Wrap Coil Wire Low Or Farther Up Shaft

[James Ryan]

I've always wrapped the coil wire around the shaft a few inches up from the coil.  But then I saw in a some people mentioning they run the wire straight up the lower shaft then start coiling the wire above that.  Someone mentioned the reason he does this is because of the magnetic field and possible interference wrapping it shortly above the coil.  I have only been detecting about 7 years and always trying to learn more.  Any advise/suggestions ect. on this would be great and thanks in advance.

[Chase Goldman]

Advice: Don’t overthink it.  If you are not having issues with noise or detection, leave it be.  Don’ts:  Don’t wrap it so loose that it flops around, don’t wrap it such that it constrains your ability to position the coil at the desired angle with respect to the shaft to keep it parallel with your desired swing plain and to lie it flat for transport.  You want to minimize strain at the coil cable to coil interface or at any place else along the coil cable that could cause wire breakage due to repetitive flexing at stress points.  Otherwise, other than certain special cases with certain coils and detectors, a properly shielded coil cable should not care from an electromagnetic standpoint where you start  the shaft wrap.

[Steve Herschbach]

If you keep in mind you want as little extraneous metal near that coil as possible it offers the answer. You do not want to wrap the excess close to the coil, but up near the control box. Some people go as far as going straight up the rod with all excess wrapped tightly just below the control box. For VLF this is not really needed, but for high power PI models keeping the cable away can be important. As you see in this picture below of some of my detectors setup I usually go straight up for at least some distance before wrapping. The real key is you do not want loose, flopping cable down near the coil.