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Old Iron - Minelab SD 2100


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I got an SD-2100 a few weeks ago along with 3 coils, an 11" mono, an 8" mono and a 14" coiltek mono. Not sure how the original owner ended up with that package, but that's what he got.

Anyway, I tried it a bit and found the dreaded threshold warble a bit much to put up with. I did a lot of reading on various forums and found various references to steadier threshold with increased supply voltage using various battery packs.

I posted in one forum's classified, looking for a Coiltek Pocket Rocket system used. Nobody came up with one, but it lead to my meeting a great local prospector type who had an older Reeds Li-ion battery system/amplifier. He kindly passed this on to me since he no longer had his SD-2100.

There were a couple of snags along the way, like a dead charger, but I eventually got it all sorted out. This box is about a third the weight of the original battery and the input from the battery pack is 11.4 volts with the output adjustable up to over 8 volts. Mine is currently set at about 7.4 volts.

I am delighted at being able to maintain a really smooth threshold, even though my EMI environment is pretty bad. Checked side by side with the original 6 volt battery, the difference is pretty great. All in all, it is almost as smooth as the Garrett ATX, and I believe it is more powerful.

I will be playing with these two more to investigate sensitivity to small gold and larger objects at more depth.

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Rick,

it should work out ok for you. I have an old SD2000 that was modified by finders in Australia. I have 3 power supplies for it.

2-6 volt batteries with the domes on top, which duplicate the original power supply but without the extra headphone junction box. 2-12volt batteries and a Coiltek regulator that puts out 7.3 volts, that works great. Also 2-7.4 Li-ion batteries that velcro to the control box, for a light weight setup so I don't have to us the backpack for the batteries.

It seems that 7.3 or 7.4 volts is ideal for all the SD model Minelabs.

It's been said that the modified SD2000 with large mono coils really goes deep on the big nuggets. I wouldn't know since all I have around here is small stuff.

I think you will enjoy it.

Best of luck!

RSJ

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