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Offline JCBankstonTopic starter
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« on: November 12, 2010, 12:33:44 am »
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Hey guys, just wondering if any electronics gurus out there can help me figure out if I can fix my Garrett Master Hunter ADSIII. Lately when I go out MD'ing, my volume seems to be cutting out on me, sometimes its like someone slowly turning down the volume, sometimes the sound is crackly, staticy, especially when I switch to VLF Discrimination. Sometimes when  turn it on there is no sound and the LED's dont light up , but the analoug meter works, when ever the sound starts going screwy I can firmly tap the box and the sound will sometimes come back in, but I don't want to beat up my machine to make it work. I know its an old machine but I love it and I dont want to give up on it. Any help or suggestions of how to go about repairing it would be greatly appreciated. I am a novice with electronics, but I am a fast learner. If I am unable to fix it I will have to find someone who can. Thanks- John

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« Reply #1 on: November 12, 2010, 04:56:40 am »
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Hi John,
Well, doesnt sound too serious.
Sounds like a loose or broken connection somewhere in the control box.
My first guess would be that it MIGHT be from the battery connection(s).


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« Reply #2 on: November 12, 2010, 08:08:48 am »
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I would start with the battery tray.

Clean all contacts.

Make sure the Mating pins in the box are not corroded or bent.

Let us know what you find.

That machine uses two of the batteries for audio.

The others are the detecting circuit.

 Great

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« Reply #3 on: November 12, 2010, 08:15:10 pm »
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Had the unit open last night and all soldering is good, nothing broken and no loose wires that i can find. The battery tray that i have is a four 9v tray, rechargeable tray model # 16047, 1 battery for sound and 3 for detection, but i am running regular akalines out of it, could this cause problems? The battery tray says "This rechargeable battery system will replace a Garrett battery pack with a GOLD label. (6 batteries) For the ADS Deepseeker series only." The connections appear to be corrosion free.

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« Reply #4 on: November 12, 2010, 08:41:20 pm »
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Follow the Traces on the Circuit board.

Tap  on them and see if you can find a bad track or loose connection.

Let us know!




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« Reply #5 on: November 13, 2010, 02:12:31 pm »
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Hey homefire, I'm not sure what you mean by traces, do you mean the silver lines on the circuit board? I figured this out last night, I thought that i had the problem licked after taking the unit apart again and, after shining up the battery contacts and pins for the battery tray, i put it all back together and tested the sound with out the coil attached and it seemed to be working , but when I reattached my coil the sound issues came back, so I swapped coils to the 12" coil (which I have never used, and I dont think the previous owner used either) and the problem was still there. So I am kind of at loss, but Iwas wondering if the battery tray arrangement i have might be causing it becaus of low power, When i put fresh batteries in the tray, and 1st turn on the machine, neither circuit 1 or 2 shows full charge on the meter, more like topping out around 5 on the scale. The battery tray that i have is a four 9v tray, rechargeable tray model # 16047, 1 battery for sound and 3 for detection, but i am running regular akalines out of it, could this cause problems? The battery tray says "This rechargeable battery system will replace a Garrett battery pack with a GOLD label. (6 batteries) For the ADS Deepseeker series only." So im am not using 6 batteries in my machine, only 4, 1 for circuit 2(speaker) and 3 for circuit 1(detector circuitry), so theoretically im 1/2 power on circuit 2, and 3/4 on circuit 1. Thanks for all the great responces guys I really appreciate the help.-John

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« Reply #6 on: November 13, 2010, 03:12:13 pm »
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Inspect your detector's circuit board for capacitors that may be either failing or already failed. See the picture attached here for details. The one on the left is swelling at the top. Compare that to the middle one which is flat and normal. On the right, that one is actually leaking from the swelling.

Two of those three are faulty and should be replaced. The ones on the left and the right. If you have any looking like that, they need to be replaced. They are polarized so note which way they come out so you can replace them in the same direction.

When China first got into the electronic components market and flooded the world with cheap stuff, they cut corners and the glue used to make electrolytic capacitors was substituted with inferior glue. They did the same thing with computer memory glue but the situation wasn't so bad there because the chip is held in place by the entire thing being encapsulated in plastic or ceramic.

Electrolytic capacitors are long strips of aluminum foil rolled tightly with insulating glue separating the layers. That glue swells and deforms with heat which happens both by where the unit is stored and also when the unit is operating. Higher quality capacitors or those with modern glues will last longer. Those from the '70s and '80s with China markings were still being used from inventory into the '90s so there are a lot of computer mother boards that fail prematurely and, of course, metal detectors.

It's the price we pay for wanting cheap electronics.

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« Reply #7 on: November 13, 2010, 10:51:10 pm »
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Thanks for the info GD, i will break open the box again tonight and look for any suspect components.


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« Reply #8 on: November 16, 2010, 04:05:21 pm »
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I took the box apart again and checked the traces and components , no broken traces, no swollen capacitors. I spoke with Brad over at Garrett, and he said that using the 4 slot rechargeable tray with alkaline batteries, would probabbly not have enough power to properly run my machine so I ordered a 6 slot battery tray and will see if this fixes the problem. If not then I am going to send the unit in for servicing at the factory. I will update the results in a few days. Thanks for all the help guys. Happy Hunting Detecting-John

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« Reply #9 on: November 27, 2010, 07:49:52 pm »
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Thanks guys, for all the posts trying to help me figure out what my problem was. What it turned out to be was my battery tray, I only had a rechargeable tray with the 4 battery slots,which I was using with four alkalines. So before I sent it back to Garrett, I figured I would try and find a no rechargeable 6 slot battery tray, (which Garret still makes for these old units). And presto! the problem was solved. It now works without the sound issues. Thanks again for all the help guys!

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