Silver uMax - Electrical interference

ModernMiner

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Folks, as a lot of you know I am a diehard Silver uMax fan and the machine has found me some fantastic finds over the years.
There is one thing though that has plagued me about five times over the years at some choice properties including one this past weekend, and that is invisible dog fencing or electrical fencing around horse pastures. For some reason the Silver uMax just can't handle it around a charged fence. Nothing but chatter no matter how you set the discrim or sensitivity. A person can only listen to that chatter so long before going bonkers. :tongue3: The only signals I can clearly pick up are large iron signals.
I hunted with a buddy this weekend who uses a different machine and he said the dog fence didn't bother his detector at all. :'(
Have you other Silver uMax users experienced the same thing? :icon_scratch:

I've missed out on detecting some nice properties now, and am thinking about finally breaking down and buying an additional machine that won't experience this interference around electric fences.

Any input or suggestions?

Thanks,
MM
 

I have a uMax and love it - it has 3/4 paid for itself in under 3 months ( considering I can sell 925 silver as scrap and have a piggy bank full of "clad" as you USA bros say, a nice franklin mint collector knife and other cool trinkets.......I have 3 Miniature Horses and a full grown Mammoth Donkey behind an electrical fence that protects the 600 native palms, harwood trees and shrubs I've planted. It runs at 15 volts - :icon_profileleft: I tested the theory and yep no hope around the charged fence - or maybe the uMax was just picking up the wire inside (tape type fence - has 3-4 wires running through flat band plastic - horses see the white band and graze oh so close - they are smart and rarely get hit).
If the landowner is to be approached - he / she will no doubt know that turning off the fence doesn't turn off the deterrant for the animals. They respect the line, Ask the owner? :dontknow:
 

and I should add that the uMax failed to react to the fence 16 iches above (when non-charged) and I ran it almost flush with the ground below it.
???
 

Sandman said:
I suspect your buddy lied to you. I haven't run into a detector that can handle these conditions fully. Even Minelabs can be affected. Many security systems throw detectors crazy too.

http://detectorstuff.com/2009/08/05...ay-by-first-texas-lead-engineer-dave-johnson/

Excellent info in that link Sandman.
Thank you for sharing that. :thumbsup:
-MM-

Smoogle said:
I have a uMax and love it - it has 3/4 paid for itself in under 3 months ( considering I can sell 925 silver as scrap and have a piggy bank full of "clad" as you USA bros say, a nice franklin mint collector knife and other cool trinkets.......I have 3 Miniature Horses and a full grown Mammoth Donkey behind an electrical fence that protects the 600 native palms, harwood trees and shrubs I've planted. It runs at 15 volts - :icon_profileleft: I tested the theory and yep no hope around the charged fence - or maybe the uMax was just picking up the wire inside (tape type fence - has 3-4 wires running through flat band plastic - horses see the white band and graze oh so close - they are smart and rarely get hit).
If the landowner is to be approached - he / she will no doubt know that turning off the fence doesn't turn off the deterrant for the animals. They respect the line, Ask the owner? :dontknow:

Smoogle,
Thanks for testing out yours too. Now I know it's just not me. ;D
I had an 1800 property that I couldn't hunt because they have a dog fence. I had them shut it off for me before they left on vacation. Two days later I show up to detect and I'm still getting the interference. All I could figure is maybe it was from the electrical wires out front or the power lines down the road. :dontknow:
Thanks again,
MM
 

Sandman said:
I suspect your buddy lied to you. I haven't run into a detector that can handle these conditions fully. Even Minelabs can be affected. Many security systems throw detectors crazy too.

http://detectorstuff.com/2009/08/05...ay-by-first-texas-lead-engineer-dave-johnson/
Ummm no, His buddy didn't lie to him. It was me. :icon_scratch: The Minelab Etrac I use has NO issues around power lines, hot fences or any EMF sources. I'm not saying I never have, but it is very rare, and when I do, it is minimal. I am true to Tesoro, and the Umax is a fantastic machine, I don't understand why the chatter was so bad on Doug's machine that day.
 

When we are hunting around an energized fence, Dman uses the Minelab SE as it's unaffected by the fence pulse. That's the only detector I have ever seen that is not affected by an energized fence. With the Fisher, I have learned to alternate my swing with the pulse but it would be so easy to miss a weak signal and is as annoying as ytou are-LOL. HH, Quindy.
 

Hi, I recently went from the stock coil to the 7 in deep search wide scan, it is more stable than the stock coil in those type of conditions. I have a friend with a silverumax and before we couldn't be within 25ft of each other due to the chatter, but with my new coil we can walk next to each other with no chatter.

I am not saying anything is wrong with your coil but maybe a smaller one would be better in the trouble spots.

I had a Deleon I had to sell because it was too hot to hunt at alot of places I went to, wish I tried a coil swap before I sold it to go back to my trusted silverumax.
 

Thanks for the replies everyone. :thumbsup:
-MM-
 

Here's one to ponder..

I hunted by a horseshoe pit that had electrical wires to large lights. Here are my results

1. Silver Umax- Picked up interference using stock coil- Could not hunt it
2. F5- Not nearly as much interference- I could hunt it
3. Compadre- NO interference.

Maybe the coil size has something to do with it? Or maybe just if the frequency of the AC is similar to the frequency of your machine?
 

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