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F5 manual ground balancing question

B

BluesCruise

Member
I'm not sure what's supposed to happen when you turn the manual ground balance knob, My phase number changes, but not in any particular order, as in it might be reading 60 then 62, 63 and then jump to 47 or some such nonsense, I've tried pumping the coil while doing this, no change, and holding down the phase but, which just makes it go into automatic ground balancing. Also tried it in All Metals mode and discrimination mode. Could someone clue me into what I'm doing wrong, or is my machine FUBAR.:unsure: I can't seem to find what I'm looking for in the manual.
Thanks in advance for any clarification!
 
Hi BluesCruise
Might just be the ground yOur over mate, normal precedure for me is, turn on machine, pump coil up and down over clean ground, the number in the right pane should change from phase to ground balance, keep pumping coil while you turn the ground balance knob until the number in left pain matches the ground balance number in right pain. As soon as you stop pumping the coil, the number in right pain will return to phase, pump the coil again it changes back to ground balance! Is this what you mean?
Regards
Foggy
 
I was under the impression that after you pumped the coil, and hit the phase button. that after the machine was balanced, you could pump the coil again and get a negative or positive ground balance manually with the ground balance knob, that's the part that doesn't go up or down by sequential numbers. Am I wrong in that assumption?
 
You machines fine. Phase numbers will jump all over the place. Go back to the pages you found in these forums and reread them again. You will see that after you ground balance the unit, man. or with the phase button, many will say pay no attention to the phase numbers jumping around.
 
Hi BluesCruise
My understanding of the positive or negative ground balance is as follows: you pump your coil and check the reading in the right pane, lets say it registers 60, pump the coil again and keep pumping it while your adjusting manually until the number in left pane matches! So we have 60 in left pane and 60 in right pane. If I wanted a positive ground balance, I would pump the coil again and adjust the number in left pane to 62, for a negative ground balance do the same but turn the knob the opposite way so the reading in left pane is 58.
That's my understanding mate but I could be wrong:bouncy: you need to be pumping your coil whenever you are trying to adjust the ground balance.
Hope we are on the same page, good luck
Regards
Foggy
 
What your talking about is what my machine will not do. If I pump the coil and read the right pane, and then turn the balance knob to try to match it.. and this is while still pumping the coil, it will not match up.The only way I can get a match id by using the phase button. There is actually a video on Youtube that is in a Asian language that shows a F5 being manually balanced, and I can't duplicate that on my machine. It's this video: Ground Balancing a Metal Detector
 
Hi BluesCruise
I watched the dull video and in my eyes he is doing it wrong! He pumps the coil, then stops to make his adjustment, the adjustment should be made while constantly pumping coil. So you are pumping and adjusting at the same time, it works for me every time. If I don't explain it very well, maybe ask Mike but I believe this to be the way.
Regards
Foggy
 
That's the whole point. I am pumping the coil the whole time I'm adjusting the knob, and I don't see the numbers move in the left pane. I think I'll call Fisher tonight and find out if that's the problem.
 
While in the discrimination mode and the coil is over clean ground ( NO metal present) try this: While pumping the coil a distance from one to nine inches above the ground simultaneously press the Phase Lock button.While doing so watch the lower left and right numbers on the screen. When both these numbers match then release the Phase Lock button while you are still pumping the coil. If you F5 is working properly it will then, for all practical purposes, be ground balanced.


One can get a little more precise ground balance if need be by using the ground balance knob/dial while in the all metals mode. Notice the difference, the above procedure requires you to be in the discrimination mode and using the Phase Lock button. Ground balancing in the All metals mode below doe's not.

To ground balance in the all metals mode: Turn the Discrimination dial all the way to the left to the All Metals Mod, again find clean ground, set the gain around 40-60 and the threshold to a slight hum (around 0/1). Start pumping the coil as above and turn the ground balance knob/dial until the bottom right and left numbers match. Note: If you turn the GB knob/dial fast the number on the left will change rapidly, if you turn it slowly the number will change slowly. Remember keep the coil bobbing while doing this. Also, if you turn the GB knob to the left the left number will go down, to the right the left number will go up. Go ahead and give the GB knob a quick turn, or more, and watch how the numbers change more rapidly, but much slower if you turn it slowly. When you get the two left and right numbers to match you'll notice the threshold is near constant as you pump the coil, but likely not quite perfect.

Now is when the manual ground balance really comes into play. If you listen carefully you'll notice that it's possible to slowly turn the GB dial without changing the matched/balanced numbers and yet it still influences the audio ground balance while pumping the coil. At this point you can, by slowly turning the GB dial one way or the other to fine tune tune the GB to the point were there is no discernible difference in the GB audio/threshold as you pump the coil.

Hope this helps more than hinders. HH
 
Ok, I appreciate everyone's help. :) I called Fisher tonight, and they walked me through the whole process while I had the detector in my hand, and their tech said my ground balance knob is indeed, not working and to send it back in. Oh well, it's raining cats and dogs right now anyway! :surrender: I hope their turn around is reasonably quick!

Thanks again for all the feedback, this was starting to drive me batty! :wacko:
 
That's not great BluesCruise, do you have a spare to play with? I have to say rain has set in here for a few days according to forecast, so no playing out for a while:cry:
Did they offer any explanation? Do you think you might have banged it?..........or maybe another thought, do you use.a rain cover, the type you have to remove the knobs to fit? Just ideas, I know they are probably not helping you
Regards
Foggy
 
Hi Foggy, yes, I still have the old White's Prism II to play with. Better than nothing, but not by much in this hot soil! As far as th F5 goes, the bad ground balance knob was that way out of the box, it just slipped past quality control. Stuff happens, I guess! :-( As far as the rain hood goes, the one I got has the knobs covered up with plenty of room underneath the clear plastic to get your thumbs under it without having to cut holes for them an such. Oh well, this will give me some time to get the spring cleaning and blue berry pruning done, so then I'll really have time to go play! :)
I hope you find enough for both of us while my machine is at the doctor. Take care my friend, and happy hunting!
 
Now that's what I call customer service! Felix called me today and talk to me about the detector, and they're going to ship me out a new one! Yay!:detecting:
 
Hi all! Just thought I'd update on the bum F5 situation. The new one arrived Wednesday, and all is right with the world again! :detecting: The ground balance knob works, as well as everything else. Also picking up a used, but in mint condition Tesoro Bandido II
 
Sounds like you
 
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