My Soil Sucks Please Help With Equinox 800

[Cal_Cobra]

Daniel not only does cow urine mess up a site for detecting, it also heavily corrodes a lot of metal objects, including silver coins.  I've observed this phenomenon several times. 

I just detected a site that has heavy alkali soil.  I've done well there in the past with my Racers and Impact, but they struggle, you have to try to coax a signal out of any little tick of audio you get from the detector to try to bring up a signal.   Last week I was able to detect there with the Equinox.  For about the first half of the hunt, I fiddled around trying to get my go to Field2 to work, but it wasn't cutting it.  Finally I switched to Beach1 and what a difference, it started lighting up targets with clean clear audio whereas Field2 was getting tons of falsing, audible ground mineral feedback, and unless an object was practically on top of the ground it wasn't finding much.

[2Valen]

I am also in central Illinois and have the same problems. Should anyone have an idea as to how correct tis please let me know. My Bounty Hunter Tracker works better than my 1 week old 800.

 

Thanks

[2Valen]

I forgot to check the "Notify me of replies", but really I would like to know why every time I turn it on it gives so many false tones. 100+ digs in my back yard and nothing, I have the sense down to 11, did balance, and everything that I could think of.

[Chase Goldman]

 

First of all, welcome to the Forum!

You can really help us help you by giving us a little more information and context to try to figure out what is going on with these 100's of signals and false tones when you turn on the detector as to whether they are EMI (electromagnetic interference) caused noise, ground noise, or trash target noise, ferrous falsing, or a detector problem that requires repair.  What are the VDI's?  Have you tried to recover any of the target signals and what did you find?

How much experience do you have detecting and using different types of machine besides your Bounty Hunter (model?)  People are always going to be uncomfortable at first with a machine that behaves differently than the machine they are used to using.  Detectorists hate change.

What are you doing in your back yard - looking for random natural targets or do you have a test garden?

Have you tried test targets on the surface and buried in the ground to see if you have gotten the expected target response?  To see if you get reasonable depth?

What is your soil like in your yard, is it clay, is it mineralized?  What is the ferrous and non-ferrous trash density in your yard?

What modes are you using?  Do they all behave the same way?  Do you fundamentally understand the different modes, how they behave, and when they should be used?

Did you noise cancel?

What type of ground balance did you do - Manual, Auto?  Did you try tracking?

Did you try single frequency to see if that helps before taking sensitivity all the way down to 11?

Are there significant nearby Electromagnetic noise sources such as power lines, Wi Fi transmitters, cell towers etc.

Do you have your cell phone located near the control head while you are swinging the detector?

Filling in some of these blanks will help us help you diagnose what is going on.

Also, it is doubtful just because you are in central Illinois your issue stems necessarily from the same unusual soil issues the OP was having so I suggest you reply by starting a new dedicated thread but that you new post contain some of the answers to the above questions.

Hope we can help.

 

[Steve Herschbach]

If a cheap detector is working then make the Equinox into one. That a single frequency machine is ok is the big clue. Multi can just be too powerful for some situations - that is why you have the single frequency options. So I am with Chase on this one. Go to the single frequency settings and back down on the sensitivity as far as needed to make the machine stable. The setting does go down to 1 for a reason. Start there and work your way up. If you can make a Bounty Hunter work then you can make an Equinox work at least as well.

This is just where I would start off the top of my head. Do a full machine reset. Use Park 1, and then start with 5 kHz single frequency mode. Since EMI is a probable issue for the last poster, start with the coil in the air and sensitivity 1. Raise the sensitivity until you get chatter... this is EMI and so sets your upper limit no matter what. If you want try 10 kHz, 15 kHz, etc. using the same process to identify which frequency or frequencies are being most affected by EMI.

After learning that pick one that seems best. I would lean lower frequency but that is where EMI tends to be worst, so may need to be 15 kHz or whatever to avoid EMI.

Now go detecting by tuning up on a clean patch of ground. Start with sensitivity very low and leave all other Park 1 settings alone lest you mess it up more. Simply use the highest sensitivity setting that allows for stable operation. If that is a setting of 5 so be it.

Once you get the machine stable now you can compare it with the Bounty Hunter to see if you are ahead or not. The fact is that in really horrible conditions a cheap lower power detector may work as well as anything because you may not be able to run at higher power settings anyway.

Almost all VLF problems boil down to too much power being applied and operator resistance to accepting the need to prioritize stability over power.

Once you hit the wall with a VLF a PI is the only other real option, but that also presents issues. Some places are basically undetectable. That’s just reality.

Good Luck!

[2Valen]

Chase,

I will try to reply to all your questions and hope that I don't miss anything.

I have had an old Bounty Hunter I think it is a Tracker IV, it only cost $79 back when I got it. All I needed it for at the time was to located some pipe inside a customers wall.

When I first got my Equinox 800 I watched several videos to find out the best way to use it, and found that every time it gave a strong signal I dug down. When I stated that I have 100+ holes/targets that it showed something there I meant it.

First I did a full reset on the unit and proceeded to set it manually.

I did the ground balance, both auto and manual, the noise cancel, and I have tried every mode on the unit.

Since I live out in the country so far we have no cell phones because they don't work here. I was about 250 feet away from the house and even turned off the wifi units in the house.

About the only thing that I can think of is that there is an awful amount of bricks in the ground, but the soil is good black dirt. 

I have not found any nails, pull tabs, bottle caps, or trash like that.

The only way that I was able to hit a target with this 800 was to lay a penny, dime, Nichol, quarter, and my wedding ring on top of the grass and then I was able to find them once the sense was turned down.

I did not know if the OP was in the same area and was having the exact same thing with his unit, if so it could be the area.

I hope that this helps figure something out for the both of us.

As of today I have had the Equinox 800 for 1 full week and have tried using it 4 times with the same results.

What is VDI as I am new to this term, I really want to learn everything I can so it will help me find relics and maybe someday gold.

 

Thanks

[2Valen]

Steve,

Thanks for the information and yes I did try using single frequencies instead of multi.

When you stated that some areas just can't be searched is what I am wondering about for this area. The same things happened to me on my neighbors property with the same results. He lives about a half mile from me down the road.

When I had seen a post very similar to mine in the same area it got me wondering if we were having the same problem.

I hope that the information I posted above this helps.

Thanks

[bethanyb1201]

Hello all! I forgot about this post! I have since figured out the 800 in my loamy glacial till! I am in Loda Il. Its on the southwest corner of iroquois county. It took ALOT of tinkering and tests but I am now able to get 10 in on a dime during Ideal conditions. 1st thing I found out was we have alot of ariel plane to ground signals for some reason so can I can only hunt at night. Its the only time I can have a quiet machine. 2. You MUST grid off a 30x30 or whatever size section you want to hunt and do random GB over the grid. I can go from 90 to 15 in 5 foot! Auto isnt fast enought to keep up. 3. I can only hunt when ground is completely dry or soaking wet! No inbetween.. It has to do with the heavy mineral content. In dry soil I get 6 in and soaking wet 10 in. This info is for multi only. Very SLOW swing speed.. I use the beach for land settings and they work perfect! Higher recovery speed doesnt help in this soil for some reason. I have better luck on 2-3 and extremely slowww.. I run sen 20-24... Those old bricks sound like silver dollars! I havent figured out how to beat that besides switching over to 10 custom..I also learned 50 tones. Thats the way to truly beat this soil! The machine tells you everyrhing you need to know on 50... 5 not so much. You also must use head phones. If you dont you WILL miss the little subtle noise thats dif from bricks and minerals. I spent 20 miserable hours in my test garden on 50 tones before I got it. I came from a discovery 3300 almost like yours. Biggest keys are a GB grid, 50 tones, soaking wet or dry soil. I am in Tennessee as we speak and detecting on regular ground is like shooting fish in a barrel compared to home. Stick with the beach to land and learn it.. Forget the machine has all other multi modes. In central Il you are better off using a single freq than using park,field... Gold mode I am starting to see some major promise also but going to play more before giving my approval.. Sorry I dont know the big words but hope that helpsm

[Horst]

good to see how much help one will receive on this forum. I had EMI issues with my Nox 800 and they are history now due to the input I received from you guys right here on DP. Good to know there is a family................

[2Valen]

bethanyb1201,

Thanks for the input for what you found on this unit, I hope to learn how to understand everything that you have told me about the settings that you are using. I live 125 miles south of you near Hillsboro IL. and I will have to find a place to make a test garden in this soil and learn what you have shared.

Thanks for the information!