What could be the cause?

Digzit2

Hero Member
Jan 2, 2016
515
566
Illinois
Detector(s) used
Teknetics t2 se,Deteknix X pointer angus mackirk explorer,keene a51a.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I went out for a short hunt yesterday to a site full of junk and was not finding any thing but that.so i buried a quarter about 4 inches deep and my t2 would not hit on it no matter what i did with settings and tried diffrent swinging angles and speeds. The ground that i did this in was in an area free of junk. So i did an air test with the same quarter and it did just fine. I was in disc mode. Any opinions of why this happened is greatly appriciated. I plan on doing more test when i get time.
 

Rawhide

Silver Member
Nov 17, 2010
3,590
2,185
SouthWestern USA
Detector(s) used
Nox 800, Etrac, F75, AT Pro. Last two for sale.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Burying a coin in a fresh hole will not produce a good result. Some things to check would be four good batterys. One bad battery will effect the machine. Coil Connections, mine will come loose after a few hours of hunting. T2 is a very deep detector, is it a new detector? Is it counterfeit by chance? Last thing would be to change coils and see if that fixes the problem. But your fellow MD'rs may have just cleaned up the area for you.
 

Garrett424

Silver Member
Jun 20, 2014
3,164
2,284
Granite, Maryland
Detector(s) used
Teknetics Omega 8000
Teknetics Delta 4000,
Deteknix XPointer,
Fiskar's Big Grip Digger & my old Army Trench shovel for the tough jobs
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
I would start with the basics. Use new, fresh batteries and make sure all connections are solid and CLEAN. Dirt can and does get in coil connectors and can render a detector useless. I've dealt with that myself and I was ready to just trash the detector. It was that bad from just a small amount of dirt.
Then I would make sure it's properly ground balanced.

Oh yeah, as stated above, verify that it's not a counterfeit machine. If you bought it used there's a chance that it could be. There were thousands of fakes made in China and elsewhere and may even still be hitting the market. They were shipped all over the world and were all over Ebay at "too good to be true" prices. They can appear very genuine but the performance of these fakes is said to be pretty terrible.

A 4 inch quarter should be an easy target with almost any detector. It sounds like there is some problem. Hopefully it's an easy problem.
Good luck....
 

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Digzit2

Digzit2

Hero Member
Jan 2, 2016
515
566
Illinois
Detector(s) used
Teknetics t2 se,Deteknix X pointer angus mackirk explorer,keene a51a.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I would start with the basics. Use new, fresh batteries and make sure all connections are solid and CLEAN. Dirt can and does get in coil connectors and can render a detector useless. I've dealt with that myself and I was ready to just trash the detector. It was that bad from just a small amount of dirt.
Then I would make sure it's properly ground balanced.

Oh yeah, as stated above, verify that it's not a counterfeit machine. If you bought it used there's a chance that it could be. There were thousands of fakes made in China and elsewhere and may even still be hitting the market. They were shipped all over the world and were all over Ebay at "too good to be true" prices. They can appear very genuine but the performance of these fakes is said to be pretty terrible.

A 4 inch quarter should be an easy target with almost any detector. It sounds like there is some problem. Hopefully it's an easy problem.
Good luck....

I did not ground balance the machine,i thought you only had to ground balance in all metal mode and not disc mode. This very well could be my problem.
 

Phantasman

Gold Member
Nov 24, 2006
15,885
24,037
NE Tennessee
Detector(s) used
Nokta Simplex, Land Ranger Pro, Quick Draw Pro, Deteknix XPointer
Primary Interest:
Metal Detecting
Many machines have preset ground balance. FTP sets theirs at 82. But even the preset machines should pick up a 4" coin. I'm not sure, but the T2 counterfeits didn't come in the Special Edition format. Just the Classic.

If you cannot pick up a buried quarter at 6+ inches, I'd be calling FTP.
 

steve1357

Hero Member
May 17, 2013
981
439
Arkansas
Detector(s) used
Tesoro Fisher Teknetics Garrett
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
I went out for a short hunt yesterday to a site full of junk and was not finding any thing but that.so i buried a quarter about 4 inches deep and my t2 would not hit on it no matter what i did with settings and tried diffrent swinging angles and speeds. The ground that i did this in was in an area free of junk. So i did an air test with the same quarter and it did just fine. I was in disc mode. Any opinions of why this happened is greatly appriciated. I plan on doing more test when i get time.

Was it working earlier another time before this?
 

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Digzit2

Digzit2

Hero Member
Jan 2, 2016
515
566
Illinois
Detector(s) used
Teknetics t2 se,Deteknix X pointer angus mackirk explorer,keene a51a.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting

vferrari

Silver Member
Jul 19, 2015
4,910
8,377
Near Ground Zero for Insanity
Detector(s) used
XP Deus with HF/x35 Coils and Mi6 Pinpointer/ML Equinox 600/800/ML Tarsacci MDT 8000 GPX 4800/Garrett ATX/Fisher F75 DST/Tek G2+/Delta/Whites MXT/Nokta Simplex/Garrett Carrot
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Did you do a ground grab balance (away from the target) before the test? Are you sure the quarter did not end up edge up in the ground? Did you try other known targets/coin denominations? Did you bury the quarter in different spots and test? Did you note whether the ground was highly mineralized (FeO bargraph reading) which is separate from ground balance to soil conductivity and can significantly impact detection depth? A lot of trials and tests and questions should be put to bed before you start pointing the finger at the detector, especially if a basic air test is sat.
 

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Digzit2

Digzit2

Hero Member
Jan 2, 2016
515
566
Illinois
Detector(s) used
Teknetics t2 se,Deteknix X pointer angus mackirk explorer,keene a51a.
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Went back to the sight and did the same test. I did a ground balance this time and all went well.the soil is high in minerals.thanks to all for the help.
 

vferrari

Silver Member
Jul 19, 2015
4,910
8,377
Near Ground Zero for Insanity
Detector(s) used
XP Deus with HF/x35 Coils and Mi6 Pinpointer/ML Equinox 600/800/ML Tarsacci MDT 8000 GPX 4800/Garrett ATX/Fisher F75 DST/Tek G2+/Delta/Whites MXT/Nokta Simplex/Garrett Carrot
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Glad it worked out. Even with a sat GB, high soil mineralization can make the best vlf detector go blind. Like turning on high beams in the fog.
 

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