My Makro racer doesnt seem to like -2 degrees of celsius

From the minelab CTX manual:

See how detailed these specs are for storage and operating temps. Also list Humidity spec levels.


Technical Specifications

CTX 3030

Transmission
Full Band Spectrum 2 (FBS 2)

Simultaneous Frequency
Transmission ranging from 1.5–100 kHz

Coil
11" Double D - Standard (accessory coils available)

Audio Output
Internal Speaker, Headphones, WiStream Wireless Audio

Liquid Crystal Display (LCD)
Full color, 320 x 240 pixels, 2.83" x 2.12" (72 mm x 54 mm)

GPS Engine
u-blox Neo-6

FindPoints
Up to 100 (FP001 - FP100)

WayPoints
Up to 100 (WP001 - WP100)

GeoHunts
Up to 10 (GH001 - GH010)

Length
Collapsed: 36.77" (934 mm) Laid flat, packed position: 40.66" (1033 mm)

Extended: 55.15" (1401 mm) Laid flat, packed position: 59.05" (1500 mm)

Detector Weight
5.2 lb (2.34 kg) (with Li-Ion battery installed)

Coil Weight (including Skid plate)
1.4 lb (641 g)

Operating Temperature Range
32°F to 113°F (0°C to 45°C)

Operating Humidity Range
Up to 95% non-condensing

Storage Temperature Range
23°F to 150°F (–5°C to 70°C)

Storage Humidity Range
Up to 98% Relative Humidity

Operating Time (Li-Ion Battery)
13 hours (GPS, backlight, speaker enabled)

Hi,,,,yeah but he's got a Racer not a 3030.....LoL.....JJ

JJ,
Got that Racer on order yet?? You know you want one!!!!!

Hi,,,,I'm waiting for them to send me one so I can test it out.....If it's as good as they say it is, then I should be able to go to some of my old spots and pull coins out like taking candy from a baby....If not than it's no better than my Dinosaurs I'm currently using.....The Million Dollar question is I'm up to it,but are they?.....JJ


PS: Just because I have an inquiring mind don't make me an interested buyer....So far it seems to lack the depth I know I need in the three tone mode.....V.C.O. audio turns this big guy off completely....I'm a coin hunter and know what I need to spell SUCCESS in my locations...LoL....

I actually agree with the 3 Tone thingy. I don't understand why they really did it. But maybe that's why they make detectors and I don't. And just what dinos do you run???

Well dang i may have to reconsider ... Not sure what to do ..those temps are very easy to push past.. Those temps would make it hard to leave detector in your car to run into a store for any length of time.. I hunt in the winted here in ohio all the time.. The other day temp was 28 for a high and i hunted for a while.. All other manufacturers give much more extreme temps..

You can do what John in Edmonton does, puts a sock, hat over his control housing with a hand warmer heat pack inside.


DeepTech Vista X with 3 search coils.
Works for me

Etsija82 Im going to do a run on the Racer tonight after it gets below 30..

See if the problem is on this coil too..

Keith

“I don't care that they stole my idea . . I care that they don't have any of their own”
-Nikola Tesla

Hi Keith,,can you make me a snow cone while you are at it????.....JJ

Keith Southern Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Etsija82 Im going to do a run on the Racer tonight
> after it gets below 30..
>
> See if the problem is on this coil too..
>
> Keith

That is a great idea and in the mean time, i will airtest this fair weather machine inside the house...LOL

Etsija82 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well i got the Makro racer pro pack and i was
> testing the detector outside with the stock coil.
> Outside temperature was -2 degrees of celsius.
>
> The detector will work normally for a few minutes
> and the sensitivity is at 70. After a while the
> alarm will start to sound and the display says
> saturation. Lowering the sensitivity to 69 will
> stop the alarm and the saturation message.
>
> I have tested the detector inside for a while and
> it works normally there. Maybe the detector or
> coil is extra sensitive towards freezing
> temperatures???
>
> This really worries me, as my Xp deus works
> normally in those temperatures.


it should work in the cold,it's "russian"..right?

(h.h.!)
j.t.

Sounds like your machine. Ive hunted in temps that cold for hours with machines and never had an issue..... well at least not with the machine lol. I certainly wouldnt want to have to go thru that dance of machine outside.... alks inside or even buying alks if i dont normally use them.

jmaryt Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Etsija82 Wrote:
> --------------------------------------------------
> -----
> > Well i got the Makro racer pro pack and i was
> > testing the detector outside with the stock
> coil.
> > Outside temperature was -2 degrees of celsius.
> >
> > The detector will work normally for a few
> minutes
> > and the sensitivity is at 70. After a while the
> > alarm will start to sound and the display says
> > saturation. Lowering the sensitivity to 69 will
> > stop the alarm and the saturation message.
> >
> > I have tested the detector inside for a while
> and
> > it works normally there. Maybe the detector or
> > coil is extra sensitive towards freezing
> > temperatures???
> >
> > This really worries me, as my Xp deus works
> > normally in those temperatures.
>
>
> it should work in the cold,it's "russian"..right?
>
> (h.h.!)
> j.t.

Detector is made in Turkey and i am from Finland.

Sven1 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> You can do what John in Edmonton does, puts a
> sock, hat over his control housing with a hand
> warmer heat pack inside.
> [www.findmall.com]

LoL

John E the "Kanook" is HARDCORE!!

Surprised he didn't show his GTI 2500 in that pic VS the AT

He's the only guy I know that will hunt 365 days per yr no matter what the weather (and that's in Canada)!!

This is the answer i got from the factory:

Saturation happens when the search coil encounters a near surface or a very large object.The device reverts back to normal operation if you lift coil up.

If the alarm and the message continues along a long line,you may be over a long metal such as a pipe.

Storage temperature is 0’C - to 40’C


Best Regards

Cavit ARSLAN

Import&Export Specialist

Based on this answer, i think the operation temperature is 0C to +40C. So my coil may not be faulty after all and it is just another feature of this detector.

The Racer may save some poor soul from frostbite if that is the case lol .

How is the freeze testing coming along Keith??

Another user in my forum said, that he had no problem with the stock coil in few minus degrees of celsius.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2015 08:33AM by Etsija82.

Sounds like they read you the manual and didnt really listen to what you were saying ..... one coil works the other doesnt. I was alway careful to bring the machine to a good temp be it summer or winter to keep condensation low on the inside of the machine. Thats kind of like saying a machine is water proof down to 10'...... how does one know that exactly? Id think it would very. like most things with warnings...... they tend to lean toward being overly cautious. I hunted for a good many years in the cold with Whites and MLs ive had the screens fog during hot weather, but no problems during extreme cold even with rechargables and yours are new.

Dew

Here is the problem i am having with the stock coil:
[www.youtube.com]
This cannot be normal for a coil that is working. Clearly something is wrong with the coil.

Here is the small coil in action:
[www.youtube.com]
Not a single problem with this coil.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2015 11:30AM by Etsija82.

Obviously the stock size coil is causing the overload from watching videos. And from your previous test/comparisons, seems it's temp related, with the temp boundary for proper ops to be close to the 32F degrees. And you say you have a bud with same setup who gets correct operation in same temps. Maybe Makro needs to look at your coil and see if something specific it possesses is a cause for concern for the "whole lot" of coils. Remember the 7x11" coils for Racer were sort of an after thought. The 5x10" coil was the original intention. Can't hurt for them to check. Better safe than sorry.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 02/15/2015 12:48PM by tnsharpshooter.

And I still can't edit.
So, another questions. How come testers weren't provided 5x10" coils?? I don't think I've seen any being used or talked about.

tnsharpshooter Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Obviously the coil is causing the overload from
> watching videos. And from your previous
> test/comparisons, seems it's temp related, with
> the temp boundary for proper ops to be close to
> the 32F degrees. And you say you have a bud with
> same setup who gets correct operation in same
> temps. Maybe Makro needs to look at your coil and
> see if something specific it possesses is a cause
> for concern for the "whole lot" of coils.
> Remember the 7x11" coils for Racer were sort of an
> after thought. The 5x10" coil was the original
> intention. Can't hurt for them to check. Better
> safe than sorry.

He will be testing his stock coil again maybe today. My coil overloads in a few minutes tops, so this overloading thing should be easy to dublicate with another stock coil. I will send my coil to the factory, if they want me to.

There are now two users in my forum saying, that their coils are working fine in freezing conditions...so my stock coil is faulty and i need a new stock coil.

My dealer will take care of the situation and will send me a new stock coil.

My vote is for the coil. I worked for a company the manufactured coils, iductors and transformers for electronics. My guess is the lower temps are causing the impeadance of the coil to change (shorted winding maybe) as temps drop the materials around the coil have different rates of contraction so something is binding or pinching. Just a guess. Or in other words when it is cold the coil looses its MoJo ;-)

Bryanna - Nebraska

Current - New to me but not new MXT Pro and T2 SE2 - Previous Minelab Sovereign GT, Minelab Safari, Whites DFX, Whites Eagle Spectrum
Smile its a good for you!

Etsija82 Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> Well i got the Makro racer pro pack and i was
> testing the detector outside with the stock coil.
> Outside temperature was -2 degrees of celsius.
>
> The detector will work normally for a few minutes
> and the sensitivity is at 70. After a while the
> alarm will start to sound and the display says
> saturation. Lowering the sensitivity to 69 will
> stop the alarm and the saturation message.
>
> I have tested the detector inside for a while and
> it works normally there. Maybe the detector or
> coil is extra sensitive towards freezing



> temperatures???
>
> This really worries me, as my Xp deus works
> normally in those temperatures.


Hello...sorry to hear that you are having an issue.
We are confident that this is a coil issue and your coil will be replaced as soon as possible.
Please contact the dealer or Makro and it will be taken care of right away.
At this point, this is a single occurrence issue which may happen with coils.
Should you have any further questions, you can also contact me at dilek@noktadetectors.com

Quote:".... the lower temps are causing the impedance of the coil to change..... as temps drop the materials around the coil have different rates of contraction so something is binding or pinching."
What's almost definitely happening is the coil's null is drifting out of spec, caused by the twisting/shrinking/etc. The null is very critical, and is primarily determined by how the two coils overlap (DD coil). Simply moving this overlap by 0.1mm could cause enough residual output change to overload the circuitry. It depends on how well nulled the coil was in the first place, of course. It's perfectly possible for the low temperatures to improve the null.

Nokta Detectors Wrote:

> Hello...sorry to hear that you are having an
> issue.
> We are confident that this is a coil issue and
> your coil will be replaced as soon as possible.
> Please contact the dealer or Makro and it will be
> taken care of right away.
> At this point, this is a single occurrence issue
> which may happen with coils.
> Should you have any further questions, you can
> also contact me at dilek@noktadetectors.com

I have no further questions regarding my coil issue, it's all being taken care of. But i would like you to investigate what is happening to the coils, when they are exposed to about -2 degrees of celsius or more and possibly find something, that could be fixed or improved, so there would be no more issues with the coils.

> I have no further questions regarding my coil
> issue, it's all being taken care of. But i would
> like you to investigate what is happening to the
> coils, when they are exposed to about -2 degrees
> of celsius or more and possibly find something,
> that could be fixed or improved, so there would be
> no more issues with the coils.


Currently,this is the first occurrence. We made many heat/cold tests and could not duplicate the issue so at this point it is not a multiple-occurrence issue. If there are any other reported cases, we will definitely look into it further.

Bad coils are probably the Number 1 problem with All detectors---just check all the different forums and you will see.