Thoughts On The TDI SL ?

[Geotech]

Tom, I'm in the valley every month, I live in Junction City. I even do field testing up Quartzville Creek, so I drive right by White's on the way. Next time I'm out that way I'll give you a yell.

 

[tboykin]

59 minutes ago, Geotech said:

Tom, I'm in the valley every month, I live in Junction City. I even do field testing up Quartzville Creek, so I drive right by White's on the way. Next time I'm out that way I'll give you a yell.

Looking forward to it. Quartzville is my second favorite place, first is Josephine County serpentine contact zone. My mom's side is from JC, used to spend a lot of time on River Rd, at the JC pond, and haircuts at the old barber shop in town.

[HardPack]

Tboykin & Geotech,

Over on the "Impact of the New Nokta Three Frequency" post, the Turks are putting on a feed for your "market shares". Gossip is the door prize is an proto-type varible frequency MD with a bunch coils in the 3 to 56 Khz range.

[Nevada Brian]

 

4 hours ago, tboykin said:

Tested with 4 18650's.... Interesting results at 16+ volts fully charged. Eight cells is unnecessary (and too heavy).

For the record, I do not own a TDI SL, but I want Whites to be successful!

By increasing the Volts in the SL, I'm curious as to what the interesting results are?  Also, by increasing the volts, how does it compare to the TDI Pro?

Brian.

 

[tboykin]

1 hour ago, Nevada Brian said:

For the record, I do not own a TDI SL, but I want Whites to be successful!

By increasing the Volts in the SL, I'm curious as to what the interesting results are?  Also, by increasing the volts, how does it compare to the TDI Pro?

Brian.

Brian that is very kind of you. We are the closest manufacturer to your neck of the woods and I hope to see you out there when I head down to NV next year!

Initial test with a 14.8 volt battery (overcharged to 16+) showed the TDI SL within an inch of the PRO on nickel and larger-sized targets and neck and neck on smaller targets. This was with the stock 12" coil and also the smaller 7.5" DF. Wide open on both machines, GB off, delay of 10usec. But the SL was a lot smoother at full throttle. You can try it yourself for proof.

I need to test it with more aftermarket coils like the MJD and Coiltek, but I would guess that results will be similar. You can make your own battery pack with a set of 4 18650's and some clever wiring but we hope to have a proper version soon. Such a simple change, and the bonus is it will fit all of our other machines that use that style of battery!

[Daniel Tn]

I have been one of those guys to have all 3 models of the TDI.  I actually ended up with GeoTech's TDI at one point and time (wish I wouldn't have traded that one!!).  

For what it's worth, I never gold prospected with mine. I had other interests for the pulse machines; relic hunting and jewelry hunting highly mineralized soil.

Comparing the SL to the TDI and TDI Pro, I never took a liking to it.  I didn't like the greatly reduced battery life. I didn't like the S rod (I prefer straight rod configurations). And in my testing, I found the SL to have a smoother threshold but seemed to be neutered on power.  On coin and relic objects I tested, the difference was more than enough for me to wave bye to the SL model.  

In years past, I would frequent the Diggin in Virginia relic hunts. Along about 2008-2010, the pulse machines really kicked in gear and starting becoming the must have item.  The TDI was the most sought after machine at that time, but was slowly replaced by the GPX machines as more people saw the power of those...coupled with a form of iron disc. The TDI and Garrett ATX were still the most popular units.  Then when the prices dropped on the GPX...it tipped the scales into Minelab's land.  Now days, you rarely see a TDI of any sort at the hunt. Everybody has GPXs.  If you shop around, you can find the GPX for under $2000 new.  Used, they are going for $1,200 to $1,500.  I've seen some of them with extra coils and the gold screamer pack for just $1600 or so.  With prices like that...cheaper than the CTX 3030 vlf machine and some of the other VLFs...it's no wonder so many have gone to them.  I currently have a regular TDI model that I have outfitted with an aftermarket coil.  This breaths a little life back into the platform (different coils) but it is still not a GPX.  After selling a couple of unwanted coils that came with this particular TDI...I only have $275 in it. And for $275...it is a heck of a machine.  But with that said...if you were to offer me a TDI SL for $275, I'd just keep my money and buy a good .22 rifle or something.  :)

 

 

[Hard Prospector]

7 hours ago, tboykin said:

Brian that is very kind of you. We are the closest manufacturer to your neck of the woods and I hope to see you out there when I head down to NV next year!

Initial test with a 14.8 volt battery (overcharged to 16+) showed the TDI SL within an inch of the PRO on nickel and larger-sized targets and neck and neck on smaller targets. This was with the stock 12" coil and also the smaller 7.5" DF. Wide open on both machines, GB off, delay of 10usec. But the SL was a lot smoother at full throttle. You can try it yourself for proof.

I need to test it with more aftermarket coils like the MJD and Coiltek, but I would guess that results will be similar. You can make your own battery pack with a set of 4 18650's and some clever wiring but we hope to have a proper version soon. Such a simple change, and the bonus is it will fit all of our other machines that use that style of battery!

Tom,

Any estimates on when those  new battery packs will be out  for the TDI SL...... before Summer I hope?

[Reg]

tboykin,

Your questions and suggestions can be answered easily to improve the SL.  

First, contact RNB and have them build the SL Li Ion batteries but use the Panasonic 3400mah batteries.  Option 2 would be to add an under housing mod to hold external battery and a connector so an external 4 cell battery could be used.

As for not working in hot ground, simply modify units with my mod needed and installed on SPP OZ units.  Whites has the details already.  This makes the SL GB as smooth as the TDI.  Older units already made and in use can be upgraded easily for a reasonable cost for any unit out of warranty.

Modify the filters to allow for a faster swing speed (Reduce value of C20 and C21 from 0.47uf to 0.22uf).  This makes the SL a poor man's mini Pro model. Right now, the SL is crippled because of the filtering and trying to sweep to fast causes serious depth and small gold loss.  

Have Miner John build a couple of different sizes of the folded mono design and minimize selling the  Whites dual field design which doesn't ground balance well in bad ground.  Add a relic model and a separate gold model so relic hunters do not have to buy the dual field coils.  Dual field or folded mono are stupid for relic hunters since they don't need to find tiny objects.  FYI the folded mono design is something I came up with in July 2009 (http://www.geotech1.com/forums/showthread.php?15585-Coax-for-duel-field-coil&highlight=dual+field).  Just look for the jpeg of the different dual field design.

Change software to allow reducing the delay but either do so with a separate switch or mark the delay setting in RED where there may be a problem using the large coils.  

Add a switch to give and option to eliminate the third filter right after the GB summing junction.  This will eliminate the loss of small gold signals because of this filter interaction.  

Do these mods and you will give the ML 2300 a real run for the money.

Reg

PS you may have to remove C69 located between U1A and B when you lower the delay for proper operation.

[Rick K - First Member]

Reg,

As always, you enrich the community with your sharing.  Hopefully Whites will accept what amounts to hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of "non-recurring engineering".

Is anyone likely to be offering these mods (or most of them) on existing units?

[Hard Prospector]

11 hours ago, Reg said:

tboykin,

Your questions and suggestions can be answered easily to improve the SL.  

First, contact RNB and have them build the SL Li Ion batteries but use the Panasonic 3400mah batteries.  Option 2 would be to add an under housing mod to hold external battery and a connector so an external 4 cell battery could be used.

As for not working in hot ground, simply modify units with my mod needed and installed on SPP OZ units.  Whites has the details already.  This makes the SL GB as smooth as the TDI.  Older units already made and in use can be upgraded easily for a reasonable cost for any unit out of warranty.

Modify the filters to allow for a faster swing speed (Reduce value of C20 and C21 from 0.47uf to 0.22uf).  This makes the SL a poor man's mini Pro model. Right now, the SL is crippled because of the filtering and trying to sweep to fast causes serious depth and small gold loss.  

Have Miner John build a couple of different sizes of the folded mono design and minimize selling the  Whites dual field design which doesn't ground balance well in bad ground.  Add a relic model and a separate gold model so relic hunters do not have to buy the dual field coils.  Dual field or folded mono are stupid for relic hunters since they don't need to find tiny objects.  FYI the folded mono design is something I came up with in July 2009 (http://www.geotech1.com/forums/showthread.php?15585-Coax-for-duel-field-coil&highlight=dual+field).  Just look for the jpeg of the different dual field design.

Change software to allow reducing the delay but either do so with a separate switch or mark the delay setting in RED where there may be a problem using the large coils.  

Add a switch to give and option to eliminate the third filter right after the GB summing junction.  This will eliminate the loss of small gold signals because of this filter interaction.  

Do these mods and you will give the ML 2300 a real run for the money.

Reg

PS you may have to remove C69 located between U1A and B when you lower the delay for proper operation.

If  Reg was in charge of the TDI program years ago, there would  be a lot of happier  SL users today and much, much more $$$$$$$ for White's