Put a new coil on my new-to-me Excal, and hit the beach.

[stevemc]

I have been practicing a little with the excal, and it is not as deep as I am used to, and seems like a small coil-8", so I bit the bullet and went to Kellyco yesterday, and bought a 15" x 12" SEF coil. Being a marine electronics rigger years ago, this would be no problem. They told me at Kellyco, I would have to send it back to Minelab, and I said I can handle it. Any way hit the electronics store this morning for a 4 pin microphone connector and a male end too. Got a bunch of different sized heat shrink and some fine electronics solder. Cut the wires, and there were a bunch more wires in the Excals coil cable than I thought, but 3 of them were grounds, so it was a piece of cake. I tested it in the back yard prior, and the stock coil would pick up a stainless nickel at about 9"-10" max, maybe 11" whispering. I put on the new coil and it would pick it up at 12" maybe a hair more. Went to the beach and it was real windy, and rough. I couldnt walk 5 feet without hitting something in the dry sand. First thing was a piece of costume jewelry, then all kinds of stuff. This really has a huge footprint, is a little difficult pinpointing, so I practiced in the dry sand. It is actually lighter than the original 8" coil. Too rough and blowing for the water. Found little pieces of foil and mylar, 1 beer bottle cap, a lot of iron hits only dug one to verify(no thresh hold sound), a few small chunks of cans, some way down, and a few cans I guess that were too deep to mess with. I didnt hear any gold tones, and only stayed about 45 minutes, as it was really blowing and cold, and I just had a Tee shirt and shorts on. Will continue practicing! Here's a pic of the new one, and the old one sitting on one quarter of the new one.

 

Amazon Forum Fav 👍

Treasure of Victoria Peak - Grab it through Amazon!

[surfnturf]

Big Foot! No kidding! Water proof too! Sweet, let us know how it works out!

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Steve,

Your going to love it, I have been hunting with WOTS and SEF Butterfly coils for over 4 years now.....The depth and coverage is amazing. I have pulled up targets 12" plus with mine......

 

[stevemc]

I took it out late last night and in the water, it was slightly rough, 2 ft waves, it was too sensitive to the wave action. Sounded like a Chinese rock and roll song. Maybe when its calmer it will work OK. Or for the wet sand and dry. I think I will get the 12" x 10" SEF. for the water. Did find some stuff, and some of it was deep, and some was tiny, no gold though. Mostly on the wet sand. Just too noisy in the surf. And yes I turned the sensitivity way down, past 12 O clock, and it still wasnt quiet. It was quiet when there were no waves, but as you know, that isnt very long.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I took it out late last night and in the water, it was slightly rough, 2 ft waves, it was too sensitive to the wave action. Sounded like a Chinese rock and roll song. Maybe when its calmer it will work OK. Or for the wet sand and dry. I think I will get the 12" x 10" SEF. for the water. Did find some stuff, and some of it was deep, and some was tiny, no gold though. Mostly on the wet sand. Just too noisy in the surf. And yes I turned the sensitivity way down, past 12 O clock, and it still wasnt quiet. It was quiet when there were no waves, but as you know, that isnt very long.

Only time mine has a problem with waves is if it is in the very shallow water, less then a foot......

 

[stevemc]

Tried to figure out why it is singing a song mainly when in the water. I took off the coil cover and there was a bunch of fine sand in it, I thought that might be it. I tried it in the yard and it was singing, then quieted down. So I took it to the beach and went across the sand and into the water, which was 1-2' waves. Started right up, and even when I went out. Went back home, and I tried shaking the detector up in the air, not near anything, and it started singing, and took the waterproofing off the connector, and found at least one wire where it was soldered on the male side(it was a panel mount, so it wasnt supposed to be moving) and the solder pins were smooth and no holes or grooves like the female side, which is for a cable. I soldered them agian, and poured epoxy around the pins, on both the 8" and the 15" x 12". Tested both and fine. I put the 8" back on and it worked perfect. I suppose that it was worse in the water because the connection was taped to the electronics housing, and that was about at the top of the water where the waves were breaking, moving it around more. I went to the electronics store and ordered several cable male and female, which are hard to come by. And will put those on for good. So far its fine though.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

Tried to figure out why it is singing a song mainly when in the water. I took off the coil cover and there was a bunch of fine sand in it, I thought that might be it. I tried it in the yard and it was singing, then quieted down. So I took it to the beach and went across the sand and into the water, which was 1-2' waves. Started right up, and even when I went out. Went back home, and I tried shaking the detector up in the air, not near anything, and it started singing, and took the waterproofing off the connector, and found at least one wire where it was soldered on the male side(it was a panel mount, so it wasnt supposed to be moving) and the solder pins were smooth and no holes or grooves like the female side, which is for a cable. I soldered them agian, and poured epoxy around the pins, on both the 8" and the 15" x 12". Tested both and fine. I put the 8" back on and it worked perfect. I suppose that it was worse in the water because the connection was taped to the electronics housing, and that was about at the top of the water where the waves were breaking, moving it around more. I went to the electronics store and ordered several cable male and female, which are hard to come by. And will put those on for good. So far its fine though.

Why don't you splice the coil on?

 

[stevemc]

I suppose you mean hardwire it inside the case. I didnt want to keep opening it up to change coils. I did splice the wires with a 6 pin connector, using the original Sover pattern. At first I used a 4 pin and the wires on the male side, came loose on at least 1, and that is why it was making so much noise. Loose wire. It would do it in the air, if moved around like getting hit by a wave. Its all good now. After I soldered them, I epoxied the wires in place, just like on the Excellerator coils Sov connector. I saw your post, got your email.