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Equinox Control Housing Pins Broke


Slad74

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Hello all, first time poster here. I've had my Equinox 800 for a while now; I signed up for the waiting list to buy one before they were even released. I've already had a couple of items serviced under the warranty, but I know it's expired now for sure. Unfortunately, today, I noticed two of the pins on the back of the control housing actually broke off and are stuck inside the connector on the coil cable. I didn't do anything that should have broken them, other than disconnecting my coil cable...it's not like I'm jerking the cable out when I disconnect it.

I sent Minelab an email about it for suggestions, so I will see what they say. I wanted to go ahead and reach out to this forum too, though, to see if anyone else has experience with this...am I in dire straits here, since it's the pins on the control housing? Am I looking at a new machine? I sure hope not! Please tell me it's a simple fix...

Much thanks for any advice..

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Unfortunate you are having trouble.  I had a unit replaced because the side switch broke during warranty.

It would be helpful to all of us if you could take a picture of it.

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49 minutes ago, Slad74 said:

Hello all, first time poster here. I've had my Equinox 800 for a while now; I signed up for the waiting list to buy one before they were even released. I've already had a couple of items serviced under the warranty, but I know it's expired now for sure. Unfortunately, today, I noticed two of the pins on the back of the control housing actually broke off and are stuck inside the connector on the coil cable. I didn't do anything that should have broken them, other than disconnecting my coil cable...it's not like I'm jerking the cable out when I disconnect it.

I sent Minelab an email about it for suggestions, so I will see what they say. I wanted to go ahead and reach out to this forum too, though, to see if anyone else has experience with this...am I in dire straits here, since it's the pins on the control housing? Am I looking at a new machine? I sure hope not! Please tell me it's a simple fix...

Much thanks for any advice..

Likely they will have you pay for a new or refurbished  housing/control pod (obviously the refurbished units are cheaper at ~$225 vs. $350 per this post. But don't know if those prices are still applicable or the post repair warranty terms).  If they offer you a discount towards a new 900, I would seriously consider it depending on the offer.

Hopefully, your coil-side connector is not damaged and you can remove the separated pins and salvage the coil.

Good luck and please do report back on how it was remedied and the quality of customer service.

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1 hour ago, mn90403 said:

Unfortunate you are having trouble.  I had a unit replaced because the side switch broke during warranty.

It would be helpful to all of us if you could take a picture of it.

If you notice, the pin on the bottom and the one next to it, on the bottom right, are both broken. I just noticed one was broken earlier today, when I was going detecting. When I finished detecting, I took the cable off again and noticed another one had broken! How? All these years, and now my pins are suddenly breaking?

333435416_1397501297666691_8191839684092763411_n.jpg

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58 minutes ago, Chase Goldman said:

Likely they will have you pay for a new or refurbished  housing/control pod (obviously the refurbished units are cheaper at ~$225 vs. $350 per this post. But don't know if those prices are still applicable or the post repair warranty terms).  If they offer you a discount towards a new 900, I would seriously consider it depending on the offer.

Hopefully, your coil-side connector is not damaged and you can remove the separated pins and salvage the coil.

Good luck and please do report back on how it was remedied and the quality of customer service.

OK, thanks. 😞

I'll see what they say and let y'all know...

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Update: I have sent Minelab multiple emails and have not received one, single response. I even emailed someone that helped me in the past. They used to be fast in their responses; I guess their customer service has gone down hill? I am not impressed with their lack of response. So I emailed the detector repair center in Pennsylvania myself, and talked to them personally. They said that my issue is not fixable and my best option is to ship them my control box and they will replace it with a new one for $349. I wasn't planning on dropping money on a detector any time soon, but I guess that is cheaper than having to buy a new one...I also spoke with the retailer that I bought my Equinox from, and he said the same thing.

On another note, the two pins are now stuck inside the connector on the coil cable. I tried to get them out last night but proceeded to push them further in. It seems I always make things worse when I try to fix something. Anyway, the man I spoke with at the detector repair center spoke with some techs at his location and told me to send the coil in too, and they can replace the connector on the cable. He didn't have an estimate for that yet.

So I guess that's the route I'm going to have to take...I'm still frustrated that Minelab is ignoring me, though. I always had such great experiences with Garrett's customer service.

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On 2/25/2023 at 9:11 AM, Slad74 said:

When I finished detecting, I took the cable off again and noticed another one had broken!

So, even though 1 or 2 were broken, the detector was still working?  

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Edited,due to technical errors:

Pin 6 ( at 4 o'clock in the above photo ) is not connected, so no need to worry about that one.
Pin 5 ( at 6 o'clock ) IS important, it's one of the two signal outputs from the coil.
So ... you need to make a connection to pin 5 somehow. Such as soldering a wire onto it. If you can do that, you may as well solder wires onto the remaining 6 pins, and join those wires to a new plug. This presents mechanical issues, like stopping flex/strain on the wires. I'm thinking that bonding some additional plastic pieces onto the rear of the case  to support a chassis mount or panel mount plug may be a solution.

 

 

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3 hours ago, Northeast said:

So, even though 1 or 2 were broken, the detector was still working?  

It worked with 1 broken, but not with 2...I think they both became wedged too far up into the receiving end of the coil cable. It no longer picks up high tones.

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I don't think you said the conditions you use your detector in.  Saltwater?  Very high humidity?  Very dusty/sandy environment?  It appears something has either corroded the pins or gotten on them (e.g. sand) that made the plugging and unplugging action eventually cause the damage.  Could have happened to the coil plug as well.

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