AT Pro acting erratically all the sudden?!?

[Sandman]

I've had 3 At Pro's and the one I have now behaves as advertised. Just because you bought it new doesn't mean the dealer didn't have it laying on a shelf since last year. You can tell by the serial number when it was made. Either way EMI fields are around us more than even a few years ago so pinning the cause of the detectors unstableness is hard to do. I have a CZ that I can't take to this one place as it goes crazy, but other MD's work fine there.

Good luck with the AT PRO and keep us advised.

 

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[knightsquad]

How can you tell by the serial #

 

[Metal Detecting Stuff]

Second digit of serial number is last digit of year of production.

www.metaldetectingstuff.com

 

[Midas Mole]

I'v been detecting for about 30 years. Just discovered that my AT Pro has a hairline crack in the coil head.Moisture got in and set off the machine just like yours did. I dried it out and it worked ok again. My AT Pro is still under warrenty but it is so annoying to waste so much time waiting for a replacement coil.Check the underside of the coil for similar, you may have the same problem.
It might be a 'one off ' problem, or indeed a design fault.

 

[Midas Mole]

I'v been detecting for about 30 years. Just discovered that my AT Pro has a hairline crack in the coil head.Moisture got in and set off the machine just like yours did. I dried it out and it worked ok again. My AT Pro is still under warrenty but it is so annoying to waste so much time waiting for a replacement coil.Check the underside of the coil for similar, you may have the same problem.
It might be a 'one off ' problem, or indeed a design fault.

 

[gleaner1]

My machine did the same thing, I was really worried. I couldn't get it to stop. Then I realized I was moderately close (300 yds) to some major power lines. I took my machine to a different location and it was fine.

Is there any chance that there was a large power source near by? They are very sensitive. Either way Garrett will take care of you. Good luck in getting back out there ASAP.

Let us know how it turns out.

I run max sense in my favorite spot right under high voltage lines with nary a chatter. But it does chatter a bit. I like that actually.

 

[rks1949]

Second digit of serial number is last digit of year of production.

Metal Detector Sales and Rentals | Fisher, Garrett, Minelab, Lesche and DetectorPro

Ser.# 53117117 I think it's the second "set" of digits. Or mine was made in 2003,7 years before they came out?

 

[Metal Detecting Stuff]

Yours was made in 2013, 11th week. Units prior to 2000 have a different starting digit. I have units in stock that have "530" in the serial number, these were all made early 2013.

Wayne

Www.metaldetectingstuff.com

 

[Birky]

Hey all, sorry I've been away from this thread for so long been swamped at work and I've had zero time to go MD-ing until today

I did speak with Rusty at Garrett a while back and discussed the issues I was having as well as possible solutions. In the end he recommended that I send the unit in for repair.

He seemed quite perplexed by the way it was acting and said the only other case he's heard that remotely resembled mine ended up being a bent battery contact spring in the battery compartment of another gentleman's AT Pro. Apparently after he bent it back to it's original position the unit functioned properly This wasn't the case with mine but it's another thing to check for those of you who may have issues in the future.

After hearing that Garrett would have my AT for 3-6 weeks I decided to hold off on sending it in until I just couldn't stand it any longer...

So today I was able to finally get out and detect an early 1900's home site, I had my fingers crossed to say the least..

Whaddya know I did the factory reset (twice) cranked that baby on and she was dead silent..just like nothing ever happened I hunted for a good 6 hours without a single malfunction.

Just for curiosity's sake when I got home I took it into my back yard and turned it on again (factory reset first) and it went crazy all over again! At this point I have to believe that it's purely due to EMI around my house..don't I feel stupid...

However, the one thing that kind of bothers me is the fact that I hunted my entire yard for about 10hrs total before this happened and it never acted that way.

How is this possible? 1 day it functioned perfectly in the same location with the same settings and the next day it's unusable?

Either way it performed beautifully today and I had a great time, I'm gonna start another thread with todays find's, including a coin that made my heart skip 6 beats

Thank you all for your responses and continued suggestions, hopefully this post may help others in the future.

Regards,
Chris

 

[GeekNJ]

Just for curiosity's sake when I got home I took it into my back yard and turned it on again (factory reset first) and it went crazy all over again! At this point I have to believe that it's purely due to EMI around my house..don't I feel stupid...

However, the one thing that kind of bothers me is the fact that I hunted my entire yard for about 10hrs total before this happened and it never acted that way.

How is this possible? 1 day it functioned perfectly in the same location with the same settings and the next day it's unusable?

Either way it performed beautifully today and I had a great time, I'm gonna start another thread with todays find's, including a coin that made my heart skip 6 beats

Thank you all for your responses and continued suggestions, hopefully this post may help others in the future.

Regards,
Chris

do you know anyone else that has a detector that can pop over your house and see what happens? Can you head 1/4 to 1/2mile away with your detector and see how it behaves? It might help cut the problem in half - detector vs location.

David

 

[Birky]

Yes I personally have another detector though it's not an AT Pro, it's a Bounty Hunter Pioneer 505 and it's never had an issue near my house. I also discovered that the farther I go into my back yard the more the erratic behavior diminishes.

I just cant sort out why it didn't act this way from the start as nothing changed overnight

 

[knightsquad]

Birky
Does anyone on the next street have a Ham radio or something of that nature maybe? Drive around real quick and look for a big antenna on top of someone's roof.
Just an idea'
Pete

 

[GeekNJ]

Being a ham radio operator, what was described doesn't seem like it would be caused by ham radio. The poster indicated it was continuous (ham radio is not continuous output) and decreases when he moves away from his house. If it is constant I would first determine if the source can be narrowed down. Try to see if by moving around your house or neighbors where the center might be based on you moving away and the noise decreasing. A possible cause could be a bad electronic device in a home from a power supply, power strip/surge protector to almost anything electronic. It can also be from a power company pole.

If you have a portable AM radio you can tune the dial to where there is no station coming in and move around outside your home . If there is a problem you will hear noise increase in the radio. Again see if you can try and determine the direction of the noise based on where it increases /decreases.

See what you can find and then you can look to further narrow down the source, especially if it appears to be coming from your home.

 

[badpenny]

Chris, have you tried changing the AT Pro frequency in your yard? Do the reset, change the frequency and then ground balance try each one to see if you find the sweet spot for your location. Repeat each time you change the frequency, I hope that helps? I have one or two spots I hunt that requires me to tweak my machine in this manner.

 

[Birky]

Yes I have tried changing the frequency and ground balancing, I can "lessen" the effect by doing this but not eliminate it.
As far as the HAM radio theory goes I'm not sure but I will look into it.

I have to believe at this point that it's strictly EMI around my house as I've taken it to 4 other locations now and it performs flawlessly with no sign of the aforementioned issue.

Maybe I'll sort it out eventually but my yard is fairly well hunted out at this point so I can live with it!

Thank you all for your continued advice/suggestions, that's why I love this community.

HH,
Chris

 

[rks1949]

Yes I have tried changing the frequency and ground balancing, I can "lessen" the effect by doing this but not eliminate it.
As far as the HAM radio theory goes I'm not sure but I will look into it.

I have to believe at this point that it's strictly EMI around my house as I've taken it to 4 other locations now and it performs flawlessly with no sign of the aforementioned issue.

Maybe I'll sort it out eventually but my yard is fairly well hunted out at this point so I can live with it!

Thank you all for your continued advice/suggestions, that's why I love this community.

HH,
Chris

Chris,my back yard is a nightmare,to use a MD in! I have WiFi,all my neighbors have WiFi,one has a wireless dog fence (another source of interfearance),cell phones on all sides,ect. I can hunt my back yard,but it's not easy! LOL!

 

[Uncle Jeff]

you said after 10 to 15 hours of use... battery life on these per the manufacture is 20 hours. Have you tried to replace the batteries?

 

[thommo59]

Hey Birky,
Did you get you're AT Pro sorted in the end? I got a new AT Pro International on Tuesday for my birthday, opened the box, assembled it and it went crazy!! I asumed it was because I was inside the house but my Bounty Hunter is fine. Took it outside and same deal, signals all by itself, numbes everywhere etc. Did all of the usual stuff but even at one bar of sensitivity it still misbehaved, but a little better.

It came from a store 8 hours away by post so we rang them and they are going to return it and send a new one. In the interim, I took it into a Garrett dealer and he swapped coils, checked it side by side with his unit, and said he'd never seen anything like it, send it back.

The weirdest thing is.....My coil on his machine, plays up. His coil on my machine, plays up. Makes absolutley no sense. His coil, his machine, Happy Days.

He tried everything. I understand you get faulty stuff from time to time but a little upset that a surprise birthday gift is faulty, and it's now up to me to do the running around to get it sorted.

 

[Kodiak43351]

Hey Birky, Did you get you're AT Pro sorted in the end? I got a new AT Pro International on Tuesday for my birthday, opened the box, assembled it and it went crazy!! I asumed it was because I was inside the house but my Bounty Hunter is fine. Took it outside and same deal, signals all by itself, numbes everywhere etc. Did all of the usual stuff but even at one bar of sensitivity it still misbehaved, but a little better. It came from a store 8 hours away by post so we rang them and they are going to return it and send a new one. In the interim, I took it into a Garrett dealer and he swapped coils, checked it side by side with his unit, and said he'd never seen anything like it, send it back. The weirdest thing is.....My coil on his machine, plays up. His coil on my machine, plays up. Makes absolutley no sense. His coil, his machine, Happy Days. He tried everything. I understand you get faulty stuff from time to time but a little upset that a surprise birthday gift is faulty, and it's now up to me to do the running around to get it sorted.

sry to here that once you get it sorted out you will be happy you have the at pro. Good luck.

 

[Beach Pirate]

If you are sure it's not electrical interference (power lines above or burried) Reset machine. Hold high in air and jiggle it around. If chatter continues or varies with the movement, I would first suspect the coil or coil cable. If you don't have a second coil to swap out, you may have to send the whole machine back to Garrett. I had the same problem. I put on my small back up coil, and it worked fine. I called Garrett and nine days later, my free replacement coil arrived. Great customer service!