Excal II unstable in water

[FL Treasure Hunter]

I have had my excal II for a while now but never got to run it in water until today.

I went to the beach and tried to detect a tidal pool and waters edge. Every time I bumped the coil or moved it quick or broke water surface it toned or falsed like a find.

Tried sensitivity of 2&3 and auto and nothing really helped. Is it better to stay deeper consistently and does anyone have some good salt water settings? I think the in and out of the water and bumping around the tidal pool changing depth from an inch to a foot was freaking it out.
My normal sand setting is a 7 and it’s rock solid perfect in wet or dry. The water is the only curve ball this machine is throwing me.

 

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[ARC]

Did you check your coil cover to see if sand was in it ?

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I have had my excal II for a while now but never got to run it in water until today.

I went to the beach and tried to detect a tidal pool and waters edge. Every time I bumped the coil or moved it quick or broke water surface it toned or falsed like a find.

Tried sensitivity of 2&3 and auto and nothing really helped. Is it better to stay deeper consistently and does anyone have some good salt water settings? I think the in and out of the water and bumping around the tidal pool changing depth from an inch to a foot was freaking it out.
My normal sand setting is a 7 and it’s rock solid perfect in wet or dry. The water is the only curve ball this machine is throwing me.

Was there surf rolling over the coil? Does it do it when you are in deeper water such as knee deep water? You will get false signals as surf rolls over Excsk coil in shallow water if there is black sand in the surf as it rolls over the coil.

You can turn your sensitivity down, ignore the fallse signal if signal isn't repeatable, move to a little deeper water.

As ARC mentioned, make sure coil cover not holding sand. Always clean coil cover before going.

 

[FL Treasure Hunter]

Did you check your coil cover to see if sand was in it ?

After the hunt I did find a small amount but nothing too crazy in the cover.

 

[FL Treasure Hunter]

Was there surf rolling over the coil? Does it do it when you are in deeper water such as knee deep water? You will get false signals as surf rolls over Excsk coil in shallow water if there is black sand in the surf as it rolls over the coil.

You can turn your sensitivity down, ignore the fallse signal if signal isn't repeatable, move to a little deeper water.

As ARC mentioned, make sure coil cover not holding sand. Always clean coil cover before going.

There was not surf but I was swinging it in and out of the water due to it being shallow. Every time the area where the wire entered the coin broke the surface or moved quick it falsed.

There was some black sand for sure. The cover was pretty clean but had some under it I cleaned.

I will try deeper water next time and see if it settles down.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

There was not surf but I was swinging it in and out of the water due to it being shallow. Every time the area where the wire entered the coin broke the surface or moved quick it falsed.

There was some black sand for sure. The cover was pretty clean but had some under it I cleaned.

I will try deeper water next time and see if it settles down.

If no surf then it could easily be black sand, sand on top is not too bad, it is black sand inside the coil cover, that is what you want to clean out. It doesn't take much black sand to get false signals.

 

[FL Treasure Hunter]

If no surf then it could easily be black sand, sand on top is not too bad, it is black sand inside the coil cover, that is what you want to clean out. It doesn't take much black sand to get false signals.

That had to be it then. Definitely no black sand in the coil cover but the small tidal pool had lots.

 

[OBN]

All you have said is normal
The excal will false in saltwater, special going in and out, splashing. And it will false when the water is around the control pod, specially where the coil wire goes into the control pod. Once submerged it will calm down unless you bump something on the bottom. Also where there is a change in the bottom level it will read the change. One must learn coil control to help in these conditions.

Also take good care of the coil cable, they are famous for dry rot.. cracking and peeling the outer black jacket. Keep all cables well coated with 303 Aerospace protection.

 

[FL Treasure Hunter]

All you have said is normal
The excal will false in saltwater, special going in and out, splashing. And it will false when the water is around the control pod, specially where the coil wire goes into the control pod. Once submerged it will calm down unless you bump something on the bottom. Also where there is a change in the bottom level it will read the change. One must learn coil control to help in these conditions.

Also take good care of the coil cable, they are famous for dry rot.. cracking and peeling the outer black jacket. Keep all cables well coated with 303 Aerospace protection.

That is good to hear that it does not seem to be a defect. The tidal pool had a deep drop off to very shallow (inches to a foot or two) so there was depth change as well. I definitely want to get back out there to better learn the machine.

 

[ARC]

After the hunt I did find a small amount but nothing too crazy in the cover.

if its the wrong type of crapola then that will do it.... even small amounts.

 

[cudamark]

I've never had a problem with sand (black or otherwise) in the coil cover, but, just in case, I drilled holes into the cover and flush them after each salt water hunt. Saves time and effort removing/installing the cover. I always hunt in pin point and only turn to discrimination to I.D. iron. Doing this, I just don't seem to have any falsing problems, whether in the surf, shallow water, wet sand, or anywhere else. I run all the settings maxed out too. I rarely run a stock coil however. Mostly the NEL 15" Attack coil.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

If no surf then it could easily be black sand, sand on top is not too bad, it is black sand inside the coil cover, that is what you want to clean out.

I've never had a problem with sand (black or otherwise) in the coil cover, but, just in case, I drilled holes into the cover and flush them after each salt water hunt. Saves time and effort removing/installing the cover. I always hunt in pin point and only turn to discrimination to I.D. iron. Doing this, I just don't seem to have any falsing problems, whether in the surf, shallow water, wet sand, or anywhere else. I run all the settings maxed out too. I rarely run a stock coil however. Mostly the NEL 15" Attack coil.

Unfortunately there is a lot of black sand in Florida, that is composed of magnetite (iron oxide) and ilmenite (iron titanium oxide).

 

[cudamark]

Unfortunately there is a lot of black sand in Florida, that is composed of magnetite (iron oxide) and ilmenite (iron titanium oxide).

We have it here too at many of our beaches. I've started with a clean coil cover and ended hours later with one full of magnetite and haven't noticed one bit of difference in performance. I still flush the cover out anyway as part of my cleaning process after a hunt. I just found it so much easier to just drill holes in the cover and hit them with a high pressure nozzle instead of prying off the cover and trying to snap it back on again. Saves time and wear and tear on the cover. What little might not get flushed out just doesn't seem to have any effect. Do people really pull off the cover every 15 minutes? 1/2 hour? 2 hours? That black sand gets into the cover after just a few minutes in the surf, unless you want to totally seal it with glue. Eventually, you will need to change that cover and then you have a mess to clean off so you can reseal it again. I just can't be bothered since I don't see any benefit keeping it meticulously clean. I'd rather run it without the cover than go through that every time.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

We have it here too at many of our beaches. I've started with a clean coil cover and ended hours later with one full of magnetite and haven't noticed one bit of difference in performance. I still flush the cover out anyway as part of my cleaning process after a hunt. I just found it so much easier to just drill holes in the cover and hit them with a high pressure nozzle instead of prying off the cover and trying to snap it back on again. Saves time and wear and tear on the cover. What little might not get flushed out just doesn't seem to have any effect. Do people really pull off the cover every 15 minutes? 1/2 hour? 2 hours? That black sand gets into the cover after just a few minutes in the surf, unless you want to totally seal it with glue. Eventually, you will need to change that cover and then you have a mess to clean off so you can reseal it again. I just can't be bothered since I don't see any benefit keeping it meticulously clean. I'd rather run it without the cover than go through that every time.

Holes work good and don't need that many.