New to Excalibur ll & think I have a problem.

[Rockin Chairs Gold]

New to Excalibur ll & think I have a problem.

I bought a new Excalibur ll this past winter and finally took it out to the local beach for a dry sand run to see how it worked. The EMI is just to bad close to my home to set up the machine, even out in the yard.

Set up was simple and easy, worked the sand and soon got a good medium low tone, and here is where I started noticing a problem.

Set up was.

Threshold verily audible

Volume at max

Discriminate at 2

Sensitivity at 1 o'clock

When I went to pin point I noticed the sound was very low even though the discriminate sound was quite loud. When pin pointing I noticed if I tried to stop the movement over the target the signal disappeared.

My owners manual says it should get louder as you approach the target and weaker as you move away from it and it does not need movement to get a signal in pin point, All my targets were quite shallow no more then a few inch's and all my responces were quite weak.

I have watched several videos on "You Tube" and many guys hunt in pin point all metal as they say they can get targets you won't hear in discriminate, and that is for sure not the case for my new machine. Looks like a trip back to Minelab and I've only owned it a few weeks and taken it out once. Is there anything I might be doing wrong?

To say I'm disappointed is a understatement. Rick

 

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[stevemc]

Re: New to Excalibur ll & think I have a problem.

I am not sure excatly what you are saying. I dont pick up EMI at all. Maybe with a big coil PI near High power feeds into town, but not near anything else. Then I can pick it up 100s of feet away. Maybe you have large feed wires under your house. Or over it. I have never used pinpoint. There is no one set point for all uses. I usually keep my volume at 1/2 to 3/4. I set the thresh hold to just audible, if in surf or noisy wind, a little louder. Sens I set where it is stable, land can be full, in salt water maybe auto, maybe about 10-11 o'clock, depends on sand type, depth of water, many things-no set place, but as much as it will handle. Dics is on, not pinpoint. Disc full=1. All I want to disc out is iron. I think you just need to play with it, and get used to it.

 

[Rich-VB]

Re: New to Excalibur ll & think I have a problem.

You mentioned when you stopped swinging over the target, the detector went silent.....with these types of detectors, you have to move the coil in order to get it to detect. I think the only type of machine that will sound when over a target and is "still" (not moving) is a PI (Pulse Induction) type detector. The type of detector an Excal is, is the type in which the coil has to move in order to signal a target.

Same when it's in Pinpoint mode.......

Hope this helps,
-Rich

 

[Sandman]

Re: New to Excalibur ll & think I have a problem.

When I first read the subject, "think I have a problem," I got a good laugh because I thought it was another one about the threshold changing tones with each target or the strangled duck sounds.

Steve is right about setting up the Excal. Since it has Iron Mask on automatically you only need a disc setting of ONE. He is right too about the amount of sens you need as it changes with locations. I found Auto to work for me the best at most of the places I hunted. I never use Pinpoint either as the sound wasn't as loud either, but the coil still has to be moving a bit in disc mode or the sound disappears.

 

[normdiver]

Re: New to Excalibur ll & think I have a problem.

This is the way im set up for the beach,,,never vary much from it and I have 3 x-cals,,

I use discriminate,,,not pinpoint
threshold just so you can hear it
volume all the way up
senstivity 11 oclock on wet sand,,,12 oclock when underwater
discriminate on 1

Its a little strange when it changes its audio sounds,,,,,try it a few more times and see how it goes.

 

[Can Slaw]

Re: New to Excalibur ll & think I have a problem.

Your pinpoint does not sound off if you stop moving the coil, it is really just "all metal" mode. The volume on my pinpoint is not as loud as the multi tones either which is fine with me as I rarely us it. I also noticed a couple of things on your setup that these tips might help. Thanks for giving that info.

You said your threshold was very audible. Is it so loud you would not hear a small whisper of deep or small gold target? I hunt with my Excal in silent threshold, and small target will sound off and not be drowned out by the threshold hum. Adjust threshold then "slowly" turn clockwise until silent. If hunting silent bothers you, have the lowest threshold sound you can get so smaller, deeper targets will change the threshold

Discrimination at 2. Iron nulls out even at no discrimination. A very deep, small gold, weak target could be discriminate out at 2, so why, when we dig everything, discriminate at all with the chance of loosing a deep, weak signal, good target. As with any detector, discrimination will take away from depth.

Personally I only use pinpoint when I want to check a nulled target. The multi tone signals are so sharp with the Excal that pinpoint is not needed to find and dig a target. Also the more that knob is turned back and forth, the greater chance for a leak to develop at the shaft.

An EXCELLENT book for the finer details of the Excalibur is "Advance Methods for Finding Gold in the Water with the Minelab Excalibur" by Clive James Clynick

Have much success with the new machine, it will take some practice as it is not your basic "park machine".

 

[Rockin Chairs Gold]

Re: New to Excalibur ll & think I have a problem.

I am not sure excatly what you are saying. I dont pick up EMI at all. Maybe with a big coil PI near High power feeds into town, but not near anything else. Then I can pick it up 100s of feet away. Maybe you have large feed wires under your house. Or over it. I have never used pinpoint. There is no one set point for all uses. I usually keep my volume at 1/2 to 3/4. I set the thresh hold to just audible, if in surf or noisy wind, a little louder. Sens I set where it is stable, land can be full, in salt water maybe auto, maybe about 10-11 o'clock, depends on sand type, depth of water, many things-no set place, but as much as it will handle. Dics is on, not pinpoint. Disc full=1. All I want to disc out is iron. I think you just need to play with it, and get used to it.

Steve - I have high voltage lines that run behind my home in the alley, because of them I am not able set my Excal up even out side with out listening to a constant WHOOP WHOOP WHOOP sound which makes it impossible to hear the threshold sound.

I am going to turn my volume down. It is to loud for me even with my hearing aids.

I will run the Discriminate at 1 from this point on.

The sinsitivity I will work with as the area I am hunting in will allow.

My concern with the Pin point not working properly comes from reading my Excal Owners manual on page 16 and I quote : When in pinpoint mode, the Excalibur ll does not need to be moving over a target to detect it. It will still give a response when held motionless above a target. End quote:, and my machine will not do this, if the loop or the target is not in motion in pinpoint it will give no response.

I have contacted Minelab and they agree it is probably a board or loop problem and for me to send the unit to them.

I hate to have to do this having only owned it for such a very short time, but in it will go.

I want to thank everone for their response to my post. This is what I like so much about the forum. Your advice is priceless.

Rick

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Re: New to Excalibur ll & think I have a problem.

Just friendly advice, I would not send it in till you tested it in another location away from the wires.... You will most likely will be without it for a month and there could easily be nothing wrong with it.....

Most of us do not even use the pinpiont, you can pinpoint off the toe or heel of the coil by slowly moving it either forward or backward till the target disappears, then move it back the direction you just came from slowly, when target reappears it will be located at the very edge of the toe or heel depending on the direction your coil is moving....... The only time I use pinpoint is when I am hunting in reverse using it for all metal.....

Both of my excals in pinpoint will not give a tone if it is still, it has to be moving, I think you are reading a misprint.....

 

[OBN]

Re: New to Excalibur ll & think I have a problem.

My concern with the Pin point not working properly comes from reading my Excal Owners manual on page 16 and I quote : When in pinpoint mode, the Excalibur ll does not need to be moving over a target to detect it. It will still give a response when held motionless above a target. End quote:, and my machine will not do this, if the loop or the target is not in motion in pinpoint it will give no response.

I've seen this subject come up before and that is a misprint on minelabs part.
April 10, 2010
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?21,1171996,1194397#msg-1194397

On the PP mode and no signal...it takes a trained ear to hear the faints, or a doc's treasure amp. In the video the excal II can not get the target, because it is covered by his threshold of the PP mode. He is unable to detect the change in the threshold, there for missing the target..this works at most beachs but not all, and can vary in depth from beach to beach.

 

[Can Slaw]

Re: New to Excalibur ll & think I have a problem.

I believe Treasure Hunter is a 100% right on. As others have said, it does not pinpoint without the coil moving, mine doesn't and I am not sending it back. I just checked my owner manual, Excalibur 1000, and it says nothing about pinpointing with the coil stationary. It even shows a diagram of where the target will be located when "moving" to coil for the loudest tone. There must be a misprint for the Excal II.

The warranty will not expire while using the machine and getting use to it. Why not use it for a couple of weeks before rushing to send it in. Do you know anybody close by that is experienced with Minelabs that can try it out for you?

I also have a transformer in front of my house and I cannot even begin to use the Excal in my yard, front or back.

 

[Rockin Chairs Gold]

Re: New to Excalibur ll & think I have a problem.

The more I read you folks posts the more I think it's time for another call to Minelab. Many of you people are long time users of this machine and not one of you say yours will sound off in PP while the machine is stationary.

If this is a misprint and it sounds like it is they need to get that cleaned up, so new customers like me aren't thinking they have a faulty machine and send it in and lose the use of it for some time.

Thanks again to all of you. Rick

 

[bootyhoundpa]

Re: New to Excalibur ll & think I have a problem.

lots of good feed back...... also keep in mind that when you switch from disc to all metal pinpiont the target may sound much smaller or condensed... thats because the machine is trying to narrow down your search area...

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Re: New to Excalibur ll & think I have a problem.

The more I read you folks posts the more I think it's time for another call to Minelab. Many of you people are long time users of this machine and not one of you say yours will sound off in PP while the machine is stationary.

If this is a misprint and it sounds like it is they need to get that cleaned up, so new customers like me aren't thinking they have a faulty machine and send it in and lose the use of it for some time.

Thanks again to all of you. Rick

It is a misprint, you can believe that..... I would take your Excal back to the beach and try hunting again, try what we posted about using the coil to pinpoint and not the pinpoint feature on the Excal....You can practice with targets on the surface and you will see what I am talking about. It is extremely rare that I use the pinpoint feature, I use the coil to pinpoint and I am doing it with the 15 inch WOT coil too...... I use to use the Excal to land hunt and it worked the same, I did not use pinpoint I used the coil, taget off the toe or the heel of the coil.......

Hunting in reverse (using pinpoint) is still a pain as you have to switch to descriminate to see if target is iron, this takes time that you could spend hunting for the next target... The name of the game is to find as many targets as you can, the more targets you find and recover the better chance you have of finding gold......... Big difference between recovering 20-30 targets in a trip and 40-60, odds are a lot more in your favor of finding gold when you recover more targets........

Good luck and good hunting.....

 

[Rockin Chairs Gold]

Re: New to Excalibur ll & think I have a problem.

to the lots of good feed back. Thank you for the information about the machine making the target sound smaller in the PP mode. This helps explain why I think the machine isn't as loud in PP compaired to Disc. It is simply condensing the signal to make it easier to PP.

Treasure Hunter just caught your post while I was typing this (they call me old hunt and peck), and I will practice your recommendation for pin pointing, seems I have a lot to learn here , and a to you as well.

Rick

 

[stevemc]

Re: New to Excalibur ll & think I have a problem.

The Excal auto ground balances, and any MD coil that auto GBs will need to be moving. Do not send it back. It is working fine. Trust me.

 

[Sandman]

Re: New to Excalibur ll & think I have a problem.

Treasure Hunter has it right about how to pinpoint the target while in disc mode by doing the "Minelab wiggle." I've been using it for years.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Re: New to Excalibur ll & think I have a problem.

Treasure Hunter has it right about how to pinpoint the target while in disc mode by doing the "Minelab wiggle." I've been using it for years.

My friend, the credit goes to you, it is you who told me how to do it over 5 years ago..... To the new people, take what Sandman post as the gospel, you can learn a lot from him, I know I have. I think I drove him half nuts with all my early questions.

 

[Rockin Chairs Gold]

Re: New to Excalibur ll & think I have a problem.

The Excal auto ground balances, and any MD coil that auto GBs will need to be moving. Do not send it back. It is working fine. Trust me.

I trust you all, and believe me it's not going back. I'm so glad I did this post and asked questions. It's good to have people like you folks out there to ask questions and to help us newbies. Rick

 

[s.c.shooter]

Re: New to Excalibur ll & think I have a problem.

STICK WITH IT! IF IT'S THERE THE EXCAL WILL FIND IT!

 

[Sandman]

Re: New to Excalibur ll & think I have a problem.

Thanks Treasure Hunter for the kind words. I had nobody to ask when I started and it is all about the fun.