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My Personal Method Of Ferrite Balancing


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Ok thanks for the response. Yeah here in the us for the GPX, manual was the go to for sharp, sensitive extra, and normal too. I never met an experienced guy in the field who didn't run that way (the trainers I met in the field all said that's what they taught too), the idea being passed on forums at the time was that you could balance out a piece of gold in auto with the GPX in theory (something I tried many times and never succeeded at) and that manual balance got greater depth - something I was actually able to replicate to some degree on my own.

Ok, previously I asked for a definition of X to understand the ferrite/ground balance thing better. Now I think I need to understand what G is better. I'm guessing G incorporates salt? What else is there other than saturable and salt signals that the ground balance works on?

I'm trying to figure it out because it's the red line in the Minelab ground balance graphs, which seems to be the big difference between running in manual and semi or auto. 

I definitely do run too fast. But I do know how to slow down when I need to. But I also need to be able to go fast. I've never had people to show me patches, I have to find them all my own, and that means covering a ton of ground in the short amount of time I have away from work. It's absolutely essentially to my success. When I find a patch I slow down.

I'm just trying to get a grasp on all this so when I go test these coils out I'm not messing something up by not being current on whatever the ground balance/ferrite procedure is now.

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Also digging through old posts, something I'm not able to find discussed is how Locate Patch and Salty Soil differ from audio smoothing like Low.

As I posted extensively in 2015, Low Smoothing was the best way I found to deal with the extensive wet salt conditions there since it broadened the "smooshyness" enough that I could filter by ear an actual target and stay in HY/Normal as a result. Are the ground smoothing options in the GPZ patch update #2 simply just filters such as audio smoothing too, and if so is there a benefit to running say Salty Soil smoothing over Low Audio Smoothing?

From what I'm reading online it sounds like the Ground Smoothing options do not actually change the ground balance itself at all, is that correct?

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I have an insanely rookie question that I am going to try to get in even though this is not the prefect thread:

When I detect with the GPZ I have gotten good about going slow. What I have noticed when I am detecting like this (slowly with correct coil control etc), is I will get a subtle signal sound. Then as I continue to "explore the signal" as JP says, the signal actually seems to get more defined and in many cases, louder. My question is this. Does the coil's charge as it is passing over the target actually imbue the target with a charge of some kind that then gives the louder and more precise signal?  Because that is what it seems like to me.

Hope this isn't too dumb/basic.

 

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43 minutes ago, flakmagnet said:

Does the coil's charge as it is passing over the target actually imbue the target with a charge of some kind that then gives the louder and more precise signal?

I`ve also noticed that, faint targets get louder once you`ve detected them, but I`ve put it down to I keep moving the coil forward or back a little bit until the target is exactly in the sweet spot of the coil.   Dave

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Well that sounds plausible for sure…but - and this is not at all trying to dismiss your post because it actually seems more logical than mine - I have encountered this so many times and have noticed that many times the original swing path over the target does not change much yet the signal improves markedly. 

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18 hours ago, flakmagnet said:

I have an insanely rookie question that I am going to try to get in even though this is not the prefect thread:

When I detect with the GPZ I have gotten good about going slow. What I have noticed when I am detecting like this (slowly with correct coil control etc), is I will get a subtle signal sound. Then as I continue to "explore the signal" as JP says, the signal actually seems to get more defined and in many cases, louder. My question is this. Does the coil's charge as it is passing over the target actually imbue the target with a charge of some kind that then gives the louder and more precise signal?  Because that is what it seems like to me.

Hope this isn't too dumb/basic.

 

I too notice this and IMHO its down to you the operator refining you’re swing speed and height as you centralise over the target. GPZ is a lot different when it comes to centering of deep targets due to the dual receive points of the coil, so initially you hear a faint variation, you then bring the coil back in over the zone and this time make slight adjustments to the speed and height of the coil, you will also (because your now concentrating) remove any variation in the lift of the coil at either end of your swings which then removes salt and saturation signals. You will be amazed how much impact there is on fine tuning the swing over a target, in fact you have, all of the above observations are just that, the fine tuning of the swing and speed and height as you ZONE in over the target.

JP

 

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Hey JP,

    Like always, you're a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the Minelab metal detectors.  I guess I'm still a bit old school with the GPZ 7000, as 99% of the time I'm using the Quick Start button to start the day out and running my settings -

  • High Yield
  • Normal 
  • Sensitivity 8-14
  • Auto Smoothing -OFF
  • Ground Balance - AUTO
  • Ground Smoothing - OFF
  • Always use Ferrite Ring during Quick Start (normally in the morning when I start detecting)

I have found a lot of gold I missed with the GPX series running similar sized coils, small, medium and larger gold.  For the most part, I'm in a certain zone is Arizona so the mineralization is similar and don't drastically change a whole bunch.  I don't believe I have ran into any Salt conditions where I hunt.  

I have played with the Semi-Auto mode a few times and didn't notice anything really different.  

Any suggestions? 

Rob Allison

 

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2 minutes ago, Rob Allison said:

Hey JP,

    Like always, you're a wealth of knowledge when it comes to the Minelab metal detectors.  I guess I'm still a bit old school with the GPZ 7000, as 99% of the time I'm using the Quick Start button to start the day out and running my settings -

  • High Yield
  • Normal 
  • Sensitivity 8-14
  • Auto Smoothing -OFF
  • Ground Balance - AUTO
  • Ground Smoothing - OFF
  • Always use Ferrite Ring during Quick Start (normally in the morning when I start detecting)

I have found a lot of gold I missed with the GPX series running similar sized coils, small, medium and larger gold.  For the most part, I'm in a certain zone is Arizona so the mineralization is similar and don't drastically change a whole bunch.  I don't believe I have ran into any Salt conditions where I hunt.  

I have played with the Semi-Auto mode a few times and didn't notice anything really different.  

Any suggestions? 

Rob Allison

 

Hi Rob, I instruct my customers to NOT use Quick Start because of two things, one it resets the GB, secondly it resets the Ferrite Balance and lastly it reverts the settings to FP if you select the “reset all” option.

Semi Auto Locks the Ferrite balance once you release the Quick-Trak button, this is especially important in Normal Ground Type Modes because these modes (especially High Yield) produce the loudest response on the Ferrite and also react the strongest to Saturation and Salt signals. This means in Auto Mode the Ferrite balance can be pulled away from optimum even a few feet from where you last performed the Ferrite balance. This is even more obvious with the GPZ19 coil BTW.

There is no need to reset everything unless the detector has gone into a state as described in a thread on this forum through running the machine in an environment that causes the GB state to go entirely out of whack. The GPZ remembers the GB and Ferrite settings on switch off so if your detector was running OK on switch off things will be pretty close at the next start up unless the temps are drastically different or the ground condition has drastically changed.

Another trick I do if the GB is way out (especially on new machines) is to use Quick-Trak and pump the coil till there is no noise then switch off and restart the detector then perform the Ferrite balance as described.

I usually do the Freq Adjust first thing by holding the coil parallel and away from the ground listening to the threshold and adjust either manually or doing an auto tune, once completed and I’m happy with the threshold I then check the GB is reasonable (Quick-Trak and pump if its bad then switch off then on again) then perform the Ferrite balance as described. Remember the Ferrite balance can only change if the detectors electronic change temperature so there is no need to use Auto mode which just adds an extra variable in an already variable environment. Cutting down on the amount of things that can change is a huge advantage, this is why I advocate using Manual GB when checking targets and during digging, less variables equals BETTER outcomes.

JP

 

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Hey JP,

Thanks for the information.  I guess I should have told you, I don't reset my settings when asked, I keep them always.  

For the first 6 months or so when the GPZ 7000 was released here in the US, I never used a Ferrite Ring and never Quick Started my unit.  I would just verify my settings, press the ground balance button, swing slowly side to side and then start hunting.  It seems like the detector ran the best back then, without the ring and no Quick Start.  

Believe it or not, I also found much smaller gold, but after the first update for some reason, it seemed like my sensitivity changed and I wasn't able to hear the small porous nuggets as well.  

Then after the first firmware update, the Ferrite Ring was introduced in the Ground Balance portion and then came Semi-Auto mode.  

I tried the Semi-Auto, but never seen any real advantage to be honest.  Could it be the ground is not as mineralized? 

Thanks for all your help in advance. 

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17 minutes ago, Rob Allison said:

I tried the Semi-Auto, but never seen any real advantage to be honest. 

Hi Rob, that's interesting you didn't find any advantage from Semi-Auto…I had exactly the opposite experience…I found the GB stayed on the mark better when Semi-Auto was introduced. I also found that the 7000 was maybe not finding more small gold per se, but the signal was more pronounced and easier to make decisions from. (because the GB was more stable? maybe…I'm not technical enough to know).

Best...

 

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