Vallon VMH3CS Mine Detector

[Ferric Toes]

PeliPulse

Here is the latest incarnation of the Vallon VMH3CS.
It all fitted neatly into the 1050 Pelican case with the Li-ion batteries. The top of the case has the single control switch; the cable to the LED indicator and push button panel, and headphone output. The bottom end of the case has the connector for the search coil or probe.
The case is mounted on a 2 inch wide waist belt threaded through a stainless steel clip on the back of the box. In use, the best position seemed to be with the box just round the back at waist level. This keeps the one control, which is basically the on/off switch, within easy reach, and is the most comfortable when bending forward or digging.

The 8 conductor cable goes around the back to the chest mounted box which houses the push button control panel and LED signal indicator. Also in the box is a piezo speaker which is easily heard, as long as the surf is not crashing too loudly, but with a waterproof volume control that can adjust the sound almost to zero. If the conditions or preference is for headphones, then these can be plugged into the connector on the top of the box, which then disables the speaker in the chest unit. The chest unit mounted very conveniently on the chest harness for a Hero camera. The chest box disconnects from the cable by means of the mini DIN connectors for which I have made a sleeve which is watertight when mated. The box also slides off the harness mount.

The push buttons on the chest box control sensitivity, audio volume, pinpoint mode, and ground balance if needed. Battery state is also shown on the LED bargraph when switching on.

The concept is that one can search in water to waist height with the main box being submerged at times. The chest mounted control and indicator is mainly out of the water but will survive the inevitable wave splash. In fact it is only the 1/4 hole for the piezo speaker which limits the submersibility as I have made sure that the small Vallon housing that contains the push switches is completely sealed.

Field/water testing has yet to be done but the concept appears good so far, with the unit being easy and non tiring to use.




Eric.

[Ferric Toes]

Well, I've done three more... Hey, I am getting good at this! Increased the oven time to 30 min @ 250 deg F (121 deg C), freezer time to 30 min.
[ATTACH]36840[/ATTACH]

Very good! I haven't done any more myself lately but I will have another session shortly. I need to curl a 7 way data cable as I want to mount the Vallon control/display module on the coil shaft, with the rest of the electronics in a belt mounted Pelican Micro-case. Everything fits neatly in the 1050 size case and I am using Souriau UTS Hi seal connectors, size 8, for coil and phones. They are great connectors, easy to fit and use, and are not as expensive as underwater connectors usually are.

The modules are not wired up yet but all in the box plus Li-ion batteries to check fit. The data cable is the one in the top strain relief gland.

There is an Australian company that specialises in curly cables. It is worth looking at their website. http://www.premiumproductions.com/curlycords/

Eric.

[KingJL]

Three more!

Well, I've done three more... Hey, I am getting good at this! Increased the oven time to 30 min @ 250 deg F (121 deg C), freezer time to 30 min.

[KingJL]

Success!

Eric,
Just made a curly cord with Belden 9221 coax cable using Sean's method (modified)... 20 min @ 250 deg F (121 deg C) (in my wife's kitchen oven).; 20 min in freezer... results: 1 meter curly cord, 1/2" coil inside diameter, 85 pf (measured).
The form fixture:


after oven,freezer treatment and taken off form:


after turning inside-out; the coil tightened up:


now to measure the capacitance:


I think I will make about 3 more of these... I got 20' of Belden 9221 cable with BNC connectors on each end. I will keep the BNC ends with 40" of cable and use the rest for 1 meter curly cords!

[Polymer]

You can report the item to eBay as a counterfeit product.

Well, they are most likely original cells . The problem is that they are often re-cycled from old laptop powerpacks. The single batteries are re-wrapped bright and shiny.
Ingenious re-cycling, eh!

As far as I know there are five original manufacturers of 18650's. Beware of inferior clones though.

[daverave]

ok thanks eric.

[Ferric Toes]

Hi Eric
Sorry to go off topic but can you tell me if the goldscan 5 is the same as the whites tdi pro...also is the audio sound the same ????

Yes, pretty much the same, but production TDI pro's went over to surface mount components instead of through hole as the GS5 was. As far as I recall, the sound was the same.

Eric.

[daverave]

Hi Eric
Sorry to go off topic but can you tell me if the goldscan 5 is the same as the whites tdi pro...also is the audio sound the same ????

[6666]

Ha the seller has offered a full refund in 2 days, and he wants a 5 star rateing, fat chance.

[Ferric Toes]

I reported my dissatisfaction to the seller, but will probably keep them as dummies. I fully drained them down so that there is virtually no charge left. I am in the process of repackaging a Vallon electronics into a watertight Pelican case and need a loaded battery pack so that I can get the fitting right. Best with discharged batteries as then less likely to start a fire.
The batteries came with a 100 - 240V mains charger, also made in China, and so far I can't fault it. It charges at 4.2V and 1amp and works fine with the LG cells. It charges 2 cells with a LED for each that goes from red - orange - green when charged.

Eric.

[Qiaozhi]

Ebay needs to clean out all these sellers of fake 18650 cells.

You can report the item to eBay as a counterfeit product.

[daverave]

Yes you are right there Dave
this shonky seller on fleabay only wants to give me 25% of my purchase price, but thats not good enough,
here is my latest email to him which I think is fair, lets see what happens , there is only a small amount of money involved
but its a principle thing now, Ebay needs to clean out all these sellers of fake 18650 cells.

i bought some li-ion AA 3.7v from a UK dealer but he must have got them from china...total useless at around 400 maH...i did a ebay dispute and got my money refunded...as you say its not the money but the principal......ebay should outlaw these fake batteries but i guess as long that they are making money they dont seem to care.

[6666]

Yes you are right there Dave
this shonky seller on fleabay only wants to give me 25% of my purchase price, but thats not good enough,
here is my latest email to him which I think is fair, lets see what happens , there is only a small amount of money involved
but its a principle thing now, Ebay needs to clean out all these sellers of fake 18650 cells.

Hello
I will only accept a full refund of my money which I paid you in good faith ,
when I buy something on Ebay I expect to get a 100% genuine item that is advertised.

I only bought the batteries based on your advertising.

BUT you falsely advertised these fake batteries as being 6000 mAh, they are not 6000 mAh, so I want a full refund thank you

[daverave]

Yes LG cells are good cells.

I recently tested some generic 18650 cells I got from fleabay, going by some of the published tested capacity charts I hoped they might have been at least 1000 maH
but no, discharged at 300 mA's they are only 700 maH, they only weigh 32 grams and when you do the "tap" test, they "tink", thats when you gently tap 2 cells together they make a "tink" sound which means they are hollow or filled with flour, these generic no brand cells have a black case and labelled with white writing " Li-ion battery SJ 18650 6000 maH", so they are crap and currently demanding a refund from seller for telling lies about item.

I have now also bought same genuine Samsung 18650's so it will be interesting to see how they test.

Also I've been asking another fleabay seller about Boruit branded cells, they are in a black and gold case and marked 4000 maH, the sellers english is terrible and I suspect he is in china and not Sydney Australia as he claims but from what I can gather so far is I think he is trying to tell me that he has tested these cells at 2400 maH, which for the price and running 4 X 2 in parallel would be an acceptable 16v 4aH battery, but still trying to get better answers from him.

There is a very good article on buying cheap 18650 cells thats short and to the point thats worth a look
http://www.ebay.com/gds/18650-Batter...8020340/g.html

in the past ive really got ripped off with chinese 18650's and 12v 9800 mah battery packs...as far that i know there is nothing availiable over the 3400 mah mark.....personally i use 18650 3.7v batteries which
ive got from laptop battery packs most which are still good and rated between 2200 & 2400 maH.......anything with the words "ULTRAFIRE" written on them NEVER buy cause they are total crap !!! i once bought some ULTRAFIRE 6000 maH and when i did a discharge test on them i found them only to be around 800 maH.

[6666]

Yes LG cells are good cells.

I recently tested some generic 18650 cells I got from fleabay, going by some of the published tested capacity charts I hoped they might have been at least 1000 maH
but no, discharged at 300 mA's they are only 700 maH, they only weigh 32 grams and when you do the "tap" test, they "tink", thats when you gently tap 2 cells together they make a "tink" sound which means they are hollow or filled with flour, these generic no brand cells have a black case and labelled with white writing " Li-ion battery SJ 18650 6000 maH", so they are crap and currently demanding a refund from seller for telling lies about item.

I have now also bought same genuine Samsung 18650's so it will be interesting to see how they test.

Also I've been asking another fleabay seller about Boruit branded cells, they are in a black and gold case and marked 4000 maH, the sellers english is terrible and I suspect he is in china and not Sydney Australia as he claims but from what I can gather so far is I think he is trying to tell me that he has tested these cells at 2400 maH, which for the price and running 4 X 2 in parallel would be an acceptable 16v 4aH battery, but still trying to get better answers from him.

There is a very good article on buying cheap 18650 cells thats short and to the point thats worth a look

http://www.ebay.com/gds/18650-Battery-Buying-Guide-test-on-all-from-eBay-below-3-/10000000178020340/g.html