Excal II "quirks"?

[Silver Surfer]

Excal II "quirks"?

Hey all...
Getting to know my Excal a little bit at a time, and yesterdays trip was definitely a learning curve.... Is it normal for the Excal to chirp all the time when in rough surf? Do I have the sens set too high for crashing waves (8)?
Also, what is the deal with the tone changing all the time whilst swinging? I know a couple of you "pro's" have mentioned in other posts about it changing tone, and that being a harder thing to learn with the Excal.. It does it while sweeping, and most of the time, I think something is just at the end of the sweep, so I stop and re-sweep, and nothing there...
I would hate to miss something just right at the edge of the coil on a sweep, but then again, I dont like wasting precious hunting time stopping every time the machine changes tone either..
I came to the conclusion yesterday, that it must be changing/locking on to a different freq. and that is why the tone change, but if so, why didnt they configure it to just change freq. without the abrupt tone change?
Most importantly though, I need to know if it is operating properly while in surf, as far as the "chit chat" that it makes.. It was very hard to ascertain if it was a target, or just interference..

Thanks in advance!

 

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[47thelement]

Re: Excal II "quirks"?

Thanks for asking...I'll be interested to hear some of these answers also

 

[Silver Surfer]

Re: Excal II "quirks"?

Come on fella's (and gal's).... All these Excal owners on the board and not one responds with advice/answers?
Sandman, where are ya when I need ya most!!! LOL

 

[Dixie Digger]

Re: Excal II "quirks"?

yes most likely the Sen is set too high.i run mine on 7 in the surf and 9 on wet/dry sand. over 7 in the surf will drive you nut's.you really dont loose much if any depth from 7 to 9.i had another Excal i could only run 6 wet/8 dry .so it will be diff with diff detectors. just keep turning it down until it quits falsing,should be good to go!

 

[Sandman]

Re: Excal II "quirks"?

Is it falsing or just a change in the threshold tone?

If you are sweeping to quickly the threshold will respond with a higher or lower tone after a null or change in the black sand content mixed with the salt. It is hard to keep a steady threshold in the shallow waves. Then too it could be the sensitivity thing set to high like Dixie Digger suggested. Each beach is different and even then those beaches have different mineral make up which can make us scratch our heads. I found a lot of problems can be solved by running in Auto. It is a might lower in sens. but not as much depth loss as you may think. Some beaches just require it, especially in the shallows.

Keep the coil cover clean of any black sand that gets inside. It is better to coat the coil with marine epoxy to protect the coil from abrasions than to fill in the seams of the cover with caulk.

Hope this helps you some.

 

[Dano Sverige]

Re: Excal II "quirks"?

Haha! Was wondering the exact same things with my new Excal while out yesterday.
The wave thing is definately too much sensitivity.
The sweep tone fluctuation is worse when in pinpoint/all metal mode...but you'll know when it crosses a target.
It's basically as the guys have said above.Right now i've not ventured into the sea above knee depth,but should be fine once sense is lowered and coils deeper in the water.Most of the guys i've seen post here and elsewhere say "stay out of auto sense",so each to their own i guess.I generally have mine on 11-12-1 o clock setting.(1 o clock in the sea).
It's all experimentation my friend!

 

[Silver Surfer]

Re: Excal II "quirks"?

Thanks guys.... It was more confirmation I wanted than anything... I have gotten used to the changing in threshold tone, even though it still occasionally gets me to stop and double sweep....
Now I know to lower the sens or set to auto if I am having too much noise in the surf... Sandman, why the epoxy thing over just sealing the seam with caulk?
At least with the caulk, you could just take a razor to it later and remove it, clean, and re-seal.. The epoxy is on for good....

 

[Sandman]

Re: Excal II "quirks"?

With the caulk you still get a seam that isn't sealed well as it looks ok but we don't check them well on each use. So it only takes a little black sand inside to do the falsing. I no longer use caulk as I once did and since my detector is out of warranty I used the marine epoxy like Max of VA. recommended. A couple coats to protect from wearing the edges off the coil and you don't have to worry no more about cleaning out the cover. I had a bubble in the coil resin break on the bottom of the coil to let in water once and Minelab replaced the coil for free even though it was out of warranty. With the cover on I couldn't figure out why it was falsing.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Re: Excal II "quirks"?

Fully agree with Dixie and Sandman, it sounds like the sense was set too high........

On my excals I have on occasion hunted in auto, but usually it is too hot there and falses to often, on average mine is between 10 o'clock and 1, and sometime up to 2-3 o'clock it just depends on the beach conditions, it is important for it to be stable. What I usually do is adjust mine till it is stable, then kick it up just a hair and make it a little hotter.

Others may not use or agree with these settings, but it works for me....

 

[Silver Surfer]

Re: Excal II "quirks"?

I hit another beach yesterday, and using the advice you guys gave (thanks as always Sandman), had a lot better experience as far as falsing...
But another BIG question... Do rings and gold in general give the same (or nearly the same) low tone as does can slaw? I could not believe how many pieces of can slaw I dug up in chest deep water, it was really frustrating.. Per Sandmans previous advice to others, I ignored all the high tones (and there were a lot) because it was just to taxing to dig them all since the visability was about 6 inches and thus pinpointing was very hard....
I had been advised by another member to "not waste my time" at this beach, and I now know why... 6 hrs of hard water hunting and nothing to show for it but junk.. How the hell that much junk gets out in the water is beyond me, it was by far the trashiest water hunt to date.... I finally got so tired I just hit the dry sand and ended up with $2.85 in clad, and found my first Half- a 1972 Kennedy...

Please tell me that I didnt dig all that slaw in vain?! I dont mind digging it if there is a chance at gold, but if there is a big difference in tones, I need more practice..
FWIW, I had previously done air tests with different gold items, but trying to remember that exact tone will take some time...

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Re: Excal II "quirks"?

I hit another beach yesterday, and using the advice you guys gave (thanks as always Sandman), had a lot better experience as far as falsing...
But another BIG question... Do rings and gold in general give the same (or nearly the same) low tone as does can slaw? I could not believe how many pieces of can slaw I dug up in chest deep water, it was really frustrating.. Per Sandmans previous advice to others, I ignored all the high tones (and there were a lot) because it was just to taxing to dig them all since the visability was about 6 inches and thus pinpointing was very hard....
I had been advised by another member to "not waste my time" at this beach, and I now know why... 6 hrs of hard water hunting and nothing to show for it but junk.. How the hell that much junk gets out in the water is beyond me, it was by far the trashiest water hunt to date.... I finally got so tired I just hit the dry sand and ended up with $2.85 in clad, and found my first Half- a 1972 Kennedy...

Please tell me that I didnt dig all that slaw in vain?! I dont mind digging it if there is a chance at gold, but if there is a big difference in tones, I need more practice..
FWIW, I had previously done air tests with different gold items, but trying to remember that exact tone will take some time...

Different gold rings give different tones due to the different metals used to make them less then 24K. You will know the low growl when you hear it and it is sweet sound, but a lot of the 10k to 14 k gold is going to sound just like pull tabs, and yes can slaw.....

We all wish it was as easy as walking and listening for only one sweet low tone to dig, but unfortunately that isn't the case. If you want to dig gold you have to dig the pull tabs and most times can slaw.....It is a lot of work, and it is not easy, which is why a lot of newbies give up after a few tries, if it was easy everyone would do it and there would be no gold for most of us to dig.......

Good luck on your next hunt.......

 

[Dano Sverige]

Re: Excal II "quirks"?

For pinpointing in water:
Center your coil best you can over the target.
Place your non scoop kicking foot at back of the coil.
Move coil away.
Place lip of scoop in front of your toes and kick.
Scoop up all the gold!!

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Re: Excal II "quirks"?

For pinpointing in water:
Center your coil best you can over the target.
Place your non scoop kicking foot at back of the coil.
Move coil away.
Place lip of scoop in front of your toes and kick.
Scoop up all the gold!!

Dano is correct... That is the method I use when in the water with a scoop....You only problem is you want always get it in the first scoop, and have to fight the surf then....