Equinox Control Housing Pins Broke

[Slad74]

1 hour ago, PimentoUK said:

Pin 6 ( directly opposite the plastic alignment lug, 6 o'clock in the above photo ) is not connected, so no need to worry about that one.
Pin 7 is important, it's the Analogue ground. There are other ways of connecting to analogue ground, though how effective they would be is something I'm unsure of. The analogue gnd connects to the USB port ground , but whether it's direct enough, or clean enough? .. it may be a dirty digital ground
So ... if you fit a new free socket on the coil cable, but also bring out a ground wire, to a homebrew USB connector, you may be able to get it going.

Here's a USB port ground connection suggestion:

https://www.detectorprospector.com/forums/topic/14604-equinox-emi-solved/page/3/#comments

Well that would explain why it worked fine with one pin broken, pin 6 was the first one to go.  Too bad 7 broke as well. 😞  I'll have to look into what you're saying and try to digest it...

I'm trying to decide if I should pay to ship it to the repair center, pay another $349 for a new 800 control pod, and also pay whatever $$ they charge to dig the 2 pins out of the coil cable socket, and maybe buy a new telescopic shaft for the 800 too...or buy a new nox 700 for around $675...or a Nokta Legend for less.

See, I take my detector to work and use it on my lunch break. I don't want to leave it in my hot vehicle during the day. I live in the southeast US, and it gets really hot. So every day that I go detecting, I connect my upper end rod to the lower end rod, and then connect the coil cable to the control pod...when I'm done, I disconnect it all, and put the control pod and upper rod in a backpack and bring it inside work, so that it doesn't get too hot in my vehicle.  I think this is why the pins broke, after all these years. Maybe a telescopic rod would compress small enough that I could put the whole detector in a backpack and no longer have to connect and disconnect the coil every day that I go detecting on my lunch break?

[GB_Amateur]

$375 for a refurbished unit.  How long is the warranty on that?  Does ML pay shipping?  And that $375 doesn't include the cost of them replacing the coil connector, if your earlier communication with the repair center is accurate.

vs. $500 (w/free shipping) for a new, with full warranty Nokta Legend.  There would be some transitional learning between the interfaces but the performance is just as good according to very reliable sources here.

I understand you may not have the extra ~$100 to spend, but can you wait a few months to scrimp and save that much?  Seems worth it to me.

[Slad74]

6 minutes ago, GB_Amateur said:

$375 for a refurbished unit.  How long is the warranty on that?  Does ML pay shipping?  And that $375 doesn't include the cost of them replacing the coil connector, if your earlier communication with the repair center is accurate.

vs. $500 (w/free shipping) for a new, with full warranty Nokta Legend.  There would be some transitional learning between the interfaces but the performance is just as good according to very reliable sources here.

I understand you may not have the extra ~$100 to spend, but can you wait a few months to scrimp and save that much?  Seems worth it to me.

Well, it's $349 for new new 800 control pod, and it's not refurbished...it's a new replacement pod. It comes with a 3 year warranty. This is the verbiage from the control center, ". Non-warranty replacements of Equinox 800 control pods are $349.00 including labor and return shipping."  Yes, replacing the coil connector would be extra on top of that.

 

[wltdwiz]

for about $289 you could pick up a vanquish 440 

its a fine detector portable & simple yet would hold its own vs an equinox 

unless you need waterproof it might solve your problem.

i love mine

[PimentoUK]

My fix costs 20 dollars, gotta be worth a try first.

[GB_Amateur]

1 hour ago, Slad74 said:

Well, it's $349 for new new 800 control pod, and it's not refurbished...it's a new replacement pod. It comes with a 3 year warranty.

That sounds a lot better.  Presumably the replacement of the plug on the coil cable will render your coil "good as new".

If you're going to continue to plug and unplug the coil frequently, there may be a lubricant/treatment to make that smoother.  I'm going to ping @phrunt who is a retired (🙂) computer electronics person.  He may have some suggestions.

[phrunt]

yea, I use an electronics contact clean and lube on all of my detecting gears plugs, not only does it clean them and prevent corrosion it makes them connect easier with less friction especially if you're plugging/unplugging a lot.   People in salt water are especially crazy not using a product like that, it washes out any salt/sand as well as putting the film on there to help stop corrosion.  Just get one that specifically says won't damage any plastics etc and you're good to go.  The brand I use doesn't seem available in the US but there are many brands. 

It can turn grotty old blackish connectors to looking new again in no time.

[PimentoUK]

My earlier diagnosis of the pins that failed was wrong, I've corrected the post.

It's going to take some work to fix, but parts cost is low.

[Slad74]

On 3/1/2023 at 6:10 AM, PimentoUK said:

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.

 

 

That's odd, because I'm pretty sure the first one that broke was the one at 6 o'clock, and my machine still worked with it broken...Now, maybe it still made a connection at first when I plugged the coil cable back into the control pod (with the broken pin wedged into the coil plug). but when the other pin broke too, the machine quit registering high tones.  Now, both broken pins are wedged too far into the control plug.

I'll look into the fix you suggested, thank you for your update.

[PimentoUK]

There's two signals coming from the coil. They are a 'differential pair' , moving opposite to each other. So if a target causes one signal to increase( to a higher voltage ) by 10 millivolts , the other one decreases by 10 millivolts. The control box measures the difference between the two signals. So if one is 'floating' unconnected, it may partially work seeing only one signal.