Jim in Idaho

I think one of the things missed in the "reasons" for Whites going out of business is that Whites was a privately held company. The owner, and chief engineer was at, or beyond retirement age. Apparently he had no descendant able, or interested in running the company. I assume Ken White had been aware of all this long before the company closed, and stopped putting money into product development. I can completely understand that. He accomplished an enormous amount, and led the industry in new product ideas for decades. He just finally decided it was time. I refuse to look at this as a "failure" of any sort. I spent my entire life self-employed, and I understand this.

Jim

Yup, guys. I've been  kicking my own backside for several days now...LOL. I hate breaking my own rules, especially because of laziness....arrrggghhhh. Take a lesson here, and don't do what I did.

Jim

Thanks, guys. We drove carefully back without finding it. Somebody obviously picked it up, so can only hope they return it. I posted it on CL "Lost & Found with a $75 reward, but no luck so far. I'm hopeful, but not optimistic...LOL

Jim

I have few basic rules I've developed over my longish life. They include things like "never reward bad behavior", and "pay attention to the risk reward ratio". But my #1 rule is to "plan for what COULD" happen, not for what MIGHT" happen". So the Wife (Chris) and I are headed out the desert for a shakedown trip for the Coot, and loading up I throw my backpack of decades age (VietNam era Allis pack) into the rear Coot tub. I'd placed a sheet of plywood in there so Heidi would have a place to stand while traveling in the Coot. I KNEW I should tie the pack down, but had hauled it there a couple of weeks ago, so got lazy. Sure enough, pack and plywood disappeared some where in that 40 miles, never to be seen again. Lots of memories attached to that pack, and hundreds of hiking miles, not to mention it contained my Falcon MD-20. A good refresher, but costly.

Jim

I don't have much of a dog in this fight, but that said, I think what Chase mentioned about "polishing the cannonball" is right on the money. I'm completely satisfied with my Whites detectors, for what I mainly do in this hobby, though must admit I've always missed owning a Fisher GB 2....LOL

Jim

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I can completely understand that, Chuck. You expect, when you buy a new product, that it will perform as it should. In any deal, two things have to happen. One, the responsibility of the buyer is to get the money to the seller. The second is that it's the responsibility of the seller to get a product, THAT OPERATES AS IT SHOULD, into the hands of the buyer. In this case Minelab had a responsibility to get a battery IN GOOD OPERATING condition into your hands. They failed, and then compounded the problem by putting their responsibility onto you. That, my friend, is crappy customer service. You should be angry.

Jim

AAAhhh...that explains alot, Chuck. So the demand of the detector does turn the battery on. That's really interesting. Never heard of anything like that. With a newer battery like that, I can see why it needs to go to the company. I appreciate the clear pics, too. They help with understanding the issue. I'm guessing a resistor, instead of a short, across the terminals may have let the battery stay "on".

Jim

If you were just going to throw it out, I was thinking I'd pay the shipping so I could do some forensic analysis on it...LOL Don't own an SDC, so can't use it, but unfortunately, I'm a curious guy...Ha!

Jim

What are you going to do with the bad battery?

Jim

Wow! The detector may be signaling the battery to turn on? Never heard of anything like that, but technology is steadily moving on. Chuck, maybe it's setup so that it won't run with just one of the packs? I know nothing of SDC's, and am assuming from your description it has 2 packs?

Jim

12 hours ago, Ridge Runner said:

Dutchman4  

  Most time it’s going to read less than what it shows it should but in this case it’s not over a half volt out of 12 volts .

 Here you got 4 C batteries with a total 6 volts but with the drop in battery pack is rated at 12 volts with the charger rated the same. What that tells you it has to be a voltage regulator in the SDC giving you a longer run time.

 Chuck 

This is interesting, for sure. Looking forward to learning what's going on. I'm starting to wonder if there's a voltage regulator, built into the battery pack, that's faulty.

Jim

Chuck, the only thing I can think of would be to check the charger output while under charging load. Forgive me if you thought of this already. If it were only 1 battery, I'd think it was a battery-management board error of some kind, but that's doubtful with 2 batteries. The common thing is the charger.

Jim

Thanks, guys. Apparently his 'Nox is not now communicating with his aids. I was not aware that the 'Nox used a Bluetooth system. I thought it was some sort of proprietary setup. So, I'm wondering why it doesn't work? His wireless 'Nox headphones work fine, though he doesn't like them.

Jim

I've got a Viet Nam era veteran buddy that got Bluetooth hearing aids (very nice) from the VA. He was asking the other day about connecting his aids via Bluetooth to his "Nox 800. Is there a Bluetooth transmitter that plugs into a "normal" headphone output jack on the 'Nox?

 Jim

12 hours ago, blackjack said:

Nice, slow is the way to go you get to see more, send some pics when you get an outboard motor for it.

Jack, there's not a chance in H--- that this Coot is going into the water while I own it. After all those hundreds of hours rebuilding it, not going to risk damaging things. Coots can handle the water, but that's a far cry from "liking" the water. Even one of the original makers said that the "water thing" was way over-hyped. Mine is for deserts, mountains, etc. And crossing creeks up to 24" deep, for short distances is OK. In rebuilding this rig, I saw, up close and personal, the damage done by being immersed and not cared for afterward. As for "slow", I completely agree. Prospectors and rockhounds need to see the country they're going through. You can't identify anything at more than "walking" speed.😄

Jim

3 hours ago, matt said:

I've been to "Craters of the Moon" several times. It really is a neat place to check out. Last time there was 2017.

My parents live in Ketchum and Ashton 6+ months of the year so we usually stop at craters of the moon since it's on the highway between homes. What a nice place to live! Let me know if you are ever interested in that old tote gote to fix up sometime. It would give me an excuse to come up to Idaho.

Yes...we moved here in 1975, and it's been a great place to spend our lives. No matter where we travel, we've never found a place that has everything we enjoy like Idaho. But boy, am I getting to hate the winters...LOL

Jim

4 hours ago, UT Dave said:

Thank you Jim!  I really, really appreciate that.  I'm still getting out amongst 'em and calling as much as I can in the fall and winter.  Numbers have been poor for going on quite a few years now though.  Drought, fires, etc.  These days, I always take a detector with me and hit all those long abandoned ranches and mining camps and homesteads out there in the Great Unknown.  Been more than a couple calling trips have turned into detecting trips when silver coins start popping up, 😁.

I'll always remember your quest to hand call a lion.  That was just cool as heck. 

I spent a whole winter a few years ago trying to call one, period.  Did call a couple, but only know that from them vocalizing and tracks in the snow.  Following summer, two days before my depredation tag expired, I was driving along with my kids looking for mule deer buck to photograph.  Spotted a lion chasing a deer through the oak brush.  I hit the brakes.  Lion stopped chasing the doe to look at us, but it was deep in the oak brush.  My daughter whistled and I'll be danged if that lion didn't jump up on a stump to get a better look at us!  Could see from the mottling on the shins it was a youngster.  But, I had a tag, and my Mach IV in the back seat (with my daughter).  She wanted me to shoot it.  But that just wasn't how I wanted to fill that tag.  I took a bunch of pictures and was happier than having a dead lion to deal with that morning. 

Daughter is still ticked off about it 😂.

- Dave

Cool story! Love that your daughter has the instinct...LOL I did finally call one into easy range in November of '06, but missed the shot. I really just think I didn't really want to kill it. I can't ever remember a single instance where I missed a shot at less than 60 yards. I called in a few others, but just glimpses. Calling lions alone, when it starts getting dark, and you get a "glimpse" will definitely get your attention...ha ha! I miss it to some degree, and will probably do it again, but only for pics. The excitement of calling lions is incredible, especially with mouth-blown calls.

Jim

7 hours ago, phrunt said:

That's the coolest, you need to weld an old satellite dish on the front and go out in the desert somewhere and take black and white photos of yourself on it and you could say you went to the moon.

Speaking of that, Simon, I live only an hour from "Craters of the Moon" national monument, where the first men to the moon trained back in the old days. They call it that because the terrain resembles the surface of the moon as viewed by telescopes back then.

Jim

7 hours ago, Rivers rat said:

No seats or are you just sitting on a thin bread like layer of foam??

 

RR

No, it has a nice seat. The top of the seat is about 1" above the fender so it doesn't show in the video. I got the seatback frame built yesterday, and will get it installed tomorrow.

Jim

2 hours ago, jasong said:

That's pretty cool, I'm surprised they don't make a side x side that articulates like that, at least a little bit. 2 winters ago I got my side x side stuck on the side of an incline where only 2 caddy corner wheels were touching and it was just rocking back and forth a few feet from a precipice and I didn't think I was getting out of there. Would be nice to get more wheels on the ground in cases like that. 

Yeah...that would be bad, for sure. The downside of these is they're slow. Top end of about 25 depending on gearing. Mine's geared extra low, so top is about 20. But enormous torque in low range. These also have no suspension, or differentials, so shouldn't be used on pavement. But we outdoor-experienced guys understand that out in the desert or mountains 20 miles is a LONG way, so speed is not a big deal. I think the reason they don't make them is no market to speak of. Everybody wants to "baja" on them, and these Coots don't work for that. They made and sold about 10,000 of these between '65 and '85, and then the 4 wheelers came out, and that was the end. Somebody resurrected the brand, a few years later, with a model that had hydraulic drive instead of mechanical, but they only lasted a couple of years. Experts estimate there's only about 1,000 of the original Coots left. I've got one more, and know of 4 others a guy has that I'm going to look at this summer. There's no money to be made with them...I'll never get even my labor hours out of them at $10/hour...just enjoy making things that don't work operate again.

Jim

2 hours ago, Dorado said:

Great dedication and skill.

Cheers

Thanks...I'm going to take a few weeks away from Coots, and then start in on the other one I have...it's in REALLY bad shape. I also know of 4 others I'm going to look at this summer. Might end up buying them, too. I'm a glutton for punishment, I guess.

Jim

3 hours ago, geof_junk said:

Look after it, and don't overload it with the nuggets that you will find.

Geof, I never find any nuggets. Thankfully I enjoy the hunt nonetheless.😄

Jim

9 hours ago, jasong said:

Nice work, would be interesting to see the articulated part in action over some rough terrain. Never seen on of those vehicles before.

Jason, here's a few pics of it slightly articulated. Note all 4 wheels are in contact with the ground. It will articulate 40* max.

1 hour ago, matt said:

Wow that turned out really nice!

On another note, I hope you have those ramps secured to your truck when driving the coot up them. All it takes it one wheel kicking one out (especially a rear tire) and you may never drive that coot again. If you haven't already, please do a search for what happens to people that don't secure their ramps when loading vehicles. You can get really hurt or worse.

Yes, Matt, they're fastened...LOL Thanks!

Jim

3 hours ago, UT Dave said:

Very nice work Jim.  Looks like new!  Probably better than new in some ways.  And good to see you around, you might remember me as DAA from the old GGVG board years ago.

- Dave

Dave, you have no idea how happy it makes me to see your post. GGVG seems like a lifetime ago, and I've often wondered what had happened with you. I don't hunt much anymore. Occasionally, I get a guy wanting me to teach him howling, but that's about it. Prospecting has become my outdoor challenge in the last 10 or 12 years. I hope to never outgrow it. You were one of the most skilled callers I've known, and I've known more than a few.

Jim