Chase Goldman

57 minutes ago, Daniel Tn said:

Now, a great example of something I would have never thought to try:   I discovered this a couple weeks ago at a badly mineralized freshwater beach I hunt.  This particular beach, a machine like the CTX 3030 would null continuously due to the ground being so bad.  That particular machine wants to run single digit sensitivity there.  The Nox is extremely chatty in the Park and Field modes there. In fact, all machines I've had there are that way, some are useless at it.  Nothing is deep there, so the way I always hunt it is to just lower the sensitivity down to extremely low levels and scoop the solid hits.  This helps but does not eliminate the falsing on the Nox.  I read on one of the forums where another person was experiencing this, and had tried the Beach modes and they said their machine was quiet as could be.  By my understanding, the Beach modes on the Nox are just for salt beaches and salt water.  Everything you read on the forums say to use the other modes for freshwater.  Well guess what.  I gave the beach modes a try and the Nox is insanely quiet on this beach now. I can run my sensitivity up to 18-20 and not hear a sound until the coil is over something worth scooping.  See, I would have never figured to even try that since the books and manual says it's designed for saltwater use, and that there is no way to ground balance in it. 

Great example of "informed" experimentation.

You were right to experiment.  There are no absolutes.   People may use terms like X mode or Y setting is "Not recommended" for Z but that should not be interpreted to mean the same as "do not use", it simply means that X mode should not be your first choice in the specified situation.  That is why I agree with you that simply copying someone else's settings without knowledge of what those settings do means you are simply flying blind and guessing and INFORMED experimentation that comes through gaining as much book and practical knowledge about your machine is ideal.  I too find it frustrating that ML is not giving us more info about the secret sauce that differentiates the modes(but I also understand why they are not doing so), but I think I have filled in most of those gaps through swing hours and continued experience will only make me have a better intuitive feel for the Equinox.  It is a continuous process that never really ends unless I just stop swinging the detector and move on to something else.  But right now, there is nothing in existence that I would rather swing than the Equinox, Deus, or GPX (when needed).

When I make recommendations, I try to avoid "thou shalt" like statements as just about everything with respect to selection of settings and modes is about balancing tradeoffs.  In the case of use of the Beach modes at freshwater sites, I would say that if people are providing the proper context for their recommendations on why the other modes are "preferred" for freshwater sites, then no one should have come away with the idea that Beach modes should never be used in fresh water situations.  The reasons the other modes are recommended for fresh water, in general, is that you have the potential for better ultimate depth and/or the ability to hit harder on mid-conductive targets like small, gold jewelry.  The reason being that the Beach modes were designed for salt beaches because they are tuned to cancel out the salt signal and provide maximum stability. .  This results in a compromise that limits depth and can also create "holes" for certain mid-conductive targets that have phase shifts similar to Salt, and that usually means small gold.   Depth can be further limited in the Beach modes because reduced transmit power is used for Beach 2 AND in the case of both Beach modes, mineralized black sand can result in a further reduction in transmit power if the Beach Overload Warning is tripped.   The logic is that If you don't have salt to deal with then it makes sense not to also deal with these compromises, so preferentially use the other non-beach modes that can give you theoretically better performance. 

Ironically, the stability of the mode and reduced sensitivity to black sand by reducing transmit power is precisely what might make Beach modes killer at some freshwater sites that are noisy or have significant mineralization.  In fact, I plan to do some experimentation with Beach modes in mineralized ground which is something I hadn't even considered in the past.  Extremely mineralized ground conditions necessitate non-traditional approaches which means one could potentially have success with either the hottest mode (Gold mode) or the most stable mode (Beach mode), which is really counterintuitive.

BTW - I have never heard/read that you cannot ground balance an Equinox in the beach modes.  The manual certainly does not say that and in fact, recommends the use of tracking ground balance in the surf. Interested in where you saw that one.

3 hours ago, IRON MASK said:

Thanks for doing the repair to the hole. I understand any frustration with regards to that and trust me it was tough even evaluating the correct size as if we got it too big then they would have been 100% useless, too small was the better bet until enough feedback was available because as I mentioned mine was not OK and my mates was OK even with the exact same shaft. Just let Tony know you need the lock nuts and the black part for the handle and he will know what to send. If you don't want to wait for the nuts they are an M3. Thanks for your feedback and I am sorry that you have had these issues. I hope you will be satisfied in the field. :-)

Scott - left a note for Tony on the site's "contact us" web form.  Thanks for your responses.

Thanks for the tip in, GK!

1 hour ago, Happa54 said:

Thanx for that Chase. You are probably correct. I live near a couple of missions being in the San Gabriel Valley area. As you know there is a lot of Spanish explorer history here,  but I have yet to begin the search.

Please educate me on how Reales got to the East Coast and who brought them there. 

 

 

The Spanish where the only ones really minting silver currency in the Americas from the 1400's through the late 1700's (South America, Central America, Mexico, and Florida).  So Spanish silver was commonly used in the American colonies and in the French and Spanish territories until America sought it's independence and started minting it's own coinage.  So Spanish silver pops up in just about any American Colonial site where currency exchanged hands.  HTH

1 hour ago, Happa54 said:

Awesome find!!!!! Congrats.  I'd love to dig one.

I have not seen a post yet, of any reales dug here in So Cal.  

I grew up in San Diego, but the Navy put me in DC and Virginia.  Love the Colonial and CW history here on the East Coast, but always wondered what could be found on trails associated with the Spanish Missionaries in California.  If Reales are to be found it would probably be associated with the missions.

2 hours ago, IRON MASK said:

Anyone that I know that had the problem were able to solve it with a pointed knife or drill in a few minutes and I have not heard anything about this issue for a long time. 

1 hour ago, IRON MASK said:

Not all of the sets from the batch were too small and not all who bought them had problems. We are not sure as to why but we made the standard size of the hole bigger. The one that I use the hole was too small for my arm cup but fit my mates arm cup well, but his arm cup was used on the original shaft for a long time and mine was brand new so it maybe related to wear on the arm cup. 

Scott and Steve H.

Thanks for the link and additional info you both provided.  The Detecting-Innovations website did not pop up on the results when I searched on TELE-NOX or TELE-NOX shaft, just the dealers, so I could not find any direct contact information before you dropped the link on me.  Hence my perceived impatience/frustration.

Got the arm cup hole sizing issue sorted on my own with a little self-surgery, though I do not like to do that to high value, new product right out of the box, as I said previously.  Reamed it out myself, not pretty but it now accommodates the arm cups .  Anyone who has any tips on how to smooth and seal up the rough CF edges on the enlarged holes I am all ears.  CF is not fun to cut and drill., I like to leave that to the pros as I am no craftsman.

Main concern, Scott, was when you referred to the "earlier" units with small holes in a previous post was that perhaps I also had some of the older unrefined hardware pieces and that DOES appear to be the case.  Though the kit was purchased within the past few weeks, I do appear to have the older, less robust control head attachment piece and also do not appear to have the self-locking nuts on the cam lock lever attachments you mentioned above.

Will contact  D-I via the website contact info to try to get it sorted.  Anything I should know regarding key words and tricky phrases to help Tony understand my situation, especially since I am located across the pond?  Thanks again.

.

Thanks.

1 hour ago, Steve Herschbach said:

I suppose if the hole were too small and you just cranked on the screw it would split the rod. Could be what’s going on, especially if some dealers are selling older stock.

Steve,

Agree, I don't want to break anything, but I can't even crank down on the screw if I wanted to.  The problem is each of the arm cup pieces have little raised nibs that contain either screw through hole or the threaded portion to receive the screw.  These allow the arm cup pieces to settle into the holes on either side of the rod and fit snugly around the rod and also captures them in place to keep them from sliding axially or radially.  Since they do not insert into the holes at all, the screw cannot reach far enough through the rod to engage the threads on the other arm cup piece.  Not really interested in retapping the holes on a carbon fiber rod and frankly shouldn't have to at this price.  I can see a few escaping to individual buyers,  but it is disappointing these were distributed to overseas vendors when it is something that takes a second to verify before you put it in the package.

Can somebody provide me with the manufacturer's contact info.  Am I supposed to contact Tony Hunt? And if so, how? Google is not helping me in this regard.

4 hours ago, IRON MASK said:

I am not sure what is going on with the arm cup as I have not heard of any issues other than early batches has the hole too small. Have you assembled the new black piece under the handle? 

I apparently have the issue where the holes for the arm cup pieces were drilled too small.  I purchased my kit from a US vendor.   What is the best course of action for getting this issue resolved, dealing with the manufacturer or the vendor?  I have no contact information for the supplier as it was not included in the package.

Great find.

I know you listed the actual settings in the seated thread (Park 1, 50 tones, RS 3, IB 2) but what did you actually change vs. what you were running before? Also, are you running a 600 or 800?  Thx.

Does the 3.4 A charger have multiple usb ports?  If so, then it is probably just saying it can split 3.4 A across multiple ports (e.g., 1.7 A per port if there are two).  But, yeah, going with the 2.4 A charger should be good enough to give you the  maximum charge rate

5 hours ago, Dan(NM) said:

That bridle rosette was, from what I was told, used during the civil war, but, I can't confirm that.  The collar disc you mentioned is the first one I've found from the 3 sites we hunt. Im unsure  what it represents.

The “Shell and Flame” insignia belongs to the Army Ordnance Corps.  The two rosettes/collar insignias that have this symbol in your pics are slightly different.  In the context of your other finds are likely are WWI and WWII vintage but the upper one with the more prominent and spread out flame is definitely an older design that could pre date WWI (the lower more modern “3D” shell and flame insignia is oriented inverted, the flame shoots out of the top of the shell, the upper one is oriented correctly FWIW).  Great finds that cleaned up nicely.

Context can only provide likely clues, the pic below is of what turned out to be a modern day uniform insignia for a South Carolina Field Artillery National Guard unit that I found at a SC site that was coughing up colonial era flat buttons and Spanish silver.  Thought it was a much older piece of interesting brass upon recovery until I was able to later ID it.  Still interesting, just not old.

No problem using the higher rated (3A) charger, the battery will only draw as much current as it needs to charge properly as that is controlled by the Equinox internal charge controller (will draw about 1.7A+ max). A higher rated charger (>>1.7A) won’t force too much current into the battery and will not damage it and will give you the quickest charge time and typically has robust current limiting circuits to self-protect against overheating. ML does not recommend the lower rated chargers at about 1A because their internal current limiting circuits are often a mixed bag (cheap designs) and they may allow higher currents to be drawn by the Equinox such that they could overheat.  Otherwise, if they do properly limit current to prevent charger overheating, the only drawback is the longer charge times as stated above.  Computer USB ports are typically strictly limited to 0.5 A and are usually safe to use for charging but of course the charge times will be even longer.  HTH

I know the latter is true, turning down sensitivity in thick iron tends to lessen coil overload from iron, allowing shallow non-ferrous signals to pop out of the noise floor.

On 7/30/2019 at 1:01 PM, GB_Amateur said:

There are so many valuable nuggets of info coming from this thread (and the one on Tom D.'s site) that my head is spinning.  My overall takeaway is that there's a big wide wonderful world out there in two ways -- the variation in sites and the variations in detector settings.  The assignment:  match the two.

One thing I've noticed in problem solving in general is that it's easier to solve a problem if you know there is a solution.  An issue I've been having is that when my detector doesn't seem to be performing the way I think it should, after a few half-hearted adjustments I get into a pessimistic view that "this is as good as it gets".  I'm starting to realize that I should take the optimistic approach:  there is a combination of settings which will overcome the issues I'm facing and create a top performing detector -- first task is to go and find them.  Only after that can I find the treasure.

 

 

My detecting "Philosophy"

I cannot understate how much a good attitude and confidence play into detecting success.  Not only does a good attitude and optimism help you focus on the task at hand but have you ever noticed how your energy and focus fades as the day goes on and how it is worse when you are having a bad detecting day.  Conversely, noitce how energized and refreshed you feel after a good find is recovered or if you get into a zone and the finds keep coming.

The confidence piece of the equation doesn't just come with success but also when you have confidence in knowing your machine and, more specifically, when you have a firm grasp and knowledge of how you expect your machine to respond as you tweak settings.

Having the knowledge to know the tradeoffs of the parameters you can adjust and what you gain AND lose with each adjustment is important and allows for "informed" experimentation rather than random tweaking to see what works.  That being said, don't be afraid to go out on a limb and try something counterintuitive like using a low frequency in a high EMI environment or a low recovery speed in a high density area, or lower your sensitivity to sift for shallow keepers.  Just manage your expectations accordingly.

Also, be careful of absolutes.  There really are very few absolutes in detecting.

Examples -

Higher frequencies hit harder on mid-conductors and are generally more immune to EMI but have lower ultimate depth than lower frequencies.

Increasing senstivity can increase depth up to a point before it just starts becoming a noise amplifier and realize that the impact on depth is not linear and plateaus out at high sensitivities (i.e., you get less depth increase bang for your buck if you drive Equinox sensitivity much above 22 - the reason I don't fret if I can't increase sense due to chatter).

Multi Frequency is ALWAYS better than single frequency (Wrong).

Reducing recovery speed can effectively increase depth until it starts to increase ground noise.

I could go on and on.

In summary:

Tips for success

Site selection trumps most other varibles including detector and detectorist capability (this may require some up front detective work and research).

Know your machine well.

Coil coverage is key - you can't detect it if you never put your coil over it.

Have a good attitude and enjoy the day regardless of what you find.  Be glad you got the opportunity to detect, especially if you got to do it with good friends, good weather, and/or good scenery.

?

Yes, I have noticed oxidized lead numbers vary depending on swing direction across the target.  Fishing weights lock on pretty solid.  Same with deep small brass.

4 hours ago, Ridge Runner said:

I’ve been a long time lover of small coils hunting a new location for the first time. 

 I’m wondering why none are being made . It could be I’m the first that ask for one . I don’t look to find it at my door anytime soon.

 All the relic hunters and one coin hunter in the bunch I can see why I’m sucking hind teat.

 Chuck 

The elliptical is a perfect form factor small coil IMO.  9.5” swing coverage with 5” width for tight spots and decent depth for a 5” wide coil.

The HF coils both work great for coins.  You can run them down to 13 kHz for specifically targeting high conductors like coins but I have found silver with them while running at 28 kHz for relics, as well.

Where do you get this new bottom piece (the detector “foot rest” part) for the Equinox arm rest? Is that a custom piece you can only obtain from Tony?  My stock Equinox arm rest does not properly mate up with the telenox shaft for some reason.  I gave up fooling around with it after about a half hour of frustration.

Obtained this other telescoping shaft for Equinox that comes with a built in arm rest.  Plan to assemble it this weekend.

I think you can just email it to them.  Note especially when it starts to happen in terms of time after you turn it on and whether the frequency of occurrence is increasing.

Take avideo of it and contact ML repair.  Sounds like it is going south and it coukd eitger be the coil or the control pod.

3 hours ago, Lacky said:

Yeah, I did the auto pumping ground balance and started lowering sensitivity,  but got down to 14 and the knock signals were still there so I just put it back to 20 and ignored them. Park 1, park 2, and gold 1 didn't make any difference either. My ground balance numbers were really high though, and like a said I'd never had any before, so I assume I was just in really bad ground.

I've found coil bump/knock sensitivity increases if the GB setting is in the high numbers on the Equinox regardless of mode.

Yes, investing in a second charging cable is a good idea since it is a proprietary cable and if it gets lost or broken, you are up a creek no matter how much spare power you have. 

The multiple charge ports and components in Doc's kit are solid and it's a convenient all-in-one solution.  But if you are willing to shop around yourself for the individual components separately, you can find different combinations of chargers with fewer ports and even larger power banks and save a few $$.  FWIW.

Finally, just a note that even in all day detecting sessions, I have never needed to use an external power bank to charge the Equinox on the fly, but it is sure convenient to have in the field if you are in a remote location and can't plug in for an overnight charge.

I like to run iron bias at 0 when hunting relics or coins in the dirt.  I find it to be only marginally effective at reducing falsing, and as with any filter, huge potential downside at potentially masking non-ferrous, especially in thick iron.

That being said, at the beach I can take it or leave it.  Not a lot of falsing iron (bottlecaps give themselves away with highly unstable target IDs and ferrous grunts when wiggling of them, so iron bias is a moot point), low iron density where I hunt, and as a result little chance of ferrous masking so I just keep IB at the default setting when in beach mode on wet or dry sand or shallow surf.  HTH.

Problem maybe not solved at least for Deep1.  Apparently OP is still having problems with button presses and sent a third machine back for repair.  Strange issue, if it is indeed different than the expected behavior I demonstrated .