Quote
kac
I recently had discovered 2 Nel coils and Mars tiger coil suddenly lost performance. After investigating I discovered they had broken connections at the connector. The Superfly had a really crappy plastic connector which I was able to repair. My Nel Big and Mars Tiger both have Garrett AT connectors so they are probably going to work their way to the rubish.

The 3 coils were not abused or wrapped too tightly but I believe because the cable is so thick that when I coiled up the excess it would unwind putting strain on the connector end and strain relief on them is just about useless.

What is odd is they coils worked but performance was really poor. Turned out to be the Rx side that had failed. Rx winds usually use a much thinner guage wire. If the Tx failed then the coil would probably not have any depth and if there is a short it would just sound off.

Jiggling the wire or anything may or may not indicate where exactly the break is especially if there is a gap where the wire sucks back into the shielding.

I did also have to repair my 8x9 concentric on the Tejon. First thought I had an emi issue in the area but it to had a broken wire inside the connector. In that case I had used the Tejon at the beach a few times and believe some salt had cause the wires to degrade inside. I ended up soldering 3 of the 4 connectors and coil seems to be running like a champ again. Fortunately Tesoro uses the Switchcraft connection used for microphones and you can pop them apart and repair fairly easily.

As for the heavy guage wire issue I am working on some cleats that will keep the wire from unwinding without crimping it or using velcro that just spins around. I'll post the final product when I am happy with it.

Figured some of you guys might find it interesting.