My Soil Sucks Please Help With Equinox 800

[bethanyb1201]

8 hours ago, EL NINO77 said:

In the Ground Tracking menu, press the "ZOOM / VIEW" button to go to the screen that is in the photo ...:
1.then press the "MENU / TAB" button -to activate the "ZERO" function - on the Autocalibration Detector coil ... Hold the detector coil high above the ground ... 1-1.5meters ..
2. Then press the "ENTER" button, and then place the detector coil on the clean ground ... -Then get the correct reading Phases and mineralization ground in%

This is a great feature BUT it takes those measurements from as deep as it can get repeatable numbers. So for instance I have places in my yard where the soil between the thatch and hard clay is 3 inches and the places I am trying to master go 12+ inches. While the v3i will give a spot on phase angle of your soil(thus determining mineralization) it will only do so to its limits. So if it can read my soil accuratly to 3 in and not to 6 it will tell me about only the top 3 inches. I guess what I am trying to say is while the info is usefull and its one of the best machines on the planet if you can learn it the machine wont let you know its having problems and only telling you phase angle/mineralization less than a few inches. My soil wont return a signal back to the machine for it to read any data. Thats why the minelab falses(like a void) or the whites dials itself back. I do really like the machine I just cant get it figured out. 

[EL NINO77]

For these Spectra Ground Probe measurements, set ... RxGain to 1 ... - because the mineralization value you get in the Ground probe is directly dependent on the RXgain setting ...

To explain:

As you can see in the picture, my low mineralized terrain still has a value of 1-2% mineralization in the Groud probe even with Rx gain = 13 ...

  At... 4bar Fe3O4- mineralized terrain - at 1/2 setting RxGain = 7 mineralization value of 17% ...

W extremely mineralized "black sand" -7bar Fe3O4 I get at minimal setting RxGain = 1 to 16% mineralization ...
  In practice, this means setting the detector to Rx Gain = 5 and more ..... SpectraV3 goes overload ..
 But you can work well with the RXgain 1 to 3 ...

Equinox 800:
 The detector does not see mineralization layers - it shows the total mineralization of the given terrain site under the coil.
 
Factory setting of Ground Balance = 0 is very close to setting on ferrite.
-high mineralization ..

With very variable and varied mineralization, it would
I kept Ground balance = 0

If you have places where extreme mineralization occurs, I would use these places to set the right sensitivity and stable Equinox work.

If you have salted and also use the Mineralization of Field1, Beach1, Beach2 ... these programs work well on salt and Fe-mineralized soil.

Beach1a Beach 2 programs also have a function of overloading my TX performance - to achieve detection stability - during work with a lowered Tx performance, the Equinoxa Triangle Icon is displayed.

I'll try to do some tests on pure magnetite ...- how does the sensitivity setting work with Equinox ..

[Daniel Tn]

The problem here is, there is no clear cut answer to your situation and conditions.  I've been in some soils that shut down most VLFs to a depth of around 4 inches max...that the Equinox could handle pretty well, and get down to 8 to 10 inches in.  I encountered some dirt last week that I was digging dropped Civil War bullets left and right with the GPX...and when I saw I had walked into an unhunted Civil War camp, I got excited.  Stuff wasn't deep and it was everywhere, and mixed in with a lot of iron.  I was having trouble with the iron and the GPX so I swapped over to the Deus that I had with me, and this ground completely shut down a Deus, and I had both 11" X35 coil and a 9 inch HF coil.  I tried every setting I could think of for it, and still could not get a bullet beyond 4 inches with it.   I came back the next day with the Equinox and was confident it could handle the site decent.  Just on the east side of this same farm, I had done extremely well with the Nox back in the fall.  The west side of the farm is where I was this go around...and the dirt is vastly different. Another big difference...is that this side of the farm has had cattle on it some 60+ years.  I'm talking about hundreds of head of cattle.  I fired up the Nox, got my favorite relic program, ground balanced and started hunting.  It was so noisy I was beginning to wonder if something was wrong with it.  I was getting constant 1 and 2 signals.  I finally put the thing down and fired the GPX up til I located what I was pretty confident was a drop minie ball.  Lay it down to signal check with the Nox and BARELY got a one way signal that bounced in the teens.  I circled it....played with iron bias and recovery speed settings, and the different modes. I couldn't ever get the signal any better but could make it worse.  I was hoping and praying that I was wrong and the signal was actually iron or a piece of junk.  Nope...it was a dropped minie around 6 inches.  About 10 yards away, another signal on the GPX....same thing on the Nox...one way hit.  If I pressed the horse shoe button to fully open the whole disc range, I could hear it iron grunting most of the time.  Another dropped minie.  

Long story short, I dug 30 something dropped bullets, some carved bullets, 3 large round balls, and a button, plus about a half pound of camp lead.  Had I been hunting solely with the Nox, I dare say I might have dug 6 to 8 bullets tops.  Had I continued with the Deus and either coil, I would have walked all through this camp and not found the first thing.  I believe it was 9 mineral bars on the meter for it in most places.    

My theory is a crazy one but here goes.  I think with all the cattle that is on this farm in this one area...the cow poop and pee has altered the soil and made it very salty and acidic.  You figure, 60+ years of over 100 head of cows on average.  You can't hardly walk across the field now without stepping in piles of poo...and I've always noted that cow poop will make a detector false.  I did not try salt modes on the NOX....may try that next time I go down there.  It was down hearting enough that I listed my Deus for sale and sold it.  

[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