Corroding Antenna Wire On Deus 2..

[Erik Oostra]

The antenna wire on my Deus II is corroding away, it's now completely black and getting thinner in places.. Salt water has leaked under the seal from both the coil end and the control box end.. So far I haven't noticed a drop in performance as a scuba detector but I've got a feeling it won't be long before I'm up for yet another Deus II replacement part.. Have any other beach or scuba detectorists noticed this as well? How long have I got before it'll stop transmitting signals?          

[Valens Legacy]

Sorry to hear about the problem. Maybe you can clean up the wire and put a sealant over it to protect it. I don't know if it would void the warranty or not so you may need to check on that first.

[CPT_GhostLight]

I don't know if this will help, but Gigmaster shows how he makes his own  antenna wire in this video:

 

[midalake]

13 hours ago, Erik Oostra said:

Have any other beach or scuba detectorists noticed this as well? How long have I got before it'll stop transmitting signals?          

We noticed right away when we tested the D2 that water entered the coil end. I tried to waterproof that wire before I stuck it the water and did not get a good seal.

The inner wire under the top Shielding is very thin. When will it fail?  Since you are a diver you might be the first to let us know. 😊

[Chase Goldman]

Since it's included with the detector it should be covered under warranty for 5 years.  As an antenna, it just needs to stay in one piece, doesn't mater how thin it gets because it's not carrying current. 

Regardless, not a good look for XP if they are trying to sell this as a Dive machine.  Hopefully, they up their game on the design of the antenna as they get more real world feedback from frequent salt water divers like Erik.

[Erik Oostra]

3 hours ago, Chase Goldman said:

Since it's included with the detector it should be covered under warranty for 5 years. 

Unfortunately it's not.. the manual says 'breakage of cables and wires' and 'corrosion of electronic circuits due to water ingress' are NOT covered under warranty.. I guess that includes the antenna wire.. XP Australia sell them as spare parts for around $50 without postage.. That's just for the wire, with the fiddly plastic attachments it's $60.. I'll see what other wires I can use, Ghostlight's video was very useful here..  

[Chase Goldman]

Erik, Nope it should be covered. 

The water ingress thing is to cover their butts if someone doesn’t put the dive plug in or when someone submerges a part not designed to be submerged (e.g., the wireless headphones).  And wire breakage is to cover something like someone flexing or damaging those cheap charge connector cables over time or breaking the bone phone cable due to improper treatment, not for stuff simply breaking as it is being used as intended and supposedly designed.

Something that is meant to be repeatedly submerged and exposed to the SW environment on a regular basis and that is properly installed on the detector and used as intended should be covered because this represents a potential design flaw.

Please don't roll over and let them off the hook because of the "catch all" lawyerly warranty language and aggressively pursue the warranty claim and make XP (not just your dealer) actually say its not covered.  And if they DO say no dice, then kindly let them know you have a platform that you will be using to let your fellow detectorists know about how XP is not standing behind their flawed dive product accessory.

If you roll over, without attempting to make the claim and holding their feet to the fire, it weakens the rest of your compatriots who are using the antenna kit in the proper manner but are subject to the same design flaw.

[Erik Oostra]

On 8/13/2022 at 4:41 PM, Chase Goldman said:

If you roll over, without attempting to make the claim and holding their feet to the fire, it weakens the rest of your compatriots who are using the antenna kit in the proper manner.

Crikey Chase, that's too great a responsibility for one man..😆 Think of all those gold rings I'll lose out on whilst I take XP to court.. 😆 If someone else wants to take them on, good for them.. For me, it's not worth the drama over a little bit of antenna wire, my local hardware store sells it cheaply by the mile.. As for letting XP know how crap their products are, I think I've done enough of that on this forum.. I've never owned a detector where so much has gone wrong within the first 6 months.. As a result it's spending more and more time on the shelf, even as a scuba detector..        

[Steve Herschbach]

Court? Just call and ask if it’s covered under warranty. They maybe send you a new one for free. Or not. But seems like the easy thing to do before assuming the worst.

I’m selling my Deus 2. I went detecting with a buddy, he had the D2, I had the equinox that day, we were both going to jump in the water. He had forgot to rig the wire up, left it at home… and that it was it for him, no water detecting that day. Just something I never have to think about with my Nox, which also has never leaked a drop in all these years. Love my wired Eisenhower underwater headphones. Long story short, seeing him miss out detecting over that wire was the final straw for me, and I decided once again that wireless and underwater is just not a good mix. Putting aside leak risks, the Nox just works with less hassle.

[Erik Oostra]

On 8/13/2022 at 4:41 PM, Chase Goldman said:

Please don't roll over and let them off the hook because of the "catch all" lawyerly warranty language and aggressively pursue the warranty claim and make XP (not just your dealer) actually say its not covered.

On 8/13/2022 at 5:26 PM, Steve Herschbach said:

Court? Just call and ask if it’s covered under warranty. They maybe send you a new one for free. Or not. But seems like the easy thing to do before assuming the worst.

I’m selling my Deus 2.

Sorry Chase and Steve, I didn't mean to offend you by my response to your suggestions of chasing yet an other warranty claim for the Deus 2.. I tend to have a short fuse when it comes to this detector.. I was being sarcastic about court and the responsibility heaved upon me.. They were the bits with a smiley face at the end..  What got to me was Chase's vague suggestion that I was some gutless wonder if I rolled over to XP's lawyerly warranty language..

I assumed that the wires and cables mentioned in the manual which were not covered under XP warranty included the antenna wire.. When Ghostlight suggested another solution, I thought I'd first explore that option before going through all the hassle and expense of getting another XP antenna wire which will most likely leak and corrode just like the old one.. I figured I could ditch the XP wiring and work out a better way myself.. 

I will follow up your suggestions.. I've send both the dealer and XP Australia an email asking if the antenna wire is covered under XP warranty.. I've send an email rather than calling them so I can post their replies.. But that's as far as I'll go on this, I really don't care about design flaws for something that was bound to fail.. Besides, it'll take far too long before XP fixes anything, in the meantime I'll wire up another bit of antenna wire.. 

I'm not yet thinking of selling the Deus 2.. Probably wouldn't get much for it as it's looking pretty thrashed.. The main reason it's been sitting on the shelf is that we've had a series of very low tides.. This opens up vast hunting grounds at the back of bays which are better covered with the large coils on the Equinox.. Also, very low tides mean there's no need to dive.. That's why I hadn't noticed the antenna wire going completely black (it just had patches before) or how thin it was getting.. 

Erik