PimentoUK

Back on-topic, I see the coil has just two small flat gold-plated pads for the battery charging, like on the previous model. It would be better to have two pads per terminal, to reduce the chance of a poor connection, and to give longer service life, as the plating will wear over time. (this is standard on many switches and relay contacts, where one of the contacts has multiple fingers. As well as making a better connection, it affects issues like arcing and contact-bounce. It's also used on some motor commutator brushes, where bounce inevitable happens, and the inductive nature of a coil-of-wire gaurantees back-EMF voltage spikes.) Alternatively, use larger pads, so the clip-on charging device can use two or more probes per pad.

"I don't know in the UK" The Eqx has proved to be very successful and popular inland, in the UK. The Park1/Field1 modes are pretty decent all-round hunting modes, and Park2/Field2 are effectively 18kHz modes with extra depth due to Multi-freq, so they hit the spot that the XP GMP and Deus on 18kHz do so well, but the Eqx does it better ( especially considering the large coil size ).And the beach guys like it, as it's more ergonomic and lighter than the E-trac/Safari/other BBS they tended to choose, and waterproof too.

It's true that the performance is what matters, and the Deus2 could use innovative tech, but not necessarily deliver gains in 'finding stuff' -- for example clever design may be responsible for the coil having 10 hours run-time, say, whereas if they had used 'regular' designs, the same battery may only have given 4 hours run-time. So the user is seeing a benefit ... but not in finds haul. However your "stability in black sand" criterion is only one way of assessing how good /bad it is. Here in the UK, beach detecting is not the most popular niche, and farmland, ploughed or pasture/grazing , are the preferred locations. Our soil is busy with junk, but isn't actually strongly mineralised, in general. So most of the UK's prospective Deus2 customers are looking for gains that may be delivered by a machine that's nothing special in a 'black sand environment' .

Quote: "Putting an FFT Scope on the detector to count generated waveforms to settle the "number of frequencies" debates is really meaningless and a waste of time, also." I don't agree, I think it's interesting to see what's really being done. For one thing, it dispels all the marketing baloney claims, so people can disregard it. Remember when Minelab added the 4kHz option to the Eqx, and folks were wanting to know if it had been added to the 5/10/15/20 etc mix of the Multi-IQ mode, too? If they were properly informed, they would know there are no 5 or 10 or 15 etc in Multi mode anyway, so expecting 4k to be added would be a bit optimistic/unrealistic. And secondly, a 'scope will show if XP have created something truly different and original, that no other machine has. For example, they may be using 'direct digital synthesis' (DDS), to drive the coil with near-sinusoidal waveforms, so it actually looks like 3 sine waves on the coil, not a mess of square-edged signals. It's just possible they are actually transmitting a single square signal, and doing clever RX signal processing, much like the Tarsacci does. Or... consider those expired Minelab patents for BBS, with sequentially-switched dual frequencies ? There's plenty of scope to do things with that tech. ML only used 3.125kHz and 25kHz for all their FBS/BBS machines. But the 1:8 ratio isn't actually important, and the individual freqs can be tailored to suit the targets you're hunting. So "4k & 32k" for silver coins, "7k & 28k" for general hunting, "15k & 45k" for small target hunting.

It could be fractured wires inside the cable, close to the point where the cable enters the back of the connector. There is often a lot of flexing in that area, close to the strain-relief clamp, and wires will eventually fail.

The 'technical stuff' about frequencies really needs ignoring for now. Only when someone gets an oscilloscope, spectrum analyser etc near one can you really say what may be going on. I'm skeptical about the sheer number of frequencies. My hunch is they may use three at a time, and choose which three depending on the mode selected, so they would use a lower-weighted selection for the 'milled silver coins in parks' mode, a high-weighted blend for 'sensitive' / ancient targets in old European farmland. This is something I'm surprised that Minelab haven't ( yet ) done with the Eqx platform. ( or the FBS/BBS, in fact ). Currently, all the basic modes on the Eqx use 7.8kHz / 18.2kHz / 39kHz, but in principle they could shift them all down, to create, for example 6k / 14k / 30k : same ratios, same maths, just biased towards 'milled silver coin' hunting. So, for this Deus2, the combination of (4 + 28 + something inbetween) may be the high-conductor blend, and ( 7 + 45 + something inbetween) may suit the medium/small target applications. "Pick a frequency, any frequency".

"Shouldn’t target conductivity be included?" I agree, it's a bit vague, especially coming from XP. It's not just 'size' , it's the electrical characteristics that determine whether it's up with the big milled copper/silver coins or down with the thin ladies finger rings. But it seems that manufacturers never speak of the target frequency ( 'corner frequency' / -3dB frequency ) , even though that's exactly what they are measuring on a 'Target ID' scale.

The graphic is showing the 7 frequencies, and their relative strengths for the 4 criteria shown. So you see the highest freq is good at finding the smallest targets, but isn't that clever at discriminating iron.

So, now you've worked out how to open / reassemble the connector, why are you now searching for a new coil?

The connector type number/designation is marked on it, you could probably track down some assembly drawings / exploded-view type of info with some effort. That would give a clue as to what needs doing. Based on what I see, I reckon a three-pronged tool needs to be inserted into the three slots inside the business end of the connector, probably unscrewing a right-handed thread. Eventually it can be pulled forwards, and those slots will just clear the three pins protruding inside the sleeve.

"Why isn't this new model called "Deus Deuce" ?" It doesn't really scan, does it? "Day-uss doose". "Deus+" = "Day-uss plus", scans, but not in XP's native French, "day-uss ploo". Thankfully it wasn't created by software nerds, or they would've called it " Deus++" They could've chosen "Deus FM", = fréquence multiple, but in English that sounds like a radio station. I'm surprised they didn't name it 'Deus Elite' or 'Deus Ultra', they both work in French & English.

I had always wondered if one reason XP were slow to produce a multi-freq machine was the issues with fitting it 'all in the coil' and wirelessly connecting everything. Brute-Forcing square signals onto a search-coil is a big power-consumer, and the subsequent processing of the signal is also a power-user, and would require more physical electronics parts than the regular Deus coils. So then you would need a bigger battery. It all starts looking like the coil would be full of battery/electronics. A wired solution is the sensible option in this case. I'm wondering if this MF Deus runs a wired coil permanently, BUT, it is backwards-compatible with the current line-up of standard Deus wireless coils. It's technically easy, all the micro brains, LCD screen, buttons etc are all going to be there for the MF functions , and the signal-processing for the single-freq Deus is pretty simple compared to what would be required for an MF machine.

The obvious cheap alternative to using the 18 volt '7000' charger is to repurpose a redundant laptop power supply. They ARE regulated, have plenty of current capacity, and you may have one lying unused; they can be obtained free from family/colleagues, cheap from flea markets/car boot sales etc. They are typically 14V to 18V, use the dropper diode circuit to get them down to 12V or so.

Disclaimer: I don't use either of these machines. But I do understand electronics. I think the 18 Volt '7000' charger is capable of charging the '6000' battery, as it has enough current capability, it just puts out too many volts. So if you fitted some dropper electronics to lose 5 or 6 volts, you would have a solution. How are your electrical skillz ? The simplest way is to fit six silicon power diodes in series, these will drop about 0.75 Volts each, hence 5 volts or so in total. It's not really critical, as the nominal '12 Volts' for charging the '6000' battery can be a vehicle battery, which may be 12 V, but could be 13.5V if it's fresh off charge. Suitable diodes would be the 3 amp parts 1N5400/1N5401, which are plenty chunky enough to get rid of the modest heat that will be generated ( it could be 1 Watt each ). A quick look on UK eBay gave these, for example: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261860439805 Mechanically, it would be best if you fix them down, so the wire legs aren't strained. I would homebrew a simple circuit board from plain copper-clad PCB material or VeroBoard / Perfboard. Either have all six in series, or two groups of three, one in the +ve lead, one in the -ve lead. How you arrange the plugs and sockets is where I'm unsure. Do they have commonly available plugs etc? One way is to have a socket that fits onto the '7000' charger output, goes to the diodes, then to the '6000' charging plug. However .... this all works if that 18 Volts is regulated. It may not be so: after all the charging dock accepts a wide range of inputs, so if the 18V varied from 15V to 21 V depending on applied load, everything would be fine for the '7000' charger. But it's not appropriate for my suggested diode solution.

Here's one for you US coin enthusiasts. A New England shilling, found in a random collection, which also includes a Pine Tree shilling and two 'Continental' pewter dollars. A wealthy family from England, whose ancestors had business with the US in the early colonial days, "discovered" the coin among a random collection of US / British / Spanish coinage assembled by the family in years past: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-tyne-58982457 Some history of the NE coinage: https://coins.nd.edu/ColCoin/ColCoinIntros/NECoinage.intro.html

Silver and gold coins from the 1700's / 1800's , so they illustrate it with a banner photo of some Roman gold coins from 1400 years before the ship sank.... An interesting read, regardless.

That ear wear shown by 'againstmywill' is exactly the wear I was describing in my post on another 'broken ear' thread: People really should check their ears regularly for this, and take precautionary measures, such as using the shims I described ( cheap ), or possibly replacement of the rubber washers with new ones ( more expensive )

Quote:"Persons in England and Europe detect "Stone Age sites" all the time" You're missing my point... If you have a METAL detector, you're going to take it to a place where there is metal to be found. Assuming you have total disregard for any rules/restrictions/trespass/theft laws like this fool, you're going to aim for "Site of Roman Villa" / "medieval Fort" / "Abandoned Saxon Village" / "Civil War camp" / "Ruined Castle" etc , and the last place you would choose is a 5000+ year old temple that PRE-DATES the use of metal objects by a few thousand years. And if you weren't familiar with my postings, I called myself Pimento UK to draw attention to the fact I'm in The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. And regarding the modern detritus, it's been a popular tourist site for a long time, but since the 1960's there's been huge festivals, hippy gatherings to celebrate solstices, and all manner of anarchist/anti-establishment groups seem drawn to the place. See here, for example: image: http://www.ukrockfestivals.com/henge-84-township-herb.jpg Articles: http://www.andyworthington.co.uk/2015/06/21/stonehenge-and-the-summer-solstice-30-years-after-the-battle-of-the-beanfield/ https://blog.english-heritage.org.uk/stonehenge-1965-77/ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stonehenge_Free_Festival

He's clearly an idiot for metal detecting on a STONE AGE site, that dates from about 3000 BC, all he's going to find is modern rubbish. And regarding the 'unlicenced explosives' : Salisbury Plain was ( and still is ) used by the military as a training ground. My guess is he's dug up a live round of some kind, anything from WW2 vintage .303 or .500 calibre through to modern stuff. And instead of re-burying it deeper for simplicity/safety, he's stuck it in his pocket with the ringpulls and bottle tops left by the tourists.

He's not needlessly re-inventing the wheel ..... He's doing some fun engineering, extending the capabilities of his existing machine, with a budget that's probably under 10 US Dollars. I admit that technically, it's far better to drive the vibe-motor with a specifically created signal direct from the microcomputer brains of a detector, than to take the audio signal, and make a vibe-driver. Audio signals are AC, vibe's need a DC drive. Audio covers a range of loudness that is wide on a linear scale, but our ears are fine with that ... but vibe's have a much more restricted range for correct operation. A fellow over on the Geotech1 forum had a go at doing this vibe add-on for one of his machines. Unfortunately his tech skills were rather lacking, but I believe his experiments did result in something that worked, so it's certainly worth some tinkering.

Quote:"Why is it that the vibration does not work directly on the cable and it works through the headphone cable?" I see the problem here. The Equinox uses electronic switching to determine if headphones are plugged in, then it mutes the internal loudspeaker and drived the headphones. It measures the load placed on the Right channel, that is between the 'ring' and the 'ground' of the stereo plug. My experiments show 50 Ohms or less is needed to trigger the switch-over circuitry. Probably the simplest method for you is to short the 'ring' to ground, and use the Left channel ( 'tip' ) to ground as your audio source. I think the WM08 module would work underwater if it were placed very close to the control-box, so there was minimal water between them. The radio antenna in the control box is along the top edge, centrally positioned. The WM08 would probably need to be fitted into a watertight enclosure, I don't have one, so I'm unsure of it's water rating. I can't help much with the loop / WM08 issue. The module has stereo output, is it possible to use both L and R to drive the loop, either by directly joining them, or with a pair of low-value resistors ( under 10 Ohms ? ) to isolate L and R. Is the loop a low resistance ? Perhaps a series resistor may make it easier on the WM08.

There's much more to the CTX coil electronics, it's the most complex of ML's range. As well as the usual pre-amplifier and 'security microprocessor' , there's also an accelerometer on the circuit board. This will let the control-box know which way the coil is sweeping, and how quickly. The sweep direction is used in one of the 'display modes' where it shows multiple targets during a sweep, correctly positioned in sequence. As for sweep speed, it's a guessing game: detectors use band-pass filters to enhance the up-down nature of a target signal. This is normally fixed ( about 8 Hz I think ), and the user learns what the optimum sweep speed is to match the filter. If the machine can measure the sweep speed, it could in theory adapt its filtering to match the user. Other potential uses could be reduction of false signals at the end of each sweep. Whether these techniques are used or not is unknown. ( the accelerometer is probably a digital output device, and the micro's main purpose is to read it's output and sent it to the control-box. Security/anti-piracy features are a secondary function )

The facebook link doesn't work, something related to the string of dots in the middle, rather than the full address, I think.

Quote:"Maybe this machine is like the Teknetics T2 and can't handle a concentric coil." It's definitely not this reason. The T2 uses a centre-tapped transmit coil, which makes it difficult/expensive ( though not impossible ) to create a cc coil. The Eqx has a conventional single-ended transmit coil, and so this restriction is not present. I think the 'DD on CZ' issue mentioned above is nearer the mark. The Eqx is developed for a DD's characteristics, and it would take a load of extra development to make it work with either DD or CC. Having the ID/security chip in the coil would be useful here, as the coil could clearly identify itself as "A 12 inch concentric" , allowing the detector to choose the correct operating algorithms etc. to suit.

I had pondered the effect of the bolt, especially the large head size. What made me largely discount it was my thoughts on the Fisher F75 etc coil fixing arrangement, with the 11" x 7" bi-axial coil. I think those coil ears are not ideal. The tapered reinforcing ribs are OK, except they should NOT be tapered where the bolt/nut head sits, as the taper causes the bolt to bend significantly as it passes through the ears/clevis. I machined down my ribs to give a flat bolt/nut surface. Back to the Eqx - Clearly the bolt on that will bend easily, too, so ears that are bent inwards will not be a issue. You won't get much problem with excessive force being concentrated on the lower part of the ear, for example, because the bolt head will twist to align with the coil ear. However .. if you fancy some experimentation, here's an idea: Make a thin rubber washer the size of the bolt-head. Make a plastic washer to sit above it. Repeat for the other ear. Fit the pair under the bolt/nut head, rubber against the ear. This will allow more load-spreading. Thin rubber could be salvaged from a bicycle inner-tube.