Myers Depot Metal Detectors

Manticore Green Light Flashing While Charging And Not Going Solid

Eastender

Eastender

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I use my Manticore frequently. Two to three days per week, 7-8 hr. sessions. I nearly always run my sens up to 28, which usually drains my battery in 6-7 hrs. then I switch over to my Power Nox back up power if needed. As soon as I return from the field, I hook it up to my charger, then unplug as soon as the the green light goes solid. I never leave it plugged in beyond charging times.

I have never submerged the unit, or even gotten it wet from rainfall.

After my last hunt on Sunday, the green light wouldn't stop blinking during charging. I just now tried to charge it after a day, and still the same issue. The battery icon shows a 4/5ths charge. Is this a sign the battery has reached the end of its cycle life?

The detector was registered when I purchased it over one year ago. I just now dropped Minelab Service a note. Wondering if others have experience dealing with this.

Thanks.
 
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Got a manti as well, look forward to hearing your response from Minelab and any responses here. Not experienced this thankfully.
 
I’ve had this happen several times. Your charging contacts are dirty. Try this: Take a fingernail file and LIGHTLY run the fine side of it over the pins in the charging cable a few times. Then with a toothbrush, lightly clean both the cable connector and the contacts on the controller. Finally, wet a Q-tip with alcohol and clean all the flat contacts. Betcha it starts charging correctly again.
 
Rattlehead said:
I’ve had this happen several times. Your charging contacts are dirty. Try this: Take a fingernail file and LIGHTLY run the fine side of it over the pins in the charging cable a few times. Then with a toothbrush, lightly clean both the cable connector and the contacts on the controller. Finally, wet a Q-tip with alcohol and clean all the flat contacts. Betcha it starts charging correctly again.
Click to expand...
The contacts looked clear but I gave them a cleaning and am trying the charge now. I did have magnetic black sand on my Nox 800 contacts that blocked a charge.

Minelab sells the Manticore replacement battery for $68. But I think they will replace if under warranty. If you buy the battery and replace yourself, it voids the warranty. It's not difficult to change, but you have to make sure you seal it correctly against water and moisture.
 
No luck with the contact cleaning. I'm sure Minelab will respond quickly. They must have made a fortune off of the Manticore! If it's not under warranty, then I will buy the battery and replace it myself. Maybe it will run off of the Power Nox battery module. That way I can avoid shipping, repair cost, and downtime.
 
I’d be really surprised if it’s the battery on a one year old detector. You tried lightly sanding the tips of the pins? Have you tried a different charging block? I know using a fast charger can cause issues too.
 
Eastender said:
I use my Manticore frequently. Two to three days per week, 7-8 hr. sessions. I nearly always run my sens up to 28, which usually drains my battery in 6-7 hrs. then I switch over to my Power Nox back up power if needed. As soon as I return from the field, I hook it up to my charger, then unplug as soon as the the green light goes solid. I never leave it plugged in beyond charging times.

I have never submerged the unit, or even gotten it wet from rainfall.

After my last hunt on Sunday, the green light wouldn't stop blinking during charging. I just now tried to charge it after a day, and still the same issue. The battery icon shows a 4/5ths charge. Is this a sign the battery has reached the end of its cycle life?

The detector was registered when I purchased it over one year ago. I just now dropped Minelab Service a note. Wondering if others have experience dealing with this.

Thanks.
Click to expand...
The battery icon shows a 4/5ths charge. Is this a sign the battery has reached the end of its cycle life?
No has no bearing on it the battery will charge up to 4.2 volts regardless if it has half the capacity or full capacity .
Depending on how long it takes to charge will give idea of the capacity quick charge low capacity long charging time more capacity.
Other than that a capacity tester will give true capacity .
You can also check the + and - voltage on the magnetic charge port after charging it wait a hour for resting voltage just like a car battery . sube
 
Have you tried running it to completely empty, then beginning the charge cycle?
I know the battery burping technique doesn't really apply to todays lithiums like it did on the old NiCad batteries that would get a "memory". Lithiums have a certain number of healthy charge cycles though.
 
The charging block can be an issue, definitely try a different one, also the contacts in the usb end of the charging cable should be checked as these can get dirty as well as the magnetic end.

One thing to check is switch the machine on, then connect the charger, you should see the white lightning flash on the battery, check that this stays on over a couple of hours. When using an external power bank in the field I have seen the detector being fooled into thinking it is connected to a PC (a flashing coil icon appears on the top bar and the green light flashes) the detector won't charge and doesn't function when this happens. Pulling the USB connection and reconnecting seems to correct it but Im not sure if this is caused by a power bank glitch or the USB connection.

I have had my Manticore for about 2.5 years, I use it 2 or 3 times a week for 6 hours a session, the battery still lasts a whole session but it does get down to the last quarter. I always have powerbank with me which I can attach to my detector to allow me to continue, this is more because on occasion my detector has failed to charge overnight and I don't want to lose a session. The reason for failing to charge is definitely a connection issue so I always double check these days.
 
Thanks everyone for the input. All connections are clean and I've tried three different charging inputs with the same result: blinking green light and not reaching a full charge.

Minelab did get right back to me with the following message:

"Its difficult to say if it is indeed the battery but based on the age and usage of the machine it could be the battery. The battery for the detector is only warrantied for 6 months while the rest of the equipment is 3 years. The options you have would be to send the detector to our service center to see if we can confirm if the battery is the issue. Alternatively, you could purchase a new battery and install yourself. The battery is located inside the handle of the detector. The battery retails for about $67.00 and can be purchased from most dealers or directly from our website."

I'm going to buy the battery and replace it. Hopefully that fixes the problem. It appears to me that dead or dying batteries in the Manticore are a potential issue, thus the listing for the replacement battery and Minelab being willing to say it could be the problem (I hope that is the problem as opposed to an electronics failure). Plus the short battery warranty period.

Next weekend I will take it out into the field with backup power to see how it behaves.
 
After writing the above post, I wrote to Minelab to ask additional questions about testing and turnaround times. I had a nagging thought, what if my Manticore was not operating within spec and I had no idea? Maybe those colonial sites are not as sparse as I was thinking? And if I opened the unit to replace the battery, would this void the 3 year operational warranty? Here is the reply:

AGPWSu9LqMSB5Ylte2eWQhBhM5VmUT0SWROAySIdC7h4uY4T5EnA_Eu9dBFqjnoBCM_39-j8Vg=s80-p

Minelab Customer Care​

​

5:36 PM (1 hour ago)


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"Sending the unit in is easy, we would create what is called an RMA in our system associated to the detector and your account, then we would provide our shipping address and your RMA number to label the package with so we know it is intended for the service center.

Changing the battery out is quite simple and only requires some hand tools to do, and is intended to be done at the customer level, accessing the battery compartment and changing the battery does not impact your warranty on the unit if done properly.

Testing here involves both indoor and outdoor testing around the facility.

Indoors it will mostly be target ID checking and depth testing in what is referred to as "air testing" using a wide array of targets of different metallic compositions.
Outdoors we have a few buried targets that are easily identifiable by target ID, mostly common US coinage just to test for accuracy and correct responses. Though the environment is not the cleanest, so this also is a good test to see if he noise cancellation and ground balancing are appropriately handling the calibration to this environment.

Turnaround time can vary, but typically with something like this it could be 1 - 3 days if we need to consult you for more information about the potential discrepancies we may or may not be able to reproduce."

What I find interesting about this is, I thought the detector could be hooked up a computerized analytic device, similar to automotive code reader, to determine if the electronics were functioning within spec ranges. Now understanding that they use basic object testing, I can do this at home.
 
How can they justify only 6 months on the battery? Is that even legal? I thought a 12 month guarantee was the minimum
 
I really don't want to mess around and have downtime, so I just now ordered the replacement battery and their USB recommended charger via Express shipping from the Minelab USA store in Aurora, IL. I will post pics of the replacement process in a couple of days.
 
Received my new Manticore rechargeable battery tonight and installed in 5 minutes. Remove four 5 mm Allen screws in base of handle, pop out plastic holding cup with thumb, then unclip the battery. With the new battery they include a new plastic cup with o-ring seal. So easy to swap out. See video.

Today I went into the field for 7 hours of detecting and the original battery lasted about four hours. It had definitely reached the end of its cycles. Hooked up my Power Nox backup module and it juiced it up half way. This battery failure happened suddenly for me, no strung out half-life. I think you will see more of these batteries giving out for the heavy users. I think this is why we are seeing a marketing push for the backup power.

 
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