GP Extreme Detector died :( - any advice?

Hi Guys, my recently bought GP extreme stopped working.
When turned on, yo can hear slight electrical hum of the circuit, but no start-up sounds, no treshhold, no signals of any kind.

So far i tried different coils, batteries, power cables, earphones and speakers.

The problem remains, and i guess is confined to the control box.
Machine worked fine last weekend, but refusing to work now. I can't think of anything that changed during this week - it was sitting in the closet as usuall. I am mighty upset about it.

Anyone came across this kind of problem? I just bought the machine, so spending $$$ on it again so soon is probaly not an option. I am hoping to do DIY repairs myself. All i need is knowledge and a soldering iron. And i already have the iron
/
Regars

Some Extreme's had a faulty component in the box that used to fail as you have described, I would suggest you contact minelab

Ron

Hi
Just a thought ,the RX switch hasn't been switched to cancel has it,
That would make the unit sound different, may be worth a check, also the battery may be faulty and not supplying high enough voltage.
Check all connections and change the coil if you have a spare.
Worth a try before you send it off,
Mark

I had the same kind of thing happen with my GP Extreme, the battery was pretty old and had just given up.

I had a worn out battery check that out first
regards Neale

M8 if it's not the cable and it's not the battery I don't think it is a real good idea to be poking around inside it with a soldering iron. If you stuff it up worse than it allready is it may well cost more to fix when you send it in to Minelab.

M8 just send it in they have all the stuff to test it with and the parts ot fix it with properly. With the circut boards covered in white paint you would be flatout even knowing what part to get.

Thats what I would be doing anyway.

cheers dave

Rtanweb, mate dont even stuff around with it. If you send it back to minelab it will probably cost a max of around $100 and they will also upgrade other components inside as well as fixing it. she will then be purring along with the best of the gp3000's.
Just my thoughts anyway.
cheers hoolahoopa

G'day Mate,

Why waste your money and risk permanent damage to your machine if you don't have to. If theres nothing major wrong with your unit never return it to minelab for servicing. I've heard so many horror stories of machines returning from servicing and never working the same again. The GP Extreme was one of the best units ever made. When Minelab released it they claimed it went 60% deeper than the SD machines. They even made a special plastic carry case for it. If you return it they will most likely detune it and instal 3000 software just to dumb it down a little further.
As suggested earlier make sure the battery is good. Make sure your plugs are clean (Use contact cleaner and small pipe cleaners). If it still doesn't work carfully remove the end caps. Look for loose solder joints. Remove the circuit board and look for burnt areas on the paint. Personally i woudn't even think about removing components unless you had a professional soldering iron and some basic electronic knowledge.
If you can't find anything obvious wrong I would return it to minelab and prey that it comes back working properly.

Cheers

Has it been modded?

Hope it`s not a Frankenstein.

Mick

Hey undertaker, does that mean you think an extreme is better than a 3000?

If so, just wondering why so?
I thought the extreme was rushed out to release a bit as they had installed DVT (dual voltage technology) i had thought the 3000 was the same just tidied up a bit...? Logically one would assume the 3000 is better as it was released after the extreme. I have heard they share the same circuit board, but am unsure whether there different components or just different software?

cheers, Ferris.

PS: Rtanweb, check your pm's. I didn't mean to sell you a extreme that was going to fail....

Hi All,
Thanks for the replies and advice.

I have tested multiples of everything - batteries, speakers cables & coils.
I am hoping that this might be a plug issue, but will send it to minelab anyway.
The software upogradfe to 3000 is a very tempting proposition .

Thanks again!

Hi all I have just joined this site and whilst reading some of the forums I see that someone else has had the same problem with their GP Exstreme, mine did much the same as the one discribed it just went silent with a slight hmmmmmm, it was a a modded detector so I had to send it to Woody and low and behold the micro proccesser had died I hope this isn't the case with this detector.

If you would be interested to sell your troublsome Exstreme please feel free to contact me or leave a message on here as I am trying to get my GP Exstreme operational again with a little bit of luck.

I thought I could add to this thread, although symptoms were not exactly the same, a 3500 recently died on me. There was no background noise whatsoever, completely silent. This happened on trying to restart after having last it off only 10 minutes previously. On sending it back to Minelab, it turned out to be a blown resistor. I was most impressed with the quick return (3 day turnaround from Victoria) and minimal cost (about 50 bucks as machine was out of warranty) and coil socket etc tightened as a bonus. Congratulations Minelab for your excellent service.

Cheers Cal

well my extreme died today after only owning it for 3 weeks lol....bought it from a forum member here....but was most likely my fault as i recently bought a 7.2 v battery kit which i might add worked great for a week.
but today for some reason both batteries fried..litterally!and the extreme is DEAD!
im not too sure what happened but the machine was beeping very loudly before it happened and i thought it may be indicating the battery was going flat.....so i changed the battery to the spare and that fried it and the battery,i also plugged the old lithium battery in to test it after that and it blew the fuse in that so...?????also when taken into the store today,apparently someone else had thier machine die today aswell????

.

.

My 5c worth. I have a Coiltek Li-ion power pack & the 3 position switch on it says SD 7.3v, Off, GP 6.7v. I believe but not 100% sure, that the GP series have a component inside them that fries if you constantly supply more than 6.7v. I know of a supplier that makes 7.3v packs that he swears will run on the GP series, but personally I wouldn't be risking anything more than 6.7v. Nevertheless, if it is this component that has fried, I believe that it is an easy fix and a reletively inexpensive one too.
The other possibility if it is a modded machine, is to maybe ask "The Mechanic" for suggestions or if he can possibly fix it.
Maybe that was 10c worth....
Cheers

Hi guys,

i bought the 7.2 volt batteries from ebay ,the seller insists they work on the gp series and yes, they do.....just dont run it for more than 3 hours straight ffs!.....ive told the seller, but im sure he cares not as he has my money now.
thankfully for me the machine has NOT been molested lol...and was taken into finders keepers today in kalgoorlie from where it will be sent to minelab for repairs,i did not speak to the staff at finders personally but from what i hear they are extremely helpfull.
i am still a golden virgin so this little setback has hurt me a little....but im still keen as mustard after 3 weeks digging trash around kalgoorlie and i WILL find some gold eventually.......

dan

.

and if the seller is selling these on ebay all the time saying they work on a gp maybe you should name and shame...or was it a one off sale?

I think we all know who the seller is.... I've heard this story before from another unlucky sod, and the seller insisted it was the poor quality of parts Minelab instal in these machines and not anything wrong with his product. Of course he wanted to or did charge (not sure) the poor sod with the blown up machine for the quality part that he was selling to fix "Minelab's" mistake.... (wish there was a smilie of a turd so I could insert it here).

.

hey fencejumper,

was not a random sale,hes up on ebay now..david woodland.
ive told him about the 5.2 regulated supply to see what he says,he has offered to repair the detector and batteries,but ill feel better having the machine sent to minelab.
he says that the power cord may have come loose internally which would cause the short circuit to fry the batteries,either way ill be going back to my 6.8v lithium battery when the machine is returned to me,its just a heavy b**tard and lasts for about 2.5 hours before going dead oh well back to square 1 i guess.
he looks to have sold about 25 units and says this is a first.
not sure if it means anything but the detector was beeping loudly and consistently before it happened,thats why i switched it off and changed to my spare battery thinking it was telling me it was going dead....switched it back on and the smell of fried plastic hit me...strange...as i had used these batteries for a week without ANY problems.
either way its just my sort of luck :lol!:cheers for the input.

well after a bit of reading it seems a few people here use the "woody" battery setup and they dont have any problems so im going to have say that the power cord must have come loose internally causing the short circuit...fried my batteries and my good mood..im guessing the corrugations must have loosened thing up in the box a bit.
live and learn the hard way.

.

fencejumper wrote:

goldleaf wrote:well after a bit of reading it seems a few people here use the "woody" battery setup and they dont have any problems so im going to have say that the power cord must have come loose internally causing the short circuit...fried my batteries and my good mood..im guessing the corrugations must have loosened thing up in the box a bit.
live and learn the hard way.

don't know any david woodland,i thought you were talking about woody as in peter...

yeah sorry,it was Peter,dont know where i got david from....

.

I spoke to minelab today as they have my detector,they have yet to work on it,but the guy i spoke to was not very happy about the use of aftermarket batteries so a bit of a heads up and a warning to anyone thinking of using these shite battery mods.....just dont do it.
they will fix my GP extreme which is good for me, but you might not be so lucky if they get too many fried units due to battery mods.

Goldleaf, I fully understand where Minelab are coming from. As I mentioned before, the GP can handle upto 6.7v quite comfortably, but the "people" selling 7.3 and above power supplies and saying it'll work on the GP, are basically saying lies. These will supply closer to 8.4v when fully charged and the GP will not handle that. Yes the GP will run for a little time at that higher voltage, but you are pushing the components to their max and eventually they will cook/fry & die, as what has happened to yours. Look for a decent regulated 6.7v battery supply and you will not have any problems, and go back to using the standard 6v heavy brick until you get one. Look at the Ismael Wireless Little Ripper or the Reeds or the Coiltek power, all of which are designed for the GP or the SD or the GPX, depending on which you order.
Cheers

goldleaf wrote:
,either way ill be going back to my 6.8v lithium battery when the machine is returned to me,its just a heavy b**tard and lasts for about 2.5 hours before going dead oh well back to square 1 i guess.

G'day goldleaf

I think you will find the "heavy b**tard" battery you speak of is not a lithium battery at all, its a 6v 12ah SLA gelcell and if it only last 2.5 hours before going flat then its stuffed.

You can buy these 6 volt 12ah SLA gelcell batteries for about 30 bucks from places like battery world, or Jarcar for instance. Fully charged it should run your detector all day ie: at least 10 hours or more.

If you do this just take the dome top off the old one and fit it up the same way to the new one.

cheers dave

yeah good call fella's,
The Brick of a battery i was refering to is a reeds lithium,not the 6v gel cell...but i will be buying 2 6v gel cells as soon as my detector is in my hands again.
but just to confirm what Costa said...you will fry your GP extreme if you did what i did and use a shithouse mod from woody...i spoke to the minelab tech who repaired my machine today and he said that the battery i had hooked up to it was in reverse polarity therefore short circuiting the whatever he called it in the machine.....so FFS dont buy from Woody!!!!!!!shonky worksmanship for sure.....i am new to this game but can already see a few people don't like how he operates, and now i am one of them.
have'nt even found any fricken gold yet and already im paying for repairs.