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White's 6000/DI Pro SL Adjustment/Repairs?

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  • White's 6000/DI Pro SL Adjustment/Repairs?

    Recently acquired a 6000/DI Pro SL on local flea marked place for very cheap (~$60), that seems to have spend the last 25 years in the basement/cellar, without much or any use.
    Basically original packaging with no sign of usage. Not sure, whether it was just bought and forgotten or if the previous owner stashed it away, after it didn't work as expected.....

    Since I don't have any C-Type batteries at the time (box of 20x C-Type NiMH batteries and charger is ordered), I powered it with linear power supply, about 200mA current draw @6V, which matches what I read elsewhere.
    Also found the schematics for it ;-)

    Now the problems, GEB/NORM Mode with everything else on preset sees to work fine.
    Once I press the trigger switch on the handle, it starts beeping, then needs a slight adjustment of SIG-BALANCE pot in clockwise/upwards direction for the beep to stop.
    With adjustment, it detects coins up to 30cm in air test, depending how carefully the SIG-BALANCE is done.
    Press trigger again, it starts beeping again, the same SIG-BALANCE adjustment is required again.
    For each trigger press you need to turn SIG-BALANCE slightly more upwards for beep to stop, unless you turn down SIG-BALANCE and press trigger.
    I.e. you always need to turn SIG-BALANCE slightly more upwards, each time you press trigger switch, independently of SIG-BALANCE position.

    If balanced in GEB/NORM Mode and switched to GEB/DISC Mode, it beeps wildly once the trigger is pressed, meter needle swings around on the left side and generally neither adjustments or trigger switch can stop it from beeping.
    Only stops beeping, once you return to GEB/NORM, balance it and return to GEB/DISC.
    Sensitivity in GEB/DISC seems poor, too, after switching from GEB/NORM.
    Auto-Balance switch is in preset/GND position.

    Would really like to fix that thing, to hunt some lost brass on local shooting range.

    Some adjustments are obvious, like R170 for +/- split voltage supply adjustment around virtual GND provided by R172/R173, U14/LM324 and C90.

    But other adjustments like R5 are not that obvious, some kind of receiver coil gain adjustment, along with phase lag adjustment, because of the 47nF/C1 in the path towards GND.

    Capacitors so far mostly check out fine, that constant need for adjustment of SIG-BALANCE in GEB/NORM mode seems more like that a resistor has degraded out of spec.
    Like a constant error.
    Or too large offset voltage in some OpAmp?


    Is there a service manual somewhere out there or perhaps some of the former engineers can tell me a bit more about the function of the different parts in the schematic?
    And what to look for, adjustment procedures?
    The whole auto balance stuff in GEB/DISC seems to be based on CA3140 with guarded traces for low leakage and CD4016/CD4053 that also need to be equal low leakage.
    Circuit board seems clean, with some kind of conformal coating, so I'm not ready to clean it in IPA and dishwasher, yet.
    Maybe also a CD4016/CD4053 has become leaky, which might be rather hard find.....

  • #2
    Schematic:
    https://i.ibb.co/QF3MrFJJ/6000-Di-Pro-CB-sch.gif

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    • #3
      First, I have no service manual for this. I'm not sure White's was still making service manuals when this model came out.
      Second, it's odd that SigBal would affect the retune state. SigBal is just the preamp gain and this should not affect the retune offset because the retune happens after the derivative filters. It might make sense in TR mode as the filters are bypassed and SigBal might affect the offset voltage.
      Can you pull/hold the trigger and adjust the tuning?

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      • #4
        For some reason, GEB/NORM now works mostly fine, if I tune it down, below preset position.

        GEB/DISC still seems broken, depth indication works, with trigger pressed or forward in GEB/DISC mode.

        Quick video with Thinkpad potato webcam (have no phone with better video...)
        Switch to GEB/DISC at about 0:20 and the detector goes wild.
        Meter also moves wildly, not sure if that is normal?

        Depth indicator works fine and stable at 0:50.

        https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VzwR9PsG6pk

        Perhaps I get another working 6000, so I can cross check and then dig out my oscilloscope and compare signals.
        Testing one broken unit with no clear description, on how waveforms, logic should work/look on oscilloscope, usually ends up with wild rabbit chase, at least for me.

        Comment


        • #5
          An unfortunate reality with the old White's detectors is that the rotary-slide switches (used for mode selection) eventually go bad. There is no replacement.

          Comment


          • #6
            Thanks, contact problems on these switches might very well be the reason for this weird behavior.

            Seem like some weird linear sliding switches, similar crap mechanism as those PCB slide switches on old HP test gear, like in HP8082A pulse generator, that eventually destroy the PCB traces by wearing them down from sliding around.

            I'll disassemble that thing and then check the contacts.

            Space wise, it's bad because hardly any other switch fits between board and top of the box.
            But if you put connectors to all potentiometers, you could still fit the board on the bottom and replace those switches with something like that:
            https://www.ebay.com/itm/155578874293
            And make like an adapter board, that routes the switch contacts to like a dual 2.54mm pin header and wire a similar connector to the replacement switch.

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            • #7
              Peplace all the electrolitics capacitors

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              • #8
                Originally posted by nomada68 View Post
                Peplace all the electrolitics capacitors
                That's a very good idea.

                And clean all switches with contact spray.
                To find out if it needs replacement.

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