Jump to content

Equinox 600 Settings Near Sidewalk And With Lots Of Ground Noise


Recommended Posts

Sorry if this should be two different posts. Both these issues popped up yesterday at the same site. In fact, the front of the property had a section with overhead electrical wires, a sewer drain in the street past the sidewalk, constant chatter in all-metal, and chatter in both Park 1 and Park 2 despite noise reduction and attempts to ground balance (may have been EMF, as chatter reduced away from the lines). I'll return with the 6" coil, but this seems like something proper knowledge of settings could ameliorate. I'm less than 6 months with the Nox.

Ground Balance

 I do better when I ground balance, but what do  I do when I can't find a signal free area in all-metal to perform the auto ground balance routine? Should I attempt to manual ground balance? Or set to zero?

Working around sidewalks

Loud response from sidewalks - sometimes from a foot and a half away all along, or in intervals. I've tried swinging parallel as well as perpendicular. Sometimes the effect is reduced with the 6" coil, but not always enough.

Should I be reducing sensitivity? Any general tip for the Nox around sidewalks?

Thanks In Advance!

 

Link to comment
Share on other sites


Welcome Sean - 

Regarding powerline noise:  If you suspect the power lines as being the noise source, then point your coil towards the power lines to make the noise as bad as possible and then run a noise cancel with your coil stationary in the air pointing at the source.  If noise cance didn't work to improve the situation, then try lowering sensitivity.  If you find you are lowering sensitivity too much to get rid of the chatter (5 or more points below the default of 20) then shift modes.  Higher frequency weighted modes may handle the Electromagnetic Interference (EMI) better.  If you get no joy there, then try going to single frequency.  You may find a single frequency setting that lowers the chatter.

Regarding, ground balancing, if you truly can't find a clear spot to do a ground balance, then not sure ground balancing is going to make much difference.  You could try just setting GB to the default of zero and take your chances, or you can use the pinpoint mode to try to find that bare spot between targets to do the GB.  If you simply just swing the detector in search mode with the horseshoe button engaged (no discrimination), it will probably sound like a machine gun going off with iron grunts because you are probably picking up ground noise at -9/-8 in addition to actual targets.  The pinpoint mode will better tell you whether there is an actual target under your coil that might interfere with your GB routine.  Unlike the motion modes, it is somewhat immune to ground noise as long as there isn't significant changes in the actual ground phase while swinging over the ground.

Regarding sidewalks and curbs, yes you are going to get interference from the iron rebar in the cement sidewalks and curbs.  Your best bet is to lower sensitivity and try to use the 6 inch coil if you are trying to detect the edges.  No point in banging your head against the wall if it is driving you crazy, turn down the sensitivity as necessary and look for shallow keepers.

HTH HH

  • Like 4
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Thanks! Haven't been back to the place I had the issue yet, but I did take this all into account and visited a place I've been a few times before that has some noisy spots and plenty of junk This helped a lot. I used the 6" coil, was able to ground balance with no issues, then noise cancelled pointing at the power lines. Machine was stable and quiet, and I picked up 30 coins - majority were zinc cents - but I did find a small ol der sterling ring right by the sidewalk. Success!

rang1.JPG

  • Like 2
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Sean,

Chase gave some very good information for your problem, and all I can add is that I have ran into the same problem.

The only way I was able to get to hunt near the sidewalk under the power lines was to turn the sensitivity down to 13-15 and then do a noise cancel. Once that was done I was able to ground balance 18 inches away from the sidewalk because of the rebar in the sidewalk.

I have used this method several times and have had no problems, also have you been using the latest update on your unit as that will help also.

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

16 hours ago, Seandub said:

I've tried swinging parallel as well as perpendicular.

I never try to swing toward/away from a large metal obstruction such as a post or chain link fence, but rather parallel -- that is with the toe of the coil pointing towards the obstruction.  That way it's easier to know how close you can get without it sounding off.  Trying to swing the other way leaves me wondering if I'm hearing a (different) target close to the obstruction or just the obstruction itself.

Nice ring!  Glad you got things figured out.  A lower recovery speed sometimes helps reduce EMI.  I typically use 5 myself, but have noticed dropping to 4 improved things when EMI was hassling me.

 

  • Like 1
Link to comment
Share on other sites

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now
×
×
  • Create New...