box, opened it up, and cleaned the dirty spring terminals in the battery box. Fixed it no probs

 

[Jaros]

Yes it is amazing how battery terminal maintenance / mtce in generaL can affect the performance of electronic equipment, especially low voltage equip't.

 

[TTKooAu]

Thanks AtomRat, I'll check that out too.

 

[Guest]

Thanks for the advice WolfAu.
I was tempted to pop the box and check it out, but I don't want to void any warranty remaining. Hopefully it is a quick fix. I am going into withdrawal......
I'll let you know how I get on. Thanks again.

Your welcome. Let us know how you go.

I suspect its power related.

 

[dave14110]

Battery problems is why I never use alkaline batteries anymore. They have a habit of leaking I have found leaking batteries straight out of packet. I now only use good quality eneloop batteries & have now for about 3-4 years with no problems in fact they still recharge well & last all day in my machines.
Hope all turns out OK. If it needs to be sent away Goldsearch I believe is Australia's only whites dealer.

 

[TTKooAu]

Spoke with Dean at Goldsearch yesterday. Will be sending the machine for inspection as soon as I can dig up the receipt I got from the previous owner, still has 7 months warranty left. Checked out the battery pack, totally clean, no leakage, no wires or connections to check as it is a cartridge pack with stainless steel contacts which marry with stainless point contacts inside the machine. If it is power related it is something inside the box and I'll leave that to Dean.
Will update once I know, thanks for all assistance.
TT

 

[TTKooAu]

Update on the Whites GMZ - "It lives"!

I found the receipt and bugger me, the guarantee actually ran out on July 12 this year. I was about to post it to Goldsearch anyway when a work colleague suggested a mate of his, Frank, who works for Mechtric here in Adelaide. So I spoke with Frank, (who owns a Whites GMT), and while no promises said he would give it the once over.
Below is his email back to me.


Hi TT. I had a look at your GMZ last night and the news is good... it's fixed. White's use a voltage regulator
to reduce the 12V from the battery pack down to 8V. The whole circuit runs on 8V and by doing this, you get
a fairly long life from the batteries as the voltage has to drop below 10V before it stops working (it needs a 2V
differential). Anyway, the regulator had blown. They can do this, especially if they are low-spec (meaning cheap).
Luckily, I had some good ones in my parts bins at home, so I replaced it and it burst into life. I discovered that
this unit runs totally quiet till it finds a target, then there is a sharp beep. I presume that is how it should work. It
detected a 2.5gram nugget at 4" so I have to pronounce it as all OK. I also noticed that the centre leg of the
ground balance switch had become desoldered, so that had to be fixed. You may have had erratic ground noises
before from intermittent contact.
I could've brought it back today but I want to hook it up on the bench tonight to my frequency counter, to make
sure the 50kHz frequency hasn't drifted. There is provision to adjust this and it is important. The coil is optimised for
this frequency and you don't need to be far off for it to have an affect on performance, i.e., depth.

So I will bring it back tomorrow and it should be fine for a long time.

Cheers for now,

Frank

Very happy with this outcome, and cost me a slab.... sweet :lol: