Garrett Infinium LS

[localbug]

Hi Gerson,
Remove the coil from the detector then check pin connection of the coil with a DMM, check the ohm reading and continuity. there are 2 windings inside the coil housing.
test it under dry condition and also when the coil submerged in the water. this test is to see if your coil has shorted connection.

For the detector you must use fresh or fully charged battery. Check voltage of the battery from the connector before connecting it to the PCB this is to make sure the cable and battery tab has no issue.
then connect the battery connector to the pcb connector. power up the detector and check again if there is a voltage drop. Voltage drop is a sign there is something wrong like short circuit or damaged components.

Continuity check for a shorting capacitor or resistor (resistor with low value maybe indicated as shorted, just do the resistance reading to double check).

Isolate the supply power to locate the cause of the problem.

You can use a small speaker to see if the Tx is working by placing it near the coil, if its ringing the Tx is okay.

Use a DMM continuity feature to check if your Rx still good by touching the black probe to the ground and red probe to the input pre amp. if its making a sound then your Rx is okay.

I'd love to see closely the pict of the PCB and all the components. I see lots of similarities with Infinium, ATX and Recon.

[gerson]

Okay. BannerThanks for the information . Happy 2021 for you and your whole Family. Success.
OK. BandeiraObrigado pela informa??o . Feliz 2021 para voc? e toda a sua fam?lia. Sucesso.

[dbanner]

A component going up in flames so to speak, is a sure sign of overvoltage, or excessive current. There could be some other component which is depleted below it's optimal operating range, but not completely shorted which allows the detector to work for few hours, but gradually, same components fail time and time again. After replacement of those components, you may want to monitor the quiescent current when the detector is powered on. Based on that you might be able to see whether the detector is power hungry above and beyond it's normal operating range. That could give indication of some other unknown component failure.
The coil and cable need to be suspect as well.

[gerson]

Hello. Anyone else with any tips on this problem. Thanks

[gerson]

Hello WAM, Thanks for answering my question about Infinium. Understand this third party detector, and the first week of use and the problems with it. It goes into continuous motion and cannot detect any objects in my searches. I even took a TV technician. My friend and he did a general cleaning with isopropyl alcohol and made the exchange of three electric capacitors of these common that is clearly visible on the board, was not any of the smds. After this maintenance it went back to work for a few more days, and when I was using it on the beach with it attached to my chest, I felt a slight smell of burning, then where for the second time the technician opened the detector again and we noticed the burning of component number (1) I highlighted in the photo, and he also found a malfunction in component number (2) that I also highlighted in the photo. There is also some suspicion about the coil cable of this detector, it is apparently with very twisted INTERNAL WIRING and shows it on the outer cover of this same wire. I think this coil is already doomed too. Thanks for your help and I look forward to some more information. Sorry for my english, i am using google translator.

[wam]

Hi, I think No 1 is a 100 nF capacitor - I have seen many of them burned elsewhere (more then 50 times easy out of 20 thousand PCBs ). If I will find my Infinium I may check its value. The capacitor like this is a source of problem and it burns creating partial short overloading circuit. I was fixing problem by changing with cap rated for higher voltage (35V). The other reason for burn may be a lead-free soldering with not good cleaning after. Lead-free technology is very aggressive if not cleaned correct. You can take capacitor out and see if all is OK. To solder it out place "balls" of solder on both side and warning it quickly on one and other side push it away.

[gerson]

INFINIUM LS GARRET.can anyone help me identify these two components (1) BURNT and (2) HEATING.WHAT KINDS AND VALUES OF THE SAME CAN WE REPLACE?
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1PuOG_W4qmkwrfK6KK2GyhtMAD87-ZO6R
INFINIUM LS GARRET.can anyone help me identify these two components (1) BURNT and (2) HEATING.WHAT KINDS AND VALUES OF THE SAME CAN WE REPLACE?

[greylourie]

Its a very nice design for anyone venturing into the surf. Powerwise, I guess there are limits when you consider the 8 AA pack used. Online, it seems to have a large and faithful following.

Would be interesting to see the earlier version, and compare with the more recent. Wonder if that had flyback clamping ?

[daverave]

i saw a comparison test done on youtube with several pulse detectors and on low conductive coin the garrett infinium didnt give good proformance...the clear winner was the whites tdi pro...i feel whites is best overall at making pulse machines.

[greylourie]

In wam's post #11, his first image gives a closeup view of the pcb. Two diodes stand out, marked U3G. And google suggests those are rated for 300v. Closely allied with one of the diodes is a large poly(?) capacitor. The mosfet is 200v.

Just putting this out there as many experimenters are interested in studying the potential benefits of flyback clamping, and also reducing mosfet capacitance.

[jpret]

Hi All, Thanks for all the beut pictures and instructions for dismantling the infinium. Helped a lot. Any one know what brand plugs are used on the circuit board?
Bought second hand one from usa and new set of headphones. In the sea the head phones leaked through the grommet on the plug and i found the coil cable had holes under the strain relief. Detector was going mad under water. Sealed with silicone to fix. Still to test. Usinng a small plastic probe to Touch the capacitors or the 100 ohm tiny resistor on the board under the aluminium shield sets of the detector. Is this indicating bad capacitors or loose connections?
On my Infinium the coil plug seemed to be painted. since the shield of the coil is connected through the plug this means the coil shield is not connected to the detector circuit? Has any one else looked at this? Has any one tried to wrap the whole unit in foil and connect to the coil plug to improve the shielding of the whole unit? regards.

[detecto]

a few more quick pictures
Rov

Hi Rov tonight you pictures are helped me to fix one Garrett Infinium LS trashold potentiometer broke inside and 2 wires also, your pictures helped me to fix it up
Thank you a lot bro!
Regards
Detecto

[mario]

The "96 frequencies" is a tongue-in-cheek jab at Minelab for their bogus 17 and 28 frequency claims. They're not not serious.

Hi Carl,

how far back does Minelab's claim of the 17/28 frequencies go? Were they claiming the same for their VLF detectors also or only PI?

I never paid much attention to their PR

[Carl-NC]

The "96 frequencies" is a tongue-in-cheek jab at Minelab for their bogus 17 and 28 frequency claims. They're not not serious.

[mario]

Thank you for the link jon-ecm, I have always been curious about Garrett's Infinium.

When Minelab first introduced their early generation MPS detectors in the early 90s, the only notable competitor was Garrett with their Infinium.

The performance of their competing models was close enough to warrant the waterproof feature in the infinium as the selling point for many buyers.

It's the first time I have seen Garrett's design, and compared to the competing Minelab models from that generation, in some ways, is more advanced.

Unfortunately Garret seemed to have stopped development and its technology withered (good luck finding a large enough coil!). Meanwhile, Minelab continued its R/D effort and became the power house that is today.

How does the Infinium work?

I'm no expert, but Just from glancing , Bill512 might be right.

I would say that the "96 frequencies" are used more for nulling emi than anything. Coincidentally, if you divide 50k (derived from the DS1867) and divide it by 255 (the number of positions also found in the DS1867), you get 196. This number is 100 more than the 96 frequencies mentioned by Garrett. I would imagine a signal containing emi is sent to the A/D Converter (TLC2543C ). The uController then interprets this signal and selects a quiet frequency from the 96 available. Because there is such a narrow band in frequencies, at least one will null out emi without effecting system timings too much.

The detectors we see here are later designs though since some of the board components were only first available in the late 90s, years after the infinium was first introduced.

It would be interesting to discover one of the very early models to see if Garrett's first design included one without the uController. If they exist, those would be the the ones to get!

It would be nice to see some one from here draw themselves a schematic, since there are several ways to greatly improve this detector. We may, for instance, treat the PCB as a development board. The DS 1867, TLC2543C, and PIC16C74B-20 are well documented. Just tightening the system timings may improve things noticeably.