Question for Fellow Excalibur Users

[Tony in FL]

My Excalibur II (with stock 10 inch coil) is very stable on wet and dry sand everywhere I have tried to hunt. However once I get into water (which I like to do) some but not all beaches seem to cause Excalibur to give off false signals. For example when I hunt Florida beaches North of Clearwater Excalibur seems more stable (in some cases very stable while in other cases less stable but still usable). These beaches tend to be smaller park settings where the bottom is more of a dirty sand / mud than the classic beach sand Florida is known for. As I head further south to Clearwater Beach, Indian Rocks Beach, and Redington Beach in waist deep water I get enough false signals to make me give up trying to hunt in the water. These beaches are larger, have a more classic sand bottom, with more current and wave action.

I have tried different sensitivity settings, including auto and minimum, without being able to eliminate these false signals. I am under the impression that Excalibur was made to be stable in the worst of beach and water conditions, so common beaches in Florida should not pose a problem. Perhaps the sensitivity of my unit was calibrated incorrectly from the factory i.e. it may be running too hot. If so the more classic beach conditions at Clearwater Beach, Indian Rocks Beach, and Redington Beach may require less sensitivity than my machine is capable of producing thus triggering the seemingly relentless false signals. I may need to send it back to the factory to have the sensitivity recalibrated. Before I do that I was hoping to hear from fellow Excalibur II users (particularly those of you who hunt on the West coast of Florida especially if you have had experience at the Clearwater area beaches) on whether or not this unit should be stable on Florida beaches in the water about waist deep with an appropriate sensitivity setting.

Thanks!

Tony

 

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[stitchlips]

Make sure that the coil cable is not moving even the slightest bit. I had to zip tie mine to the shaft or it would false quite a bit. Even all the wa down to the bottom where the coil wire goes into the coil. A fellow tnet member showed me this and mine does not false at all anymore.

 

[excal/pirate]

i dive their with the excal sens on 3 no problems now on the east coast when theirs alot of gulleys ill get some falsing {slowing down your swing helps here) first make sure you dont have sand in your coil cover and did you make sure your battery conection was clean and did you put some silcone grease on it another problem could be the black nut by the coil make sure its tight if it is lose then put some reg silicone then tighten it but not to tight as it is only plastic check your wire from coil up to unit look to see if you have scraps or a cut and like the other guy said secure your cable you can also try switching to all metal if the falsing stops then your problem is one of the above goodluck also a too loud treshold will make it false and try turning down your volume just a hair

 

[Sandman]

i dive their with the excal sens on 3 no problems now on the east coast when theirs alot of gulleys ill get some falsing {slowing down your swing helps here) first make sure you dont have sand in your coil cover and did you make sure your battery conection was clean and did you put some silcone grease on it another problem could be the black nut by the coil make sure its tight if it is lose then put some reg silicone then tighten it but not to tight as it is only plastic check your wire from coil up to unit look to see if you have scraps or a cut and like the other guy said secure your cable you can also try switching to all metal if the falsing stops then your problem is one of the above goodluck

What makes you think all beaches are the same just because they have sand and salt water. Salt concentrations may be higher on some beaches and black sand concentrations too. It can vary withing feet. As some of the remadies above will handle most of the problems, the 17 freq that it is to operate with could be off too. Perhaps one is used more than another or electrical interference from an outside source. It could be the thinner Minelab coil that was advertised as more sensitive. Doesn't seem like the older Excals have this problem as much.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

You need to give more info.

Do you have your cable wrapped around the rod, is it velcro or just tied in a few places? A cable that can move in the water with each swing will cause falsing...

Are you hunting with a coil cover or with out one? A coil cover with a lot of sand in it can and will cause falsing, especially if it has black sand mixed in.

You could be picking up electicial interference.

If you bump the coil on the bottom, it will give a false signal.....

If you are not using silicone grease on the battery connector threads of the battery module I would recommend you try that, that can also cause falsing if water is seeping in at all.

I have hunted St Pete, and Clearwater and Anna Maria and not noticed any problems with my Excals, but I do not own the Excal II, other then the normal wave over the coil in very shallow water false signal which all give.

 

[Tony in FL]

First thanks for the responses everyone. I always use a coil cover and I have tried cleaning my coil when this happened but it did have any effect.. I have my cable wrapped around the rod (lots of loops) without any fasteners. I usually keep my volume about 1/2 way up and my threshold to a low hum. Since this happens predictably at some beaches but not ever at my favorite beach I tend to think that something about the sensitivity and/or calibration is off on my particular unit and it will need to be adjusted by Minelab. However just to be sure I am hoping to hear from some folks that regularly hunt Clearwater Beach with an Excalibur II.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

First thanks for the responses everyone. I always use a coil cover and I have tried cleaning my coil when this happened but it did have any effect.. I have my cable wrapped around the rod (lots of loops) without any fasteners. I usually keep my volume about 1/2 way up and my threshold to a low hum. Since this happens predictably at some beaches but not ever at my favorite beach I tend to think that something about the sensitivity and/or calibration is off on my particular unit and it will need to be adjusted by Minelab. However just to be sure I am hoping to hear from some folks that regularly hunt Clearwater Beach with an Excalibur II.

Have your tried hunting the beaches in question with out the coil cover to see if there is a difference? I personally do not use a coil cover when beach hunting....

 

[Tony in FL]

Have your tried hunting the beaches in question with out the coil cover to see if there is a difference? I personally do not use a coil cover when beach hunting....

I have not tried w/o a coil cover. However I did pull the coil cover off while in the water and cleaned the coil (in the middle of the hunt) but this did not make any difference. So I would be surprised if hunting w/o a coil cover would have any effect but I will certainly give it a try the next time just in case.

I do realize that if I bump the coil (on the ground, against a rock, etc.) or if a wave spills over the coil in low water that it can trigger a false signal. What I am experiencing is more persistent.

 

[excal/pirate]

i dive their with the excal sens on 3 no problems now on the east coast when theirs alot of gulleys ill get some falsing {slowing down your swing helps here) first make sure you dont have sand in your coil cover and did you make sure your battery conection was clean and did you put some silcone grease on it another problem could be the black nut by the coil make sure its tight if it is lose then put some reg silicone then tighten it but not to tight as it is only plastic check your wire from coil up to unit look to see if you have scraps or a cut and like the other guy said secure your cable you can also try switching to all metal if the falsing stops then your problem is one of the above goodluck

What makes you think all beaches are the same just because they have sand and salt water. Salt concentrations may be higher on some beaches and black sand concentrations too. It can vary withing feet. As some of the remadies above will handle most of the problems, the 17 freq that it is to operate with could be off too. Perhaps one is used more than another or electrical interference from an outside source. It could be the thinner Minelab coil that was advertised as more sensitive. Doesn't seem like the older Excals have this problem as much.

sandman i live in fla hunt the same beaches as tony does the problem hes having is ones i had in the past a quick test is to try allmetal if it runs without falsing then is one of the above and its not black sand