Coil Cover - yes or no?

wildheart · Jan 4, 2009

Newbie here, wanting to know opinions on coil covers. I got a new Ace 250 for Xmas, and since I'm up in the frozen north, won't likely be taking it out for a few months yet. Meanwhile, am wondering if I should buy a coil cover for it. I'll be using it with the standard 4 x 9 it came with. Any opinions? Thanks.

RPG · Mar 22, 2009

boogeyman said:
Yellow Hammer said:

Down here in the So California desert I would not be with out one. Unlike where you are located it never gets frozen. Today it's 59deg and rain but last week it was 85deg so we hunt all year long and I go thru 3 covers a year. You should never hunt with out a cover. I would hate to ruin a 600.00 18" coil.

Click to expand...

Always used covers. Put a spritz of static guard in the cover. Put the cover on then finger some silicone around the edges. Seals out the moisture fine magnetite etc. Cover can be removed after running an X-acto knife around it.

My thoughts exactly.

golddigger14s · Mar 22, 2009

lumbercamp · Mar 22, 2009

This photo shows a typical rocky area that I detect. There is an old skid road behind the rocks and I do find iron amongst rocks like this. There is no way a thin piece of plastic is going to protect my coil from being damaged from these rocks. A couple more inches of plastic broke off my coil so I packed some more roofing tar in it. Ha, soon I'll have an all tar coil and it still works fine.

JimDE · Apr 13, 2009

I say yes to the cover and definitely yes to using silicone around the seam between cover and coil. Taking it on and off IMO risk's damaging the coil because the fit is so tight one has to use something to pry them apart unless you grind down the covers locking ridge.

I have used silicone in this manner for years and have had zero problems. I do suggest the go on white dry clear silicone so you can see the coverage when it is being applied to avoid holes.

beaks · Apr 16, 2009

wildheart said:
Newbie here, wanting to know opinions on coil covers. I got a new Ace 250 for Xmas, and since I'm up in the frozen north, won't likely be taking it out for a few months yet. Meanwhile, am wondering if I should buy a coil cover for it. I'll be using it with the standard 4 x 9 it came with. Any opinions? Thanks.

LMAO after what happened tonight i would say NO!

I fired up my wifes new ace 250 to check the batteries after our weekend gold hunt and it wouldnt stop sounding off so i took off the coil cover and checked the coil and found the reason.
While my wife was checking the river bed behind the rocks she scooped up a load of color and forgot to clean the cover so i spent 15 minutes acting insane trying to figure out how she broke her new detector. LMAO

i dont use a cover on my 2500 and have never had a problem with scuffing and i dont have to worry about going insane trying to figure out why the stupid thing wont stop beeping LOL

John

PA John · Apr 16, 2009

Holy Crap Lumbercamp. I have never seen anything like that before in an sensitive electrical component.

May I suggest carrying your detector back to the car instead of hooking it to your belt loop and dragging? ::)

I have a coil cover but never thought to clean it out. Thanks for the advice all!

Good Post!

lumbercamp · Apr 16, 2009

Good gosh Ground Hog, you mean I've been doing it wrong all these years? I must have missed that part in the instruction book. Will have to re-read it

But up here in northern Pa. we grow rocks. Where you come from the top soil is 3 ft. deep and you could drag your detector all day and not hit a single rock.

brokenarrow · Apr 16, 2009

golddigger14s said:
YES

Ditto

davidtn · Apr 17, 2009

I'm somewhat in the minority as I don't use them. I don't want to have to fool with cleaning it nightly and besides, the coils are built pretty tough these days. You remember when the big deal was to get the undercarriage of your car 'rust coated'? I liken it to that.

If you're banging your coil hard enough to scratch and break it then I think you're just whacking it too danged hard.

To each their own though...is this a great country or what?

gleaner1 · Apr 17, 2009

Lumbercamp, your coil is so beat and needs a cover so bad that I am willing to buy you one. Its not gonna be cheap. Its gotta be made from military-grade high-tech carbon fiber composite approved by NASA. But I know you still wont use it. I wouldn't either.

lumbercamp · Apr 18, 2009

Ya know, Garretts coils take a beating and keep on ticking. If Garrett ever wants to design an indestructible coil, then I'm willing to test their prototype against these rocks that keep getting in my way. Hmmm, gleaner1. Maybe you and that company could work together and name the coil cover after you.

curbdiggercarl57 · Apr 29, 2009

Yes! If you are like me, I literally scrape the soil when I pass my coil over the ground. Wore out a 9 and 1/2" Whites coil before it dawned on me to buy a cover. You might want to smear a little rubber caulk on the rim to prevent really fine dust from getting in between.

davidtn · Apr 29, 2009

You know when you wear your coil out from hunting, then you should have enough clad saved to buy a new coil.

jb7487 · Apr 30, 2009

Funny, I just commented in another thread about how I like open coils because I think it would be easier to pinpoint with them. Putting a cover on my coil would make it harder for me to concentrate on a spot on the ground as I'm swinging. But I guess we all have our own little techniques. Those with solid coils wouldn't be impacted by this anyway.

I also have a cheap detector so I'm certainly not going to be looking to sell it as it has no resale value anyway. If the thing breaks I'll just have a good excuse to get a better machine!

It seems a little silly to spend extra money on a coil cover for a machine that is under $200. It's like a lot of today's consumer electronics. They are so cheap there is no reason to buy the extended warranty. Just throw them out and get a new one should you be so unlucky as to break it.

mick56 · Apr 30, 2009

Don't use one on my 250. Tonight, I did paint on some pvc cement, as the coil was showing some wear. Will see how that works.

jb7487 · May 1, 2009

I'm not sure I buy the whole PVC cement idea. PVC cement would potentially melt the plastic rather than building it up. I would imagine that it evaporates leaving the melted and subsequently bubble plastic behind. So I can't see why it would build up your detector. It seems to me that it would do the opposite.

But I've never tried it on a detector (just on plenty of plastic pipes) so maybe it does leave some sort of residue. I'd tend to believe that marine epoxy or some other substance known to provide thickness would be better. But hey, what do I know.

mick56 · May 8, 2009

The pvc cement I used was about as thick as honey. I put a nice coat on the coil, it filled in the scratches and chips nicely. I've used the detector every day since, and it seems to be wearing good. I like it.