I dropped my E-trac in the water :( *UPDATED*

SalemScott

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Last night I met Bottlecaps at the beach and started detecting. During one of my digs I dropped my E-trac in the water. I immediately grabbed it, shut it off, pulled the battery and dried it off. I thought I had saved it and put the battery back in and it fired right back up, no problems for the rest of the night. This morning I'm ready to leave for work and I was going to bring my machine with me to hit low tide after work. Hit the on switch, it went into the usual start up screen and then said "Voltage Overload".:shock: I pulled the battery, left the battery compartment open hoping it would dry out while I was at work. Came home, same problem sometimes but it's also started no problem and seemed to be working. Most of the time it says the overload message. I'm super bummed! Is there still hope or should I just send it out to Minelab tomorrow? I'm guessing the latter which sucks, I don't want to be without a machine. I can't explain just how sad I feel right now.:(
 
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Salt or fresh?

Was the water salt or fresh? If it's fresh water I'd try drying it out with a hair dryer on its lowest heat setting. If it's salt I'd send it in and let them take it apart and get all the salt out.

Sorry to hear this happened, I knew it was just a matter of time before I did the same thing with my DFX so I just broke down and bought a dedicated water machine and relegated the DFX to dry land only.

Hope your up and running soon. If you do have to send it in I'll loan ya my Infinium or my DFX if ya wanna pay shipping so you'll have something to use in the meantime.

SD
 
Might want to check the coil connection. Could be wet causing the overload. Seems my DFX SEF coil may have an issue at that connection causing an overload message. I put sandwich bags on my DFX at the beach with duct tape to seal it pretty good. One day I got hit with a rogue wave. Head phones didn't make it. But my DFX did;)
 
Probably still moisture in there, or corrosion on the board...If it was my unit, and I had no warranty, I would open It up and take a look, and proceed from there, but that's just me..Good luck, hope you get it working again..
 
My son dropped his phone in the water to three-time, each time he puts it in my phone in rice for about three days, still using it, maybe you can feel the battery compartment with rice.
 
Did you inspect the batteries and contacts? Do you have the rechargeable pack?

Water might have got into the pack and shorted out a cell, do you have a voltmeter you can check the voltage or see if it charges okay.
 
Was the water salt or fresh? If it's fresh water I'd try drying it out with a hair dryer on its lowest heat setting. If it's salt I'd send it in and let them take it apart and get all the salt out.

Sorry to hear this happened, I knew it was just a matter of time before I did the same thing with my DFX so I just broke down and bought a dedicated water machine and relegated the DFX to dry land only.

Hope your up and running soon. If you do have to send it in I'll loan ya my Infinium or my DFX if ya wanna pay shipping so you'll have something to use in the meantime.

SD

Yep, Saltwater. It looks like it will be going back to Minelab. Hopefully they will fix it...not sure if the warranty covers accidental water damage. With my luck, probably not. Any suggestions for the cheapest machine capable of handling the wet sand on a salt water beach? I can't go a month or more without detecting.
 
Yep, Saltwater. It looks like it will be going back to Minelab. Hopefully they will fix it...not sure if the warranty covers accidental water damage. With my luck, probably not. Any suggestions for the cheapest machine capable of handling the wet sand on a salt water beach? I can't go a month or more without detecting.

Knowing what I know now. Find a used Sovereign GT.
 
If it is still wet inside, you really don't want to keep turning it on. You may be better off opening it up and cleaning up any moisture, instead of shipping it to Minelab for repairs which may take weeks... the longer you wait the more damage the saltwater will do.

If it is still turning on, it probably isn't very wet inside, maybe just around the coil cable connector.
 
Yep, Saltwater. It looks like it will be going back to Minelab. Hopefully they will fix it...not sure if the warranty covers accidental water damage. With my luck, probably not. Any suggestions for the cheapest machine capable of handling the wet sand on a salt water beach? I can't go a month or more without detecting.



What you should have tried doing was washing it out with fresh water as soon as it happened because salt water is so corrosive... its probably too late now that it was wet over night... never put the batteries back in a machine that was in the water until its completely dried out. If you want to try flushing it with fresh water before sending it out, it certainly can't hurt it anymore than it already is and then dry it out like another member above posted...
 
Very sorry to hear that. I drowned two land machines and got a water machine after that and never looked back. Accidents do happen in the water unfortunately. I sure hope they repair it for you. good luck
 
Was the water salt or fresh? If it's fresh water I'd try drying it out with a hair dryer on its lowest heat setting. If it's salt I'd send it in and let them take it apart and get all the salt out.

Sorry to hear this happened, I knew it was just a matter of time before I did the same thing with my DFX so I just broke down and bought a dedicated water machine and relegated the DFX to dry land only.

Hope your up and running soon. If you do have to send it in I'll loan ya my Infinium or my DFX if ya wanna pay shipping so you'll have something to use in the meantime.

SD
Thank you, that's very kind of you but I couldn't. I will get this figured out and all will be well again, it's just a bummer.

Might want to check the coil connection. Could be wet causing the overload. Seems my DFX SEF coil may have an issue at that connection causing an overload message. I put sandwich bags on my DFX at the beach with duct tape to seal it pretty good. One day I got hit with a rogue wave. Head phones didn't make it. But my DFX did;)
I will look into the coil connection. I didn't even think of that. Thanks.

Probably still moisture in there, or corrosion on the board...If it was my unit, and I had no warranty, I would open It up and take a look, and proceed from there, but that's just me..Good luck, hope you get it working again..
It's still under warranty (I got it earlier this spring) so that's not an option.


Did you inspect the batteries and contacts? Do you have the rechargeable pack?

Water might have got into the pack and shorted out a cell, do you have a voltmeter you can check the voltage or see if it charges okay.
The battery seems fine from what I can tell. I don't have a volt meter but we do at work. I'll try that tomorrow. Thanks.
 
BTW, one thing I didn't mention is it also has the Sunray X-1 probe on it.:shock: Basically a priceless piece of equipment now that they're not made anymore.:(
 
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I'm not too familiar with PI machines but aren't they no discrimination? Most of the beaches I detect are loaded with iron. I assume I would dig iron all day but like I said, I'm not familiar with PI. Thanks.

Scott if you use a PI where you are, you might quit detecting altogether!
 
I'm not too familiar with PI machines but aren't they no discrimination? Most of the beaches I detect are loaded with iron. I assume I would dig iron all day but like I said, I'm not familiar with PI. Thanks.

If you have a lot of iron you don't want a PI unless you enjoy watching everyone else digging the good stuff while you clean the beaches :lol:
 
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