NEW AT Pro constant falsing. HELP!!!

collectorconor

Jr. Member
Dec 20, 2012
76
75
Detector(s) used
Garrett Euroace
Teknetics EuroTek Pro
Garrett Pro-Pointer
Primary Interest:
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Hi all.
Purchased an AT Pro brand new the other day. Have been out with it three times. This morning, I went out for a few hours and left feeling very frustrated indeed. In the PRO ZERO mode, there's constant chatter. Reducing sensitivity may help slightly, but every sweep theres still at least one high or low tone. Still falses even with iron discrim notched up. This happens in STD mode too, not as much though but still annoying as often it'll be a bell tone. Sometimes these false signals seem consistent yet quiet, and I'll dig and dig to no avail. My detector also sounds when the unit is wiggled, or when the coil lightly bumps the ground. Both of these problems are causing me huge frustration, especially at the thought of the hassle of returning a brand new machine that I was excited about using. These problems only go away when the sensitivity is dropped to two bars. Not BY two bars, TO two bars.
Before you ask:
1. There was no nearby sources of electrical interference.
2. I had a mobile phone with me, in my pocket. This doesn't explain the bump beeps though.
3. The ground was not just junk-heavy, they were false signals. I've dug 'em to prove it to myself! Also on the land I was using it on, an ACE 250 runs as quiet as a mouse.
4. I'm using the batteries that came with the unit. Felt no need to waste good batteries and put in my own.
5. The coil to control box connection is secure.
6. Adjusting FREQ had no effect
7. Ground Balance- I'd get it quiet manually but as soon as I exited GB, the same chattering would start again.

I understand that a lot of you are in the US. Please understand before commenting that for me, in Europe, it's not as simple as 'phone Garrett'. It would nearly cost me the price of the machine to send it to them! I have contacted the store whom I purchased it off and awaiting their reply.

Don't say I've only gone and bought a faulty machine???
 

Last edited:

releventchair

Gold Member
May 9, 2012
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I'm not familiar with the Pro. Just older Garretts.

A reset has solved the worst symptoms on rare occasion the machine has chattered.

Check for any ability of your cable to "flop" /move . You might revisit how cable should be run...Wrap direction leaving coil onto shaft , length of cable before wrap ect..

If you run a coil cover , remove and check it for foreign objects or mineralized sand.

Real wet soil may require a low sensitivity setting. I had quite a time on well saturated ground before. I.D. guesses were way off .

Before I had a pinpointer I thought I had falsings. Tiny lead shot. Tennis shoe eyelets,bits of wire, rust dust from a decomposed object ect.
Yes, the sensitivity was set high. Though only at a couple three bars...

Testing detector in a known "clean" area with planted objects can go far in getting a feel for a detectors settings.
Soils vary of course , as well as moisture content.

Good luck. Hopefully other Pro owners chime in soon.
 

bowwinkles

Bronze Member
Nov 3, 2012
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Turn down the sensitivity and see if that will fix your problem. Make sure you ground balance also.
 

OP
OP
C

collectorconor

Jr. Member
Dec 20, 2012
76
75
Detector(s) used
Garrett Euroace
Teknetics EuroTek Pro
Garrett Pro-Pointer
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Turn down the sensitivity and see if that will fix your problem. Make sure you ground balance also.

bowwinkles, I appreciate your reply but you obviously only read the title or first sentence of my post.
 

OP
OP
C

collectorconor

Jr. Member
Dec 20, 2012
76
75
Detector(s) used
Garrett Euroace
Teknetics EuroTek Pro
Garrett Pro-Pointer
Primary Interest:
All Treasure Hunting
Cheers. Factory reset did nothing unfortunately. I have a pro pointer.
 

digger460

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Sep 19, 2015
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Relevantchair pretty much nailed it.

When I had my ATP, I was getting similar to what you are talking about. The cord wasn't properly wrapped. Problem solved.

Agreed that that machine will pickup the most irritating small objects. Many times after using my pinpointer in a little clump of dirt in my hand, only to find an object 1/8 inch long, with the diameter of a paperclip.

Doesn't sound like batteries, but what the heck. Ya never know. Good Luck.
 

bowwinkles

Bronze Member
Nov 3, 2012
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bowwinkles, I appreciate your reply but you obviously only read the title or first sentence of my post.

I'm an old fart and those long descriptions are good but I forget the first part by the time I get to the end. I had the same issue and running in pro zero the sensitivity proved to be very important to eliminate chatter. Good luck hope the cord wrap works.
 

Oct 5, 2014
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Collectorconor,

Try running your coil wire straight up the shaft about 12" and secure with black electrical tape every 4 inches, then wrap the coil wire around the shafts to the control box. After doing this set in Pro-zero, sensitivity one bar below max and then ground balance. Please give this a try it may solve the problem. If not, you may have a bad coil (I hope not).

Regards,

Doc
 

signal_line

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Nov 14, 2011
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Agree loose coil wire will cause falsing.
 

fortaleza

Jr. Member
Jun 15, 2013
78
75
Northern Illinois, Fortaleza Brazil
Detector(s) used
Garrett AT Pro, Tesoro Mojave, Garrett Ace 250, 2 Garrett Pro Pointers gotta have a backup
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I had a problem similar to yours. I had replaced the batteries recently and then after 5 -10 minutes of use it started going
crazy/faulting all over the place. Then replaced batteries with new ones and the problem went away. I guess one of the
batteries was weak and caused faulting.
 

Irishgoldhound

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Jul 15, 2013
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I had same problem with the stock coil. Coil was defective. Yours could be too. I Bought the 5x8 and problem solved and never went back to the bigger coil.
 

Xraywolf

Silver Member
Feb 28, 2005
3,576
4,360
MI USA
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Ace 400, AT Pro, equinox 800, Simplex,Vanquish 540
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I've been through this 3 times in 5 years, was always bad coil.
 

Sep 14, 2017
12
15
Mississippi
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Garrett AT Pro, Garrett ProPointer AT
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Make sure the cord near the coil isn’t loose. Wrap it as close to the shaft without it pulling too tight and use a zip tie or something to keep it in place.
 

xr7ator

Gold Member
Sep 2, 2011
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Denver, Colorado
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I had the same thing happen to me after a month or so using my AT Pro back in 2009. It was a bad coil. Garrett sent me a new coil, I treid it and it fixed the problem and they included a postage paid return to return the defective coil.
 

The Dirt Pirate

Sr. Member
Dec 21, 2015
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I was having the same problem. I used 3 plastic zip ties to keep the cord for the coil snug. Make sure that you have the cord from the coil wrapped around the front of the shaft and not the back because that will cause false signals. Make sure that you have the sensitivity lowered because I had my detector go crazy earlier this morning when I tried detecting with the sensitivity all the way up.
 

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