DetectingWales.com

Hi All

I've noticed in the last few outings that my Garrett probe is on the blink - don't know whether it is just the damp all the time, but it seems to think everything in the ground is a signal, so it's become pretty useless.

Anyone else with the same problem / ideas on how to fix it (apart from using a large mallet)?

regards

probono

Could it be the ground and not the probe by any chance ???........we done a field and no matter where you placed the probe , it went off.....it was too mineralised

I had this problem a few weeks back, so i took it to bits and cleaned it out, pcb etc  i will say its not easy as you can break the switch if your not careful. I personally think t.at moisture gets in through the speaker port and switch. So a good internal clean and a piece of bike innertube over the speaker port and switch and its been fine since.

Nick

wd40 :o :o

Had exactly the same problem a few months back. The probe sounds off wherever you put it in the hole
making pretty much useless. Don't know how old your Garrett is but I sent mine back to where I purchased it
and told them that there was a problem. They sent me a new one which was doing exactly the same. I asked
the distributors if there was a bad batch around but they said no! There are too many instances of this very same
problem for it to be an isolated piece of equipment.
Try sending back and asking the same question.

On the water ingress problem. I use 'Self Annealing Tape' from your local electrical supplier. Fantastic stuff as when you apply
this, it has an elasticated consistency which binds as you apply. It will NEVER come off. You have to remove it with a knife.
I've attached some shock cord (found in tent poles) to my Garrett with this tape. Now I never leave it behind. The tape covers the
speaker as well, with virtually no loss of sound level.

yes they are too expensive :)

I don't think it is the field - I've been going there for a few years, and it has only just started being a problem. I thought at first I might have just hit a nail infested part of the field, but it was everywhere I looked.

If I switched it on in the hole, touching an area that I knew wasn't the part with the find in, it worked much better.

I don't know where it came from originally, as I was given it (new) by someone.

Thanks for the 'cleaning' advice - maybe some moisture has got inside it through the useless 'on off switch' cover.

Had mine new for xmas and I used it first time on the Last DW rally. Mine kept on going off and was very disapointed with it. So is it a fault then you reckon.My friend had one and his probe didn't go off like mine.

This may sound stupid but check the battery first not only is the voltage critical but also the size, believe it or not batteries swell as they age and this slight difference can cause compression of the windings just enough to trigger a response.
Try just unscrewing the cap by one turn and see if it still does it.
Also I know this may sound obvious, a little like the "steel toecaps" effect a friend of mine had the same thing happen with his new probe, until I pointed out he wore a ring and this was acting a little like placing a coin against the probe, it gives it a hair trigger.

sometimes i get the same with mine mate..i turn it on and off..on and off and it seems to settele itself..

They also give a signal when pressed into hard ground turning off and on sometimes works, or as Geoff said slacken it off a turn. They have security probe holders with the rubber o rings, on flea bay which might make a difference.

It seem's the cause may be damp especially if you wash the dirt off after use. I have removed the rubber switch cover and battery cover and hung probe in front of a fan overnight, now and then given it a blast from a hairdryer on low, this seems to have solved problem but time will tell.  Switch cover will push off, which is where the moisture will get in,  there does not seem to be a good seal especially when used with wet gloves in a wet field and we have had plenty of wet.

that's why I detect without my wedding ring on! :)

It wasn't that - this is something that has happened recently

I'll try the battery thing - I use rechargables in mine - perhaps the voltage has dropped a bit too much now.

Hi Bob

took mine apart yesterday and there was quite a lot of moisture on the electronics. Only problem now is that the 'coil' part of it keeps getting in the way when I try and put it back together so that the little on/off light doesn't come through its hole. I've also now broken one of the wires on it, but a bit of solder will sort it out....grrr

will I see it tomorrow?  On sunday mine would not work at all all it would do was sound off yesterday dried it as above post today back to normal switched it on off 20+ times and working as it should left it on for an hour then on and off another 20+ times. working as it should. Damp is the problem just remove switch cover and dry as I described it takes a long time but saves lot's of grrr's. Later I will run some test's to see how low battery voltage has to go before it causes problems.

Probe will run fine with a reduced range and sound level untill it reaches approx 6V when it emits a two tone battery alarm different sound from normal can't mix them up, LED worked at full brightness at all times. hope that is usefull.

I've only had that sound once - when a standard battery ran out.

When you said you had taken your's apart the other day, I thought you meant completely apart, not just take the battery cover off :)

I took the circuit board out of mine - it fits in on little runners (and you have the have the switch in the on position too), but as I said the main cable gets trapped between the LED and the LED oriface.

I'll be able to let you look after the old one tomorrow (to try and stuff it back in properly) as I have bought a second one (it just made sense as I have two spades and three detectors to lend to friends and family, but only one probe - there's nothing worse than gridding and being stopped every 5 seconds by your son who wants to dig up another nail!).

perhaps we can call you Probebroko now instead ;D

Well, I admit in work I often get to test things - to destruction :)

mines fine when i done leave it in a field for 3 days  :D :D :D :D

Probono unscrew the top put a bit of cardboard inside the top and screw it back on i found the battery i brought was slightly shorter so it wasnt touching connectors proply  it worked for me

You might have something there - mine came with a little foam disk - and it isn't there any more - I must have dropped it last time I changed the battery - although getting it damp can't help either!

my garret probe makes a noise like a police siren anyone had this luckily I was able to get another one at half price
but still would  like the other one to work

Usually the battery low but could be a faulty switch, try holding the switch down in the on position and see if it stops it

The battery terminals just need bending back up into position

I had a few problems with the on / off button.  I found that the rubber cover had moved off the click switch.  When I removed the button the switch was not functioning correctly.  Some dirt had got in the switch mechanism.  Worked fine when I cleaned it out and replaced the button cover.

John

Well it's currently in pieces.

Took the circuit board out, but in trying to put it back in again, the 'coil' wire kept getting jammed, and the glue holding it down came off which made it worse!

Then two of the wires have de-bonded. At least it's now dry and the switch mechanism works :)

I'm thinking that the on/off button is the size it is to allow access to the circuit board at that point to use a glue gun and also to hook the main cable out of the way.

It didn't help that I didn't see the guides for the PCB first shove, but there's not much light in there!

Anyway, it might be repaired yet :) And the new one came today too - at least that one isn't falsing yet......

Hi all hope your well, ive been working away all week, hence not been on here much!!!!

Ive finally found a better solution for the damp/water ingress issue with the Probe, i ordered some 40mm transparent heat shrink and wrapped the beast up!! will see how it does overthe next few outings, the light still works and it doesnt muffle the sound as much as the innertube did lol

Regards
Nick

Ah yes We-can  looks like heat shrink from Anne Summers, good brand  ::)

yes too expensive for what they are  ;)