Tired Ace 350 user

[mapper123]

I spent about 5 hours detecting an old farm house site with a new to me Ace 350 & was detecting all metal (0) & was getting a lot old Iron plows ...that was OK as I planning to dig all signals. What I did find hard to understand was quite often I would get a penny/dime sound & indication & it was always a 1 or 2# plow point. I did not find a single coin & that is O.K.,but surely this machine can tell the difference between a coin & a 2# chunk of iron Have I got a problem with this machine or does the machine have a dummy for an operator? I would sometimes switch to coin mode ,but the same thing would happen.

 

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[RobRieman]

Hi mapper, every machine regardless of price will "guess" at the composition of a larger chunk of iron as being a coin at times. It's all about size and depth and other factors. The items they guess at are coin size so many factors can confuse them, such as the large iron items you found. Some detectors have iron audio, polar plot and other bells and whistles that will help show you this and some do not. It's perfectly normal at any price. Good luck!

 

[mapper123]

Thank you RobRieman...I normally use a White's XLT, but this machine came available with the DD coil with a price that was comfortable. Want to try a DD coil & see how well they work...did a good job of covering a lot of land.

 

[fella]

Nothing wrong with your detector. No detector can tell if its a coin or something else of similar conductivity.
Take an aluminum can and cut a circle out of it about an inch around and scan it with your detector. It'll probably be pretty low in the conductivity range. Maybe around pull tab/"gold ring"/nickel. Now place the rest of the can over the cut out piece and scan again. It probably rang up much higher in the conductivity range. Like "silver" or a higher denomination coin right? You were still going over the same type of metal just more of it thus more conductive.
Metal detectors give a measure of conductivity, not what type of metal it is. Make sense?

 

[mapper123]

Does shape enter into the picture? The plow points (.5x3x6") in size as opposed to a coin.

 

[fella]

Does shape enter into the picture? The plow points (.5x3x6") in size as opposed to a coin.

no! A pop/beer can or a railroad spike isn't the same shape as a coin, but will have similar conductivity depending on depth. You should be able to size an object while in pinpoint mode and moving the coil across the target in an x pattern.

 

[mapper123]

Thank you fella !

 

[Kodiak43351]

Great advise fella was going to chime in but you pretty much covered it. One more thing though if you raise detector about 12 inches and swing it shouldn't sound off if it's a coin.

 

[Olegrumpy]

The problem is not the detector, nor the operator.

It comes from the DD coil. DD coils are great, but they love iron, and especially rusty Iron. Know what I'm talking about, I drive a Fisher Goldbug pro that has the same "addiction".

Now, knowing that, there are two things you can do :

-buy the large CONCENTRIC 9x12 coil for the Aces 150/250.

-Or learn to use a little discrimination (two far left blocks), and look at the ID while sweeping. If the target indicator jumps more than one segment left or right while you're sweeping, then RESIST and DO NOT DIG !! When the ID is more stable, dig, andI bet you will recover the goodies, or at least no iron.

In doing so, not only will you be able to learn recognize the good signals, both by ears and TID, but your goodies to trash ratio will become much better

HH

Grumpy

 

[Bart@Big Boys Hobbies]

Great advise fella was going to chime in but you pretty much covered it. One more thing though if you raise detector about 12 inches and swing it shouldn't sound off if it's a coin.

Great post! Usually 5-6 inches is all need for a coin sized object to drop off.

 

[Kodiak43351]

Great post! Usually 5-6 inches is all need for a coin sized object to drop off.

i agree with you on the 5 to 6 inches to but I try to go a little higher to know for sure.

 

[mapper123]

Thanks for all the responses, I don't fully understand, but I don't really need to as I normally dig all targets anyway, just curious at the response the detector was showing. I don't fully understand electricity to enable me to turn on a light switch...as long as the light comes on.

 

[Kodiak43351]

Thanks for all the responses, I don't fully understand, but I don't really need to as I normally dig all targets anyway, just curious at the response the detector was showing. I don't fully understand electricity to enable me to turn on a light switch...as long as the light comes on.

you will learn more by digging a lot than by cherry picking anyway. The ace is a good detector and will find the coins. Good luck.

 

[Hookedondetecting]

Since I use a 350 I can say I agree with everything said here.
Aluminum, Bottle caps, bullets and Iron will sound just like coins. I found a few cool old tools.
The duration of the ding from coins are shorter, sharper and more centered to the center of the coil on the swing and always repeatable.
I took my Ace to an 1850 Copper Mine dump this summer and it was great at locating all sizes of copper nuggets.
You might try and collect a bunch of sample items like steel, copper pennies, silver coins, bottle caps and dig a series of holes and bury the items. You need to let them sit a while to settle in. Then practice swing over them to see if you can detect the differences.
Also when you use it to pin point the discrimination is off and you could zero in on iron if close to a coin. You can be digging off the target.
My Brother has a new White Coin Master and it is pretty much the same thing on signalling on scrap metal.
Happy Hunting!

 

[mapper123]

Thank you for the advice & pointers Hookedondetecting !

 

[gleaner1]

You have not spent enough time practicing on a nickel, a zincoln, a wheat, a silver dime a pull tab a gold ring and some assorted clad scattered about on some good clean turf. Set at 30% sens no more. Check gb. Do not use iron at all including nails and steel washers, they will confuse you they pop high, that is another lesson you can learn on your own. Okay, swipe the coil over the stuff say five inches air depth, no less please. Any closer will overload the testing. Learn the sharp distinct response from coin-sized round targets and you are off and running. You can also master pp with this method but keep the coil away from the target say five inches or you wont quite get it you will be frustrated. You can also get a good idea of your machine's recovery speed, and coil sweep speed sweet spot doing all this madness.

 

[mapper123]

Thank you gleaner1 for the pointers.

 

[CladGrabber]

Be patient, put more time in with the machine. Enjoy the hunt!

 

[DiggerinVA]

Hey Mapper, This is where the 'higher end' machines benefit....Take the ATPro for example....It has 2 modes of operation: std and pro modes. Inn std mode it is verry similar to your Ace350, with the belll tone and all. I cant tell the difference in a coin, bottle cap, big rusty iron, etc.....But in pro mode you will hear a "rouughness" or dull at the end of your high-tone whenit is junk or rusty iron. The coins and silver wiill be crystal clear. It takes a few hours to figure out the sounds. The Tesoro Outlaw is a "one-tone" machine but yyou can stiill hear the difference .....again, a coin will be much clearer. There is nothing wrong with your ace, it is just one of the extras that you get ffoor your money on the pricier machines. A tip for you is to scan both directions, alot of times trash items willl read higher one way than they do the other. Where as a coin will give you your bell tone from all directions. This will work sometimes but not always, soo then you just have to dig..........hope this helps......josh.

 

[tiderider]

Iron will bounce around from coin to iron, and use the PP to judge the size of the target, coins have a sharp short drop off, caps have a short roll drop off ,