Equinox Emi Solved???

[midalake]

midalake
Member
266
331 posts
Joined December 2017
Posted 5 minutes ago
So I thought nothing ventured nothing gained. I have about three blocks of beach where the EMI forces me to turn the sensitivity down to 20. Also sick of hearing all the cell phones coming at me from 20 feet away so......It was not pretty.


Did not know what to expect. I WAS FLOORED! Not only did I not hear cell phones any more, my EMI issue completely disappeared. I was able to run a solid 22 sensitivity and even 23 with water contact. On the wet sand [no water contact] I ran 24 all the way back. I have NEVER been able to run at 24 on this beach. Your mileage may very, but I will be out with this again today.

Dave

 

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[Blak bart]

midalake
Member
266
331 posts
Joined December 2017
Posted 5 minutes ago
So I thought nothing ventured nothing gained. I have about three blocks of beach where the EMI forces me to turn the sensitivity down to 20. Also sick of hearing all the cell phones coming at me from 20 feet away so......It was not pretty.


Did not know what to expect. I WAS FLOORED! Not only did I not hear cell phones any more, my EMI issue completely disappeared. I was able to run a solid 22 sensitivity and even 23 with water contact. On the wet sand [no water contact] I ran 24 all the way back. I have NEVER been able to run at 24 on this beach. Your mileage may very, but I will be out with this again today.

Dave

You really should have a matching tinfoil hat....if it works ya gotta do it !!

 

[Blak bart]

Just my fine sense of fashion !!

 

[DizzyDigger]

Dave, if the EMI is entering through the controls case, it is possible
that the tin foil added enough shielding at that point to block the
EMI. Stranger things have happened.

Had a test engineer tell me one time that solving EMI problems was
a matter of properly designing the board...... and lots of black magic.

May I ask a favor? Try putting the foil covering just half the control
housing (ie: covering two corners). If the EMI is still reduced, then
switch the shielding to the other side and see if it returns. This may
help to locate the source of the EMI ingress.

If the issue is in the control housing electronics, then Minelab will
need to address that with additional shielding inside the case, or
re-designing the board so the components are no longer susceptible
to the EMI.

 

[midalake]

Dave, if the EMI is entering through the controls case, it is possible
that the tin foil added enough shielding at that point to block the
EMI. Stranger things have happened.

Had a test engineer tell me one time that solving EMI problems was
a matter of properly designing the board...... and lots of black magic.

May I ask a favor? Try putting the foil covering just half the control
housing (ie: covering two corners). If the EMI is still reduced, then
switch the shielding to the other side and see if it returns. This may
help to locate the source of the EMI ingress.

If the issue is in the control housing electronics, then Minelab will
need to address that with additional shielding inside the case, or
re-designing the board so the components are no longer susceptible
to the EMI.

It is my last day here, so the finer points of experimenting will have to wait. Everyone has a GD cell phone at the beach. Just so happy not to hear that pulsing coming through my phones.

 

[midalake]

You really should have a matching tinfoil hat....if it works ya gotta do it !!

Actually it is leftover tinfoil hat from the election this year.........

 

[Blak bart]

 

[DizzyDigger]

Tin foil hats alone are insufficient...

 

[smokeythecat]

Tin foil hat is a must! That way the 5G and aliens won't read your mind and fry your brain.

 

[Pick_axe]

Dave, if the EMI is entering through the controls case, it is possible
that the tin foil added enough shielding at that point to block the
EMI. Stranger things have happened.

Had a test engineer tell me one time that solving EMI problems was
a matter of properly designing the board...... and lots of black magic.

May I ask a favor? Try putting the foil covering just half the control
housing (ie: covering two corners). If the EMI is still reduced, then
switch the shielding to the other side and see if it returns. This may
help to locate the source of the EMI ingress.

If the issue is in the control housing electronics, then Minelab will
need to address that with additional shielding inside the case, or
re-designing the board so the components are no longer susceptible
to the EMI.

Good idea, Mike. I'm interested to see if Dave can find the spot to cover. I'm also thinking along the line of metallic tape like aluminum trim tape.

 

[smokeythecat]

A few years ago I was detecting with guy who had a Minelab, this was the year before the Equinox series was released. He said he could not hunt under the power lines due to the EMI. I found a Confederate buckle under the power lines. I think it's been an old issue, yet to be resolved.

 

[DizzyDigger]

Good idea, Mike. I'm interested to see if Dave can find the spot to cover. I'm also thinking along the line of metallic tape like aluminum trim tape.

If Dave is successful in his effort, I would suggest using copper tape
instead of aluminum. The copper will provide substantially more
shielding of the control housing. You could also fabricate a cover out
of copper screen, or copper fabric.

https://www.amazon.com/Conductive-Shielding-Repellent-Electrical-Grounding/dp/B07C6YLNYL/

https://www.amazon.com/Blocking-RF-Reduce-Protection-Conductive-Radiation/dp/B07N2YLK3J/

 

[smokeythecat]

Just don't go out in a thunderstorm with it. But seriously, I have been on the beach and when storms would be seen in the distance I leave, as I don't want to be there with all that metal on a flat as a pancake beach with nowhere to hide!

 

[RustyGold]

If Dave is successful in his effort, I would suggest using copper tape
instead of aluminum. The copper will provide substantially more
shielding of the control housing. You could also fabricate a cover out
of copper screen, or copper fabric.

https://www.amazon.com/Conductive-Shielding-Repellent-Electrical-Grounding/dp/B07C6YLNYL/

https://www.amazon.com/Blocking-RF-Reduce-Protection-Conductive-Radiation/dp/B07N2YLK3J/

Yep that’s how we shield guitar pickup cavities. With copper tape.

 

[Madmox]

Good idea, Mike. I'm interested to see if Dave can find the spot to cover. I'm also thinking along the line of metallic tape like aluminum trim tape.

They make a copper tape for shielding guitar electronics. I bet that would be just the ticket for this case.

 

[Pick_axe]

They make a copper tape for shielding guitar electronics. I bet that would be just the ticket for this case.

Yep that’s how we shield guitar pickup cavities. With copper tape.

Oh heck yeah!

 

[midalake]

So I ran the Alum Foil again today. No EMI from cell phones. In fact I had my friend sweep his cell within 5 inches all around the detector and no EMI pulses.

 

[vferrari]

A few years ago I was detecting with guy who had a Minelab, this was the year before the Equinox series was released. He said he could not hunt under the power lines due to the EMI. I found a Confederate buckle under the power lines. I think it's been an old issue, yet to be resolved.

That was probably a GPX PI detector. It is not just a Minelab thing, PI detectors are notoriously susceptible to power line EMI. They even have a noise cancelling mode that rewires DD coils on the fly to help, but it results in other down sides. They also make noise cancelling coils to deal with this, but again they have downsides including reduced depth and weird target pinpointing quirks.

 

[vferrari]

Just don't go out in a thunderstorm with it. But seriously, I have been on the beach and when storms would be seen in the distance I leave, as I don't want to be there with all that metal on a flat as a pancake beach with nowhere to hide!

PI detectors are great thunderstorm detectors too, they will pick up lightning EMI miles before the thunderheads are in visual or audible range.

 

[smokeythecat]

I can watch storm fronts on my cell phone.