Metal Detecting discussions and finds

Ace 350

 

One thought is could water be getting into your coil? I posted a little bit above about using pipe wrap tape as a coil protector, maybe try that next time and see if it helps waterproof your coil. Some coils do have an air vent hole in them usually on top to keep them from puffing up when they are used at altitude, does yours have one of those?

Here’s a pretty good article about detecting on grass. I also like their idea about using plywood on tall grass!

https://detectingschool.com/metal-detecting-in-grass/

 

What is meant by not respond correctly?

Have you tried adjusting "sens"? It could be the ground is "hot"... in other words, the soil is very "mineralized" for whatever reason?

Most coils are "waterproof"... at least the stock Garrett coils.

Could very well be a bad coil too and/or head unit?

One thing to rule out many things is to test the coil/head unit on say a coffee table with the coil 90° to the shaftaling sure there is as little of metal brackets or anything that would set off the detector unecessarily. Then just put the detector in say "all metal mode" and pass a quarter in front of the coil about 2" or so away and see what the head unit displays You should get a high tone.

You may or may not have done any of this, but I don't know your experience level?

Other than that, the 350, I can honestly say is not that bad of a unit. I use the 250 most of the time just because. I have the 350 as well.

 

Yeah, I'm still alive. I just started a new job. I can only say that it is a good paying job... finally. The only draw back is by the time the weekends come, I try to get sleep as much as possible.

I will have to move to San Diego the sooner the better.

I'm hoping to get settled by the end of this year, but for now, the commute is brutal from HB to San Diego and to carpool is just more of a hassle than it being of any help. I just deal with it right now. I get good mpg with my Civic, so gas prices are actually not that bad.

But yeah, I'm very much alive... just tired as hell by the time the weekend comes.

 

Wow, congrats on the job! Well you’ll be closer to us if you move towards SD- then I’ll show you some desert gold sometime!

uh, if we can find some!

 

Great ideas frankly. I will try those things this week.

In the past, never had (m)any issues with false signals in dry. When I now go over areas with wet grass that I never had any signal before in dry summer, whatever setting - the indications are going nuts. But not like a real signal and never repeatable on the same spot. Frustrating mostly.

 

Thanks brother and very cool.

I plan on moving to Chula OR Cajon area? I'm very familiar with El Cajon because I lived there for approx 8yrs or thereabouts.

Anyways, I'm also hoping to get my SCUBA Certification, but until I get settled, that is just a wish right now.

 

Scuba diving is cool, I got certified at 15. Wanted to be a marine biologist and sail a boat around with a beautiful girl and be like Jacques Cousteau and… well, that never worked out! I haven’t done it for years, but there is some great diving off of the channel Islands for sure! You should get a waterproof detector and go off the coast with it sometime.

 

I have the Garrett Infinium LS. I got that quite a few years back because I wanted to get into surf detecting, but that is a very challenging style of detecting for sure. At some point I just stuck with dry sand hunting.

But yeah, that is what I plan on doing... hopefully. I would like to do lakes and rivers too. I was able to retain my FFM and 2nd stage regulator certifications for maintenance and rebuilding.


If the comms fail, I know how to repair the comms as well, assuming that now I can get whatever parts necessary, which is typically the cables and such.

Finally, I really do miss my old job, but the pay was just NOT there as well as the benefits.

 

Finally got out for some proper gold detecting in the desert today- it was beautiful. The only problem was I didn’t find anything besides a bunch of tiny pieces of lead while my buddy found three small gold nuggets. Happy for him but…

 

Sorry for the late reply... it could be you are experiencing "ghost signals". One theory is that something corroded and the metal particles are spread just around that area where that metal piece used to be. Now, I'm not saying feet upon feet of ground, only just that small area of where that piece used to be. If you then go try to recover the item, it is not there and the signal disappears after???

Sometimes, there are situations where you could be digging a new "Grand Canyon" and never recover whatever it is that is setting off the detector? I usually experience this if I'm detecting the "wet sand" area of the beach. You can also typically tell by looking at the surface of the beach sand and typically black sand is very mineralized. Wet sand hunting for most of the VLF machines are very hostile for detecting. Some VLF machines are better than others for hot rocks or hot soil and if ground balancing is available to your unit, then even better. For the 350, your only hope is by adjusting the srns down, but that will ultimately affect depth as well. Sometimes, there isn't anything that can be done as your detector is just no match for the environment it is being used in.

That is where the higher end VLF machines are useful.

Finally, if you are really going to be dealing with mineralized environments, like salt water and such, that is where PI metal detectors shine. The metal detector is just like any other tool, it all depends on how it is being used in the end.

Anyways, this may or may not be the case.

Try that test and if your detector passes the test with reasonable results, chances are it is the environment your detector is being subjected to and there isn't all that much really that can be done about it.

See video below and keep in mind his measurements are very likely metric. Do yours in inches or unless you want to convert it??? I would do 50% sens level testing first. If you put it to max send, you may start getting erratic behavior due to the surroundings (i.e. digital clocks, etc etc etc).
https://youtu.be/yLXD1JgVoic

Hope this helps?

 

Good input. Allow me to digest. Thanks!

 

Went back for more today with a buddy.
- I like his truck a lot. Seriously, he said he wouldn’t trade it for mine!

Did a lot more detecting but got skunked. I was fed up with that and grabbed a small shovel, a bucket and a 1/4 inch screen and went for a short hike. I grabbed samples along the wall of a ravine where there had been some drywashing in the past and filled up the bucket with the pre-screened “classified” dirt. Then back at camp I used his high banker (a water recirculating type of sluice) and a gold pan to work it and…we found gold!

OK, it was a tiny piece from a 5-gallon bucket full of dirt but it was still gold none the less!

skunk gone!

 

Anyone going out today? I am meeting up with a buddy to go detecting and brought a can of gold spray paint and some bits of iron slag…. We’ll see how this goes!

 

Went out today near Joshua Tree for some prospecting. It was beautiful out with almost nobody around. Did a lot of hiking and detecting but this is all I got today…

https://youtu.be/GaBtHcAm2GA

 

Oh yeah… this didn’t go well. .. idiot didn’t stay where I thought he would and he missed the ones he went over so I had to pretend I found them. He suspected me from the start, I’m losing my acting touch!

 

The older you get, the more the truth just comes out.

 

Yeah- like who done it with flatulence and not worrying about talking like a sailor. And with that I also started to talk to myself a lot more because I’m the smartest person I know and the most interested in what I have to say!

 

I bought a low cost wand on Amazon that seems to work great when I'm digging around the house and on the property vs. getting the big unit out. We have some interesting mineralization and a whole rocky alluvial section that probably has zero precious metals, but a new gold rush would be great. Or not.