Minelab SDC2300 information and questions

[Redfin]

No problems with mine either, never had a "restart" or any falsing.
I do notice the odd beep if I swing too fast, which pulls me up to detect normally [slow] again.

 

[LC76]

I highly doubt that the heat is the problem, it has been over 45c here for a month and I have not had any issues with mine. The supplied batteries are a bit loose, but a piece of cardboard fixes this as someone else already said.

Still not the point though.
If it was one of those Aldi detectors with a bad battery compartment i could handle stuffing some cardboard in there.
If it was a cheap Aldi detector i would forget the speaker and come up with a workaround.
But its not a cheap detector and i want it to work as advertised.

I think the falsing is heat related as the first hour or so is fine then when the coils gets hot to touch it starts going a bit nuts,same with the speaker.

This detector was not designed for Australian conditions.

If it was it would vent heat through a one way valve(to maintain waterproofing) and not be blue and maybe have the speaker on a foldout deal like a camcorder screen.

 

[Guest]

I have not had issues with heat but it does restart occasionally when the coil in bumped with a bit of force.

I put in ALDI C Cell Alakaline batteries without any restarting issues. Also I have no trouble with rechargeables bought from ebay. I think, but would have to check that the diameter of the positive end of the original C cell batteries is smaller, so may lose contact if the battery springs compress enough?

Does your area have heaps of tiny hot rocks?

Ill try the cardboard trick, it probably stops the battery bounce?

 

[Redfin]

This detector was not designed for Australian conditions.

Mine was and works well.

If you think you have a dud, Pursue it mate, through the right channels, and keep everyone informed of Minelabs response.
Sh!tbagging it won't help the cause [yours] at all.

 

[Guest]

This is what Im talking about.

Original on the left, Ebay in the middle and ALDI on the right. Note size of positive terminals and the ALDI has a full metal top, the others have a metal nipple surrounded by plastic insulation.

I reckon that the spring does not sit square on top of the terminal and has a tendancy to slip to the side potentially losing contact with enough battery bounce?

 

[ILikeGold]

The main reason for the battery issue is that not all C size batteries are made exactly the same size. The ones provided with the unit are slightly smaller then others causing them to move around a bit. And the positive terminal is also slightly smaller on them.
The heat issue is obviously not a design fault as your the only one having this problem. I have no such issues in central WA which is a hell of a lot hotter then Victoria, and know many other people using them here with no issues.
I can guarantee that if you only use the speaker you will be missing gold, if your deadset against using earphones then get a booster and one of nenads cables. No point whinging about buying extras for a $4000 detector, the $6500 gpx has no speaker at all!

 

[LC76]

This detector was not designed for Australian conditions.

Mine was and works well.

If you think you have a dud, Pursue it mate, through the right channels, and keep everyone informed of Minelabs response.
Sh!tbagging it won't help the cause [yours] at all.

Sorry Redfin.

Mods lets close this thread and not say another bad word about Minelab.
From now on i'll shut up and keep my thoughts to myself.

 

[LC76]

I love how people who are NOT having a problem tell other people who ARE having problems to stop whinging.

 

[Guest]

If it helps LC all I hear are mixed problems with the SDC its not just you whinging mate iv been reading issues on all the forums with the MineLab SDC well iv finally decided its not worth the $4000 and "I" wouldn't find enough tiny nuggets to pay for a second hand one either. All jokes aside every detector company has issues with every machine tho it's up to the company to decide if there worth fixing or try to pretend there not there.
The falsing issues when hot are happening to others....

 

[Guest]

I dont read it as whinging as well, just stating issues you are having with your machine.

Under Australian consumer law you are entitled to a full refund if the item does not do whats stated in the marketing. Especially on a $4000 item.

Mention that to the retailer if its not sorted this time around.

Its not the heat on all SDC, but yours with whatever fault is has must be affected by the heat.

 

[Redfin]

I love how people who are NOT having a problem tell other people who ARE having problems to stop whinging.

No mate, I urged you to pursue it with Minelab.
People on the forum wont fix it for you.
Use the right channels.

 

[LC76]

If you look up you will see i already have.

 

[Goldpick]

If you look up you will see i already have.

What was Minelab's response to your issues, did they provide a test report with any anomalies or replication of the falsing, or still awaiting a response? It's a bit rash to close the thread at this stage, so long as people keep things civilised from here on in. I'm sure there will be some that will be very interested on any outcomes or fixes, as they may be experiencing exactly the same syptoms on their SDC.

You can't discount the issues you are having with your SDC just because a large proportion of other owners are not experiencing the same, could be unique to your particular unit or a faulty coil, who knows, I'm hopeful that Minelab will sort it out, maybe even replace it should it be warranted.

 

[LC76]

Still waiting for a response but its still early.

Miners Den Bendigo have been fantastic to deal with.
Minelab needed convincing with videos i thought that was fair enough.
Hopefully i wont have to record a second lot of vids.

 

[mbasko]

There was a small number of faulty machines in the US falsing on vegetation. From reports on a US forum these were replaced no questions as it was a known issue. The falsing when hot issue isn't something I can find or have heard of other than this thread. The only falsing issues I can find are the vegetation one mentioned & cell (mobile) phones when close to the coil which to me is obvious - don't put a signal emitting device that contains metal near a metal detector coil :lol:

I would be putting some pressure on Miners Den/Minelab to get a replacement or refund! I know my now well used SDC doesn't false at all even with a hefty bump so something is definitely not right.

p.s top photographic explaination of the battery issue RS! The Powerizer batteries are the only ones I've had that issue with so I don't believe it's a SDC problem but rather a QC issue with supplied consumables. The Tenergy batteries & any alkalines I have used do not do it.

 

[gold prospector]

I'm not sure if my Ground Balance is working, every time i press and hold the green button the audio has not change remains the same other units ive used even when the ground is quite when pumping up and down the audio noise at start is there eventually fading out so you know its working not so with my sdc is this because of the automatic ground traking
Anyone else have the same problem?

 

[mbasko]

It is constantly auto tracking so should stay fairly well in balance.
The auto tracking is around slow/medium I believe. The green button allows a fast manual track. It really only needs to be used in quickly varying ground to achieve a faster balance if you find the auto tracking isn't keeping up or something else throws the balance out, in my opinion (Phasetech or another guru can probably explain it better or correct me)
Out of habit I was using it more than necessary before, even though I knew I didn't have to. Old habits are hard to break :lol:

 

[Simmo]

Your syntax does not work.......
What is the issue, simply......

 

[LC76]

The SDC is always ground balancing so you wont really notice much of a change anyway.

What i do is find a target then do a ground balance just away from the target and then sweep over the target again.
You should notice the target will become clearer or louder.

Oh and dont go crazy with the ground balance,just a quick 3-4 pumps up and down should do it.

 

[PhaseTech]

Spot on mbasko and LC76.

I still regularly pump the coil when searching just to be sure everything is running sweet. Especially if you've noticed a bit of ground noise.