understanding my AT Pro

[landandseasearcher]

Good evening folks. I am the newest rookie who recently purchased a Garrett AT Pro. I am hoping someone with some experience will offer an explanation or suggestion for an unusual experience today with my AT Pro.

I was detecting in a stream in my local area in Culpeper VA. No problems or unusual experiences at that point. I went to a local park in town to detect around the playground equipment. The areas are covered either by sand or mulch. I ground balanced the AT Pro in the sand and immediately experienced a rapid and continuos dinging, and the signal strength indicator rapidly changed numbers from the sixties to the eighties and cycled continuously to repeat the same numbers. This continued for a while. I turned off the detector and tried ground balancing again and got the same results. I raised the coil in the air and the dinging continued momentarily. When it stopped I would place the coil close to the ground and the same results occurred. I cleaned the coil and cover and checked all the connections

I moved to a soccer field, turned off the detector, turned it back on and ground balanced again. I experienced the same crazy continuous dinging, etc. I experienced the same results in standard and pro modes and with custom, coin and zero settings.

I have had the AT Pro on a Beach in North Carolina a week ago and did not experience what I did today.

I returned home, turned on the detector in my front yard and found that the detector performed as it normally should. None of the crazy behavior occurred at the stream prior to the park or after the park. There were no other metal detectors in the area and no power lines near the park.

Does anyone have an idea of what would produce this type of response from the At Pro?

 

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[Irishgoldhound]

Try turning down sensitivity, or changing frequencies.

 

[bzbadger]

Very odd but not first time this has come up. When u GB make sure your not doing it over a piece of metal..if you auto GB keep bouncing coil 1-8 inches until that number is steady. Plz check your coil connector, a lot of times ppl find out it isn't tight or it wasn't tight and they went into water that way..not saying u did but just check. $2 will get you a bottle of plumbers grease which u should put on all the O rings so each connector and even your battery box should have it. I had an issue which was my coil cover was full of salt and sand from the beach and it dried that way inside the cover and seemed to make GB an issue. Now I wash the coil off everytime. Just tossing possibilities out hope one works for u.

Get your facts first, then distort them as you please-Mark Twain

 

[Ed-D]

Not sure what it is, but here are some of my similar experiences:

1) I've learned that when I turn on my machine NOT to start swinging until the second beep is completed. You know when you turn it on there is a beep [pause] beep; let that finish. When I started swinging before that happens I get a constant beeping like you described.

2) I've been in some parks where I would get a constant low tone hum and some chatter. The only thing I could determine was that it was underground power lines.

 

[earl43]

I have the at pro an mine does that same thing an when I dig its usally a chunk of iron like a horseshoe

 

[fizz67]

I have hAd my ATpro for 3 years and it does that exact thing as u noted in the park in the front yard of my house and only there !!! I hav a few theories:

1. The house had an invisible fence but that was supposed to be disconnected..?!
2. There is a meter that they use to check the electricity or water mounted on the house that sends a crazy frequency and interference... It does not happen in my back yard ever? No where else but the front?

 

[signal]

Make sure the connector for the coil is screwed in all the way, I have found over time its possible for it to work itself loose.

If the detector every loses its mind like that all the time, then something is wrong and if it can't be fixed it should be sent in for repair. Mine actually did this (I have one of the first AT Pro's made). Garrett fixed it up.

I have been in situations where there is some strange mineralization or iron deposit of some kind and the detector goes nuts. Generally moving to a stable area, resetting and GB fixes it. Also the AT Pro, like many detectors can be sensitive to temperature, so if you moving it from one temp to another that is very different, it may need a few minutes to stabilize.

 

[Pointman]

I had an AT Pro for a year and this is the only real issue I had with it. In some places it ran a little unstable and bounced around and it would do it when I wasn't swinging it. I usually would just turn down the sensitivity and this would handle it. I remember just carrying it on my shoulder would cause the readings to go off.

 

[Eagle101]

That happens to my AT pro when the batteries are low. If it's not the batteries or connections I would send it back. They are really good at fixing the issue. I sent mine back last year and got it back 2 weeks later I think they sent me a brand new one back. It looked like new.

 

[ohiochris]

Thats RF interference , mine does it around certain homes and some schools , it goes flippin nuts. The operating frequency of the ATP loves picking up on wifi as well as powerlines or sometimes power transformers , and even cell phones.

 

[George (MN)]

I thought I read Culpeper has severe ground mineralization. Try turning down sensitivity, & then ground balance. I sure hope this will help. The mineralization could be varying over a short distance. I think it was maybe in Culpeper, a You Tube video where they compared several top single frequency detectors and most were weak on a 4" deep bullet, but the Makro Racer got a strong signal.

I don't know everything & have never detected in your state. Maybe others can add to this. Best wishes, George (MN)