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ATX Down For Repairs


Atlas

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Hi all,

New to the Forum and have a problem I hope someone can help me with.

Well I think the ATX (used) I recently got is down for the count:cry:

After the initial park test where the machine worked as advertised I took it to the lake for a water hunt. It was running real quiet and smooth at the first two beaches. Scored a silver ring and St Christopher medal on a chain:crylol: Good frequency scan and GB. At the third beach I got a low batt indicator and did a battery change back at the truck.

Upon returning to the water the machine was acting real erratic with lots of false signals and LED indicators flashing up to the 7/8 range and even locking at this level. I thought well maybe its EMI or drift so I checked with my buddy who is running an infinium and he said his machine was purring like a kitten. So I did another factory reset and decide to run in ground tracking. I was still getting signals but hard to hear the faint ones with all the falsing.

I checked the battery compartment when I got home and no leaks.   Batteries were in proper polarization and no reversed cells.  So I decided to take it to the park today where I originally tested it with a fresh set of batteries. Did Freq Scan and GB. The GB seemed a little off from when I first got the machine. That is when I press the button and get the two tones I'm not hearing much ground signal. I noticed this at the lake also. Anyway tried to run and with the coil stationary I'm getting a pulsing signal from 1-4 LED range and spiking up to 7/8 range. The signal then locked at 8 and wouldn't go away without a reset but then continued the pulsing. So I decided to do a factory reset and that's when it got interesting. Usually on a factory reset I get two tones followed by the 4 battery check tones. The machine went straight to 4 tones with no LED display. So the machine is on and making spurious noises but no LED's are on. Did this a few times with the same results.

So I put the machine away and got my GP3000 out as a control test. The 3000 noise canceled and GB'd in this park fine and I dug a few signals till the rain started. Anyway this kind of rules out that there was some type of crazy EMI that can't be eliminated.

Next I called the local dealer who sold the machine to the guy I bought it from and he thought it might be the coil. back at the house I slid the shaft out a bit and had a look at the coil wire connector. Put in a new set of batts and checked the coil connector for leaks saw none but where the wire goes into the black connector there is some type of rubbery gasket material that is squeezed out a bit. Any way I fired up the machine and it went through a normal cycle with LED's and did the frequency scan but still getting that spiking signal. I can turn sens down and bring that signal down but then cant hear test targets through the signal at the low sens level.

Dealer told me to call Garrett on Monday and that is the plan. I think there is still 6 months on the Warranty but well see.

Anyone have similar problems? I have this message posted on the ATX forum and a member there suggested testing my machine with a known good coil.  Anyone in the Reno area with an ATX and a good coil that I could use as a  test on my machine? I know that's a lot to ask but and maybe not even a good idea.   Maybe Steve will know?

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Yes I did call and got an RMA number. It turns out the machine is no longer under warranty so I thought I would take it back to the park for another test.

My first attempt at testing went kind of like before.  So I slowed down and went back through the frequency scan and GB again and the machine worked perfect.  I think maybe I wasn't pressing the shift key before when doing the GB:unsure:  If that is the case I feel kind of dumb about this.    After this the  machine stabilized and was running with a smooth threshold I telescoped the shaft in and out a few times and moved the coil and no falsing. I even managed 3 coins and a bunch of tabs.

On a side note  I know I used the shift key to get the machine into Auto GB at the lake because the green light was flashing.  Do you still need to do the manual GB pumping procedure when running in Auto GB?

Do you think the machine would give that spiking type signal with no coil motion if not properly GB'd.  When it was doing this my nickel test target was giving a low/high response so I guess this would be possible with improper GB.

I'm going back to the park tomorrow for another test run.

HH

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I apologize if this sounds obvious, but did you have your cell phone on you while the ATX was on? I had erradic behaviour on my ATX with the LED's all lit up and sometimes pulsing about half of them on and only when I turned my cell phone off, did the ATX calm down to normal operation. Just something to think about.

Beav 

 

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Thanks for all the feedback guys.

Beav_can -- I did have my cell phone with me :ohmy: and I will test today with the phone off.  I guess I'm just not that used to using a pulse in an urban environment.  Previously with my GP3000 I'm using way out in the hills.  Even then an overhead jet can give EMI.  This cell phone thing may also explain why my friends Infinium will start to howl once in a while and he doesn't know why.  I really appreciate this because sometimes it's the obvious stuff that messes you up. 

Steve -- I would tend to mostly run manual ground balance  but tried the Auto GB at the lake due to rapidly changing pockets of black sand etc.  What do you know of the sensitivity of the ATX vs the Infinium.  That is the ATX has a manual control and the Infinium has none.  So does the Infinium have Auto sensitivity or is it preset at max or some other level?  I guess I'm wondering if I have my sensitivity at say 7 how comparable is that to say the Infinium with no sens. control.   I'm also wondering how low can you go with sensitivity on the ATX and still get some depth?  I read your story on the ATX in Hawaii and you mentioned running Sens. at 7 there and got good results. 

HH

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Beav_Can has a good point; pretty much every pulse induction detector I have used has been affected by cellphones to some degree - it's a good idea to disable Wifi & Bluetooth and put it as far away from your detector (back pocket or backpack) as possible IF  you have to have it on at all. 

Whether it was GB, interference, or a combination of both, it's good to hear you have it working! :smile:

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Sensitivity is a relative thing. You run it as high as conditions allow, which on the ATX is normally full out. In a place like Hawaii in the water you have to back it off. Maxed out the ATX has a bit more power than the Infinium, but in the water there is not a lot of difference. The main problem was the Infinium would false a lot more. Bottom line though is I have never used the two machines together and so can't make an exact correlation, especially since the stock coils are different. You would need both with an 8" mono to draw conclusions. Operationally the ATX is vastly superior, but I wish I could have an ATX in an Infinium box, so I could hip mount if I wished.

Most of what the ATX does it simply does better than the Infinium. For instance, EMI rejection is easy on the ATX (automatic) and a huge pain on the Infinium (random manual with no markings).

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There is something else you might be using that will affect your detector.  I discovered a 'problem' with this when using a 7000.

Do you have a keyless remote for your car?

If you have this in the wrong pocket of your pants, near your detector or a wireless remote it will have an effect on your equipment.  It may not be as noticeable as a cell phone or a pin pointer but it is an electronic device and even off our new detectors will sense them and try to ignore them but it may affect your performance.

This is probably not your issue.

Mitchel

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  • 3 years later...

My ATX was made in 2015 and I started having coil cable issues in 2018.  I’ve never used the ATX in water and developed coil cable cracks. Last year I was able to receive a replacement coil after calling them.  So far a year later Replacement coil is working great NO problems whatsoever.  New coil cable looks nothing like the old.  It’s well made like a coil cable should be.  There are a couple of people who will still complain about the cable issues but if they can manufacture headphone cables without issues they should be able to do the same with the coil cable. 

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