Tracker IV Discrimination has Stopped Functioning

[mcl]

Hey,

I have a Tracker IV that is just under two years old. I've only gone through a couple changes of batteries in that time. Never had any serious issues with it until the last time I went out. Had it set to discrimination mode on full sensitivity and full discrimination, and kept running into rusty iron bits; the usual suspects like nails, barbed wire, unidentifiable chunks, etc. Finally realized that this should not be happening on the settings I was using so I walked away from where I was, held the detector upside down and ran every metallic object I could find over the coil. Every single piece set it off, even when it would have in the past rejected the object. Messed with the sensitivity and disc knobs, as well as the mode switch, all to no avail. No matter how I had it set, even the tiniest speck of iron would set it off. I also verified that I wasn't missing real targets using my Garrett pinpointer on the plugs/holes/etc and made sure I wasn't running my ring over the coil or anything for the air test.

To put it simply, it's like I'm in "All Metal" mode no matter what my settings are. Coil is clean, cord is wrapped, plug is secure in the main box. No power lines, cars, Boeing 747s, etc nearby. It always performed acceptably at that site before with the targets in question.

Any ideas what could be wrong?

-mcl

 

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[Rick K]

Putt in 2 New fresh alkaline batts. - if that doesn't fix it, call Felix at First Texas in el paso.

 

[Eleven Cents]

This sounds a bit like what happens to my Prospector when the batteries are slightly low, but not low enough for the battery light to come on. I first noticed this when I got a 4" coil, which seems to be far more susceptible to it than the stock coil. It was hitting high tones on everything, including rocks that I normally wouldn't detect at all. Today I noticed a few high tones on things that I wouldn't expect. If I'm right, I expect the battery light will start to flicker the next time I take it out.

Another thing I've noticed is that if I get a high tone on full sensitivity, but a low or broken tone on half sensitivity, then the high tone is probably fake.

 

[mcl]

Thanks for the tips. I should have mentioned straight-away that my first course of action was to in fact to put in a set of fresh batteries -- didn't fix the problem sadly.