Equinox 800 Question About Noise While Moving

[Gary985112]

Hi everyone,

 

I've been doing beach detecting and I'm new to it. This applies to both on dry sand and completely underwater detecting. More so with underwater I guess. 

With the 800 In beach two mode, just default out of the box equipment, My detector will sometimes make noise at the end of my swing when I start swinging the other way. It will also make noise when I tilt my wrist from left to right. 

The screen will also show numbers (falsing?) Sometimes faint noise sounds like a chirp really faint, sometimes it makes a noise at the beginning of each swing or changing directions. 

Is the detector broken or just sensitive? New to this. Is sensitivity too high underwater? 20.

[steveg]

Gary,

Underwater noise (in salt water) is not uncommon; others who beach hunt will likely chime in on that.  BUT -- out of water, over dry sand, the machine should not be making noise right at the end of each swing, or when you tilt your wrist.  RANDOM noise, of course (EMI) would be normal, but not at specific start/stop points in your swing, simply turning your wrist.  Makes me wonder if maybe your coil-to-control box attachment is a bit loose.

Steve

[F350Platinum]

I think Chase answered this pretty succinctly in the other (similar) post you made regarding this. Asking more than once just gets you conflicting answers, one post gets discussion 👍

I'm not a huge beach hunter, but I've done a beach or two. 😏 It took me a year or more to find my first hallmarked gold ring(s), BTW. Since then I've found more. Fields and beach.

Lower your expectations before lowering sensitivity! 

If you're not noise cancelling, and then ground balancing the detector first, anything is possible. I remember 2 and a half years ago I asked similar questions when I was first using my 600, I was new to it like you.

You'll find that a properly balanced detector will allow an incremental sensitivity increase, I've gone as high as 23 on some beaches. Depends on how good you are at it too - find a spot with no signals and hold that button and pump that coil until it stabilizes.

As Chase told you, moving water and black sand will cause some blips and chatter, it's telling you sensitivity is too high. 

I go by rule of thumb: beach 1 for dry sand, 2 for wet and water. Sometimes I use Park 1 way up in the dry.

You can pretty much use beach 2 everywhere though.

Good luck!

[Gary985112]

2 hours ago, F350Platinum said:

I think Chase answered this pretty succinctly in the other (similar) post you made regarding this. Asking more than once just gets you conflicting answers, one post gets discussion 👍

I'm not a huge beach hunter, but I've done a beach or two. 😏 It took me a year or more to find my first hallmarked gold ring(s), BTW. Since then I've found more. Fields and beach.

Lower your expectations before lowering sensitivity! 

If you're not noise cancelling, and then ground balancing the detector first, anything is possible. I remember 2 and a half years ago I asked similar questions when I was first using my 600, I was new to it like you.

You'll find that a properly balanced detector will allow an incremental sensitivity increase, I've gone as high as 23 on some beaches. Depends on how good you are at it too - find a spot with no signals and hold that button and pump that coil until it stabilizes.

As Chase told you, moving water and black sand will cause some blips and chatter, it's telling you sensitivity is too high. 

I go by rule of thumb: beach 1 for dry sand, 2 for wet and water. Sometimes I use Park 1 way up in the dry.

You can pretty much use beach 2 everywhere though.

Good luck!

Thanks so much, I appreciate it 🙂 I think that is my issue. I have just been clicking ground balance tracking. My sensitivity was 20. But I think I will auto ground balance first, then do tracking and see if that helps 🙂 I also hear that raising recovery speed in the water helps? Is this true? Like i notice at 4 its a bit chatty in the water, but recovery 6 is less chatty? is this a thing?

[Northeast]

Hi Gary.

Sometimes it can even be basic stuff.

Are your connections all nice and tight?

Is the coil lead well secured on the shaft?  I’m thinking if the lead is moving at the end of each swing and causing the coil to ‘see’ the lead.

Is your swing speed really fast and it is jerky motion at the change of direction that is causing the falsing?

Does it happen at sensitivity of 15?

Does it happen in a single frequency or only in multi?

Does it happen in any of the other modes away from the beach?  

Have you got someone else’s coil you could test your machine on. Maybe a dodgy coil?

Sometimes it is just a process of elimination.  And if you get too far lost in setting changes there is always a Factory Reset to bring it back to square one.

Best of luck finding a solution 👍

[Gary985112]

4 hours ago, Northeast said:

Hi Gary.

Sometimes it can even be basic stuff.

Are your connections all nice and tight?

Is the coil lead well secured on the shaft?  I’m thinking if the lead is moving at the end of each swing and causing the coil to ‘see’ the lead.

Is your swing speed really fast and it is jerky motion at the change of direction that is causing the falsing?

Does it happen at sensitivity of 15?

Does it happen in a single frequency or only in multi?

Does it happen in any of the other modes away from the beach?  

Have you got someone else’s coil you could test your machine on. Maybe a dodgy coil?

Sometimes it is just a process of elimination.  And if you get too far lost in setting changes there is always a Factory Reset to bring it back to square one.

Best of luck finding a solution 👍

Thanks for all of the questions I will definitely look into those while troubleshooting. I have noticed that when I do jerk the detector one way or or another. Like say I will flick my wrist from side to side that the machine will sound off. Why does it do this? Does this mean that something is wrong?

 

My connections are all nice and tight. I will play with the wire.

 

I do notice as well it sounds off when I move the coil a bit quicker underwater, maybe this is causing more resistance on the coil which is making it sound off? I'm just wondering why the coil sounds off when there is flicking or when there's a slightly quick motion. Maybe this is all normal and my machine is not defective?

[Jeff McClendon]

Welcome to this forum!!!

There were plenty of early users and some original testers that found the default 20 sensitivity setting to be too aggressive for higher EMI areas and for mineralized ground conditions when hunting for coin/jewerly sized objects.

Then there are people like me that had plenty of detecting experience who found the Equinox 600/800 to be a very noisy detector. This was not because there was something wrong with it. This was because it is a very sensitive detector that will detect extremely small physical targets along with EMI from ANY nearby source of electricity using its multi frequency modes especially.

Noise can also be caused by not having it ground balanced. Using it in tracking ground balance or just leaving it on zero can cause issues at some sites. Some people say they always use tracking ground balance. Others say they always use it on zero..........for me there is never an "always". I set my Equinox up for the ground/beach conditions that are presented.

The Equinox basically took the lid off of just about every place I have used it and lit up the ground/beach. Some of the targets responses are atmospheric (EMI) and ground noise. Anything that gives a solid 2 way beep with stable numbers should be investigated while learning it. There is nothing wrong with turning the sensitivity down to below 15. It will still hit any coin sized target that is under the coil in the 6 to 8" range in normal dirt/sand. Learning what real targets sound like instead of chasing after spurious or super deep targets is important for a beginner.

Get the Equinox quiet enough to learn what it is telling you. Practice on some desirable targets and on trash even if it is inside your home. Just turn the sensitivity waaaay down and learn those repeatable coin and jewelry audio and target ID responses. If there are scrolling numbers and a jumble of audio responses when the coil is not parallel to or flat on the ground, you are hearing EMI. Definitely check to make sure that your coil wire connection on the control box is tight and that your coil cover isn't full of sand. Otherwise, turn the sensitivity down to where there are no scrolling numbers and the background noise is very low while testing and even while detecting until you get used to the Equinox.

For a beginner, I would turn the sensitivity way down until an actual target is easy to hear and spurious audio responses are minimized. I would also use Beach 1 for dryer sand and save Beach 2 for the wet sand/submerged.

Listen to Chase and the other beach hunters when they recommend getting waterproof wired headphones for frequent beach/water use even if you are wading. They are not joking.

[midalake]

15 hours ago, Gary985112 said:

Is the detector broken or just sensitive? New to this. Is sensitivity too high underwater? 20.

In STILL salt water you should have no extra noises when swinging the coil. It is normal for wave wash to give you noise.  If the water is still, it is either EMI or Black Sand. 
First>Make sure you clean under your coil cover after every hunt. I do not hunt with a coil cover, EVER! 

To help mitigate salt and black sand keep your iron bias and recovery at 6 each.  Black sand can be tough. I had a spot yesterday where I had to drop to 19 sensitivity. 

If you get a fringe signal you can always bump up the sensitivity a point or two just to look at that one target. 

You will get better as time goes by to know the difference between mineral/salt ticks and targets.

[Steve Herschbach]

Equinox is not a beginners detector. It is a high performance race car, and takes time to learn. That's just a fact that first time detectorists need to understand.

Beginners Guide To Equinox for first 100 hours:

1. Do not go to the most difficult places you can find to detect. Stay out of places full of junk like an old burned down house. Be sure you are not under power lines, over buried power cables, or next to a substation. Don't test your detector in your house full of wiring and lights and wireless routers.

2. Use only the default preprogramed modes with minimal changes, if any. When in doubt use Park Mode 1 for anything but saltwater, where you need to use the Beach Mode.

3. The one change you must make - any interference or excessive false signalling, turn the sensitivity down until the detector behaves. People act like they put the 1-15 settings there as a joke, and that they should never be used. Turn The Sensitivity Down!!

4. Read number 3 over and over until it sticks.

 

Factory Reset the Detector

Factory Reset will return all detector settings and Detect Modes to factory preset values, and will unpair all wireless headphones.

1. Turn the detector off.
2. Press and hold the Power button for approximately 8 seconds. The start-up animation will display.
3. 'FP' will then appear on the Target ID Display, indicating that Factory Presets are restored. 'FP' will appear on the Target ID Display when Factory Presets are restored.
4. Release the Power button. There will be a rising confirmation tone.

[Badger-NH]

Make sure tracking GB is turned off. My 800 was acting up for months before I noticed that I had left tracking on. Now it runs perfectly quiet.