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My Soil Sucks Please Help With Equinox 800


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9 hours ago, 2Valen said:

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 of all, thanks for taking the time to fill in some of these details.  Unless your machine is broken (unlikely, but still a possibility at this point), I think we can help you but we will still need some more info.

I gather from your response regarding your  brief Bounty Hunter pipe locating experience that you have very little general experience metal detecting for discrete, small in-ground targets.  Lack of basic metal detecting skills can be somewhat at play here.  That can affect your expectations and I think that may be also affecting how you are setting up the Equinox and interpreting the Equinox signals and can be causing difficulties in communicating the issues you are experiencing.  

I also don’t doubt your local conditions are contributing to your issues. So I will have to ask you some more questions to attempt to figure out what is going on.

For example, need some more clarity from the above quote  - dug down and what?  Were you able to recover any targets?  If so, what were they? Were the strong signals two ways (I.e., equally strong when swinging right to left and as well as left to right?). 

9 hours ago, 2Valen said:

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

Full reset was a good first step.  What mode/settings did you PRIMARILY use after you reset the machine? What exactly did you set “manually”.  I usually advise not making any manual settings adjustments on the Equinox when starting out (other than auto noise cancel and ground balance if needed), and use Park 1 at the default settings and learn the machine with that mode exclusively.  

The reason is that each mode (Park 1, Park 2, Field 1, Field 2, Beach 1/2, Gold) behaves differently and if you are new to Equinox and especially metal detecting, you can become quickly overwhelmed switching modes because it can be like you are learning 3 or 4 new machines at once, not one.  And believe me, you don’t want to be learning more than one machine while also learning how to metal detect.  

You can take it one step further and just hunt in single frequency (10 or 15 kHz) as Steve suggested to take even more complexity out of the equation until Equinox starts to click for you.

If you have adjusted settings away from the defaults, suggest you factory reset and start again with a clean slate and use my suggestions above on the mode and frequency settings.

Make sure you are using the default discrimination settings to filter out iron and ground noise.

9 hours ago, 2Valen said:

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.

Mode?  What did the display numbers read for each target?

9 hours ago, 2Valen said:

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

Have you tried any other locations.  Local parks or other large farm fields?  BTW, veteran metal detectorists typically need 100 hours swinging a machine in the field before they feel comfortable about what the machine is telling them about buried trash and keeper targets.

9 hours ago, 2Valen said:

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

What have you found?  You should sample  some trash test targets in addition to coins to help you differentiate trash and keepers and so you can see how they display and sound.

9 hours ago, 2Valen said:

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. 

Doubt brick pieces would cause your issues.  What makes you think bricks are in the ground?  Have you dug any bricks?  Did you run the coil over recovered bricks to see if the detector responds to them?

9 hours ago, 2Valen said:

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.

Any Overhead power lines in the area, electric fences, invisible dog fences, noisy power transformer?

9 hours ago, 2Valen said:

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.

Yes, sorry for using the acronym.  VDI stands for visual display indication.  What numbers were being displayed when these 100’s of signals were being heard? You may also hear the similar term TID which stands for target ID.  Every target gives a fairly unique ID number.  Knowing what ID numbers are displaying on your 100’s of target signals in your yard can help us decipher what those might be.

High conductors like copper, silver, and clad coins will ring up in the 20’s and 30’s.  Some larger aluminum objects like beer cans can ring up here, too.  Mid conductors like nickels, small aluminum, brass, and gold jewelry will ring up in the low teens or single digits. And iron targets (unless large targets like pipes and horseshoes) will ring up as negative numbers.

From what you are describing, your problem sounds different than Bethany’s soil issues which are primarily affecting detectable target depth, but they could be related.

See if you can fill in the above gaps and hopefully we can get this machine clicking for you.

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Just a longshot WAG:  was your home once heated by coal?  Mark Gillespie, a regular poster here, has told of a schoolyard where he can only hunt with a Pulse Induction (PI) type of detector because in the past the waste from coal burning (known as 'coke', I believe in Britain, and what we used to call 'cinders' when I was growing up) was spread there.

Chase's suggestion to try your detector in a local park should remedy the problem you're having if I happen to have hit on its source.

 

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Chase,

Thanks for responding to me and I will do my best to answer these questions.

When I first started I kept everything on Park 1 and multi after I completed the noise cancel and the auto ground balance.

For example, need some more clarity from the above quote  - dug down and what?  There was nothing there and when I checked again it did not hit on anything. I filled the hole back in and kept on going.

Mode?  What did the display numbers read for each target?  I started with Park 1 and had several hits in the ranges of 17 - 31 and that is the only things that I tried to dig.

Have you tried any other locations.  I have also gone to a local beach and used Beach 1 auto with sensitivity set on 11 and I did find 6 pennies and 2 lead anchors. Everything was only about 2 inches from the top of the sand. I have yet to try my neighbors field that had an old church on it about 100 years ago. I do want to learn this and will do almost anything to so.

Doubt brick pieces would cause your issues. These are full bricks that were probably laid for a landing strip during WWWI when this area was used to train some of the pilots before they went to war overseas. I heard that they built several landing strips out of the bricks and trust me when I say they are everywhere. Some areas the bricks are laid side by side for almost 100 feet and goes on for almost a 1/4 mile. They are down in the ground now about 18 to 24 inches. I found this out today when I was talking to some long time residents from the area.

Any Overhead power lines in the area, electric fences, invisible dog fences, noisy power transformer? There is no overhead lines, electric fences, dog fences, or noisy transformers within a 1/2 mile of me.

What mode/settings did you PRIMARILY use after you reset the machine?  Most of the time I used the factory settings and used Park 1 around the house and Beach 1 at the local beach.

What exactly did you set “manually”. I set the noise cancel, then manual ground balance, and target to 5. I tried to copy some settings from a youtube video that I had watched.

With all that said there has been many home's in the area that did use coal, but I do not know if there was ever a house on my property before. Glaciers did make it down this far and I go panning quit often in several creeks and streams near me. My wife and I have only found a couple of ounces in the past couple of years but we did find a nice diamond last year. There is also a lot of coal being mined around here and also a coal fired power plant 10 miles down the road.

I hope that this helps find a solution for what is going on. I am talking to my neighbor that is going to allow me to put a test garden on his property if his ground is any better.

Thanks for taking the time to help me.

 

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Hey we're making some progress, but still have questions...

9 hours ago, 2Valen said:

Have you tried any other locations.  I have also gone to a local beach and used Beach 1 auto with sensitivity set on 11 and I did find 6 pennies and 2 lead anchors. Everything was only about 2 inches from the top of the sand. I have yet to try my neighbors field that had an old church on it about 100 years ago. I do want to learn this and will do almost anything to so.

I reckon the beach you went to was fresh water?  If so, just keep the detector in Park 1, because the Beach modes are designed to cancel out false signals due to salt, so should primarily be used at salt beaches or in alkaline soils.   Beach will still work in fresh water, but you may unnecessarily lose your ability to recover deeper targets as a result of the programming used to compensate for salt.

But my main question is why did you keep sensitivity dialed down to 11 at the beach?  Was the detector noisy at the default sensitivity setting of 20?  Generally, beach mode is the most stable mode and can be run at relatively high sensitivity settings.  The combo of beach mode and the super low sensitivity setting of 11 could explain why you were only recovering shallow targets.

Also, were you hearing hundreds of targets at the beach?  Did you try test targets at the beach?

9 hours ago, 2Valen said:

What exactly did you set “manually”. I set the noise cancel, then manual ground balance, and target to 5. I tried to copy some settings from a youtube video that I had watched.

Not sure what you mean by target to 5.  Do you mean 5 tones?  Park 1 defaults to 5 tones.  Try to refrain ftom using you tube settings until you learn the machine and understand what the settings do. You should be able to get away with Park 1 at all the default settings save for doing a noise cancel and auto ground balance and the only adjustment being sensitivity to reduce chatter as necessary and should be good for 99% of the detecting situations you will routinely encounter.  Use beach mode at a salt beach if you go to one (will work better than Park 1 unless you just stay in the dry sand).

Also, when you were unable to recover targets in your yard (dug down and nothing was there), how did you pinpoint the target location?  Do you have a handheld pinpointer? 

How did you pinpoint and recover targets at the beach?

At this point, my suggestion is for you to find out if there is a nearby detecting club or metal detecting dealer that can introduce you to some experienced local detectorists to show you the ropes.  If I lived closer, heck I would road trip your way and do it myself as I have done a lot of instruction on detecting basics and courses focused on specific detector models.

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Chase,

 

But my main question is why did you keep sensitivity dialed down to 11 at the beach?  I had to lower the sensitivity because I was getting to many targets that had nothing in the ground.

Also, were you hearing hundreds of targets at the beach?  Yes I was getting many false targets until turning down the sense.

Did you try test targets at the beach?  I did bury several coins about 6 inches down and was not able to find them again. They are still there and with some luck learning this unit I will be able to go back and find them.

Not sure what you mean by target to 5.  Do you mean 5 tones?  I think that it was the tones, but I only tried it for a very short time and went back to the factory settings and then turned down the sensitivity.

Also, when you were unable to recover targets in your yard (dug down and nothing was there), how did you pinpoint the target location?  I used the pinpointer feature on the Equinox 800 to locate the spot, then dug down and moved the soil to the side about a foot away from the hole. I then scanned again and nothing showed up.

Do you have a handheld pinpointer?  How did you pinpoint and recover targets at the beach? The day I went to the beach my new Garret pin pointer was delivered and I did use it at the beach. Won't leave home without it when I go again.

Chase at this point with all your advice I am going to leave it in the factory modes and learn it the best that I can.

I am looking for some areas to practice on that are not so hot, and allow me to learn the tones better.

My wife thinks that I am sweeping to fast and wants me to slow down. It takes about 2-3 seconds to go from left to right and then 2-3 seconds to go right to left. I keep everything level with the ground and try to take my time. I hope that is correct.

What part of the country do you live in? There is a place in Tennessee that I really want to go to some day again. 35 years ago I built a detector from some parking lot equipment to find a lost gold shipment and would love to have a few friends go and help find it. I have narrowed down the area to a 2 mile stretch, but I know it is going to be down deep. The last time we found a VW Bug buried about 4 feet deep. We were able to dig it out and fix it up. This trip would be to locate a $500,000.00 pay wagon for the troops during the Civil War, that is why we had to go really deep. Most of the pay was gold coins and silver coins, and there was no paper money involved. Let me know if you would like to try to help find it.

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Valen, here's a suggestion for practicing.  Go to playgrounds,  bark, rubber, sand, doesn't matter. Then detect it, but everytime you get a signal run the pinpoint over the surface. If the pin pointer doesn't detect it skip it and move on. That way you are just looking for shallow solid targets, its quick,  no spending 10 min trying to dig one target, no frustration,  and lots of different targets in a short period. It's great initial practice. I did it last night after my river hunt was a washout. 

It took me 2 holes to realize the bark was 8 inches deep, then a layer of weed barrier, and I was detecting targets under the weed barrier (wasn't about to wreck that).  So I just switched to surface hunting (well, within 2 or 3 inches of surface), knocked down the sensitivity to 14 so I didn't hear most of the deep targets, and found some coins, an ear ring back, some tiny charm pieces,  foil, a couple pull tabs, etc, using just my fingers, no digging needed.

That should avoid the soil problems while you get started.

Edit-using park 1, park 2 would probably pick up lots more tiny bits of foil.

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Lacky,

That is what I planed on doing on Saturday after mowing the yard. There is a sports complex with soccer fields and ball diamonds that I thought about trying to spend some time at for a couple of days. They are only about 12 miles down the road, and it would be good practice on the weekends.

Which river were you in? I know my neighbor is from Idaho and he might know the area.

Thanks for the input.

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Just the Boise River, runs right through town. The advantage of playgrounds is the sand or bark or bits of rubber are super easy to dig in, and it is all brought in so eliminates the difficult local soil problem.

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Lacky,

Down her they use 1/4 inch river rock and you never know what is in it. I will try it around the swings and slides as they have several at the same area.

Thanks

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That's surprising,  the whole point of the sand/bark/rubber bits is it doesn't hurt the kiddies when they fall. 1/4 gravel doesn't seem so soft. Still easy to dig though, so the pinpointer across the surface should still work fine. You won't be the only person to have done it, so it should be mostly or entirely recent drops.

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