GP Extreme Detector died :( - any advice?

Don't get me wrong guys (& gals), I'm not bagging Woody. I've just heard so many negative reports from unsatisfied customers concerning the jobs he has performed. I have not had the pleasure of meeting him or discussing and work with him. Unfortunately for Woody, from all the negative reports and so few positive reports I've heard about him and his work, if I ever met him I would and have a biased opinion. I would certainly give him the right of reply, but it is a long way back to center from the extreme opinion that I have already formed, but purely from 2nd hand information.

He may be good at his work (???), but unfortunately I would not have enough faith from what I hear, to let him even look inside my machine, much less get a soldering iron anywhere close to it.

And I'm not totally sure it could be reversed polarities as Minelab state (not to throw anything in their face) if the detector has worked on that particular battery before. If this is the first time you have used it and it fried your FET (I think that's what Minelab might have mentioned this item to you), then yes I fully agree with Minelab, that is poor workmanship and a lack of pride and attention to detail that creates a bad name and an even worse reputation for the maker (Woody).

G'day goldleaf

Bloody hell mate, how handy is that!!!!!!!! no wonder it smoked thing up a bit, hope it all gets sorted and your up and running again soon.

cheers dave

hey costa,
Im not gonna slag off Woody but i would not buy anything from him again and i would not recommend anyone else buy from him or link tech either
the thing is....i had 2 of his batteries with me when i was out detecting(bringing back bad memories)and the machine started beeping at me so i changed to the second battery which i had not used at all since buying the 2....thats when go fry fry!!!
so i think it was a dodgy build,cant be certain as im no electrician and really did'nt understand half of what the techie said to me...but basically he was saying whatever power source i had to it fried it! and he also said it was lucky that the part(fet?) is in there otherwise the machine would have been a write off!!!
but he also said that they had sent it off already and i should have it back tommorow!!!which is really impressive considering it was only sent to them on monday from Kalgoorlie....i just cant bloody wait as im pretty much addicted to the hobby now, even though i just dig rusty bullets and nails ......

Sounds like you will be up and running in no time Goldleaf. That is very good news and I hope you find some nice golden bullets instead of rusty ones...

Cheers.

Mike.

goldleaf wrote:hey costa,
... and he also said it was lucky that the part(fet?) is in there otherwise the machine would have been a write off!!!...

Hi Goldleaf,

Just saw this thread, bit of a bummer that that happened. At first I thought it strange that the ML tech had said that the power had been applied reverse polarity as earlier you had said that you had been using the batterys successfully. But now that you say that you hadn't used one of them until just before the smoke came out well it all makes sense. This is a bit of a problem when a battery system has no fuse, thermal breaker or overload protection cct. Just as well they do have a protection DIODE(that part) otherwise there would have been some real nasty problems.

Glad it has all worked out for you.... Fingers crossed!

Cheers Mick

Hey goldleaf,
You do have options........eg
A mate of mine was detecting in the bush and came across a detector leaning up against a tree........WITH A BULLET BULLET HOLE THROUGH IT !!!
Be happy and be lucky.

Sandy,yeah its probably a good thing i dont own a rifle!
well after only a 5 day wait a have my baby back with me
top service by finders keepers in Kalgoorlie and minelab Adelaide!!
also i have learnt my lesson and i bought 2 6v gel cell bricks.
had a bit of a swing yesterday and as usual got bugger all.
the batteries are pretty good and i feel alot better about using them
was almost walking around pantless though, as those batteries were tugging at my dacks lol
thanks all,
im off to laverton,leonora for a week ...in a week, so hopefully i can score my first bit!!

G'day Goldleaf,

I carry two 6V dome top bricks around in my backpack when using my Extreme. One for immediate use, and the other if needed for a battery change. As already expleted by some of the Lads "Heavy Bast%#rds", that they are, but after a few weeks, you don't tend to notice the weight. Just remember that for every half hour use of these 6V batteries, they need one hour recharge time, so if used for 6 hours, make sure you leave them on the charger to recharge for 12 hours. This way you will always have a fully charged battery. I tend to use one for no more than 5 hours at a time before swapping to the other fully charged battery in the backpack, which enables you to always have full power. If the bugger starts WARBLING, then it is flat, or almost flat. Change it straight away. Just remember if the warbles come on, then the battery needs 20 hours on the charger. If after this time you still have a warbling detector, then throw away your battery, responsibly of course, and get a new one. Cheers Cashman. P.S. What does a RUSTY BULLET look like?