Newbie with Tech question............Power lines???????????Please help

[michigan michael]

I am hoping someone can help. I went to a new spot with my MPX Today. I got the detector turned on and started to swing. My detector went crazy! Beep beep beep one id icon to the next until it completely locked up with full bars and would not beep or anything. I pulled the battery and tried again and it was the same. I did notice that I was completely surrounded by power lines. I don't know if that was the cause this to happen but, I left and tried a different spot. As soon as I turned on my detector if went full bore and froze just like at the last place. There was only one power line here. I wondered if I caused damage from the power lines at the first place. I was so mad that I tossed the detector in the car and started heading home. I decided to make one last stop and try again. I turned it on it froze up again and then unlocked itself. I pulled a few little clad and powered it on and off a few times and everything was fine. Anybody else ever seen anything like this? Does power lines damage or interfere metal detectors?

 

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[fistfulladirt]

Re: Newbie with Tech question............

Power lines have messed up my detectors. Really messed up my White's. As a matter of fact if a detect near a minelab my White's goes berserk!

 

[Ray S S]

Re: Newbie with Tech question............

wow, I never thought about the power linse. I have them going across by back yard about 80 ft back of the house'
I have notice sometimes it seemed to be acting funny but not really bad. a few times i would be getting a signal
for iron or foil or nickel and jump back and forth between them and read 10 plus inches. When it was doing that ,
i'd dig down an then lose it and the machine would be inconsistant. I'd wonder what was going on. I may have been
under the wires. I'm going to have to check that out and see if the lines do affect it.

Thanks for the tip
Some places in my yard is wet yet with water sqoushing under feet, but i want to find out if those power lines
have anything to do with it.

I hope you get your's all straightened out.

I'm glad you posted your question cause now i am curious about mine.

Happy Hunting

Ray.

 

[BigZee]

Check the manufacturers web site, see if they can offer any help.

 

[Slipperyjack47]

The answer to your question is ...YES! powerlines will mess up alot of detectors and it sounds like it did a real number on yours. Some machines like minelab have a built in noise rejection so that you can push a button and it will eliminate the electrical interference caused by the powerlines. Best advice is to pay attention to whats overhead and also any buried lines and avoid those areas. I wish I had a better answer for you but its the best I can do!


HH
Slipperyjack47

 

[michigan michael]

Yeah this was something that I never considered. I called kelly co and was told power lines are real bad for your detector. Seems pretty logical but, never really thought about it. They said they could replace my MPX for $99.00. I only gave $ 130.00 for it to begin with. What a 2 year warranty that turned out to be. Sorry about my luck. I would never buy another generic detector again. I would not of purchased my ace 250 from Kelly CO either, if it were not for the freebies and the $19.99 pin pointer you get when you buy a detector. At least this Warranty is from Garrett. Live and learn. I just walked away with a real bad taste in my mouth on that deal.

 

[kept1979]

Are you certain your machine is damaged? Sounds like it is working again based on what you said in your original post. Power lines have inductive fields around the wires. Especially the high voltage lines. These electro magnetic waves certainly can cause problems with electronic equipment, kind of like placing a magnet on your detector.

 

[michigan michael]

Are you certain your machine is damaged? Sounds like it is working again based on what you said in your original post. Power lines have inductive fields around the wires. Especially the high voltage lines. These electro magnetic waves certainly can cause problems with electronic equipment, kind of like placing a magnet on your detector.

IT kind of comes and goes. It will lock up sometimes and work just fine later on. Very strange. I had a pin pointing problem with it before but that was the only issue I had prior to my power line adventure.

 

[ivan salis]

first off ----you need to understand a bit about how detectors "work"

--detectors work by making an electrical charged feild "under the coil area" --as it passes over metal --the electrical feild reacts with the "conductive" metal in the ground --- and this causes the machine to go -- beep beep
--thats why the closer it gets to the metal item in the ground the stronger the signal is --
(its also how detectors "sort" out which metal is which by their "conductivity" levels -- some metal s are simply more conductive than others -- and thats also why some metals with similar "conductivity" levels get mixed up for one another by the machine as its trys to sort out the items (its just guessing--high dollar types tend to be a bit better guessers but it still the machine going "I think its" ( like say pull tabs / small gold rings)

depth also works in a guessing sort of method . often its based on a coin sized type item judging how deep "it thinks" a item is by what the return is.

power lines --leak off EMF -- Electro MagneticenergyFeild --which interfers with the "electric feild" you machine puts out -- causing it to into a overload mode -- thus making iit "see" the whole world as "metal" and making it "freak out" --beep - beep - beep

high mineral levels in the ground can cause this too as well a salt water beach areas .--- (one simple cure if your machine is a "preset ground balance" type model---as most cheaper machines are) can be to cut down your sen / power levels very slowly bit by bit just till the machine smoothes out --and runs right --(yes you will get a bit less depth but the machine can be used then--its a trade off ) ---in some places however this will not work * the interferance is simply too strong for the common cheaper type " preset ground balance machines" for those areas there is a honest need for a "manually adjustible ground balance type machine." --- I hope this helps -- Ivan

ps some detectors using close or similar freq levels can not get close to others with out freaking out ( the ones electrical feild messes with the others) --its called "cross talk"

 

[michigan michael]

first off ----you need to understand a bit about how detectors "work"

--detectors work by making an electrical charged feild "under the coil area" --as it passes over metal --the electrical feild reacts with the "conductive" metal in the ground --- and this causes the machine to go -- beep beep
--thats why the closer it gets to the metal item in the ground the stronger the signal is --
(its also how detectors "sort" out which metal is which by their "conductivity" levels -- some metal s are simply more conductive than others -- and thats also why some metals with similar "conductivity" levels get mixed up for one another by the machine as its trys to sort out the items (its just guessing--high dollar types tend to be a bit better guessers but it still the machine going "I think its" ( like say pull tabs / small gold rings)

depth also works in a guessing sort of method . often its based on a coin sized type item judging how deep "it thinks" a item is by what the return is.

power lines --leak off EMF -- Electro MagneticenergyFeild --which interfers with the "electric feild" you machine puts out -- causing it to into a overload mode -- thus making iit "see" the whole world as "metal" and making it "freak out" --beep - beep - beep

high mineral levels in the ground can cause this too as well a salt water beach areas .--- (one simple cure if your machine is a "preset ground balance" type model---as most cheaper machines are) can be to cut down your sen / power levels very slowly bit by bit just till the machine smoothes out --and runs right --(yes you will get a bit less depth but the machine can be used then--its a trade off ) ---in some places however this will not work * the interferance is simply too strong for the common cheaper type " preset ground balance machines" for those areas there is a honest need for a "manually adjustible ground balance type machine." --- I hope this helps -- Ivan

ps some detectors using close or similar freq levels can not get close to others with out freaking out ( the ones electrical feild messes with the others) --its called "cross talk"

I have two MPX detectors and found out yesterday that they do cross talk. Do you know if the EMF causes permanent damage to a detector? It seems the detector is more sensitive to power lines now. Maybe I am just expecting it to be now, Im not sure. Thanks for your reply Ivan

 

[ivan salis]

normally the EMF effects are temp in nature -- once removed from the offending "signal overload "source (powerline) area --the machine will "reboot / reset " itself -- they are design to do that -- since the machines are so sensitive --the finding a huge piece of metal it sometimes make it go into "overload" as well -- since it made for finding "small coins sized metal items" ---finding a trash can lid is a bit much for it -- its like eating a ice cream cone vs eating a 55 drum of ice cream for a human -- but once it allowed to "clear" its head in most cases it will run ok -- but in a few serious cases long term damage can occur .--- if one is getting steady fasling -- beep --beep --beep --try eazing off on the power/ sen level a bit since the machine is clearly too "hot" signal wize dfor the area -- cooling it down a bit can in many cases make it run smooth and make it usible -- most folks tend to try to run their machines "hot" or at "full blast " power / sen levels in a attempt to get "max depth" -- but often they just get a lot of kick backed signal by doing that --the ground often times can only "take" so much signal -- no matter how much signal you try to "pound" in it , the ground is only going to taking in so much (ground balanced is the term used when your machine reaches output --the "proper balance "of the machines output to the max signal the ground will accept)-- ground balance can vary from place to place and if your machine is pumping out a lot of excess signal its just going bounce back at you often causing poor resiults --normally about 75 to 80% of power / sen is where most machines tend to still get their max depth yet still run "smooth"