Trash, coins and a steel spike? And Excal II issue...

[Terry In Florida]

Went to my local beach, Green Key beach again today, hit it at low tide. Lots of junk but glad to clean the stuff up so little feet don't get cut. Found the usual coins, couple of quarters, dimes, pennies. The unusual thing was a square steel rod or spike. This beach is on a patch of land that was originally an island, only accessible by boat. It had a house on it owned by the original homesteaders, long gone with the exception of parts of the foundation. I was metal detecting the water where the foundation for the home is still visible, about 20-30' from shore, in the water. Pulled the spike out of the water encased in a black crust, knocked the crust off when I got home...

Question about my Excal II,
In salt I use my excal II in all-metal mode (Pinpoint), then when I get a signal I turn on discrimination mode (Disc) to see if its iron or not. Why would I get more chatter and false signal in discrimination mode than I do in all-metal mode? It seems backwards...

I've tried setting the sensitivity down and even set it all the way to zero and was still getting weird noises coming from it. I don't know if I have a loose connection or water gets in somewhere but I only have the coil and bottom shaft in the water, up to where the aluminum shaft meets the plastic rod that connects the coil, so the controls and battery aren't in the water at all...

Discrimination is set to 1, I leave it there...

 

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[ARC]

Do you have a coil cover ? check that first if you haven't already.

And btw Sheesssssssshh I would not wanna kick / step on that spike.

 

[Terry In Florida]

I just took the cover off and cleaned it, didn't know they came off, lol. Thanks, it did have a small amount of dark colored debris in, mixed with some regular beach sand. Hopefully that was the issue but it was pretty noisy. Wouldn't something in the cover make it noisy in all-metal mode as well? All-metal mode seems good, which is why I was running in that mode, then switching it to Disc to see if the target was iron. Running in Disc was just too many false signals and chatter...

I should of taken a before picture, the spike looked more like a dark dog biscuit
, caked in crust and rust, lol...

Thanks

 

[ARC]

I just took the cover off and cleaned it, didn't know they came off, lol. Thanks, it did have a small amount of dark colored debris in, mixed with some regular beach sand. Hopefully that was the issue but it was pretty noisy. Wouldn't something in the cover make it noisy in all-metal mode as well? All-metal mode seems good, which is why I was running in that mode, then switching it to Disc to see if the target was iron. Running in Disc was just too many false signals and chatter...

I should of taken a before picture, the spike looked more like a dark dog biscuit
, caked in crust and rust, lol...

Thanks

Yeah ... many times the cover can be a culprit.

As far as "even in all metal mode"... yes it should. (did you test yet ? )

And as for the spike... heh... I would call that spike.... "rod of tetanus". :/

 

[6mmslayer]

Might have your sensitivity set to high?

 

[6mmslayer]

I just reread that you had it turned down. Maybe someone else can help.

 

[ARC]

I just reread that you had it turned down. Maybe someone else can help.

Reread the rest. heh

 

[Terry In Florida]

Yeah ... many times the cover can be a culprit.

As far as "even in all metal mode"... yes it should. (did you test yet ? )

And as for the spike... heh... I would call that spike.... "rod of tetanus". :/

I'll test it later today, get it back in the saltwater and see if it changed...

I could test it at home but it isn't bad at home, gets noisy in saltwater... Like its not working nice with the saltwater but only in Disc mode, in Pinpoint it works as it should. I specifically bought the excal II for the saltwater. I have a 18' SeaArk and scuba dive, so I am hoping to do some diving with the excal II.

I had a Fisher 1280X Aquanaut for years but sold it and bought the Excal II, figured it was upgrading... But the 1280X was a good machine, in its own right... It acted a little chattery at the edge of the shoreline, between wet and dry, but did very well in and out of the water. When I sold the 1280X, I got back what I had originally bought it for used, do I did well.

I'll be back with the results after I hit the beach later. Crossing my fingers, lol...



Thanks again.

 

[sphillips]

I just took the cover off and cleaned it, didn't know they came off, lol. Thanks, it did have a small amount of dark colored debris in, mixed with some regular beach sand. Hopefully that was the issue but it was pretty noisy. Wouldn't something in the cover make it noisy in all-metal mode as well? All-metal mode seems good, which is why I was running in that mode, then switching it to Disc to see if the target was iron. Running in Disc was just too many false signals and chatter...

I should of taken a before picture, the spike looked more like a dark dog biscuit
, caked in crust and rust, lol...

Thanks

My cover kept getting sand between the cover and the coil which gave me chatter, so I quit using it

 

[slider66]

All Excals get sand and debris in the coil cover. You have to clean it after each use. You should be washing it down with fresh water after each use.

 

[Terry In Florida]

Do you have a coil cover ? check that first if you haven't already.

You win, my friend...

My excal II is working perfectly as it should now, I was amazed that a dirty cover was the culprit, I really was but I was trusting that it could be. I didn't have to mess with the sensitivity at all, I could set it at auto or full blast, really didn't get any chatter or false signals, with the exception of one bump into a rock. I think the sudden stop made it false on me. It worked like a dream, thank you for that AARC! I bought my excal a few months ago and have been struggling with this issue since day one, lol. I thought for sure I was going to have to send it in for a costly repair.

So I went to Hudson beach, beach is definitely crappier than average, no sand left on the beach. I don't know what Pasco county is doing but there were no signs up or anything explaining the condition of the beach but it looks totally washed out.

But good for me, right? LOl...

I wanted to take green key out of the equation, just in case someone threw bb's or something in the waters there or any other reason it could be giving me what I presumed was chatter and false signals.

Nah, nothing but trash in the water and I was finding peanuts, literally!

Found a tiny piece of metal something, about 5-6" depth and it lit the excal up, nice clean signal. I was pleasantly surprised at how well the excal was picking up the smallest of targets but was used to the way it was working before, so in my head the signals were indicating much bigger targets than what I was digging up. When I adjust to the way the tones sound now, I know I will have a much better idea of what I am digging. I had pennies down, lol, only because that was the one thing I found consistently. I kind of thought I was getting silver, dimes quarters, nickels down somewhat but with cleaner tones, like this, it should move along much faster...

It's a new machine now...

 

[ARC]

Glad to help and to know it was this simple fix.

I actually don't use a coil cover on sand and wet... UNLESS there are rocks or heavy shell.

I do not recommend that others remove the cover until they are very experienced at it.. and even then it is a risk of coil damage.

 

[Terry In Florida]

All Excals get sand and debris in the coil cover. You have to clean it after each use. You should be washing it down with fresh water after each use.

I wash down everything, now i added removing the cover to my wash down protocol. Handy to know, if the excal does seem out of whack, can always remove the cover and clean on site.

I would have had more recoveries but it started pouring down rain, I don't mind a little rain but it looked like there was much more rolling in. I did see another MD'er just as the rain started coming down but they took shelter and I hopped in my truck.

 

[6mmslayer]

Glad you figured it out. Heh?

 

[Terry In Florida]

Glad you figured it out. Heh?

Well, I was given great advice but absolutely! It was killing me, cause I knew something wasn't right. The chatter and false signals far out numbered the good signals, 5 to 1. Setting the machine, I could narrow it down to about 3 to 1. When I turned on my excal this time and swept the ground, I instantly felt like something was wrong and thought the machine wasn't even on, lol. I became so used to hearing all the other noise. I have never used an Excal II before this one, so I didn't have a clue, lol.

I bet the water was making the debris in the cover move around making the noise worse when in the water, I wonder if it will be even better on land now, I didn't think of trying that but I didn't seem to have issues on land. Won't know until I try it, guess that's something for tomorrow. It really is quite a different machine now...

I used a fisher 1280X for many years and don't remember ever having this issue.

 

[sphillips]

I wash down everything, now i added removing the cover to my wash down protocol. Handy to know, if the excal does seem out of whack, can always remove the cover and clean on site.

I would have had more recoveries but it started pouring down rain, I don't mind a little rain but it looked like there was much more rolling in. I did see another MD'er just as the rain started coming down but they took shelter and I hopped in my truck.

I would have to stop occasionally while detecting and remove the cover for a cleaning. Like another poster said, I will detect without the cover in sand, but you must be careful, don't want to damage the coil.

 

[Fl otterpop]

I always pull coil cover off when erratic sounds .also thanks for your post my plan this week was to hit green key and hudson beach now I have to plan going somewhere else this week ..

 

[South Padre Treasure]

I was having a similar problem with sand getting inside my coil cover, I had read several post of what they had done, tie straps, tape, epoxy, truck bed liner spray. You name it and it probably has already been done once or twice.
I didn't want to go to the extreme just yet. I just sprayed my coil today with liquid tape. first coat, will put another on tomorrow and making my coil wire longer. Too short for waist mount usage. Im sure it will wear off but I like to experiment with different ideas. Makes this sport more fun. Might try the Goop or Epoxy next we shall see. Glad to hear your Excalibur is working fine now. I just got mine also, learning as I go, but everyone here has been so good about helping out and if you have a question I know someone will have the answer or they will point you in the right direction to find it. Happy Hunting never give up!