Cables and platic in salt water

Kind of a long subject line. This has to do with salt water and what it does to the coil cables over a period of time when NOT used. I cant tell you how many i have had to replace on the Xcal. Thats the main reason ive moved more to the newer machines. Example i had a coil replace on an Xcal oh about 1 1/2 years ago. Since then the Nox came out then the MDT so ive been using them almost exclusively. That machine got used about twice in that time period. I had removed it from the shaft .... sprayed it with silicone (which you best do often) and put it up. On the shaft you tend to wrap the left over coil around the shaft. It gets stiff ..... i dont know if its the sun sand salt but you have to use something..... maybe plumbers silicone on it before you try and put it back on the shaft...... i didnt in this case. Once put together...... i noticed the cable casing was cracked..... which is common. Im wondering if these NEW machines cable casing will react the same? OR have there been improvements maybe to these casings? Also..... to me plastics or what ever is being used on these new coils..... how will it react to continued use in the Sun and salt water. If you pull a closet unit out for use ..... you need to check to see if the cable has hardening. at that point i believe you can evenly heat the cable..... especially the coiled part or near the coil connector where water will create a lot of vibration with a hair dryer or hot water...... then use something like mineral oil, 303, silicone or another safe product to SLOWLY make it more flexible before use. Most plastic gets brittle....it degrades and hardens as heat, oils, and even simple oxygen cause chemical reactions.... now add salt. The one thing i do like about the Xcal ..... its coil design with the thicker ears and casing.





Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 08/17/2019 03:43PM by dewcon4414.

Dew,

We saw a lot of 'Excal's' back with salt damage either from leaking or breaks in the coil / battery cable.
And you don't really have to put the blame on salt water entirely because certain plastics were worse than others and hardened over time.

No. I don't believe there have been any / many improvements to coil cables and their innards because the main focus has been to improve the performance and Warranty is 'in-built' to the Costing of the building / design/s of new detectors now.
So units and other parts are just being replaced rather than being repaired. Other makers are no different as 'Garrett' sent me a New board for an 'Ace 400i' rather than return the unit and repair it!
It's the way electronics have gone e.g. cell phones, appliances, TV's etc.

What [ has been done ] is a more focused approach to [ battery types ] and [ lightness ] and [ 'quickness' ] in performance, and the most important feature they are giving us now, waterproof control boxes!

Des D



Edited 3 time(s). Last edit at 08/17/2019 04:04PM by Des D.

It is a harsh environment. I spray the crap out of mine with silicone. Through the years I have gone through some cables. A battery cable on my one blue Excal just rotted into pieces. A coil cable on on of my Sovereigns. And I bought a CZ20 one time with bad headphones.

Even my surf shoes just seem to rot.

I take care of my equipment and still have problems.

I'm with Des. I don't think things have been made better by manufacturers. At least I no longer have hard wired equipment. Toss it and get a new one.

Some guys just toss it in the back until the next hunt. I wonder if they have more problems.

So.... expect a $300 and higher price tag for that warranty you got? In the case of an Xcal 1 year....and since they are hard wired a bit more for labor. This is going to be interesting to watch ....throw away machines at lower prices and better warranty. So will we stop caring about maintaining our equipment and sell soon after the warranty goes? Different world ain’t it? I guess it’s more of a problem with older machines from now on.

I missed the Sovereign GT and traded an Equinox 600 for one. I needed a dry sand machine I could trust around bottle caps. I'll stock up on a few coils over time. When they rot I'll toss em. I might be one of the few going the wrong way with detector technologies.

In over forty years of detecting with many - many different detector brands, I've only ever had a Minelab coil cable take a crap. I've never had that problem with any other. I hope my Nox cables hold up better.

Been using the excalibur about ten years now, never had a cracked cable. Seen many...A nice young lady just gave me her dead excalibur due to water leak...O rings on the knob shaft killed hers. So I go and "JUST" checked my orings out of the blue. Mine are just like her's. Not dry rotted but slipping out of the slot. Two knobs o rings just popping out of the slot, not all the way around but just a small piece.....check those babies often if you use that machine at all...saved a excaliburs life tonight..now to check the other three.....

Young ladies, Perfect condition excal green..dead board..reason...o ring slipping out of groove





MInes been leaking for a while! Bad on me...but still alive..Thank God.


Blood Member of RingKeepers
2020......Gold Rings....73....Misc Gold 1 .......Silvers ...110

Well you of all people know my issues with those Xcal coils lol. Ive only had issues with the Xcal coils...... well until now. Now ive had it with the Nox coil ears. I know some guys who has broken as many as three coil ears. Are they getting brittle.... are they to thin.... are we the issue? I like to think i take good care of my machines..... thou some might think think other wise since if it can break i can do it. Mostly because is put in some serious time with a machine and water hunting torque will find those weak spots. I hope other machines like the AQ will follow suit and give us the 3 year warranty. A 1 year warranty on say a water machine is like a 1 year lawn mower warranty..... that season really means you get about 6 mos. A 3 year warranty...... well now it most cases we see something come out worth upgrading to it seems.

My opinion......The coil ears are just too thin. Sand abrasion eventually wears them through. Every time that coil starts flopping and you crank another half turn you just squeezed life out of the ears.

Watched the Hoover Boys latest video. The one young man using his Equinox snapped his cuff. Oh yeah it was a water hunt.

It is easier and cheaper to replace the components that break than to make them all top quality.

Those of us that bought third party shafts and cuffs did our part for Minelab. We left them off the hook. My stock shaft is in the box. Minelab is happy about that.

The original price was cheap in my book especially factoring in detecting performance. I was happy about that.

I doubt that salt has any affect on plastic. Sun is 90% of your problem and possibly heat if surfaces get hot. Keep your gear out of the sun whenever possible.

Covering what you can with tape and/or whatever material you can find is the best defense. There is also a spray product that I use called 303 Aerospace Protectant that is made to protect plastic and rubber from sun damage just like sunscreen.

Use silicone grease on O-rings to keep them from drying out.

Had bad coil cable outer jacket cracking on Fisher units I purchased. Seems common. Minelab Musketeer Advantage cable totally cracked and falling apart.

Hmm, never saw this issue with the Tesoro, Garrett cables. And they look cheap.

DeepTech Vista X with 3 search coils.
Works for me

I have heard about the Fisher cables cracking. My CZ20 is over 20 years old and the cable still looks like new. I've been using the 303 protectant on it since 2009.

.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/18/2019 01:51PM by Badger in NH.

When you think about it, a Manufacturer will buy in huge lengths of coil cables and they will have a 'spec' and 'tolerances' and that's it really...they won't buy expensive if they can avoid it!

Badger.....I use 303 on most every thing and have for years. I used to live in an RV and traveled full time. I use a product called fluid film as well in lieu of silicone because it uses lanolin and has no solvents. We used it for 4 wheeling with our Jeep to protect all the gaskets and rubber.

The Excelerator coil cables were/are the worst when it came to brittle, cracking & breaking.

u2robert Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Excelerator coil cables were/are the worst whe
> n it came to brittle, cracking & breaking.


detect brand is not the most sturdy stuff ... on ultimate 33 it's even worst.

u2robert Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Excelerator coil cables were/are the worst whe
> n it came to brittle, cracking & breaking.

Garrett's ATX will give the Excelerator a run for the money.

Well.......remember that Xcal coil that was split while setting on the wall? I got it all boxed up alone with an almost new looking coil and off to a friend to swap it out. He called me last night......THAT coil cable had split as well.... ugh. Id been accumulating a few over the years and putting them back. My suggestion is to remove the coils and pods in this case grease them up good and put them in a plastic air tight bag for storage. Ill be shipping another coil today......no. 3.

Dew, I had a hunch that might happen but was hoping it wouldn't. Personally, I don't think "lubing" those cables is all what everyone thinks.....not a magic pill.....and.....may cause problems if not the proper "lube" for the specific (cable) material it is put on... Heat and sunlight is more often the problem so proper storage is key.....however, a bad batch of cable originally "may" have been the problem and there would be no way of knowing until the defect showed itself.

Cliff

u2robert Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> The Excelerator coil cables were/are the worst whe
> n it came to brittle, cracking & breaking.


Agree...duh! Gave a loan of a 'good cabled' coil to a pal and a year or more later got back a coil with cracked cabling and bits falling off it all over the trunk of the car...but it still works but for how much longer?



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/21/2019 03:28PM by Des D.

Here we go..... this is so funny. The coil that i was going to have put on was almost new...... it cracked. Now get this..... i have 2 more Sov coils... both NEW still in package been stored i dont know maybe 4 years. Went to send one of those ..... BOTH are cracked as well. Am i living right or what .... you just have to laugh. So ....... it has to be HEAT. I have all my extras stored in a truck tool box in my garage. Its not air conditioned out there but always cooler than out side. Its not the performance of the Xcal that made me pick up and use other machines...... its the constant repair needed if you hunt almost daily in the salt water. Looks like ill try and sell those cracked coils for $30 a piece...... i believe some liquid tape and some elec tape they are still good for Sov use in the dirt.

Just curious but are there possibilities of having coil cables replaced with more durable cable by an individual qualified to do so?
Is it even a possibility?

g

Yes ....Mel Parker showed how he does it...they arent going to win a beauty contest but they have new cable when done. He uses a piece of 3/4" PVC he cuts about an inch high.... replaces the cable with new and epoxies it onto the coil inside an ikelite. Joe (ole beach nut) i believe can as well. I know a couple of other guys...... im a tinker so i likely could .... but id rather be hunting. Worked out a swap deal........ so the machine is getting fixed. So ill put it back up for sale...... one less head ache.

Thanks! Good to know the repair is doable if/when there is not a better option!

Geo

You can’t buy the Xcal coils out right from ML. So the option is a Sov coil.....