Minelab Explorer Classroom Forum

i recently bought a like new explorer xs about a week ago and ever since i seem to be either having a problem with it or not getting it set right...been out hunting with it about four times now and i keep ending up with the same thing...constant nulling of the threshold and beeping and chattering...went out twice today earlier was short because of heat and about an hour later this evening, but when i first got there it seemed to be working good, steady threshold with occasional null and i did make some finds but shortly after i started back to the same unstable like operation....

say i make one sweep and the threshold will be in null the whole time, go back through on the same swing in pinpoint or all metal either one nothing there...the next swing may contain multiple beeps in one pass...this is on almost all swings..

i can pass some of the nulling to discriminated objects but i have yet to make a full swing with a steady threshold...or a full swing without some kind of beep..
i have read the manual at least a dozen times now to see if i have missed anything and have also read andy sabisch's book as well, i'm new to minelab but now detecting...i have to keep the sensitivity in the single digits to no higher than 15 or i can not stand to use it,also seems to be worse with semi auto sense but that just may be me...

i have checked all connections and wires, all seems to be fine...i have turned the machine on and bench tested with normal results, i also can run the sensitivity up to nearly thirty before it starts to false, i have tried holding the machine up in the air bumping it and shaking to see if there was some kind of loose connection and it acts normal...

so i guess my question would be do all explorers act like this, are they supposed to make this much noise when searching?

What you are seeing is completely normal, there really is that much junk in the ground at most sites, very seldom will you find a area where you won't get multiple hits per swing. It takes time but eventually you will learn to hear the good targets through all the noise.

You will probably want to turn the sensitivity back up. If the machine is sounding off when the coil is not moving then you have it set too high. You will find how high you can set sensitivity varies from site to site, depending on the proximity of power lines and other electrical noise.

So keep at and pretty soon it will become second nature.

Chris

yep...that's par for the course

I can honestly say that I don't hear much threshold hum on any swing...or if I do...it's intermittent at best.

I don't even "swing" the coil...it's more of a "creeping scan"...yet I still get the exact same results as you.

Don't give up on it...and better yet make sure you stay away from trees the first few hunts otherwise you will probably want to wrap the machine around one. It will all come together in time though and you will learn to tune that background chatter out. You are seeing exacxtly what I always explain to people first starting out with any explorer....that it takes a few hunts to familiarize yourself with the unique language the explorer speaks.

Give it some time,,,and expect some frustration in the first few hunts before it starts to come together.

If you take it slow and learn the language before you start tinkering with settings...you will be rewarded with some nice finds.in the future.

---

Here's the link to my field test post containing over 60 different hunts of various coil tests...comparisons...nicer finds...etc..:
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?19,1055627,1055627#msg-1055627

Been swingin' the coil since 1972
Started out in 1972 with a Jetco Detector...then the late 70's with a Whites 6000....then in 1981 went to a Bounty Hunter VLF TR 840...then in the early 1980's I went to a Whites 6000 Di Pro...mid 80's I went to a Whites Eagle II SL...Late 80's/Early 90's I went to the Whites XLT...1990's I used the Fisher CZ5, CZ6, CZ7, 7aPro, and CZ70Pro...Started using Minelabs in 1999
with a brief stint on the Musketeer while also using the CZ's...then in 2002 I switched to the Minelab Explorers and currently use an Explorer 2, SE, SEPro, and E-trac with an arsenal of coils

Here's the story of my BEST FIND EVER.:
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?19,876944,876944#msg-876944

"Metal detecting is an escape for me and allows me to find some much needed peace and solace.
Being able to clear my head...even if only for that short while...is much more meaningful than any amount of finds that end up in my pouch" "Quote ME"

thanks bryce and chris...

dont worry about the trees i have been hunting in our county fairgrounds and trees are a good walk away,so if i did want to do that i would walk it off before i got there....
power lines are not an issue either, they go around the perimeter....

i have read many posts on here where the explorer speaks a different language but i didn't realize it was that different..i had my suspicions that it was working as it should since i have recovered targets with it, albeit most were trash but most were at 6 plus inches so i guess i need to forget what i know about whites machines til i learn this one...

i not one to let a bunch of software to get the best of me, but since i bought this detector used i really want to make myself realize that i didn't spend my money on a machine with a problem..looks like it is working as designed so i'm happy that it doesn't need nursing back to health...

thanks guy it makes me feel better that it is working as it should, just operator not used to being spoke to this much....

any way one last question

the stock coil on the xs, is it the same as the one on the ex 2? i have heard some coment that it was a better coil, just looks like it's only a different color to me but i'm not sure..

thanks
kevin

Here's an exercise that might make you a little more confident with the Explorer. Next time you're hunting and you're in one of those dense nulls, take a dime and toss it on the ground right in the middle of the null area. Then see if the detector will give you a high tone on the dime. I bet it does. See how far you can raise the coil above the dime and still get the high tone. Probably pretty far. If your sensitivity is low, you won't pick it up as high.

I know this isn't "real world" performance but it will show you that you will get a coin in a null.

w

---

North Alabama
Garrett AT Pro
Modified Whites Classic ID

found this link in the classroom section and it has help me greatly in figuring out what my machine is telling me...

http://usetheminelabexplorerlikeapro.blogspot.com/

Just a different animal from most detectors..Quickstart in its own right is a powerfull setup with the sens. jacked up into the low twenties.

Many feel its as good or better than the newer editions including myself and many guys its their go to unit..
May be a tad heavier but honestly feel all things considered may be the deepest of the lot.....you won't learn it in a day or week but after a while a good target will stop you in your tracks even with a cover over the meter as you will just know from the get go...

That's not normal operation. The reason could include nearby powerlines above or buried, a bunch of dirt stuck between the coil cover and the coil, a bad coil the leak was the grass wet? Eliminating power lines and dirt under the coil cover I would try a different coil next to see if it does the same thing at the same location.

Edit: Also edit a screen for all metal so it doesn't null, is the machine going crazy beaping? Does it beep only when swinging or also when not moving the coil? Stick the coil up in the air, is it still beeping? Finally what are your settings.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 09/07/2011 11:12AM by Charles (Upstate NY).

Mine and anyone elsewhere I know of pretty much does the same thing. Ground or overhead lines can factor in as well but I agree with chris, bryce and most others...its very normal. If the nulling scares you then open the screen but your machine will hit coins while nulling.

---

Explorer SE, EX2, E-Trac, ctx3030 and whatever else works

"If you have to copy and imitate to get attention...then you'll never be anything but fake"

Quote
deeponedge
Mine and anyone elsewhere I know of pretty much does the same thing. Ground or overhead lines can factor in as well but I agree with chris, bryce and most others...its very normal. If the nulling scares you then open the screen but your machine will hit coins while nulling.

The Explorer XS can be a chatter box at higher sens settings yes, but this quote has me thinking there may be something else going on with this machine,

Quote
when i first got there it seemed to be working good, steady threshold with occasional null and i did make some finds but shortly after i started back to the same unstable like operation

i've not had the chance to go back yet...too much rain...but i think i may have got a handle on what is going on. mostly me, sensitivity to high for my soil..i am planning on going back to that area and see if i can duplicate my experience the other day to see if i have learned anything in all the information that i have read...

i changed the batteries in it as well just for the heck of it and it seemed to work a little better, anyhow i have been out in the yard testing to see what i can get it to do and i have been able to get the detector to do the same thing that i have been experiencing, nulls beeps, i have come to the conclusion that it's not a defective behavior but a to hot behavior...

i have seen many posts of people running their sens in the twenties, from low to high, but for me and this particular unit thats not going to happen around here...i have been experimenting with various ways of setting the sens, including semi auto and have come up with manual 15 being my highest sens i can run, in my yard anyway...i have also been checking to see what semi auto sets to and from my testing it sets somewhere around 12-13...

thanks so far and hopefully this weekend it will dry up a bit and i can do some more in field testing or i mean learning...

---

explorer xs
whites dfx
whites treasuremaster pi-1000
teknetics 8000

kevin e.tn

Nulling isn't always discriminated junk. It can also be caused by minerals in the soil. If you are hearing a lot of tiny short nulls it is very often mineralization. You can check this by hunting in pinpoint for a few swings. The minerals will not be heard in pinpoint, just the metals. While is it is possible to hunt in trash without lowering the sensitivity, mineralization will interfere with depth.

If hunting at a site with mineralization, you can increase depth dramatically by using manual sensitivity and lowering the sensitivity until the tiny nulls of the minerals disappear.

Some places can be very high in mineralization and may require single digit settings.



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 09/08/2011 08:05AM by Badger in NH.

wayne_etc --

While you acknowledged that your test you mentioned above is not "real world," I'd argue that doing what you suggested would give someone a false sense of how well the machine will see a coin while nulling (it discounts the "iron masking" issue).

If one were to bury four nails 2 inches deep, roughly 6 inches apart, arranged in a "square," and then lay that dime on the ground, right above the very "center" of the square of nails, yes, you'd hear it "through the null."

Now, do the very same thing -- again bury the four nails 2 inches deep, roughly 6 inches apart, arranged in a square, but first bury the dime at 6 inches, right below the very "center" of the square of nails. I bet you hear nothing but nulling.

And that's not to fault the Explorers. All machines have the same issue to varying degrees, depending upon coil size and recovery speed...

Steve

---

Minelab Explorer SE Pro, Fisher Gold Bug Pro (DP)
Garrett ProPointer
Lesche 38D "King of Spades"

Norman, OK

But I've read on the forums where folks insist that a 'good' signal simply will not come through in a null. Just showing that is indeed possible.


w

---

North Alabama
Garrett AT Pro
Modified Whites Classic ID

Quote
tndirtslinger
i have seen many posts of people running their sens in the twenties, from low to high, but for me and this particular unit thats not going to happen around here...i have been experimenting with various ways of setting the sens, including semi auto and have come up with manual 15 being my highest sens i can run, in my yard anyway...i have also been checking to see what semi auto sets to and from my testing it sets somewhere around 12-13...

thanks so far and hopefully this weekend it will dry up a bit and i can do some more in field testing or i mean learning...

Again that does not sound normal at all, I have hunted in some hot soil, volcanic black sand, red Virginia dirt, etc. and never had to lower my sens to 15, you will lose a LOT of depth with your sens that low. The only time I ever had to lower my sens that low was when hunting under powerlines.