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Tesoro Golden Sabre is unhappy

Falconarecovery

New Member
Joined
Jul 6, 2020
Messages
10
Location
North Carolina
So I thought I would take the wall leaning Tesoro Golden Sabre out for a swing since every time I passed it with the Teknetics in hand I could hear it mumbling something under it's breath. Popped the alkalines in and switched it on. Getting a constant tone no matter how the settings are adjusted. That being said, If I disconnect the coil cable from the main unit the tone goes away. This may be by design and not really shed any light, but I thought It worth mentioning. The unit is actually in great condition and the coil appears undamaged, at least on the outside. Opened the control box up and looked at the board for cold solder joints or evidence of frying, but saw nothing that stood out. Was trying to find info online that might instruct me on how to ohm out the coil if that was possible. Any insight on this issue would be greatly appreciated. Thanks again in advance.
 
Curious which unit for sure: The original Golden Saber, the Golden Sabre Plus, or the Golden Sabre II?

Did you have any other coils to try on the unit before messing with checking connections, etc.?

Monte
 
Curious which unit for sure: The original Golden Saber, the Golden Sabre Plus, or the Golden Sabre II?

Did you have any other coils to try on the unit before messing with checking connections, etc.?

Monte

Hey Monte. Thanks for the response. It is the original Golden Sabre and original coil (pictures attached). Unfortunately I do not have an additional coil to swap out and test with. Was eyeballing eBay but was hesitant to pull the trigger on a second hand coil in the event I was overlooking something obvious.
 

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The coil is required to run the internal oscillator which produces the audio tone. So no coil = no tone is by design.

Recheck the batteries or try NEW fresh ones.
There is a circuit that gives a constant tone if batteries are low.

I built and am using a TGL clone so I know a little about how the internal circuit works.
More info is on the GeoTech web site.
 
The coil is required to run the internal oscillator which produces the audio tone. So no coil = no tone is by design.

Recheck the batteries or try NEW fresh ones.
There is a circuit that gives a constant tone if batteries are low.

I built and am using a TGL clone so I know a little about how the internal circuit works.
More info is on the GeoTech web site.

Thanks Walter. Upon further inspection, one of the battery leads has been pinched pretty hard. To the point that some of the insulation was damaged. It's possible some of the strands of wire could have been severed inside. I have a replacement on the way. Once I have that soldered in place and a crisp set of batteries installed, I will check back here and post the results. The batteries currently installed were fresh out of the pack so I assumed they were good to go. Not always the case. Again I appreciate your input.
 
While out detecting today was thinking about your problem.
It is possible the RX coil connection is broken.

The TX coil connection is good due to it producing a tone but if RX is broke then no 'synchronous signal' just noise which could cause a continuous tone.

After the battery connection fix then check the coil connectors.
 
While out detecting today was thinking about your problem.
It is possible the RX coil connection is broken.

The TX coil connection is good due to it producing a tone but if RX is broke then no 'synchronous signal' just noise which could cause a continuous tone.

After the battery connection fix then check the coil connectors.

I appreciate you thinking on it. If the battery cable is not the issue, I will follow your advice and check the RX side of the coil. Usually, if I am remembering correctly, when you turned the Golden Sabre on, you had a strong tone that would fade away and represent the battery strength. I was thinking a weak battery was represented by not a constant tone, but a weaker tone that faded quickly. The manual is long gone, and finding a PDF version online has been tough.

If you happen to have a pin-out of the older Tesoro coils, let me know. Would the TX and RX ohm out the same, or was there a substantial difference in the length, wire diameter, etc. of each coil?

Thanks again. Stay well.
 
The two coils have roughly the same resistance, about 22 Ohms. You would be checking for 'open' (infinite resistance), 'short' (zero R) or about 22 Ohm across each coil.
Also check the connection inside the TGS.

Attached is a schematic (should be pretty close but may have minor errors since this is hand drawn from 'back-engineering'.
Also the coil connector pin-out viewed for front of plug.

Sources are the GeoTech forum and the 'Inside the the Metal Detector' book.
 

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The two coils have roughly the same resistance, about 22 Ohms. You would be checking for 'open' (infinite resistance), 'short' (zero R) or about 22 Ohm across each coil.
Also check the connection inside the TGS.

Attached is a schematic (should be pretty close but may have minor errors since this is hand drawn from 'back-engineering'.
Also the coil connector pin-out viewed for front of plug.

Sources are the GeoTech forum and the 'Inside the the Metal Detector' book.

You my friend are amazing! I will keep you posted. Many, many thanks.:urock:
 
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