15 hours and still 1 bar

[WaterWalker]

Went out today for 3 hours with two bars showing after 12 hours in the water with GG Amphibian wired headphones.
At home now and still have 1 bar and solid operation.

 

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[Echoplex]

I'm guessing that, since you are using wired headphones, you are saving on BT transmission power, extending the time of use. What number of sensitivity were you at?

 

[WaterWalker]

Only using Beach 2 mode, no wireless or back light and not tinkering with settings until I have about 75 hours in the water.
For those that think Gold modes will be great in salt water, FORGET IT!

 

[smokeythecat]

BTW don't forget to charge it before you go out again.

 

[cudamark]

Only using Beach 2 mode, no wireless or back light and not tinkering with settings until I have about 75 hours in the water.
For those that think Gold modes will be great in salt water, FORGET IT!

Agreed, it does nothing but squawk in either of the gold modes.....even out of the water, but, in the wet sand.

 

[Hawks88]

That’s good to know. Thanks for the info.

 

[vferrari]

Yep. Gold Mode is the "hottest" mode and on the opposite end from beach mode on the sparky scale.

Modes ranked from least hot to hot (i.e., sensitivity to falsing from ground noise, salt variation, black sand etc.)

Gold 1 (Most sensitive mode for small mid conductors)
Gold 2 (Less sensitive to highly mineralized conditions vs. Gold 1).
Park 2 (Sensitive to small gold jewelry and nickels as well as aluminum)
Field 2 (Sensitive to small Mid conductiverelics lije brass buttons, small lead)
Field 1 (Sensitive to high conductive targets)
Park 1 (Sensitive to high conductive targets especially silver coins, with heavy filtering for ferrous falsing - high iron bias setting)
Beach 1 - Good dry sand/wet sand all purpose mode
Beach 2. Salt Surf/Submerged hunting (Throttles back transmit power if high mineralization/black sand is sensed)

Park/Field 1 or even 2 might be worth a shot in the dry sand but not sure they would buy you much vs.beach 1.

 

[Eagle 1]

Hello waterwalker How do you like those Gray ghost amphibians headphones. I have been thinking of buying a pair and wiring it up myself. Seeing that it will be a while before they make a set for the equinox. I assume you must’ve bought the adapter that minelab sales. Splicing it and attaching it to the gray ghost. So was that easy to do?

 

[vferrari]

I have a pair of GG Amphibians without connector that I purchased couple years back that I was going to marry with MX Sport but just went with the Whites phones so they were collecting dust. Decided to have them modified too add the connector for the Equinox but the dB level was really low so my guy changed out the drivers at no charge and they are much better but still a little soft in volume. Did not have the same issue with a pair of WP GG's I purchased with the Garrett WP connector already installed but those also have a volume control so they are a different design. Just FYI.

 

[WaterWalker]

Eagle 1

Garrett sells the AT(series) adapter and Minelab will be selling the Equinox adapter (soon I hope) then it is just a matter of splicing two connectors together and making the splice waterproof.

Minelab Part No. 3011-0369.....$40.00 (not yet available)

Garrett PN: 1627800.....$19.95


I made an adapter cable for my GGA, use the lower left hand diagram below. If I remember correctly it will be the red wire to the tip and the white wire to the ring and sleeve.

Grasp the 1/8” or 3.5mm gold colored male stereo connector between your thumb and forefinger. Turn it counterclockwise out of the connector until it threads all the way out.

Take your headphone cable and insert it into the cable gland end (hex nut) of the connector and push the cable all the way through.
Once the cable is through the connector shell, strip ~ ½” of the cable covering off. Then strip ~1/8” of insulation off each wire. On most other typical headphones, the “tip” is the white wire, the “ring” is the red wire, and the “sleeve” is the black wire. You can verify this by using an OHM meter and checking each wire to the plug that you had cut off your existing headphones. Solder each of the wires to the gold colored metal connector as shown in the diagram below.

Prior to reassembly, plug the gold colored connector into the Minelab Equinox to assure the cable and headphone wires are soldered to the correct places and the headphones operate correctly with the Equinox.
If the sound does not work correctly and you continue to hear sound through both the Equinox speaker and the headphones, you would need to combine the ring & sleeve wires by putting a jumper across the ring & sleeve wire positions on the connector.

Once correct operation has been assured, crimp the cable into the connector strain relief and
you can reassemble the connector. Many people pack the inside of the connector with grease or use epoxy in the final assembly to avoid possible water contamination if the connector were to leak.

Lastly, tighten the cable gland nut on the end of the connector onto the headphone cable.

 

[vferrari]

Thanks for the detailed assembly instructions.

The Minelab adapter cable is starting to become available at some dealers, you need to call TNET sponsors to find out who has it in stock.

Cannibalizing and splicing $60 worth of adapter cables seems a little steep for a DIY project (I got a competent third party to install a waterproof Equinox compatible connector like yours onto my GGs for around the same cost, though) but it is less complicated than your direct connector fabrication method and enables you to still use the Garrett Compatible WP phones with a Garrett detector.

Where did you get the parts to fabricate the Equinox compatible connector directly? That must cost less than splicing the adapter cables together though more labor intensive.

 

[Eagle 1]

Thanks For all your help. I don’t think I have much choice but to make my own. It is going to be a long while before they release the GGA’s With the equinox. So I’m going to have to make it here myself.