7000 and CTX3030 12 volt charging cable failure.

Hi Folks,
Noticed this morning that my 12 volt DC charging cable has failed or about to if not repaired/replaced. The problem is where the cable exits the cable restrainer on the cigarette lighter plug, the insulation splits and parts, a slight twist in the cable at this point will cause a short circuit and is possibly a potential fire hazard and the inconvenience of blown fuses.
This cable is the second to fail in the same location, the first was replaced by MinLab and the replacement cable is of the same construction as the first, Ml don't seem to be worried about this problem, just replace the faulty cable with one with the same components, it would be a fair bet that I'm not the only person that has experienced this cable problem; When will ML do something about replacing these problem cables with better quality heavier cable, the extra cost would be bugger all given the overall cost of these detectors.
Cheers, AUoptimist.

hi Au,
at least yours works tried charging mine with the ciggy adapter and it doesn't work like a lot of other peoples on here.
your right there should be a recall of sorts and this issue sorted.
smacks of another company more worried about share price than anything else these days.
my rant is now over

I can't say I disagree with you,on this issue here fellas. You're better off using the heavy duty,supplied car battery charger lead,which runs directly off your car battery,than bother with the thinner,weaker,cigarette socket charger lead,which can take double the time to charge both battery/Modem.
Minelab,why produce & give us an inadequate car charger for the GPZ 7000,knowing that there were charging problems,from the cigarette lighter socket from day one?  If the supplied cigarette socket charger,were not meant to work efficiently from the beginning,best not to have given us one at all.

Cheers Kon.

Hi Guys,
I do most of my bush charging with the above cable plugged into a stand alone aux battery via a smart solar regulator, this system charges the 7000/3030 batteries very efficiently and only becomes problomatic if we get a run of cloudy days, voltage drops below 12.6 V, charger red light flashes, battery takes longer to charge.
I will try and contact ML later today and see what they have to say.
Cheers, AUoptimist.

The 12volt cigi charger leads are to thin and flimsy. I just cannot understand why Minelab will not supply a heavy duty charger lead. Its beyond belief, its a disgrace for a company selling a $9500 product.
The flimsy leads break, short out and could start a fire on your front seat.  Many users simply use the direct battery connectors because the cigi charger does not give the charging block the power it need to charge properly.

If Minelab would just purchase the $1.50 chinese lead with thicker wire and a flexible top where the wires go into the socket....... instead of the current nasty 80 cent version they use.

Do they ever listen or even care.

Has anyone sourced/found a heavy duty lead on ebay?

Hi Trib,
Apparently Reed's sell a better cable for about $24.oo, I think I will build my own, should not be too much of a problem, Jacar for the components.
Cheers, AUoptimist.

AUoptimist wrote:Hi Guys,
I do most of my bush charging with the above cable plugged into a stand alone aux battery via a smart solar regulator, this system charges the 7000/3030 batteries very efficiently and only becomes problomatic if we get a run of cloudy days, voltage drops below 12.6 V, charger red light flashes, battery takes longer to charge.
I will try and contact ML later today and see what they have to say.
Cheers, AUoptimist.

Didnt take much notice but ours wasn't charging correctly a few times lately,ran it through a small inverter using the 240 volt plug,just checked the manual it doesnt state anything about 12.6 volts AUop,is this a fact,cause if so thats a major pain in the ....

Hi Goldchaser,
There is a cut-off point voltage wise for efficient charging with the cigarette plug charging cable, you know when the optimum charging voltage drops below the cut-off point because the charging LED flashes red and charging times are much slower from that point on. 12.6 volts is close to the cut-off point, it could be a bit lower though but not by much.
AUoptimist.

G'day all,

Still haven't tried the 12 volt side of the charger yet, as we always run the genny at night and I just charge it on the 240 volt side. You would think if ML knew about this common problem they would have tried to rectify it by now and did a recall on the lead. Just my thoughts.

Cheers.

Mike.

AUoptimist wrote:Hi Goldchaser,
There is a cut-off point voltage wise for efficient charging with the cigarette plug charging cable, you know when the optimum charging voltage drops below the cut-off point because the charging LED flashes red and charging times are much slower from that point on. 12.6 volts is close to the cut-off point, it could be a bit lower though but not by much.
AUoptimist.

Yeah we had something like that going on,thats pretty annoying cause camped out,well for example our trailer has dual 120 amp batts and my cruza has 2 100 amp auxils at night without a geny running depending on what you have charging or running batteries staying above 12.6 is a big ask,allmost impossible until solar kicks in the next day,most fridges have a cutoff at about 11.8 or 12 i think,if that charger drops its rate at 12.6 thats just plain stupid,7000 is other halfs so havent taken much notice,next time camped out i'll suss it out when charging,thanks AUop.......

Hi Goldchaser,
Our group of detecting friends carry a spare battery for their GPZ7000's and cycle them so as to charge the spare through the day during peak-sun hours, end of problem, as long as there is a bit of sun available.
Cheers, AUoptimist.

AUoptimist wrote:Hi Goldchaser,
Our group of detecting friends carry a spare battery for their GPZ7000's and cycle them so as to charge the spare through the day during peak-sun hours, end of problem, as long as there is a bit of sun available.
Cheers, AUoptimist.

Yep we have 2 batteries AUop i'll suss that out next week camped out,would prefer to charge on 12 volt plug at night as we carry 2 sets of batteries for whatever detectors where carting about on quad,sometimes up to 30klms from camp so we try an go prepaired,not a big problem but still but still a bit annoying if thats the case,ive allways packed the 240 volt chargers more or less as backups.......