Aquapulse AQ1B detection ranges for various coils and probes

[Jolly Mon]

Since someone resurrected an old Aquapulse thread, I thought I would share some information from the Aquascan Intl. options brochure.

I am not sure of the methodology used during testing, but these depth figures are very impressive.

Note the nearly 11 inch depth on a 1 gram 24kt. gold coin with both the 8 and 10 inch coils !!...that is a very small, low conductive target...

I have had my Aquapulse 1a for a little over a year now and could not be more satisfied.

I thought I would be purchasing a 15 inch coil, but for use underwater, the 8 inch coil has quickly become my favorite...

I am very seriously considering buying one of the probes for use in tight areas and around cordgrass roots...

 

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[Salvor6]

Jolly Mon I got my AQ1B 15 years ago and I am impressed by its performance. It beats my buddies Excalibur by a mile! The 8" coil is great for shallow stuff but the 15" coil will actually go down 10 feet! There is nothing else like it on the market.

 

[Octopulse]

Hello everyone, I have just purchased a new Aquapulse AQ1B (Compact) after being impressed with the unit. I initially tested a unit several years ago but thought the sensitivity to smaller gold rings could be better. The newer design is more sensitive to gold, especially the higher karat gold. I have tested a large range of gold rings and have discovered that my Garrett SeaHunter will sense the smaller rings deeper but the Aquapulse can give similar or deeper range on the bigger rings. I believe that the minimum pulse delay is 40µs. A quicker pulse delay available on other PI units is really only advantageous on the dry/wet sand but as soon as the coil is submerged then 10µs-20µs gives too much "salt" signal and the smaller rings are simply not heard. I have walked over gold because of dialling in too quick a pulse delay on my Garrett and the gold tally picked up once I increased the delay (Elimination). Anyhow back to the Aquapulse........I'm very impressed with the performance and the quality of engineering is very high. . My only complaint is the lower plastic white shaft is a bit short, I would love an extra 6" but it's manageable. What else....being able to use the bonephone secured behind the mask strap is great if I'm hunting in the wave zone so no more headphones being washed off. I believe that the range of targets was determined by a doubling of the "tick over" speed of the detector. I have already learnt that setting the tick over speed (threshold) needs to be fairly slow in order to attain maximum sensitivity. Because of the slightly higher pulse delay compared to other PI's, some depth is lost in the smaller low karat rings but the response is still very good on the bigger and higher karat rings. This is to do with the conductivity of those targets. The Aquapulse is crazy deep on silver ! The unit sees a US nickel at about 9" which is nothing exciting but good news is that average depth wasn't seen with the majority of my gold rings except some of the 9K rings. Hope to hear from any other AQ1B users out there. Regards, Tony.

 

[Jolly Mon]

Congratulations on your new Aquapulse !!!
I may miss some very deep and/or very small targets, but I usually run mine just to the point of silence, I.E. with no audible tick. I understand why this may not give the absolute best sensitivity, but as a practical matter, I find it highly effective. We are not allowed to use any sort of mechanical excavation equipment, so there is really a limit to what it is practical to detect.
The Aquapulse is not only crazy deep on silver, it is radically deep on large ferrous targets as well. It will find cannon balls and Parrot shells at outrageous depths. I find a probe to be invaluable.

 

[Octopulse]

It is an awesome machine. I'm still deciding on the tickover speed but believe about one to two ticks per second gives me the best sensitivity. Did you know that it air tests a dime at 13". The depth on silver is insane and even the smaller 18K gold rings respond very well. The smaller 9/10K rings drops away at depth. Keep any updates or info you have coming......there aren't that many Aquapulse users. HH Tony

 

[Jolly Mon]

It is an awesome machine. I'm still deciding on the tickover speed but believe about one tick per second gives me the best sensitivity. Did you know that it air tests a dime at 13".
The depth on silver is insane and even the smaller 18K gold rings respond very well.
The smaller 9/10K rings drops away at depth.
Keep any updates or info you have coming......there aren't that many Aquapulse users.
HH
Tony

Hey, Tony, how deep do you think your Aquapulse would detect something like this?? You never know what you might find, even in Australia !!!



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[quicho1961]

Hi, name here is Nelson from Chile
Last year i owned an almost new Aquapulse AQ1B, with the old NiCad battery pack and after i try it i discover that the battery was almost dead, so i decided to raplace it by my self with a homemade pack of 3 LioIon batteries 3.7 volts, 4000mA each and afted i installed and charged the detector got 11.1 volts that last more than 20 hours and it still working.
The ranges of this detector is awsome, cause i got similar ranges that Tony saids. I also notice that this machine gets lot of interference if you are close to power lines, but i can live with it, cause i never search close to electrical lines, where the detector shows a clean and steady sound, very very deep machine on gold, silver and copper coins. I think is the best PI detector i have. Now i m working on homemade new coils for it.
Regards
Nelson

 

[Salvor6]

Hello Nelson and welcome to Treasurenet. I had the same problem with my Aquapulse. The battery was dead and "Search & Salvage" in Key Largo wanted $110 to replace it. I got 8 NiMH C-cells and taped them together and soldered the connections. It cost less than $20 and I get 12 volts. The detector runs for more than 14 hours before it needs to be charged and the battery has no "memory" like NiCads.

 

[Jolly Mon]

Hi, name here is Nelson from Chile
Last year i owned an almost new Aquapulse AQ1B, with the old NiCad battery pack and after i try it i discover that the battery was almost dead, so i decided to raplace it by my self with a homemade pack of 3 LioIon batteries 3.7 volts, 4000mA each and afted i installed and charged the detector got 11.1 volts that last more than 20 hours and it still working.
The ranges of this detector is awsome, cause i got similar ranges that Tony saids. I also notice that this machine gets lot of interference if you are close to power lines, but i can live with it, cause i never search close to electrical lines, where the detector shows a clean and steady sound, very very deep machine on gold, silver and copper coins. I think is the best PI detector i have. Now i m working on homemade new coils for it.
Regards
Nelson

Welcome to the forum, Nelson. Please let us know if you come across plans for a BIG coil for the Aquapulse. The largest the factory makes, I think, is 15 inches. I would like something along the lines of the 48" inch coil JW Fishers makes for the Pulse 8x. Something I could use for slow drift searches in relatively shallow water.

 

[Octopulse]

Hi, name here is Nelson from Chile
Last year i owned an almost new Aquapulse AQ1B, with the old NiCad battery pack and after i try it i discover that the battery was almost dead, so i decided to raplace it by my self with a homemade pack of 3 LioIon batteries 3.7 volts, 4000mA each and afted i installed and charged the detector got 11.1 volts that last more than 20 hours and it still working.
The ranges of this detector is awsome, cause i got similar ranges that Tony saids. I also notice that this machine gets lot of interference if you are close to power lines, but i can live with it, cause i never search close to electrical lines, where the detector shows a clean and steady sound, very very deep machine on gold, silver and copper coins. I think is the best PI detector i have. Now i m working on homemade new coils for it.
Regards
Nelson

Hello Nelson and other AQ1B users.
Yes it is a great detector. I believe the coils are not shielded from interference (EMI) so they are susceptible in this area. Minimum pulse delay is about 40µs. This setting can actually enhance the signals of bigger rings and higher conductors. For me, the key to setting this machine just right is for the tick over speed (threshold) to be about 2 ticks per second. A very slow tick over speed (approaching silent) may not signal a target. A fast tick over speed can allow target signals to blend into the audio which is to be avoided as well. Because there is no SAT (Self Adjusting Threshold), the tick over speed does need to be tweaked every so often.
I have noticed that the threshold can sometimes become "saturated" and needs to be slowed down.
Has anyone else noticed this......a drifting threshold (tick over) that becomes very noisy and must be turned down counter-clockwise?
HH,
Tony.

 

[Octopulse]

Oh my aching back !!!

Hey, Tony, how deep do you think your Aquapulse would detect something like this?? You never know what you might find, even in Australia !!!

View attachment 915321

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[Jolly Mon]

Hello Nelson and other AQ1B users.
Yes it is a great detector. I believe the coils are not shielded from interference (EMI) so they are susceptible in this area. Minimum pulse delay is between 25µs and 30µs. This setting can actually enhance the signals of bigger rings and higher conductors. For me, the key to setting this machine just right is for the tick over speed (threshold) to be about 2 ticks per second. A very slow tick over speed (approaching silent) may not signal a target. A fast tick over speed can allow target signals to blend into the audio which is to be avoided as well. Because there is no SAT (Self Adjusting Threshold), the tick over speed does need to be tweaked every so often.
I have noticed that the threshold can sometimes become "saturated" and needs to be slowed down.
Has anyone else noticed this......a drifting threshold (tick over) that becomes very noisy and must be turned down counter-clockwise?
HH,
Tony.

I have noticed the threshold drift. It is the reason I usually run mine silent. I know I may be losing a little sensitivity, but the machine goes plenty deep enough for my purposes regardless.

 

[Octopulse]

I've decided to order the 15" coil to chase silver coins from old shipwrecks.....well that's the plan anyway. I just "googled" the length of the Western Australian coastline and discovered it is about 12,889kms plus another 8000kms including islands.... I think I'm going to need a bigger coil ! There are hundreds of shipwrecks from the past 300 years or so......plenty of potential for Sometimes you need to dream big. Tony.

 

[BVI Hunter]

. I have walked over gold because of dialling in too quick a pulse delay on my Garrett and the gold tally picked up once I increased the delay (Elimination).

Hi Tony

could you explain about "dialing" in pulse delay on the SH2?
I assume you mean discrimination / elimination buttons etc?
any new tricks I can learn would be a great advantage!

 

[Octopulse]

I think I worded that badly......what I meant to say is that I used to run with too quick a delay (min position) in the deeper water / surf and the constant salt water signal (noisy threshold) drowned out the soft signals from deep targets. I now run the Seahunter elimination at the 9 o'clock position unless I'm on the wet sand and away from the surf. I believe this equates to a pulse delay of about 20µs. Now I can actually hear targets above the smooth threshold. I hope that makes sense. With the Aquapulse, the minimum pulse delay is about 40µs so no need to increase any further unless maybe in 5 metres or more saltwater. HH Tony. PS......I love my SeaHunter for the added sensitivity (pulse delay) when I can use it.

 

[BVI Hunter]

I think I worded that badly......what I meant to say is that I used to run with too quick a delay (min position) in the deeper water / surf and the constant salt water signal (noisy threshold) drowned out the soft signals from deep targets. I now run the Seahunter elimination at the 9 o'clock position unless I'm on the wet sand and away from the surf. I believe this equates to a pulse delay of about 20µs. Now I can actually hear targets above the smooth threshold. I hope that makes sense. With the Aquapulse, the minimum pulse delay is about 25µs so no need to increase any further unless maybe in 5 metres or more saltwater. HH Tony. PS......I love my SeaHunter for the added sensitivity (pulse delay) when I can use it. The Aquapulse circuitry and coil design isn't capable of getting below 25µs which for me isn't a problem when in 4+ feet of salt water as anything quicker gets noisy. The longer delay is also ideal when looking for silver or high karat gold coins.

Thanks!!

You know your circuitry for sure!

Where as I am one of those get-it-out-the-box-and-just-use-it types! That said, there's is obviously something I am missing thru ignorance...despite early successes.

So, with the SH2, if I was in deeper salt water, I really should be using the dials etc - at the moment, due to minimal trash, I use it on no discrimination to detect everything!

maybe I'm missing targets because of this?

Thanks again

 

[Octopulse]

I always have it in "Standard Trash Elimination"...first click when switched on. The "Elimination" (also known as "pulse delay" or "reject" on other machines is a form of discrimination but not in the true sense when compared to VLF detectors. It's primary design is to enhance sensitivity to lower conductor targets (minimum setting) whilst providing a cancelling effect on the conductivity within salt water. On the dry sand and the wet sand (not continuously underwater), a minimum pulse delay is fine (smoothish threshold) but as soon as the sand is saturated then the delay needs to be advanced clockwise. The threshold will let you know. The greater the amount of saltwater (depth) then the more the delay needs to be advanced to eliminate the salt water signal. You can keep the delay setting at minimum in the salty water but the threshold will be noisy. Sensitivity to the smaller rings will be lost slightly when the delay is advanced but you may never know they are there if the threshold is drowning their signals out. PI detector's running at 10µs are very noisy when the coil is even scanning saturated wet sand let alone in the deeper water. HH Tony

 

[Mud Skipper]

I believe the Seahunter base is built on or around the same technology as the 1B Mr.Foster designed or played a large role in the build of both units, hence they have similar tendancies, the SH is a good back up with portable battery pack whereas the Aquapulse requires charging, both great machines and Ive a couple of both but the 1B is my favourite!

 

[quicho1961]

Hello AQ1B users and sorry for not been here from long time, but i had the time for.
So far i can tell that it is possible to run a bigger homemade coil for aquapulse. I had tested a 70 by 70 centimeters coil and it does a very nice job. Very deep if i compare it with my Pulse Star II Pro aquapulse win.
I need more time to do more test, but soon i will. Another point that interest me is to know if is possible to change the delay under my responsability and for my own knolegment. The circuit a very nice, very well made and will last for long time.
Yes i think the coil is not shielded, so this could be the reason to have electromagnetic noises.
I will like to share expiriences with other aq1b uses, my email is nlepet@gmail.com

Hello Nelson and other AQ1B users.
Yes it is a great detector. I believe the coils are not shielded from interference (EMI) so they are susceptible in this area. Minimum pulse delay is between 25µs and 30µs. This setting can actually enhance the signals of bigger rings and higher conductors. For me, the key to setting this machine just right is for the tick over speed (threshold) to be about 2 ticks per second. A very slow tick over speed (approaching silent) may not signal a target. A fast tick over speed can allow target signals to blend into the audio which is to be avoided as well. Because there is no SAT (Self Adjusting Threshold), the tick over speed does need to be tweaked every so often.
I have noticed that the threshold can sometimes become "saturated" and needs to be slowed down.
Has anyone else noticed this......a drifting threshold (tick over) that becomes very noisy and must be turned down counter-clockwise?
HH,
Tony.

 

[Octopulse]

I think I worded that badly......what I meant to say is that I used to run with too quick a delay (min position) in the deeper water / surf and the constant salt water signal (noisy threshold) drowned out the soft signals from deep targets. I now run the Seahunter elimination at the 9 o'clock position unless I'm on the wet sand and away from the surf. I believe this equates to a pulse delay of about 20µs. Now I can actually hear targets above the smooth threshold. I hope that makes sense. With the Aquapulse, the minimum pulse delay is about 25µs so no need to increase any further unless maybe in 5 metres or more saltwater. HH Tony. PS......I love my SeaHunter for the added sensitivity (pulse delay) when I can use it. The Aquapulse circuitry and coil design isn't capable of getting below 25µs which for me isn't a problem when in 4+ feet of salt water as anything quicker gets noisy. The longer delay is also ideal when looking for silver or high karat gold coins.

Hello all,

Just wanted to say that I was incorrect with the information regarding the minimum pulse delay on the AQ1B.
The minimum pulse delay is in fact 40µs which is quite weak on a range of targets (low conductors) but very strong on others (high conductors).

I will hope to add further information to this thread at a later date so stay tuned !