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newbie with a problem

fire3312

New Member
Joined
Mar 11, 2021
Messages
5
Hi all. I am quinn from Australia and I just recently came into ownership of a sovereign GT detector. I am absolutely not an expert on detectors but hey, it was free and I am willing to give it a go.

Problem is its not working. It turns on. Beeps to acknowledge it has turned on then does nothing.

I have messed with all the settings, sat it on a large metal object to see if it would sound off but all I can hear is inductive noise passing from the coil to the object. Nothing from the speaker after the power on beep. The noise filter switch was working though as the induction frequency did change from high to low from hearing.

Not being scared to pull it apart I did find it was patched up previously with a paperclip on the grounding shield inside the unit and the alfoil tape join tampered with. Could this be affecting it?

Capacitors on the board look ok, no leaks and there appears to not be any loose wiring.

I do not have comparable headphones so can't test the jack.

Any general directions on where to go past this would be much appreciated. A quick glaze of the forums seems to say this unit may be pretty good when running. Just don't want to ship it off for a multi hundred dollar repair on something I can likely fix.

Cheers. Q
 
New theory. Damaged cable between head and plug. It started blipping when I tapped the head near metal. Once I isolate where it's broken I'll have a go at patching it
 
I think you're on the right track, but repair it properly; e.g. if you find a broken wire, find where it goes and do a proper soldering job. If that is out of your comfort zone, try to find a TV/radio repair tech who can do the repair, or maybe a licensed ham radio (amateur radio op). Most "hams" that are older school (I am one) could do it right, and that most likely would be at no-cost.
 
Naturally. I carry a butane soldering iron for just that purpose.

Does anyone know what pins go where on the tornado 1000 head and the approximate resistance values I should expect?

I patched up a NIMH charger using a 12v power supply and the correct size plug that I had to hack off a separate charger entirely. Charging the battery pack seems to have helped it along a bit. But is still very weak
 
Managed to get 14.3v into the pack (probably full now). The system works better but considering I have spent about 3 hours reading the destruction manual (I found the factory manual for the gt online) and setting it as best as possible to pick up ferrous metal (steel) all I get is a bunch of scratching like I am running it over a bed of nails, despite me actually passing the head over a trailer.

I know these units are meant for use on other things but the thought process is that if it can't sound off effectively at distance to steel (junk when you are out hunting) then it's not working properly I am guessing .

Once I find resistance values for the 3 coils (I assume as much to achieve the frequencies it can detect) I can work out what's going on at the head end. And possibly eliminate it if it is not a broken wire.
 
Side note. Has anyone tried looking for specific values for these units? The amount of data on the bet is relatively scarce...


Did a pin out of the connector head for the tornado 1000. This is what I got.

Pin 1-2 1.8 OHMS. 1-3 1-4 1-5 WAS 0.7MOHM.

2-3 1KOHM

3-4 1KOHM.

pins 4,5 and 6 did not respond at all to each other.

Can anyone do a resistance check on their tornado head and let me know please? I would rather not cut up an otherwise good cable insulation wise to replace it if that is not the heart of the problem.

Cheers.
 
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