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OK, my first outing had me ready to get serious. I was quite satisfied with the performance of the Impulse AQ. I found I needed to extend the rod for more reach, and was fortunate enough to have a Fisher middle rod section for a Gold Bug 2 at home, so I added that for more length. Now the shortest setting is almost too long, but for me perfect, and room for more extension. (New rod length thread here) I also decided I needed a way to suspend the AQ by my side while I was digging, so I used a short piece of parachute cord from my wader suspenders to just below the handle tied off just right. So the AQ hangs just below waist height if released.

Up at 6am to be at the beach for 8am opening to get in a full day, two fully charged batteries ready to go. Weather looking perfect, sunny and not too warm for wader work. I had decided that the AQ performance was such that I was going to use tones exclusively and my best cherry picking skills to avoid surface wire and small items, and concentrate on ring type signals. I expected nickels, corroded zinc, pull tabs.... and hopefully a ring or two. Jewelry is sparse at Tahoe but it is there, and I felt confident I now had a depth edge that was going to help find them.

All geared up, gave all the fittings one last check to make sure they were good.... and noticed the power cable to battery connection seemed to have some excess wiggle. The normal hairline gap in the fitting seemed a bit off. I pulled on the cable gently, and it pulled right out of the connector! The internal plastic sleeve was broken, and when I got home I fished the other half out of the battery connector with fine point tweezers.

All I can say is 3.5 hours total use, I've been paranoid treating this fitting with kid gloves, and it has never even been underwater. If I broke it I have no clue how I did it. The plastic is broken off inside in a way that I am having a hard time seeing how it could even occur. Don't know, it is broke, and I'm done. I wish now when I put the pressure on to get a spare battery I had thought to buy a spare power cable also. Rookie mistake. Duh.

Oh well, the water looked perfect, and I got a nice two hour drive. And that is that folks until I get another power cord, and hopefully a spare. Not upset about it, stuff happens, and if anything really do blame myself for not getting a spare. I never went anywhere with my Minelab PI detectors without a spare power cord. Why would I think of doing it with this machine? And the price to be paid sometimes for being the first kid on the block with a new toy. I'm glad I caught it before submerging the machine, though the chance of actual damage occurring in freshwater is almost non-existent, which is one reason I'm just fine keeping this detector out of saltwater for now. Would have been better yet if it had revealed itself on the last trip, which was kind of what the shakeout tour was for. Oh well.

Lesson learned for all - get a spare power cable!!!! I have no idea what they cost but will find out and pass it on. We need a part number and price so people can buy spares. I expect a replacement under warranty, but I am more than happy to pay for a spare. Would have saved me a bit of gas money if nothing else this morning and...... the water looked so good!

impulse-aq-broken-power-cable-1.jpg
impulse-aq-broken-power-cable-2.jpg
impulse-aq-broken-power-cable-3.jpg

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That is disappointing for sure but when I saw the title I was concerned that your post was going to be about the detector's actual performance. Sorry but I was almost relieved when I heard what the problem was! 😉 

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Wow, really sorry to see....And looks like you did everything possible..............but a good indication something may need adjusted.

You know something I did was move the battery toward the front more. I did have to pull the arm rest off but I think they are better protected..by the two support legs. And I've already got the new battery piece I'm working on ........A  90 degree m-8 4 pin which is less to get in the way..

Maybe they can make some changes on those. 

21 under battey.jpg

21 90 degree.jpg

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Looks like the plastic isn't strong enough and the metal threaded collar sheared it off. Could be too much regrind in the casting too. Lucky it didn't get submersed!

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There is no metal collar to shear off. It is a rotating part, with a washer between, visible in the picture. The plastic tube with flare on the end is what holds it all together.

I don’t see how, with the fitting firmly screwed together, that the plastic tube could possibly break where it did. It is broken exactly midway up the threaded metal tube when it is all assembled. All but impossible really. If I broke it I broke it... I’m not an eight year old who worries about blame. I just can’t figure out how I could have broke it there, even if it was dropped hard, which it was not. I can only conjecture it shipped this way to me, and if I had not been treating it so delicately it would have come apart sooner. I wish now I’d tugged on the cable a bit when I first put it together. Instead, I was trying to touch it as little as possible.

Bottom line for me anyway is I think it was a complete fluke, and not indicative of anything I’ll be worrying about going forward. I just need a spare cable. Fisher is already working on eliminating the cable so the issue has been addressed for the long run.

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20 minutes ago, Joe Beechnut OBN said:

You know something I did was move the battery toward the front more. I did have to pull the arm rest off but I think they are better protected..by the two support legs. And I've already got the new battery piece I'm working on ........A  90 degree m-8 4 pin which is less to get in the way..

Maybe they can make some changes on those. 

 

Joe - that 90 degree connector is a great improvement - it looks like it would make a huge difference in keeping the connector safe if the end got bumped...and the bracket for the battery was just able to be slid forward after you removed the cuff?

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15 minutes ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I don’t see how, with the fitting firmly screwed together, that the plastic tube could possibly break where it did. It is broken exactly midway up the threaded metal tube when it is all assembled. All but impossible really.

Who knows - Could have been a manufacturing defect by the connector supplier maybe had a hairline fracture and just needed some use to break apart???  Definitely good to know the potential issues...you were a 2 hour drive what if it was a plane ride vacation 😟

Not to self:

1. get middle rod for length

2. get spare power connector

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