Questions about Signals with my finds

[saanich2018]

Today for about an hour, I went back over to the local school where I had good luck finding coins last weekend.

Settings: First, did a Factory Reset. Park 1. Noise canceled. Auto ground balance

I am confused about the signals:

1) I got a great signal, reading about 24 to 27. When I dug it up, it was piece of a cast iron pipe. I thought cast iron was suppose to register in the negative numbers?
Also found a nail and the signal was in the 19 to 20 range.
2) I kept hitting signals in the 17 to 23 range and they were soda can pull tabs or pencil eraser tops? I thought these were suppose to register in the 10 to 13 range?
3) Pennies were coming up in the 26 to 30 range. Most were only one or two inches deep. I thought pennies were suppose to be in the teens?
4) Found one dime. It registered in the 16 to 18 range.

Are these correct? Why isn't iron in the minus numbers?

Now, overall I was very impressed that this unit can register very ting items. I found a tiny copper button, which is about 1/4" in diameter.

So still learning but need/would like some clarity on the signals.

Thank you.

 

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[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

Cast iron bits often ring up high. I’ve found chunks of old stoves at several sites that ring silver coin high.

Some old square nails have a brass iron mix and some rusty nails ring high which is normal
.
Older copper pennies can hit into the high 20’s.

Pencil erasers and pull tabs are usually lower like you mention.

But a dime 16-18 is definitely weird! They are always high 20’s on my unit.

Keep working it!

 

[RobNC]

Pennies on my EQ600 run 20-21 on zincs, 25-26 on copper pennies. Wheat pennies bounce from 19-20. Clad dimes=25-26(same as copper pennies). Clad Nickels= 12-13 but a solid 13 is more normal on mine. Clad Quarters=30-31.
Have found no silver coins yet so I can't comment on those. drink can pulltabs range form 12-15. Older round pulltabs can ring up anywhere from 14-17 on mine. Round bottlecaps are another pain, and they can mimic zinc pennies or quarters at times.
I really believe no 2 Equinox units are the exact same in how they ID things. I've also noticed that when I'm hunting in whiter clay-like soil the machine performs a lot better (hotter) than when I am in red dirt. Also the ID tends to be more accurate and tighter when NOT in red soil. Still learning the machine, and sometimes the pinpoint is way off for me especially on coins almost on top of the ground.
Picked up another 17 pennies today, 5 quarters, 5 dimes, and 3 nickels.

If in doubt about a signal, press the horseshoe button and go pseudo-all metal. If you hear a low tone or see -negatives it's more than likely junk/iron. I used this today a lot and it works.

 

[dirtlooter]

iron happens, so many variables. different alloys in pull tabs and erasers, not all the same metal

 

[Icewing]

I have never used an Equinox 800 so the TID numbers are foreign to me but I'll tell you what I know.

1:Pretty much any iron/steel that forms a ring or has a hole in it will give off a high tone, that's totally normal yet understandably frustrating (to everyone) SSometimes nails that are bent at a 90° angle, and old square nails will give you a false nonferrous tone.
2: The "supposed to" numbers are more of a most common. Over the years alloys, sizes, shapes, etc have changed, along with other factors like what's in the ground with them..
3: Pennies typically read just below what dimes read but again there have been many alloys used over the years as copper content has steadily decreased, thus the older ones will have the higher tone (close to a modern dime) and the newer copper plated zinc (post 1982) will read lower
4: That's not a normal thing. All I can speculate is that there may have been a nail in there with it.

Practice makes perfect in learning how to distinguish a sharp coin tone from something else, but sometimes it's good to just dig them anyway because you never know when it's a sterling fork

Good luck

 

[HighVDI]

Pretty much all machines will give a High tone "wrap around" signal on big chunks of iron. This is where the pinpoint and the signal report are your friend.

If you get hundreds of hours on this machine you will learn how big an item is just by the signal report alone. Aluminum cans do ring up nice but those and other big items can be quickly skipped with a coil lift. If you are still getting a loud high tone with the coil a foot in the air you know its not a silver coin for example.

You are going to dig some falsing iron. High gain machines all do this and you just have to learn the machines tendencies when it's doing this!

Pennies come in different metal compositions. Copper will ring up higher and zinc lower (typically).
If you hunt by visual numbers primarily you will not be as efficient as others in the hobby. Every signal try to really listen and take note before digging. Studying each signal before digging forces you to learn any machines audio nuances and audio is KING!

 

[DeepseekerADS]

Studying each signal before digging forces you to learn any machines audio nuances and audio is KING!

Agree completely! That's a fact Jack!

 

[Happa54]

I agree with RobNC and HighVDI

Your dime at 16 - 18 must have had something in the hole with it to alter its normal VDI of about 25 - 27... in my opinion.

 

[cudamark]

Ground mineralization can have a big effect on target I.D.'s.

 

[saanich2018]

I agree with RobNC and HighVDI

Your dime at 16 - 18 must have had something in the hole with it to alter its normal VDI of about 25 - 27... in my opinion.

I was not able to find anything else in the same hole or area. I double checked it even with my hand held pin pointer.

But, what could have been in the hole which would have caused a lower VDI reading? If there had been something else with it (metal), wouldn't it have read higher?

Also, RobNC above, said, "...the horseshoe button and go pseudo-all metal." Will someone please explain to me about the iron/horse shoe button and when you use it. In the manual it just calls it the "all metal" button and only refers to it on the bottom of page 49.

Thanks

 

[ripvanb]

I was not able to find anything else in the same hole or area. I double checked it even with my hand held pin pointer.

But, what could have been in the hole which would have caused a lower VDI reading? If there had been something else with it (metal), wouldn't it have read higher?

Also, RobNC above, said, "...the horseshoe button and go pseudo-all metal." Will someone please explain to me about the iron/horse shoe button and when you use it. In the manual it just calls it the "all metal" button and only refers to it on the bottom of page 49.

Thanks

its possible that the piece of iron was lower under the dime and out of reach from the pinpointer. Your Equinox was still detecting both and the iron was partially masking the dime, giving you a lower number.

 

[N/A]

Maybe your rig had a brain fart, do a factory reset and see what happens.

 

[saanich2018]

Did the reset before I started

 

[vferrari]

Don't overthink it. It's just a one off. If you start seeing a trend of strange VDIs then look into it. Otherwise, I don't get worked up about strange VDIs. There are just so many variables it is going to happen now and then.

 

[Truth]

I dig everything except 15 and 16

 

[vferrari]

I dig everything except 15 and 16

Gonna miss some civil war buttons then...

 

[pa-dirt_nc-sand]

I dig everything except 15 and 16

Yeah, 15 & 16 targets pop up a hundred times on each of my hunts. I only dig if they are deep, clean, crisp and small, then there is a chance they will be a button, tag or token. They are still 90% of the time a shotgun head stamp around my parts. I’ll dig the 1 in 10 chance of something good if they are deep and perfect signals. I dug a gold signet ring in this range, but it passed my pre-check.

 

[Truth]

Yeah, 15 & 16 targets pop up a hundred times on each of my hunts. I only dig if they are deep, clean, crisp and small, then there is a chance they will be a button, tag or token. They are still 90% of the time a shotgun head stamp around my parts. I’ll dig the 1 in 10 chance of something good if they are deep and perfect signals. I dug a gold signet ring in this range, but it passed my pre-check.

Same here it better be deep but I’ll take a chance on depth every time. A solid deep 14 I’m going in. Lol

 

[saanich2018]

So, if I am in a school yard and I keep hitting numbers in the 4 to 10 range, would I be safe to assume it is slaw, like pull tabs.

Being new I keep digging everything. This past weekend, along with lots of pull tabs, I did find a silver cross from a necklaces, some coins, an arrow tip and a bullet. Yeah, sort of scary to think there is a bullet on a school yard. It was not the shell casing, just the bullet.

 

[CarsonChris]

I’ve had similar numbers with pennies. Bouncing from 23-30. I had 2 dimes stacked on edge that read 21. Zinc pennies as low as 18. Deep iron keeps getting me with high tone. Park 1 loves the dimes. I’ve pulled a ton tonight going over areas I hit with the AT Pro.