Needs Explained....But I Cant?

[bigscoop]

Needs Explained....But I Can't?

Went to a familiar stretch of beach today....got the usual trinket stuff, but I also had 22 wet sand targets with the Excal & WOT that were so deep I finally gave up on all of them. And I mean deep! Here's the thing.....been over this section of beach before quite a bit, never had the the issue.....today - I got no nulling on these targets and I couldn't discriminated them out, even tried backing the sensitivity off quite a bit to no avail. Could hold the coil 6 - 8 inches above the already deep holes (easy 20 inches) and I could still read steady, crystal clear, pinpoint hits. Going to go take a nap, legs are tired from all that pointless digging. Think more about it after the nap. Large iron objects? If so where did they come from all of a sudden? Black sand deposits? Machine issue? I just don't know what the deal was today?

And "no" the targets were not at the edge of the holes, I tried that route more then once. I'm stumped, at least until after my nap.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

DR.ÖTEK Metal Detector, Waterproof Gold Detector, Pinpoint & Terrain Modes, Professional Metal Detector - Grab it through Amazon!

[seeker41]

22 treasurechests containing the queen jewels!
chuck.

 

[hamiddetecting]

I wish you luck!

 

[bigscoop]

22 treasurechests containing the queen jewels!
chuck.

Oh.........now I can't sleep!

 

[COTTON]

Large hot rocks.Imo

 

[bigscoop]

The first issue i had this morning was black sand packed in the coil cover.....back to truck to clean it all out. Twenty minutes later......a lot of falsing, bad batteries.....back to truck again. Now, with everything working ok, back to beach to do some hunting......then the 22 extremely deep and large mystery targets that were never there before? They were good steady hits, but strange hits all the same, sort of a sharp/mid tone. I suspected a sensitivity issue so I went into the water and had no problems there.....was still reading coins very clear and sharp. I did notice the threshold was running a bit lower pitch then normal so I'm wondering if it's not a ground balance issue and I was picking up deeper pockets of black sand? This is the only thing I can figure.

 

[seeker41]

get back over there, take a shovel and dig one then you will have a good idea what the others are.

 

[bigscoop]

get back over there, take a shovel and dig one then you will have a good idea what the others are.

I may do that Wednesday.....but I seriously suspect it is a detector issue of some sort now. Was just going to post that I just discovered if I jiggle the control box just slightly, or rub my fingers on the control box tube near the volume and sensitivity switches, the darn thing starts falsing. "Everytime!"

 

[Sandman]

Were the hits in a line? I dug a copper cable up with the same problem.

 

[bigscoop]

Nope. They were scattered about all over the place. But I think it's a detector issue now........gonna clean it all up and get it as good as I can and see what happens on Wednesday.

 

[tomjiggy]

That rubbing might be causing static electricity, don't really know how your machine is picking that up but.... As far as the deep signals that weren't there, I have a Safari that picks up quite a few signals that, if I dig them, eventually stop sounding off. Not sure if it's a hot "pocket" of loose iron or what. Ususally don't find anything, but I have found small nails at 16 inches and deeper before. I usually get nice silver readings on them too I hate small nails.....

 

[bigscoop]

That rubbing might be causing static electricity, don't really know how your machine is picking that up but.... As far as the deep signals that weren't there, I have a Safari that picks up quite a few signals that, if I dig them, eventually stop sounding off. Not sure if it's a hot "pocket" of loose iron or what. Ususally don't find anything, but I have found small nails at 16 inches and deeper before. I usually get nice silver readings on them too I hate small nails.....

GOT IT! And this is why you should always carry a volt meter with you in the field. I said I put new batteries in the unit, and I did, fresh out of new pack that was dated until 2014. Just took them out and checked them.....1.39v each. Put in new (checked) 1.5's and no more falsing when jiggled or rubbing the control housing. Not sure why/how low batteries had anything to do with that.....but apparently it did because those problems are gone. I think the batteries were so weak they were really effecting the detector's ability to discriminate or balance out those 22 areas of black sand buildup. Not sure why it seemed ok in the water......maybe for the same reason because I was only in the water for just a minute or two. But in any case....I think the new batteries fixed the "strange" issues and I'll bet those 22 mystery targets are either gone or get completely nulled on Wednesday. I'll let you all know on Wednesday.

 

[seeker41]

hope you got it fixed, wich battery pod asre you using? insure good constant contact. isolate the problem, control box, cable conection etc:
good luck!

I may do that Wednesday.....but I seriously suspect it is a detector issue of some sort now. Was just going to post that I just discovered if I jiggle the control box just slightly, or rub my fingers on the control box tube near the volume and sensitivity switches, the darn thing starts falsing. "Everytime!"

 

[JMW]

Glad it turned out to be a battery problem and nothing more serious. My meter's always in the truck, along with fresh batteries. Got in the habit of checking them before replacing when using the DetectorPro PI. Those babies are power hungry and devour batteries like no other. There's nothing more irritating than finding out I've stuck a marginal battery or batteries in and have to replace them mid-hunt. Hope your issue's been put to bed for good.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Battery issues will drive you nuts, I had basically the same problem only it was just one of the batteries in my AA battery pod for my excal... I keep at least 24-32 spare battries in my detector tool box with me, some how I got a used battery mixed up with my good batteries when I changed them out... Unit was acting really erratic after about 45 mins, I thought the excal had an issue till I went to my truck to check on it.... I thought maybe I had a battery in backwards or poor conection in the pod so I opened it to check on it, one battery you could tell was older and used by looking at it, replaced it and the excal was back purring like it use to........

 

[HARRASS]

I have 2 exals and have run into the same problem. I started digging knee deep and stopped when I was about to drown. I was determined to find out what it was. I was probably digging for an old aluminum boat or possible an old anchor and chain, an object big enough to give me a strong signal. Similar to when you pass over a drain pipe on a sandy beach. Hope this will help you.