Garrett ACE 300 Dies During Start of my Night Hunt

beachclad · Jan 19, 2020

I can't believe this.

I went out today 1 hour before the low tide to hunt a little bit farther out than usual, and about 30 minutes in and two zinc pennies later, the ACE gives out in spectacular fashion. Beeping like an injured hyena stuck in a bottomless pit.

I knew something was wrong when I walked toward the busiest tourist area and swung the thing for literally 45 minutes with no signal. Something had to be wrong. Swiped the coil over the metal band on my watch, no signal. Uh-oh.

Walked out toward the boardwalk to reset it. Went back to the sand and it starts falsing like crazy. Beeping rapid fire. First it didn't beep at all, and now it won't stop beeping. Couldn't get it to stop. Finally, I get out onto the boardwalk to sit on a bench and unplug everything and wipe away all the sand off the coil. Did another reset, and it still keeps beeping nonsense signals even when holding it in the air.

I know, the Ace 300 isn't ideal for wet salt sand, but I've been using it non-stop for the last month and it's been fine.

I figured I would spend my clad on a new one. I was on pace for over $60 this month!

Nine more months and I could've bought a Sea Hunter or a Sovereign, or maybe an Excalibur had I found a ring or two. Now that's out the window.

And to have this happen at the start of a long weekend... :mad:

Muskrat · Jan 19, 2020

Man. What a bummer. Hope you are able to get a new rig and get back out there, especially since you are cleaning up on the clad! Good luck.

beachclad · Jan 19, 2020

Is it possible to fix it somehow? It's broken as it is, so I might as well.

Muskrat · Jan 19, 2020

I would call Garrett and get it to them.

Flying Dutchman · Jan 19, 2020

If you know anyone with a good working ace, try their coil on yours. Few years back I bought a cheap 150 with problems just like yours, bought a secondhand replacement coil, and the unit was fine again.

Good luck!

beachclad · Jan 19, 2020

Muskrat said:
I would call Garrett and get it to them.

I'm outside of Garrett's 24 month warranty period. I bought it on May 15, 2017 on Amazon.

Sven · Jan 19, 2020

Maybe just outside the warranty window, call Garrett anyways, you might be surprised what they will do..............

Wmass guy · Jan 19, 2020

Try this , remove the coil cover wash the coil and cover with detergent or windex and a brush ,dry them well before reassembling and testing worth a try it worked for me. But your coil will probably need replacing eventually.

cellrdwellr · Jan 19, 2020

beachclad said:
I'm outside of Garrett's 24 month warranty period. I bought it on May 15, 2017 on Amazon.

I agree with others, Garrett's customer service is top notch, i had my old AT gold (out of warranty) sent in last year for a new LCD and check up. The turnaround was very fast, and the price was WAY lower than expected. Im wondering if theres a short in the coil wire somewhere... i had an old minelab explorer that would just shut right off if i moved the coil wire a certain way. A new coil and it was running great. If noone near has a spare coil you could try before sending it in, i would indeed call Garrett. Good luck, and keep us posted!

pryan67 · Jan 19, 2020

Definitely call Garrett...they've got awesome customer service. It doesn't hurt to try.

I'm assuming you replaced the batteries as well, right? A triple check of the connections, etc.

Caspershorizon · Jan 19, 2020

Did you try changing frequency? How about dropping a couple bars on sensitive?

LawrencetheMDer · Jan 19, 2020

A low battery will also cause erratic behavior. But the coil is a suspect. I have a lot of issues w coil covers and sand/water moving inside causing falsing, as suggested above.

beachclad · Jan 19, 2020

Wmass guy said:
Try this , remove the coil cover wash the coil and cover with detergent or windex and a brush ,dry them well before reassembling and testing worth a try it worked for me. But your coil will probably need replacing eventually.

I just did this as you suggested and it didn't work. I examined the coil closely and there are several tiny scratches on the bottom and a couple of very small chips along the edges, but nothing major. With the exception of the visible scratches, the coil looks brand new. I never used it with the coil cover and always rinsed it off with fresh water after use.

Caspershorizon said:
Did you try changing frequency? How about dropping a couple bars on sensitive?

I had to check the user manual for the frequency adjustment. That's a feature I've never used. I cycled through the four frequencies F1 through F4, and it still beeps like crazy.

The only way the machine stops beeping is if I lower the sensitivity down to 1 bar, but then it can't detect anything. Not even a quarter less than an inch from the coil.

LawrencetheMDer said:
A low battery will also cause erratic behavior. But the coil is a suspect. I have a lot of issues w coil covers and sand/water moving inside causing falsing, as suggested above.

Do you think it could be the rechargeable batteries? The one thing that's different is the batteries I swapped in two days ago. Amazon Ni-MH 1.2V 2000mAh AA batteries. They drained fairly quickly, down to 3/4 bars after 1 hour of detecting, and before the coil malfunctioned about 2-3 hours later, they were already down to 1/2.

pryan67 · Jan 19, 2020

If you just changed to rechargeable batteries then I’d get a set of alkaline batteries like energizers. See if that makes a difference.

beachclad · Jan 19, 2020

pryan67 said:
If you just changed to rechargeable batteries then I’d get a set of alkaline batteries like energizers. See if that makes a difference.

Well, I went and bought a pack of Duracell coppertops (same batteries I had been using before switching to the rechargeable kind), and it looks good so far.

The erratic beeping has stopped and I put a penny, dime, and quarter on the ground and they all read in the appropriate ID range.

Never would have guessed the batteries were the issue, but I did read in the user manual that weak batteries are the primary cause of detector failures.

Here are the batteries that caused the problem:

Good for flashlights and TV remotes, but apparently not so good for metal detectors. I expected better from Jeff Bezos.

I don't know yet if the detector will stand up to use in the field, so I'll go out there tonight and see before I "celebrate".

MuddyMo · Jan 20, 2020

I use those same batteries in many different detectors with no problems. I did have a couple out of 16? That were bad. Charge them and then check the voltage on each one.

georgeinsc · Jan 21, 2020

Those batteries are 1.2 volts where alkaline batteries are 1.5 volts. They will work for a much shorter period of time in your machine than alkaline. Charge the fully and try them again. If the problem shows up immediately then one or more of the batteries are bad. But even when good you will have to recharge them much more frequently.

Garrett ACE 300 Dies During Start of my Night Hunt

beachclad

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Muskrat

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beachclad

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Muskrat

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Flying Dutchman

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beachclad

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Sven

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Wmass guy

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cellrdwellr

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pryan67

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LawrencetheMDer

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beachclad

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beachclad

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georgeinsc

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