PimentoUK

Built like a brick shithouse is a quaint British expression. It refers to the days when the lavatory was not indoors, but a seperate building at the end of your garden. They were often crude wooden constructions, but better quality ones were made of bricks. A brick shithouse. And being 2m tall may have implications on your detector fit. You may want a longer shaft ... but don't forget the limited length of cable that's standard on the coil. Another reason for an extension-cable, even if it is only 4 inches long.

"They turn on but do not detect any metal. Is it the electrolytic capacitor, the flat pack The IC or is it in the coil itself that is the problem? Is that long rod a radio frequency coil?" I only have experience of the standard ProPointer, so can't comment specifically about the AT. But ... It's not the big electrolytic, it's not the microprocessor, it's not the coil. Most problems are related to the environmental factors. It's got water ingress. It's got condensation inside. It's got dirt inside. The physical beating it takes has caused a fault, such as a broken wire to the coil. I presume you've opened it up ? Look for corrosion, dirt, water staining. I would expect it to have conformal coating ( a varnish like laquer) on most of the PCB, but it's not applied everywhere. Clean it with a brush, a wet Q-tip etc, put it somewhere warm for a day to dry out. Inspect it under a lens/loupe/magnifying glass.

Here's an example of cracking on the weak point in the moulding, this one from a UK beach hunter. The uppermost of the two cracks will be the moulding flaw, I think.

Looks like H.K "Blue" Garland. A guide to panning, mining and detecting in Australasia. ( click on the image, it's actually much larger )

Oh, cool, I now have the missing 'source' button to toggle between plain text and html. And if I shrink down the page once, the sub & superscript buttons appear... though not in the 'edit post' mode, I have to shrink twice to get them then ?? But with html editing available, I think I can sort out all the trickier things. And Goldseeker's tip re: colours seems to work. Cut some text, paste it into the post as black. Then select it all, then choose a new colour, and the whole lot changes colour. A little test: Susceptibility = 250 x 10-6 units (cgs) Steve said: "I just jiggered the toolbars." ..which is OK in the privacy of your own home. HeHe. Time to try and edit some of my non-functional posts then...

Is this the icon that appears as <> and says 'code' when you hover over it? I get that one appear when I shrink things down once. It's not the same icon as Steve marked in red, the piece of paper with 'source' next to it. It gives me a blank screen, though? Shouldn't it show my text etc? I'll have to read up on that, and experiment. Years ago, eBay listings had that feature, you could just tab between plain text and html, I used it to put urls of externally-hosted images in my listings. That was when you only got 1 small image for free. But eBay dropped the feature, as clumsy html would mess up the page. They enclosed it in an i-frame for a while, to isolate it from all the other garbage they splatter all over your listing, but it still didn't work. They're too greedy. When people look at my listing, I want them to see my listing, not thousands of links to other peoples items. eBay was OK 15 years ago, not now.

I've looked at the release notes for V 4.5, released in September 2020, and it states: "Deprecated: BBCode parsing support - upgrading users will be asked during upgrade if they wish to retain BBCode parsing support." That was when there were a lot of cosmetic changes, like the 'Edit Post' moving to a drop-down menu, and evidently you chose not to retain BB code support. There's no sign of the 'switch to html' button when I post, no matter how many times I "ctrl&-" to zoom out. Likewise, I can't get the 'subscript' and 'superscript' options which CKeditor's website implies are standard options. I can't even work out how to change that line I pasted from Invisions website into blue text, so it's clear it's not my writing. I chose 'blue', then pasted the text and it pasted black. I tried deleting the first D of deprecated, changing to 'blue', typing D in the anticipation the rest would change to blue.. but it didn't, just the first D was blue, the rest stayed black. Sigh.

My proposed scale(s) actually are logarithmic, there is a fixed ratio between every value on the scale, so a mathematical formula absolutely exists that converts from one to the other. And it's surprisingly simple. Notice how I chose '40' to represent 10000 ? Well log (base 10) of 10000 = 4. Multiply that by 10 and that's the displayed value. So a susceptibility value of 40 (x 10-6) displays as 10 log (40) = '16'. And to convert back: Susceptibility = 10 ^ ( display_value/10 ) hence a display of '34' = 10 ^ 3.4 = 2512 ( x 10-6 ) units (cgs metric) And with a bit of practice and a memory mnemonic, it's not hard to learn the conversion. The decade displayed values 20, 30, 40 etc are the round-numbers 100, 1000, 10000 , and the mnemonic that "30 has 3 zeroes" "20 has two zeroes" etc. defines which is which. Having sorted out the basic decades, the 4 'fill-in' numbers 16, 25, 40, 64, well, they can be 'fudged' to 15, 25, 40, 65 with no practical loss, that makes them a bit more memorable. So.. you've got a reading of '28' ? You know '30' is 1 and 3 zero's = 1000. 28 is one reading lower, so it's the "65" value, which means it will be 650 as that's the next value below 1000. so: 650 x 10-6 susceptibility (cgs) ... or 650 ppm magnetite concentration if you're using that scale. A better way is to have an '888' display. Even if it's not used for much else on the machine, it would be great for a Fe3O4 meter. Just use the 3-band resistor code, as mentioned previously. '161' = 160 x 10-6 units. '103' = 10000 x 10-6 units. (It would be a good battery voltmeter, too. '391' = 3.91 Volts) As far as 99% of people won't use it, you're probably right .... however Tom D has observed that since Fisher/Tek started putting Fe3O4 meters on their machines, people have been mentioning their readings. I think if a decent capability meter was available, the uses for it would encourage more uptake. Tom D would actually be able to measure his sandy Florida dirt. You could probably use it to locate fire pits. I think old tracks in woodland have different mineralisation/iron levels to the surrounding land. A good meter may give evidence of this, even when other evidence, like a depression in the ground, are not visible. US park hunters often talk about 'fill dirt' , it's possible a good meter may indicate older vs.newer areas, thus enabling you to hunt more intelligently. I've noticed fields change their 'character' as you move across them. The reason being that old hedgerows have been removed. When the hedge was present, there was more activity on one side than the other. Now it's gone, this historic difference may show up in ground strength.

OK, after hours of frustration, I'm getting SOMEWHERE. I said I only had 9 options at the top of the post box . Well just out of curiosity, I shrunk down the text size of my browser using ctrl &- , and surprisingly a load of new options appeared, there's about 15 of them in total now, including text colour and text font size, so that's a start. Shrinking things down further doesn't make any more appear. This seems a pretty poor job from the forum software, that it won't work properly on a perfectly normal monitor size. Second discovery: I've tried to find out which version of 'Invision Community' forum this is, but failed to locate it anywhere ... but assuming it's the latest version, it turns out that IT NO LONGER SUPPORTS BB_CODE AT ALL, not a sausage. Hence why [color=blue] , [url] , [sup] etc are completely ignored. Posts of mine from the end of August worked fine with bb-code, but sometime in Sept it stopped. This does raise the question : Why do old posts with bb-code in them still display OK , if new ones don't? I dunno. While I couldn't find a user guide to posting on here, it appears it uses something called "CKeditor", so I'm going to look on their website and see if I can find a page on how to use it, I'll post it up if I do, it would be useful to everyone, I'm sure.

The scaling idea I proposed could be applied to the "% magnetite" scale in the same way. It would probably be better to change from percentage to 'ppm' , parts per million, then it would give large non-fractional numbers to deal with. One percent = 10000 ppm, so choose '40' to represent this. This results in readings: 88-display = ppm = % magnetite 46 = 40000 = 4 44 = 25000 = 2.5 42 = 16000 = 1.6 40 = 10000 = 1 ... 30 = 1000 = 0.1 ... 24 = 250 = 0.025 22 = 160 = 0.016 20 = 100 = 0.01 18 = 65 = 0.0065 16 = 40 = 0.004 I've investigated what the magnetic susceptibility figures are. Thanks to a wiki page on Magnetic Susceptibility, I see the issue. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magnetic_susceptibility Magnetic susceptibilty is in fact a dimensionless quantity, it has no units, regardless of whether you're using standard SI metric, non-standard/obsolete metric, such as cgs, or even Imperial measures. However, what I hadn't realised was that SI metric (which I'm familiar with) and cgs metric treat magnetic fields and their effects on things differently. This causes the magnetic susceptibility values to be scaled differently. They're both dimensionless, but the values will be larger in one unit than the other, by a fixed amount. This ratio turns out to be (4 x pi ). SI metric susceptibility = ( 4 x pi ) x cgs-metric susceptibility Rather odd... So .. what Fishers "2500 micro-cgs" means is: 2500 x 10-6 units, in the cgs metric system, equivalent to: 31416 x 10-6 units in SI-metric. The problem with the two scales, "% magnetite" and "susceptibility", is they don't accurately relate to each other, as there's different types of magnetite, with differing susceptibilty. A commonly stated 'average' is 6000 x 10-3 in SI metric, but it can vary from 1000 x 10-3 up to 20000 x 10-3. The figures Fisher have used assume a value of 3142 x 10-3. ( 1% magnetite == 2500 x 10-6 [cgs] = 31416 x 10-6 [SI], hence 100% magnetite == 3142 x 10-3 [SI] ) As susceptibility is a precisely defined quantity, whereas % magnetite is variable, it would be best to scale any meter to susceptibility. Here's some background reading on magnetite and it's magnetic characteristics: https://www.eoas.ubc.ca/courses/eosc350/content/foundations/properties/magsuscept.htm

I'm really struggling with making posts here that work properly. I've always had problems getting hyperlinks to work, they seemed to link back to the forum, and not the proper destination, but with some investigation, I was able to edit them to make them correct. Then the forum changed the way it works, and all my techniques failed again. I found that it would in fact (usually) somehow magically recognise a website address and make the hyperlink for me. So I think I have that one under control... but masses of other things don't work at all now, when they did in the past. I can't fathom out how to change the colour of text. For example if I've cut a quote from someone else, I want to change the text to blue, so I enclose it in the 'color' tags, et voila. Except not now. Likewise I'm trying to type the squared / cubed superscript, for example " three squared equals nine" in maths. I've entered 3[sup]2[/sup] = 9 and it just gets ignored. And I wanted to highlight a few words in a sentence, so put [b] 'bold' tags around the words, and nothing happened. Is there some option in your 'control panel' , Steve, that enables/disables what I think is usually knows as "BB code" ? I've scoured the website and I can't find any user guide to posting. There's only 9 options available on the top menu, where's all the others? It suggests ( when I hover the mouse in the right place) that holding down the 'ctrl' button and 'right-clicking' should offer up some choices, but it doesn't, just 'paste'. Does anyone else here have any ideas? I'm not a computer novice, if I can find a guide, I can learn it. It's just frustrating that whatever works just fine on every other forum ( even Tom D's very dated one ) doesn't work on this presumably up-to-date one.

I found my post on Tom D's forum about using the '88' display as a ground mineralisation meter. Rather than link to it, I'll revise my thoughts here: Ground signal strength, or Fe3O4 strength, varies a huge amount depending on location. It can be 1000 times stronger in the red Tennessee dirt than it is in Florida's sandy ground, or on freshwater beaches. This range makes it harder to describe in an easily presented way. Fisher's F75 uses a 6-bar bargraph, scaled as: Bar's labelling : Fe3O4 strength 0.01 = 25 x 10-6 0.03 = 75 x 10-6 0.1 = 250 x 10-6 0.3 = 750 x 10-6 1 = 2500 x 10-6 3 = 7500 x 10-6 (I'm not sure what the units of strength are, I'm curious. Edit: see my later post below) The wide range of strength means some logarithmic type of compression is needed to present this in an understandable way. Two viable techniques are: * Create an arbitrary scale, where stronger ground gives a bigger number on the display, but to find the 'true' strength, you would need to look up a conversion table, eg. in the User Manual. Similar to how the Fisher F75 bargraph works, if you have "0.1" on the bargraph, you can use the manual to convert to "250 x 10-6 units". * Use some type of 'mantissa and exponent' scientific notation ( eg. 3 x 103 ), to take advantage of the logarithmic nature of the exponent function. This is essentially how electrical resistors are labelled, for example '473' = 47 x 103 = 47000 Ohms. If you're limited to just an '88' display, the first of these options is by far the best, you could achieve all the range you'd want, at quite a fine resolution, good enough for amateur archaeological surveys. The second option is very restrictive, but you could achieve a scale slightly finer than the F75 bargraph, with about 10 values covering the range of the Fisher's 6 bars. A proposal for an arbitrary scale: Use an increment of 10 on the scale to represent a 10-fold increase in ground strength, giving the basic values: 88-readout : Fe3O4 reading 10 = 10 x 10-6 20 = 100 x 10-6 30 = 1000 x 10-6 40 = 10000 x 10-6 Then for a hobbyist machine, fill in the gaps with 4 intermediate values, to give 5 readings per decade. These need to be ideally 1.59 : 1 ratio ( 5th root of 10 ), so giving readings of: 88-readout : Fe3O4 reading 10 = 10 x 10-6 12 = 15 x 10-6 14 = 25 x 10-6 16 = 40 x 10-6 18 = 65 x 10-6 20 = 100 x 10-6 etc This gives about 15 different values covering the full range, the low strength end could go lower; '8' = 6.5 x 10-6 etc. If you want a pro job, fill in the gaps with 1.26 : 1 ratios, giving: 10, 13, 16, 20, 25, 32, 40, 50, 64, 80, 100, for 88-displays: 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 etc.

Regarding the Lithium-Iron cells: I don't see why they can't be intentionally undercharged, for example limiting the final voltage to 3.2V per cell ( a safe 6.4V for the pack ). This would require a balancing charger, with all 3 connections used, you wouldn't be able to rely on a balancing board and plain series charging. I've never seen any data about capacity loss / gain of Li cells when using different terminal voltages. It's often stated that battery life ( number of cycles etc) increases if you undercharge them, eg stop at 4.1V instead of 4.2V for regular Li cells, but no details about how much/what benefit etc are quoted. I see there are 'high voltage' Li cells around now, that have a max charge voltage of 4.3V or 4.4V. They appear to store more energy as a result, the R/C model industry brand them as 'Graphene' Lithium, or Li-HV.

I posted this length reply on Tom D's forum, but it's probably not the niche reply he's wanting, so maybe it's more relevant here: I've had my Eqx 600 over a year now, so I've had time to form some opinions on what could be changed and improved, plus some thoughts on what could be incorporated into the new 'high end' machine. Starting with the hardware/mechanicals: * The elbow cup/rear stand has shown itself to be weak. There's several reports of a broken upper section, it just needs to be made chunkier. The foam padding is too thin, and surely it could be designed to actually fit the plastic part. The lower 'stand' part at first sight appears to be heavily ribbed and strong ... except the ribs all stop on the centre-line, leaving it with no reinforcement at all. It will bend/break very easily along that line, as I discovered. The ribs should go all the way along, and ribs added in the 'hidden' part. I think the 'stand' part is a bit small, too. Make it wider on the new machine, similar width to the elbow cup section. See attached photo. * Having the machine break down into 3 parts is a good idea BUT the 3 parts should be comparable in length, so it packs away neatly. Two short sections and one long one is poor design. Allow for the fact that a plain shaft will pack 'diagonally' relative to the bulky upper section. As I've done this re-design myself, I think the upper section needs to be 25mm longer ( between the handgrip and the camlock) , the middle section needs to be 25 - 30mm longer, and the lower rod 65/70 mm shorter. Have 10-15mm less insertion overlap of the lower rod, maybe 10mm less insertion of the middle rod. * The hole in the lower carbon rod for the locating pip has been seen to enlarge over time, with resulting minor misalignment. Perhaps if there was at least one 'spare' pip hole, the service life of the shaft could be extended. * The coil-fixing nut/bolt are difficult to adjust. The combination of just two flats, and the closeness of the clevis to the coil body is awkward. Make the nut heavily knurled, so it can be gripped firmly regardless of orientation. *Camlocks: make the hole for the 'wedge' part on the opposite side of the shaft to the spring-pip holes. This avoids the problem of the sprung pip scraping across the 'wedge' every time the shaft is assembled/disassembled. ( First Texas please take note of this, too ) * Please make 'solid' coil covers available for the 6" (and 11" too). An open 'spider' design is not good on a small coil that's going to be used in difficult terrain, bushes/scrub, tight spots with debris. * The 6" coil is too big for a small coil. If there's going to be new coils made, make a solid 4.5" or 5", basically copy the Fisher/Tek one, and put ML logos on it. * Make the new machine compatible with existing Equinox coils, and if possible, make coils for the new machine compatible with the 600/800 machines. * I have big hands, so don't find the fat handgrip a problem, but I can see why some find it excessive. As the size is almost certainly related to the large (26mm diameter) 26650 Li cell inside it, I recommend changing the cell on the new machine to a 21700 size (21mm diameter). These are becoming increasingly popular in electric vehicles, so are well-developed. Capacities of 5000 mAh are available, almost the same as the better 26650's. Whichever size they use, ML should use their business clout to get high capacity cells sourced. Intermediaries like Shock-Li seem to do this for the vape industry. Allowing for the low drain of detectors, 26650's with a capacity of 6000 mAh are available. * The icons/labelling of the buttons/functions could do with some thought. There's too many pictures of search-coils with random arrows, lines etc around them. -------------------- And my electronics/software thoughts: * The On/Off power button has shown to be a weak point. A more robust switch is needed, maybe a custom version of the standard one with solid fixings, like a metal frame with through-hole mounting. Perhaps a custom-designed switch? * The USB/charger cable should be 30cm / 12" longer, it would be more convenient for charging. * On the current machines, have the search-mode selector give a distinctive double-beep when it returns to 'Park 1'. That way, it's easier to work out where you are with audio only. It's not always easy/convenient to see the screen, but beep-beep-biddip-beep would tell me I'm in 'Park2' mode. This audio cue should also be applied to other functions. Engaging 'all-metal/horseshoe'=> double-beep; disengaging => single-beep. * Assuming the new machine will have more modes, 'Scroll-left' and 'Scroll-right' would be preferable to single-direction action. * Have the detector give an audio warning of very-low battery, perhaps 30 minutes before the 'musical finale' & switch-off. * Make the green LED indicate that battery charging is near complete. For example having a rapid-rate flash once the battery goes from constant-current to constant-voltage charging. * Pinpoint button: it's the most important button to locate by tactile means. I've attached a small sticky-backed rubber button over mine, and it's a great help. Could ML think about making something similar as a standard feature? * Pinpoint Mode: The unusual 'auto-cal' operation takes a bit of learning, and has its quirks, but it does work OK. But one thing I don't care for is the resulting lack of 'depth' information it gives the user. A conventional pinpoint mode will immediately inform you if a target is weak/deep, or shallow, etc. A good example is the Fisher F75's pinpoint mode. The Eqx really needs the option of regular VCO pinpoint mode. It would seem pretty straightforwards to achieve - use a short press for 'auto-cal' pp mode, or press and hold for a second ( or a bit less ) and it gives conventional VCO pinpoint. Use the 'single-beep' / 'double-beep' to alert the user which mode is engaged. A single short button push exits pp mode, as normal. In regular VCO mode, have the '88' display indicate depth, calibrated for a US 5 cent 'nickel'. I'd prefer centimetres displayed, as the 1cm increment size helps with pinpointing. I find the 1" step size on the Inches scale ( eg. on the F75 ) a little blocky. The standard Eqx jumpy flickering double-bargraph pinpoint strength feature is awful and unusable. Perhaps replace it with a non auto-calibrating indication, there's 25 bargraph points available, so it should be possible to make it have decent resolution, 0.5" / 15mm step size roughly. * Non-motion / pinpoint hunting, for deep targets, hoards/caches: This seems to be something the Eqx is quite capable of, and only a few changes to the standard pinpoint mode are needed. A "Re-cal" function would be useful, and it seems possible to use the 'horseshoe' button to do this, as it serves no purpose in pinpoint mode. The '88' readout could display a sensitive 00 - 99 signal strength, plus if possible use -1 to -9 to indicate weakening signal, eg. drop in ground signal, either natural, or by the operator raising the search-coil too much. * It's known the Multi modes use 7.8kHz / 18.2kHz / 39kHz ( Beach has 13 kHz too ) , and the machine is evidently capable of operating at 5Khz, 4KHz with conditions. So is it possible to gain anything by running a 'Low Multi' mode, such as 5.4k / 12.6k / 27k (same ratios), which could be better for the US-style milled silver coin hunting? Maybe ML have tried it and decided it gave no advantage, or worked less effectively, but I think it's good to query it. * Unlike many people, I don't dislike having 40 points of non-ferrous disc resolution. However, I don't like the calibration of the ID scale. A mid-range '20' target is roughly a 5kHz target, and to get the '5th tone' 30+ ID, the target needs to be quite a decent size copper/silver item. It's quite a novelty for me to find 5th-tone targets. It's pretty certain that Park1/Field1 favour the 7.8k frequency, so perhaps in these modes a 5kHz mid-scale target is OK, but the scaling needs stretching out so that real-world targets read in the 30's. But Park2/Field2 seem weighted more to the 18.2kHz freq, and the ID scale should be calibrated accordingly. A US 5c 'nickel'( a 17kHz coin) should be a '20' target, with correspondingly different calibration over the full range. Perhaps there could be some way of choosing between 'Legacy' ID scaling, and 'dual-scaling' tailored to the machine's mode? ( I haven't commented on Beach & Gold modes .. I don't have gold modes, for a start ) * I see some are wanting a First Texas style mineralisation meter, and I see the value of it. But the '88' display is capable of providing better info. I proposed how this could be done in an old thread on Tom Dankowski's forum ( see my later post in this thread ), but the 1/3/10/30/100/ scale is a bit blocky, and if you could resolve it to: 10/16/25/40/64/100/ etc rather than just 10/30/100/, you could likely discover more about the land. I was originally thinking about it use on the Fisher ProArc-F75 ( the blue one for archaeologists), but it could be relevant to us hobbyists. * True all-metal mode is conspicuous by it's absence from the Eqx. Is it possible, in single-freq mode, at least? Multi mode all-metal is perhaps more challenging, but it should be considered. * Stereo Operation: I hope the Eqx is stereo-capable, it seems likely. Its successor certainly should be. The standard 'Nautilus' mixed mode ( disc in one ear / all-metal other ear) would be an obvious implementation, but there are other potential uses. * When you scroll through the options and reach the discrimination/notch function, it defaults to '-9', which is inconvenient, as it's usually the non-ferrous zone that users want to adjust. Can it be modified to default to '00', to save some button-pushing?

If you're curious about the innards, here's a disassembly by the Russians ( Ukranians?) https://md-hunter.com/minelab-vanquish-teardown-in-pictures-you-must-see-it As you're looking for electrical ideas : a cable extension for the search-coil could open up some possibilities. Either with a custom long shaft assembly, which may be useful for water-hunting ; or hip-mount the control box and use it 'normally'. A quick-disconnect coil cable system could also be handy, such as a short extension cable with a locking-ring-less free-socket on it. For example a normal free socket plugged into the control-box, a short cable, and an inline plug with the threaded section removed/machined down, and the coil's free-socket just pushed in.

It's telling you "If it's a US 5 Cent coin, it's at 6-8 inches" , which in practice means it could be an earring at 1 inch, or a squashed drinks can at 12 inches, or something even larger at 18 inches.

"Depending on if the detector actually "prefers" 6V or 5V I would possibly add a small step-up regulator to 6V... " All modern detectors are internally regulated, and the Vanquish will have several switch-mode converters in it. So 5V or 6V will make no difference, though I presume current draw will increase as battery voltage drops. Another simple option is a 5-cell NiMH and a series Si diode, at least it's clean DC, and it won't flatten the battery when the detector is turned off. As you're new to detecting, you won't know about Geotech1 , where techy types who homebrew equipment, hack commercial gear etc hang out. https://www.geotech1.com/forums/forum.php Enjoy, but watch out for the angry East Europeans. And laugh at the Middle-Eastern types, repeatedly "wanting finding golden treasures ten metres dep please"

Detectorist and electronics guy here. Mounting the battery under the elbow-cup is a reasonable idea. But I suggest you get the machine first, then work out what weight changes will give worthwhile results. I think a larger heavier pack would likely be the way to go, such as 4 off 4/3A size NiMH's, or some similar offerings, like Sub-C. I would avoid any battery with a (switch-mode) regulator in it, as there's the risk that switching noise could affect the detector. A homebuilt coil cover may be worthwhile if it was a 'solid' one, ie. a flat sheet rather than an open spider that matches the coil. The open coil designs can catch on debris, eg. woodland floor, crop stubble, undergrowth. But I would go for simple and lightweight, such as sheet polypropylene or corrugated fluteboard (corflute/coroplast etc) as the starting point.

This is the RNB pack: https://www.crawfordsmd.com/rnb-vanquish-powerpack and: http://www.paulcee.co.uk/blog/?new-minelab-vanquish-battery I think there's little need for this, myself, as the benefit of 4 x AA cells is that they give you the option of which cell type to use ( primary, rechargeable, a variety of different types ), and they are easily replaced with a fresh set when needed. Mr. Bayard would be OK with a set of low-self-discharge NiMH's from an established brand, with a set of non-rechargeable alkaline cells kept as a backup.

The archaeologists at the UK's Portable Antiquities Scheme specifically advise against using oils or waxes on finds. Here's a link to their guidance: https://finds.org.uk/documents/file/PAS_ConservationAdviceForFinders2018-all.pdf However, if you choose to coat a find in a wax, perhaps for aesthetic reasons, the safest option is Microcrystalline wax. This is sold under a variety of brands, one we have here in the UK is "Renaissance Wax" , but 'Dental modelling wax' is essentially the same product, and is cheaper and readily available. It has a pale pink colouring, but as you're using it in a very thin layer, this becomes irrelevant. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renaissance_Wax Another professional product that is sometimes used is an adhesive known as Paraloid P-72. When made as a weak solution ( 2% ) dissolved in acetone or similar solvent, it can be applied to finds. See here: https://zoicpalaeotech.co.uk/paraloid-b-72-in-fossil-preparation/

The purpose of the 'single-bend' shaft is the same as the purpose of the S-bend one. It moves the weight of the coil & the lower rod parts forwards/upwards, so there is minimal twisting of the hand when you reverse swing direction at the end of each sweep. It does look a bit excessive, though, to my eyes. I have made a similar rod set-up for my Fisher F75, and (IIRC) the bend angle on the upper rod was only 8 degrees. I was intending doing the same to my Equinox, but life seems to get ever more complicated, and these projects stay on paper. ( the F75 has offset coil ears, which make the coil further forwards. Eqx coils are all centre-fixed, so it's possible that is the reason for the very apparent bend in this shaft kit.)

I would recommend buying the 'stiffener' after your lug has broken. I'm skeptical they serve any purpose before then --- you still have to squeeze the lugs together enough to cause adequate friction on the rubber clevis washers. This strains the lugs, with or without a stiffener.

HaHa! I had to Google "Peanut gallery" , it means nothing to us here in the UK. So historically, it's the cheap seats in a theatre, where the rowdy hecklers sit, and it's used today to refer to any group of poorly-informed outspoken critics and commentators .... eg. like us lot. I'd like it if the Eqx had a finger-trigger pinpoint switch, a la Teknetics T2. But it's not that compatible with the watertight nature of the Eqx design. It could be done with magnets, eg. fitting a magnetic switch or electronic sensor ( Hall effect switch ) inside the watertight housing, with the moving magnet and switch mechanicals outside of the case. And on this subject, I'd like the option of conventional non-auto-adjusting pinpoint audio, too. I find the standard VCO pinpoint audio on my Fisher F75 to be good at letting me know the 'depth' of a target. The Eqx's auto-adjust system means everything tends to sound similar, and that's not always good. It seems like it's an easy fix, though. If the pinpoint button is pressed-and-held, give conventional pp audio , if it's just given a short push, have it latching, with the auto-adjust audio, as it currently operates. Peanut gallery opinion, but a good one, regardless.

@MadEd: Perhaps you hadn't noticed : Mr. Illuminati is listed as a "Banned" member, meaning he's no longer around to reply to you.

Re: the current. If you don't pass an adequate current through a switch, they can build up an insulating oxide layer, and stop switching. It's known as "wetting current", thankfully this Wiki article saves me the explanation: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wetting_current There are techniques to get around it, of course. Using gold-plated contacts will help. Making the switch have a sliding action, rather than a flat touching action can be useful. Using a charged-up capacitor in the switching circuitry so there's a short pulse of higher current when the switch closes is a common technique. These methods all favour a proper switch mechanism. Then there's ergonomics: they perhaps didn't want the 'dashboard' cluttered up with buttons that rarely get pressed, like the On/Off , and the Backlight. Perhaps they didn't like the idea of the On/Off function being easily pressed by accident, so placed it way away from the others? Perhaps they didn't want to make the control box any wider, for aesthetic reasons, nor taller for packing compactness ? I'm glad the Backlight On/Off isn't with the other membrane buttons. When I'm detecting "low key" , I sure don't want a huge white flashlight coming on unintentionally. I also own a Fisher F2, and have on occasions inadvertently pressed the Power button (on the front panel membrane ) and have wandered around for a few minutes not getting any targets, only to discover why, to my great annoyance.