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R&D- NoxBox Waterboarding Test

PrunedaleByrd

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Joined
Mar 14, 2021
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21
Location
Monterey County, California
Hey guys, I am currently trying to develop a fix for the Leakquinox. I’d like to take a broken machine, fill It with water-activated dye, install a prototype case, then lower it into the ocean with a Line counter in depth increments for various periods of time. The idea is a case that bolts around a stock control box with rubber gaskets, and use a silicone insert in the battery compartment to significantly improve the machine’s water resistance. If anyone wants to help with development, I’d be happy to pay (or trade) for a fried Equinox 600 or 800 control box that can be cannibalized in the name of science:lol:
Aaron
 

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R&D- NoxBox Waterboarding Test

I don’t have the part you’re looking for, but admire your project. I’m a cad designer, 3d printer, and always looking fix flaws and invent. Also an engineer by trade where my job is to create the uncreated. I wish you luck and be sure to document the most minute detail in your design process through testing. You’ll be glad you did


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I don’t have the part you’re looking for, but admire your project. I’m a cad designer, 3d printer, and always looking fix flaws and invent. Also an engineer by trade where my job is to create the uncreated. I wish you luck and be sure to document the most minute detail in your design process through testing. You’ll be glad you did


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Thanks! I’m also an engineer and 3D printer. I am making the parts with injection molding, MJF printed Nylon 12, laser cut polycarbonate, and die-cut silicone rubber. I usually only make race car parts by trade. I started looking for a water case for the Nox after finding an awesome honey hole a few weeks ago, but the only one on the market required soldering, thus killing the warranty. As you already know, if you’re designing and making a plastic part, you might as well make 100 because it’s the same amount of work for 1!
Aaron
 
100% true. One off manufacturing (what I do mostly) or small scale mfg comes at a dear cost. It’s hard to justify or explain the cost to a customer. It’s also hard to explain to your friend that “it’s not that simple”.


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Cool idea!

I have a few comments/suggestions/questions.

First, this is going to take a lot of work. Are you sure it's worth doing for a device this old and which could be "replaced" by the Legend and Deus II? And would it be more financially worth it to make this sort of waterproof box for the Vanquish 540?

Second, Leakquinox? I litereally laughed out loud...LOVE IT!

Third, why do you need to use water-activated dye, an actual Equinox or the ocean to do tests? Wouldn't it be just as effective to create a prototype NoxBox and let it sit at the bottom of a swimming pool?

Fourth, what kind of performance are you working towards? Full waterproofness at 10 feet? 20 feet? 80 feet? Just curious.

Fifth, you might have trouble finding a broken Equinox. Even out of warranty due to time constraints, Minelab is willing to replaced otherwise covered control pods with new/reburbished units at a significant discount. For example, if your Equinox 600 suffered a covered loss, but after the warranty expired, I think Minelab is willing to give you a new/reburbished control pod for like...$275 or something like that.

Keep us updated...I'm really curious to see how this turns out. I'd love to help, but my Equinox 600 works just fine...
 
Great platform, but very expensive to have done and it kills the warranty.

And the worst part? You gotta send it overseas to someone who doesn't speak English. Not that their lack of fluency in English is a problem, but it makes placing an order and figuring out the terms of the order difficult.
 
Cool idea!

I have a few comments/suggestions/questions.

First, this is going to take a lot of work. Are you sure it's worth doing for a device this old and which could be "replaced" by the Legend and Deus II? And would it be more financially worth it to make this sort of waterproof box for the Vanquish 540?

Second, Leakquinox? I litereally laughed out loud...LOVE IT!

Third, why do you need to use water-activated dye, an actual Equinox or the ocean to do tests? Wouldn't it be just as effective to create a prototype NoxBox and let it sit at the bottom of a swimming pool?

Fourth, what kind of performance are you working towards? Full waterproofness at 10 feet? 20 feet? 80 feet? Just curious.

Fifth, you might have trouble finding a broken Equinox. Even out of warranty due to time constraints, Minelab is willing to replaced otherwise covered control pods with new/reburbished units at a significant discount. For example, if your Equinox 600 suffered a covered loss, but after the warranty expired, I think Minelab is willing to give you a new/reburbished control pod for like...$275 or something like that.

Keep us updated...I'm really curious to see how this turns out. I'd love to help, but my Equinox 600 works just fine...

1, Equinox is easily the best selling Minelab of all time and most folks won’t use them to their full potential because of the fear of water intrusion. The three year debut has ended and there’s a hoard of machines that are no longer under Minelab’s umbrella, making this cheap insurance. Vanquish isn’t a hot seller so the investment in injection molds won’t recoup quickly in my opinion. I already made the injection molds for Nox, I make prototypes for a living (Former D.O.D. Rapid prototyping contractor, but now automotive) so it’s only a couple day job for me to get the CAD And assembly process developed for an enclosure.

2, I thought I was original on that joke, but I googled it and found the term was already coined :lol:

3, I have a couple Equinox’s but the thought of destroying one for product research would be a shame, and shady to send back under warranty. The goal is to intentionally lower it to a depth in open water from the boat until the mock unit “fails“, to establish an operating parameter and repeat the test several times, I feel the rated depth will be 60 percent of the failure depth to be safe. A genuine control box will give the most accurate results with all the sealing surfaces vs a 3D printed one.

4, my goal is beyond 50 feet, but we shall see.

5, can’t hurt to ask

Aaron
 
And the worst part? You gotta send it overseas to someone who doesn't speak English. Not that their lack of fluency in English is a problem, but it makes placing an order and figuring out the terms of the order difficult.

There is someone in southern Cali I seen on Instagram doing it as well. But yeah it for sure voids any warranty
 
Keep in mind that leaks due to “pressure” aren’t really the only issue. You could put the equinox in a watertight capsule, but if the unit can’t handle the pressure placed on its given atmosphere, then it could fail on levels other than a water breach


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Keep in mind that leaks due to “pressure” aren’t really the only issue. You could put the equinox in a watertight capsule, but if the unit can’t handle the pressure placed on its given atmosphere, then it could fail on levels other than a water breach


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Good point, but the atmospheric pressures alone required to destroy solid-state electronics are tremendous. Far beyond the limits of Nitrogen Narcosis in the human body, in my opinion.
 
True. Unless there are sealed components. Either way, I’m all for the experiment. I’m excited for you whether it’s a success or failure. Either way…it’s worth trying if it’s something you want to do. There’s accomplishment in success or failure. It’s all about what YOU get from it. Never let anyone discourage you!!!!!


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If you can figure out the problem of stopping it from leaking. Then you need to find a way to stop it from overheating.

Your picture looks good of what you have done on it so for.

Your working with a problematic detector if you cure the leaking, then the overheating could get a lot worse.
 
If you can figure out the problem of stopping it from leaking. Then you need to find a way to stop it from overheating.

Your picture looks good of what you have done on it so for.

Your working with a problematic detector if you cure the leaking, then the overheating could get a lot worse.

Fortunately overheating won’t be a problem underwater. The case can be removed for the Hot dry jobs.
 
Update: got the first sample pieces from the manufacturer. The rear piece is acrylic, so the hydrochromatic dye will be visible inside the housing during testing. The final unit will be Black GF Reinforced nylon 12 for strength. I added a place inside the housing for a tiny desiccant cartridge. The keypad has a pinch-lip that will hold transparent silicone sheet in place, and laser-cut polycarbonate goes over the screen area. The side buttons are isolated with double O-ring plunger type buttons, the gaskets are laser-cut silicone sheet, and a series of O-rings dressed with silicone grease. Still haven’t found a non-functional unit for testing. I might have to pony up a few hundred for a used eq600 to destroy. Hoping to do open ocean tests by the end of February.
 

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Looks good if it works you probably sell a bunch to folks with detectors out of warranty. Including myself.

On a side note. I've never understood the overheat issue. I'm not saying it's not real, only I've had my Equinox in the back of a pickup with a bed cover when the temps where mid 90's. Pull it out turn it on never had an issue.

A good way to test heat issue would be to put prototype on a working Equinox in a homemade heat box with the temp say 100 degrees inside, and turn the Equinox on. If it flakes out after a while you have a problem. If your making them just for guys who submerge their detectors and don't hunt out of the water I don't see how you will sell many. My guess is your main buyers would be guys who hunt land and water.
 
I had the overheating issue once. I had a cover on my Nox that I had been using for most of a year, however on a hot day I noticed I couldn't see the menu icons on the Nox very well. They all seemed faint. Then I realized that I should never be able to see all the menu icons at the same time, they only display for the mode selected. I pulled off my cover and the Nox returned to normal within minutes. My partner had the exact same cover and on the same hot day in the same hot field his did the same thing.

No idea if the overheating was to a level to be dangerous for any of the components, but the LCD screen had issues with the cover on a very hot day.
 
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