Ground Balancing For Saltwater beaches??

[Greastart]

Hey all,

I'm lucky enough to find myself in lower Baja CA and have a beach all to myself. Problem is, I've never used my machine on anything other than grass and freshwater sand.

It's acting kinda crazy.

On dry sand all is well. It's a bit unsettled but by using the auto ground balance function I can make it behave.

Once it gets over wet sand....Boom. Nothing but rapid-fire unrepeatable signals. (Not even thinking of trying it IN saltwater until I can figure out the wet sand thing!)

I don't have a lot of experience. I'd say I have a total of maybe 75-80 hours on this machine. Too, it is my first detector.

Any help you can provide would sure be appreciated.

Grease

 

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[Adrian SS]

It would be handy to know which metal detector you have. Not all of them will work over wet salt beach sand.

 

[Greastart]

It would be handy to know which metal detector you have. Not all of them will work over wet salt beach sand.

Sorry Adrian,

I have an AT Pro. Should have made that more clear.

 

[Terry Soloman]

Not a saltwater machine, Sooooo, you'll have to drop the sensitivity way low, and keep the coil and inch above the wet sand.

 

[Fletch88]

You have to re-gb the machine over the wet sand. It will probably be below 20 in the AT and you may have to lower sens a bit to get to run smoother.

 

[Adrian SS]

The At pro will work in salt water but you will have to lower the sens a bit at a time until operation is stable.

Study the manual and get a clear view of how the different modes work. Understand when to use STD Mode and when to use Pro Mode and learn when and how to use the Iron ID feature and how to manually alter the ground balance.
The Auto GB feature is something you will use often with the AT Pro in salt water.

Select a quiet frequency.

Use Pro mode.
STD Mode may cause a lot of chatter, but try it anyway just to see the difference between the two modes.

Iron Audio On,

Set Iron Disc to about 28. You could go up as high as 35 and still signal OK on gold rings.


And Auto GB often as necessary in or out of the water
.
If in the salt water don't lift the coil out of the water during ground balancing.

When in salt water the AT Pro will sound off if you bump the coil on the sand, so keep the coil at least an inch above the sand. Don't bump the coil on the sand while ground balancing.

If you are trying to gb over a bit of metal the gb number will be high and will not achieve correct ground balance. If just plain salt water and sand the GB number will be low.

The AT Pro is a good detector in and out of the water but salt water detecting will require that the sensitivity be lowered. Lower the Sens until stable after ground balancing. You can reduce the sens quite a bit and not loose too much depth on coins and ring size items.

This vid may help.
http://www.garrett.com/hobbysite/hbby_at_pro_saltwater_video_en.aspx

You will probably notice in the clip that the Garrett Guy does not achieve total smooth running with the Pro.
Even my Sov, Infinium, sand Shark, Safari and BHID can be noisy in some salt water.

 

[Sandman]

The AT Pro really is not a all terrain detector. It being a single freq. detector it will false like crazy near salt water because salt is conductive. Turning down sensitivity is limiting your depth. Read my signature below.

 

[Greastart]

Thanks All for the replies.

Went out this morning early but it's already too damn hot out there in the sun. I'm a walking sunburn candidate; white as they get!

I'll go out again this evening or if the predicted clouds roll in, earlier.

Achieved a bit of quiet operation over wet sand. Dug a few pull tabs and a rusty drill bit for fun. Not what I was looking for, but got the thing to calm enough to actually work.

If I find anything good during the remainder of my vacation, I'll post it here before I put it up on Today's Finds.

Muchas Gracias!

Grease

 

[Terry Soloman]

Get Some Greastart!

 

[Greastart]

Terry,

Made it out a few times. I really do avoid the sun while I'm down here. Anyway, haven't found anything spectacular. Some peso coins etc...
Heading out to the beach in front of the largest hotel in the area in a few minutes. Maybe my luck will change. This is a small town so no big tourist hotels...the price you pay to actually enjoy Baja.

 

[Greastart]

All, with your help I was able to get a bit of a grip on ground balancing on a salt beach. Got it to work in dry and wet sand though it was more predictable and controllable on dry sand.

Got lots of pull tabs, boat parts, and general junk.

Of note, I found a good variety of fish hooks; some old, some new, some big and some small...

Also found a ring that appears to have been silver plated at some time. I believe the ring is of copper. It rang at a solid, unwavering 80 on the AT and was about 4" down in very dry sand. Sorry no pics as I still use an old Pantech flip phone from 2007. I know! I know! but there's a story to it.

Anyway, got the ring out of the hole and was pretty excited about it. This is my fourth ring. Last two were both junkers too, but hey, a ring is a ring. First one was a Tungsten/Carbide wedding band that I was able to return. Different story.

After I got the ring, I told myself I should look for whatever bling went with it. Soon as I had that thought I saw, lying on the edge of the hole, the stone you see in the pic. It is flat and smooth on the side not visible in the picture. Clearly it had been made flat mechanically. When I put it up to the ring I could just make out where the prongs from the ring had been. I think it's some kind of "Tiger Eye" stone but I'm no rockhound.

Thanks for your suggestions and help. I'll be back out there today as soon as I can be in the shade!

 

[signal_line]

Sorry I got on here late. Simple way is to bury a target then manual adjust balance for best response. Or when you get a good hit, adjust the balance before digging. I don't know if the Pro has threshold adjustment, but the AT Gold does and can be set into the negative numbers to cut out much of the crackling.