Compadre mod.

[finnfoto]

Got tired of this little thing setting so I decided to toss in a few mods. Sensitivity , volume , ground .

 

[Elton]

n/t

 

[Walknstik]

I'm one of those that also prefer to have all the pertinent adjustments easily accessible at all times if needed mainly cause that's the way I learned to detect. I have never permanently modified any of my Tesoro's but have at times re-configured the detector housing set-up and tweaked internal trim-pots when needed. Most hobbyists out there would be served well keeping the Compadre "bone-stock" for what they truly desire from the hobby. On the other hand there are perfectionists like us...or ones that strive to be and sometimes I think this may be a curse...something like "gold fever" in a sense. HaHa! Best of luck to you with your modified Compadre

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

Without pinpoint, how do you ground balance?
Any directions on this for others to try?

 

[finnfoto]

Look up power ballance . It's kinda easy .

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

Ahh ok.
Cool.
How about where you learned to do the mods?
Interested in possibly buying another compadre just to mod.
Thanks.
Seen mods before but never all those.

 

[amberjack]

mods are great if you plan of keeping the detector but they do seem a bit hard to move if you want to sell and really its a job for someone who knows what they are doing and if you do then go for it I do not and yeah I could maybe pull it off I could also fry the board and have some spare parts

just pick up a 2nd hand Tesoro with it done at the factory for not so much better bet in my mind.\

but again if anyone needs to fiddle go ahead just sharing my thoughts on the matter.

AJ

 

[finnfoto]

There are a few books out there on metal detector circuitry and understanding how they work. It also helps if you can find a mentor and if you want do the simple stuff first like hardwireing a coil to the circuit board. I've noticed most guys will simply start out by cutting and splicing a coil cable to the existing cable and go from there. If you seriously know someone who does mods ask them for help before you dabble into possibly destroying a circuit board. I only do what I'm comfortable with.mostly tesoro,detectorpro , some whites units, and fisher cz,20. Plain and simple know your limitations . There are also plenty of how to on youtube as well. Other then this as mentioned just simply ask.

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

Well I've seen the sensitivity mod, but no directions. Didn't know you could do all those mods.
I'd like to, just for fun and on a unit purposely purchased for that purpose.

 

[Kmaz]

Finnfoto....that is awesome!!!! That's deff on my list . Any part #'s for the pots and other pertinent info?
Pretty please
Kris

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

So, I was reading up on power balancing and it says you have to do it in all metal mode on the cibola and Tejon which I believe is a no motion all metal (like pinpoint).
Says you can't power balance in disc mode. Compadre only has disc.
Maybe I'm understanding wrong, but I'm very curious.
Would you mind explaining, with your compadre as the example, the steps on how to do it?
I definitly see me getting another compadre to do these mods to.
Thanks

 

[REVIER]

So, I was reading up on power balancing and it says you have to do it in all metal mode on the cibola and Tejon which I believe is a no motion all metal (like pinpoint).
Says you can't power balance in disc mode. Compadre only has disc.
Maybe I'm understanding wrong, but I'm very curious.
Would you mind explaining, with your compadre as the example, the steps on how to do it?
I definitly see me getting another compadre to do these mods to.
Thanks

You have to open it up, find the correct pot for the GB, slightly adjust it till you get a beep on the uplift over soil while bobbing the coil then keep adjusting back till the beep goes away on both the uplift and the downstroke.
Is it worth taking the chance of really messing up your detector or breaking the very fragile pot...maybe if you use it over very bad ground all the time, if you switch back and forth between bad and good ground a lot adding a GB knob would make more sense or just using a unit with these features already on-board like the Vaq makes more sense.
Both tech heads Sven and Keith Southern have said the Compadre just doesn't have quite enough under the hood to internally adjust the GB and get a whole lot of increase in performance like higher models can and just adjusting the sense would be all you might want to do.
Still, tinkerers love to tinker and some insist on modding detectors not recommended for specialized tough sites to get them to work better or just want to hunt with tools that are set at the most optimum levels possible whether that will make a big difference or not.
The Compadre is cheap enough to experiment on and not lose a lot of money out of pocket if things go badly.

As far as personal experience I have not done a lot of scientific measurements but I have used my 7" coil Compadre in both almost perfect and excellent soil in Kansas and some of the worst mineralized iron infested dirt here in Bama and haven't seen enough difference to even take a chance on a GB mod like this.
I might get a little less depth here but I still seem to find all kinds of great coins, jewelry and other targets pretty well and the Compadre is not my only tool I own.
If I want to get deep I also own a Vaq and my F70 excels and penetrating this bad soil especially well so I will just leave my Compadre alone and enjoy it when I pull it out just the way it is because I cannot see any more mods making it more fun to use than it is now.

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

Awesome REVIER, thanks.
I just wanted to pick one up to mod out for the fun and knowledge. I'd keep my other compadre stock.
I have other detectors for use in bad conditions if needed, so the point of the mod would be purely for fun and to play around with the compadre.
But, without proper directions and a list of parts needed I won't try it. I was going to get the 5" Compadre anyway to have.
But if I can find a thorough set of directions to which is which and what goes where, I won't chance it.
I like my 8" but feel that for some parks, the 5.75 would come in handy. When bought the 8, I only had the ace. Now that I have more, if like a small coIL compadre. My 8 can't get very close to metal poles and such, where the 5.75 probably would.

 

[REVIER]

Awesome REVIER, thanks.
I just wanted to pick one up to mod out for the fun and knowledge. I'd keep my other compadre stock.
I have other detectors for use in bad conditions if needed, so the point of the mod would be purely for fun and to play around with the compadre.
But, without proper directions and a list of parts needed I won't try it. I was going to get the 5" Compadre anyway to have.
But if I can find a thorough set of directions to which is which and what goes where, I won't chance it.
I like my 8" but feel that for some parks, the 5.75 would come in handy. When bought the 8, I only had the ace. Now that I have more, if like a small coIL compadre. My 8 can't get very close to metal poles and such, where the 5.75 probably would.

The 8" coil Compadre stock has exactly the same superpower as all the other models do and can find targets close to or even leaning on big metal poles better than anything else on the market....you just need to know how to do it and what to listen for.
Here is a vid I did when someone lent me an 8" coil model for a couple of weeks.
We call this listening for the double beep or in the case of a very shallow target next to big metal a triple beep.
You need to get the swing at the right speed and it will do it every time.
In this vid I only moved the dime to a few inches away from the pole but trust me I could have touched the pole with the edge of the dime and still got the double beep.
My Compadre has the sense turned almost up to max internally and a foot or more away I get beeps on big metal but I can and have found targets right next to and even touching big metal.
I even found a coin once directly under a thick metal step only a few inches higher than the chips.
When I ran that coil over the chips and completely under this step and got that double beep I could hardly believe even the Compadre could do this but when I found a coin there I smiled.
One gold ring in a tot lot can pay for many Compadres, in some very cleaned out tot lots in Kansas by others I still found a surprising amount of coins next to the big metal because whoever was hunting these things was not using a Compadre I can assure you.
One of the best targets I found was a Canadian loony 4" deep in the chips literally touching a huge metal leg in a tot lot.
There are so many reasons to own a Compadre but out of all of them if you use it just for hunting near big metal in tot lots, along fence poles or near bench legs it will eventually pay for itself over time.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=MmWzTo4GCak

 

[Stoof-tabsallday]

Haha your video is what pushed me off the fence on the 8" side to begin with.
My problem is, when you don't know something is there, do you just go really slow all over the area?
I've never found anything near any poles or metal. Tried going slow.
Maybe I'll do what you did in the video and run the test to see how it reacts for me and to get the speed down packed.
So you don't think I need the 5.75 then? Does the 5.75 react better near metal?

 

[REVIER]

Haha your video is what pushed me off the fence on the 8" side to begin with.
My problem is, when you don't know something is there, do you just go really slow all over the area?
I've never found anything near any poles or metal. Tried going slow.
Maybe I'll do what you did in the video and run the test to see how it reacts for me and to get the speed down packed.
So you don't think I need the 5.75 then? Does the 5.75 react better near metal?

Don't think so, the 8" shown here seems just as capable and jaw dropping amazing.
I used my Compadre at several seeded speed hunts when I was in a club in Kansas and gathered several hundred dollars worth of prizes because this thing is fast and beeps over targets with some pretty fast swing speeds.
For hunting in most situations using the Compadre I never go extremely or unusually slow but when I get near big metal that is where the exact right swing speed matters.
Near poles like this I don't just swing once but adjust my speed up and down slightly because as you might notice you can't get that double beep all the time...there is a sweet spot regarding speed.
It takes a bit of practice to get this down but once you get a sense of how it works and what you are listening for it won't take all that long to efficiently swing around these large metal objects to get at least one double beep if there is a target in the vicinity.
Hard to explain but do it enough and muscle memory will eventually take over and you get pretty fast at doing it.
Once you do get a double beep you stop and make a few more passes at that spot just to make sure then dig.
Every time I have gotten a double beep near big metal like this I have found a target.
Mostly coins, a few times some junk jewelry but one day a nice gold ring might just pop up and surprise me.

 

[amberjack]

this is what I have found, part of why the compadre is so good is its dulled down a bit and doesn't hit on every little piece of fly poo.

horses for courses right you don't run a 2 year old 1000m horse in the Melbourne cup

sure fiddling is fun but detecting is more fun !!

plenty of open areas to detect with no poles

kids don't have money where I live let alone wear a Mr T gold chain, never found bugga all in those play grounds don't even waste my time.

AJ

 

[finnfoto]

Sure as stated you can simply buy a unit with the controls . I never posted this mod for people to dispute doing the mod or consider m doing the mod that's up to the individual . Finding a 12khz unit with the mods already is nice. I'm not finished with the unit yet as this unit will see a 11x8 epsilon coil as well . This is a unit I chose to build for relic hunting that just stomps the crap out of my friends AT,PRO on depth and sensitivity . I find it amusing .

 

[REVIER]

Hey...knobs are cool!
More knobs, more cool.

 

[amberjack]

kicking an AT Pro's butt with knobs even kooler

AJ