900 Battery Issue

[cudamark]

     Hi all, I had a curious problem with my 900 on a recent vacation. Before leaving home, my 900 worked flawlessly. When I arrived at my first vacation hunt, it wouldn't fire up! Figures, huh? The green light would just flash once and not stay on steady like a normal start up. After playing with it a bit, sometimes it would start after a few presses of the power button, other times it might take a hundred presses to finally get a solid green light and start up procedure. Once it actually did start properly, it would stay on, no problem. The next day, same issue. It got so bad that I didn't think it would ever start up. Then I got the idea that maybe it would help to try with the battery charger (or in this case, my portable reserve battery booster/charger) hooked up, even though the battery had received a full charge all night long. Voila! Started right up! Humm, what's the deal here.....Over the next few days, that's what I had to do to get it fired up, and once started, it worked fine, although I noticed that the battery seemed to run down faster each day. The last day, the battery only lasted a couple of hours after a full charge from the night before, so, I figured the battery itself was the startup problem. When I got back home, I checked with the warranty info and found that the battery only comes with a 6 month guarantee....seems a bit short, but, ok, get another one. $30 and a few days later, replacement battery in hand, I put a new one in and problem solved.

      I had previously replace the battery in my 800, so, thinking it was the same procedure (I even thought it might be the same battery, but, no), I felt confident in replacing this one too. It is slightly different as I discovered. It isn't all that different, but, here's what I found. Pull the handle off the shaft as normal, then the battery compartment cap just pulls out....no retaining screw. It just has an "O" ring sealing the cap to the handle/housing. Inside, the battery just pulls out easily, unplugs like the 800, and just slides back in, with a foam bumper holding it in place. In re-installing the cap and "O" ring assembly (it would have been nice it Minelab included a new one with the battery) I noticed that it fit tight enough that the external speaker would flex outward when pushing the cap in place. Not wanting to damage it, I tried installing it very slowly to allow the air inside the handle to escape without flexing the speaker. No dice. I had rubbed a bit of silicone grease on the "O" ring and housing making that sealing surface air tight. Ok, plan B......there was a small round sticker on the cap that peels up easily to reveal some air holes. That did the trick! Just carefully roll the edge of that sticker back enough to expose the holes, then install the cap all the way, and then press that sticker back over the hole(s) again. There again, it would have been nice if Minelab had included a new one with the battery, but, it looks like it will still work fine. I have one question for all of you though... what happens if the speaker cone breaks? Will water flood into the battery compartment and damage something? Is the battery compartment isolated from the electronics in the pod? The battery connection doesn't have a waterproof connector on it, so, if water (especially salt water) got in there, wouldn't it short out the battery? Maybe I'm missing something, but, that looks like a potential problem down the road when dunking this thing in the ocean.

[streak]

@cudamark I am also in San Diego. You may have seen a bunch of my posts about getting into the hobby. I don't have enough privileges yet to message you but please can you message me and I will be able to reply. I would love to connect with you to learn from your local experience.

[Chase Goldman]

On 2/5/2024 at 1:07 PM, cudamark said:

     Hi all, I had a curious problem with my 900 on a recent vacation. Before leaving home, my 900 worked flawlessly. When I arrived at my first vacation hunt, it wouldn't fire up! Figures, huh? The green light would just flash once and not stay on steady like a normal start up. After playing with it a bit, sometimes it would start after a few presses of the power button, other times it might take a hundred presses to finally get a solid green light and start up procedure. Once it actually did start properly, it would stay on, no problem. The next day, same issue. It got so bad that I didn't think it would ever start up. Then I got the idea that maybe it would help to try with the battery charger (or in this case, my portable reserve battery booster/charger) hooked up, even though the battery had received a full charge all night long. Voila! Started right up! Humm, what's the deal here.....Over the next few days, that's what I had to do to get it fired up, and once started, it worked fine, although I noticed that the battery seemed to run down faster each day. The last day, the battery only lasted a couple of hours after a full charge from the night before, so, I figured the battery itself was the startup problem. When I got back home, I checked with the warranty info and found that the battery only comes with a 6 month guarantee....seems a bit short, but, ok, get another one. $30 and a few days later, replacement battery in hand, I put a new one in and problem solved.

      I had previously replace the battery in my 800, so, thinking it was the same procedure (I even thought it might be the same battery, but, no), I felt confident in replacing this one too. It is slightly different as I discovered. It isn't all that different, but, here's what I found. Pull the handle off the shaft as normal, then the battery compartment cap just pulls out....no retaining screw. It just has an "O" ring sealing the cap to the handle/housing. Inside, the battery just pulls out easily, unplugs like the 800, and just slides back in, with a foam bumper holding it in place. In re-installing the cap and "O" ring assembly (it would have been nice it Minelab included a new one with the battery) I noticed that it fit tight enough that the external speaker would flex outward when pushing the cap in place. Not wanting to damage it, I tried installing it very slowly to allow the air inside the handle to escape without flexing the speaker. No dice. I had rubbed a bit of silicone grease on the "O" ring and housing making that sealing surface air tight. Ok, plan B......there was a small round sticker on the cap that peels up easily to reveal some air holes. That did the trick! Just carefully roll the edge of that sticker back enough to expose the holes, then install the cap all the way, and then press that sticker back over the hole(s) again. There again, it would have been nice if Minelab had included a new one with the battery, but, it looks like it will still work fine. I have one question for all of you though... what happens if the speaker cone breaks? Will water flood into the battery compartment and damage something? Is the battery compartment isolated from the electronics in the pod? The battery connection doesn't have a waterproof connector on it, so, if water (especially salt water) got in there, wouldn't it short out the battery? Maybe I'm missing something, but, that looks like a potential problem down the road when dunking this thing in the ocean.

I don't think you're supposed to peel that sticker as that might be a long term concern regarding adhesion.  , You're supposed to actually pop the speaker.  Make sure the silicone grease you used was food grade and not petroleum based. This was posted awhile back on how to do the Manitocore/900/7000 battery changeout:

Regarding the potential vulnerabilities, warranty should cover it if its a design or manufacturing issue but I am unaware of any drowning issues with the 900 like those reported for the 600/800.

HTH

 

[cudamark]

If you're not supposed to peel that sticker, what is the purpose if it and the holes underneath it?

[Chase Goldman]

It's likely an adhesive Gore Vent.  Internal pressure builds to a point that it temporarily pops the "sticker" to allow the pressure to equalize and then the adhesive re-seals the sticker to maintain a watertight seal.  You likely didn't damage it, but if your skin/fingers have oils or other contaminants (silicone grease?) that could compromise the adhesive properties of the vent, then the sealing ability of the Gore Vent "sticker" could be affected leaving the internals vulnerable to water intrusion. That's why you "pop" it into place as shown in the video.