Equinox 800 Emi Testing

[Guest Tnsharpshooter]

Disclaimer: I hold no official electronics engineering degrees whatsoever.  The majority of my electronics experience hands on has been when active duty USAF for 22 years.

I may have stumbled on to something folks depending on their actual detecting scenario can utilize when using Equinox, especially when detecting with other detectorists using detectors, especially muliple units like rallys.

First this pic.

I have been doing some emi testing using Equinox.  I needed another emitter that would hopefully share a common frequency or be very close.  So I chose Nokta Impact detector since it can be run at 20 khz.

Remember, ideally I don’t know the exact frequency each detector is running on based on channel selected.

So who here believes they can manually listen to Equinox and select different channels and pick a good channel to use to detect ? And actually listen for cleanliness in detect mode.  No submenus open.
I can say right now, with near 100% certainty I CAN’T.
Why?

The story begins with running Impact detector at 20 khz channel 3 selected.  And runnning Nox in multi freq park  2 detect mode.
I did some airtest using nox with Impact on and off, and also doing noise cancels on Equinox.  I could see Equinox being impacted somewhat on most chaannles when manually selected on airtest depth of clad dime from top of the coil.
Keep in mind I tried to keep detector position and proximty pretty consistent to add more value to this testing.  Even doing this this in NOT a labratory trst by no means.

I when doing noise cancel with Nox (wiresless headphones used btw) and having Impact on and at 20 khz channel 3, i would then proceed to airtest clad dime from top of coil.
Sens was kept at 24 on all testing.
Airtest distance seemed to always be right in the 10.25” range.
Some channels this distance would shrink down like 8.75, more of the nonselected noise cancel channels seemed to always give at least 9” distance.
Equinox while in detect mode was nice and clean sounding on every channel.
So me trying to pick one wihout airtesting dime maybe not really feasible.
I would turn Impact off and check all channels manaually, and YES some channels distsnce had improved,  Doing noise cancel with Impact off and airesring using clad dime again yielded pretty much 10.25” of distance from top of coil.

Now here is where it gets more intersting.
I decided how about me try 20khz single frequency on Equinox and see what happens.
I did just that.
After doing noise cancel, Equinox quiet (not like it wasn’t beforehand) then I proceeded tomdo airtest of clad dime from top of coil.  Distances obtained here less than multi frequency provided.  So again checking each channel manually on Equinox, all seemed to be pretty close distance wise until I got to channel 8!!  And even when in channel 8 Equinox quiet as a moise.
Nothing telling me by way of chatter, sqeaks, really anything it wasn’t a good channel.  Airtest on clad dime here using channel 8 a poor 5”, around a full 3”shy of what the other channels gave  (Impact on).

So I said to myself golly Inwould never want to be around Impact user running channlel 3, 20 khz.
So I went back to multi frequency and played around a bit to confirm what I had seen earlier comparing.

So back to 20 khz I go on Nox.
Low and behold as I was hitting the gear shift button on Nox I call scrolling the menus.  I get to Ground Balance menu when and Nox happened to be in channel 8 and the Equinox audio was pumping out this big time waiver.  You only hear this sound when GB is selected.  With GB selected no other channels were emiiting this noise like doming from channel 8 on Equinox.  I could hear some small noise, and depending on which channel selected seemed to vary a little.

So, based on what Inexperienced if I had to manaully pick a channel to detect with with Nox, I would be listening while GB menu selection is engaged.
Remember, there are llikely on so many combinations with Equinox when doing noise cancel.  A monster rally where most folks run same detect mode (and maybe even diferent) there could ve times when Nox noise cancel maybe not be as worthy to use vs listening manually to each channel.

I didn’t noise cancel Nox a hundred times or anything with Impact on and at channel 3, 20 khz, but Equinox what times I did do noise cancel, it  never did select channel 8.

[Guest Tnsharpshooter]

More Emi testing.

Okay yesterday I witnessed something using single frequency ops with Equinox while using Nokta Impact At 20 kHz to act as my emitter (spoiler).

So, today I got to thinking, what about Mulit freq? Just how is it compromised is say an emitter is sharing similar same frequency?

So with some experimenting using Equinox Park 2 detect mode, I kept changing Impact detector’s channel trying to find a culprit matchup where Equinox was indeed being operated.
I was successful, and I could tell by listening with either noise cancel submenu open or ground balance menu open.
Channel 2 on Equinox Park 2 in conflict with Impact at 20 khz channel 5.
Btw, Impact detector lets me know this too, mindblowing chatter, solid, no breaks in rhythm.

So I proceeded to do airtest using clad dime from top of Equinox’s 6” coil.
I get right at 10” airtest distance with steady tone. Remember Impact is At conflicted settings while doing.
 Next did a noise cancel, yep Impact quiets down, do another airtest with clad dime, basically same as before 10”.
Now I don’t know exact frequency weighting of park 2.
I will say some folks think and I believe it’s true, the good folks at Minelab gave us Manual noise cancel feature.  And some thought this was for Emi mitigation.
And I think it is too, and there are far more more powerful emiiters than the Impact detector, one might find around the world.

So, based on just these tests above, it seems even though one frequency used in detect mode is conflicted, this doesn’t spoil Equinox’s whole act here.  The other freqs seem to keep the show going.

Wish I still had my Rutus, with its range of frequency offered, I could really get in the weeds using it to do some testing.

Test above redone using US nickel instead of clad dime.
Same thing witnessed.
Equinox ran in a seemingly conflicted status vs after doing noise cancel, I get virtually same air test results -11.5”
Remember there are power lines about 20ft to my left in pic.l

Another EmI test.
This time a double whammy to try and take Nox out performance wise.

Equinox park 2 channel 2 used.
Impact left at 20khz channel 5, I found what seems like (based on audio) provided by Nox and Deus to conflict with Nox.
Freq of 14815 hz using elliptical Hf coil.
All 3 detectors in pic around 4-4.5 ft apart.
Again checking airtest distances using both clad dime and us nickel.
Comparing while seemingly conflicted vs after noise cancel. Virtually same air test distances measured.
10”for clad dime.
11.5”for nickel.

After noise cancel both Deus and Impact much more quieter.

Btw, Equinox using 15khz, channel 3 single freq, is in direct conflict with Deus Hf coil at 14815 hz
Even in detect mode screen,  no submenus open, Equinox is extreme chatter, no detection possible at all.
Worst interference here I have witnessed thus far.