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ground balance question v3i.
- Thread starter nalc472
- Start date
That is a good question, which I've asked over the years also. You watch the Utubes and Whites vids on ground balancing the V3i and almost always, you see them ending with a 13. Mine hits at 7" after at the completion of a pinpoint. In fact, I have never ever watched a tutorial or a user's utube on PPing their V3i, where a 13 reading wasn't displayed.
This has bugged me too, especially since I've never found really deep dimes. About 7-8 inches is it for me for a dime over 4 years of using my V3i. The same reading just-about from the pinpoint completion process I keep getting.
At this point, I cannot call my V3i a special depth machine, certainly not anywhere beyond what my M6 can detect.
I think the jury is still out on this myself.
This has bugged me too, especially since I've never found really deep dimes. About 7-8 inches is it for me for a dime over 4 years of using my V3i. The same reading just-about from the pinpoint completion process I keep getting.
At this point, I cannot call my V3i a special depth machine, certainly not anywhere beyond what my M6 can detect.
I think the jury is still out on this myself.
What i have found when i can't see 13 in my ground balance is that my settings may be to high. I have not found to many targets pass 9". I could be wrong and the settings may not have anything to do with the ground balance. Someone with more knowledge with the V's might be able to help. Good luck
Rob (IL) said:
I still find it odd that in 4 years of using two different V3i machines, that a reading of 7 to 7.5 after GB is like clockwork. What are the odds that I've never hit clean spots in order to see the 13, but 7 is status quo in my experiences.
If there are actual targets down there before 13 inches, my pinpoint routine with the V3i doesn't see them when I find a clean spot, and we are talking about all metal, no discrimination. I run all of my Vdi-s on anyway, no discing out. I would feel more at ease if I could get some occurances of 13 readings after GB every once in a while. I don't remember ever seeing a GB in a turorial video which didn't end with a reading of 13. There's gotta be more to it IMO.
Life's too short though, so I will follow advice from a mentor of mine..."It is what it is."
I have never paid any attention to the ground balance numbers..... Even though i ground balance everytime before i sweep my coil. I just assume if the machine says it's ground balanced, then i'm good to go,,,cause i presume it's electronics is smarter than me... But i'm gonna take note from now on and write down the ground balance number... Not that i will change my habit of relying on the V3i electronics, but just for entertaining...Thanks and good luck...
[size=large]This (13) is not a ground balance number.[/size]
When you are ground balancing you are rejecting the VDI that the ground matrix reads. If it is rejected you can see targets because the ground value has been discarded, leaving the target VDI.
How do you get the V3I to get a accurate ground reading ? Take a reading where there is only the ground, no other targets.
How do you know there are no other targets? Use pinpoint (all metal) to sweep the ground. If you get a reading of 13 then you know there are no metal bits the detector can see and it is only reading the ground matrix. That's all the 13 reading you see in GB videos is, a maximum depth reading with no hits.
Do you have to see 13 to G/B? [size=large]NO[/size]. The deeper the reading the better. The closer you get the quicker autotrac will get you balanced. It's more crictical if you use locktrac.
Have you ever got a 14 reading in pinpoint? Hmm
If you don't manual GB you are not getting maximum results. JMHO
Have you read my GB post?
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?66,1864457
How many times did you read the number 13?
When you are ground balancing you are rejecting the VDI that the ground matrix reads. If it is rejected you can see targets because the ground value has been discarded, leaving the target VDI.
How do you get the V3I to get a accurate ground reading ? Take a reading where there is only the ground, no other targets.
How do you know there are no other targets? Use pinpoint (all metal) to sweep the ground. If you get a reading of 13 then you know there are no metal bits the detector can see and it is only reading the ground matrix. That's all the 13 reading you see in GB videos is, a maximum depth reading with no hits.
Do you have to see 13 to G/B? [size=large]NO[/size]. The deeper the reading the better. The closer you get the quicker autotrac will get you balanced. It's more crictical if you use locktrac.
Have you ever got a 14 reading in pinpoint? Hmm
If you don't manual GB you are not getting maximum results. JMHO
Have you read my GB post?
http://www.findmall.com/read.php?66,1864457
How many times did you read the number 13?
Rob (IL) said:
My mentor was a high dollar scientist from when I worked in the electronics industry, and I'd simply never bother him now over metal detecting, which I'm sure he's never done. It was 2 years after I retired before I got into the hobby myself and a total of 6 years now after retirement. The fact is, "it's all just electrons."
The point he made with me during the 20 years that I supported him by saying this, was that the documented results of RF microwave frequeny testing, couldn't be made any better, "It is what it is." Most of the other scientists in our group wanted to will results better through insistense. My task in the industry when working was in research and design, so admitting the results were correct as what they exhibited,,,we then pursued a new design effort, and we fixed the things over time, at sizable costs. Isn't that what these detecting forums are for? Simply accepting that
If I continiously keep getting a reading of 7-7.5" here in north Dallas on GBing and hardly ever get a final reading of 13..."It is what it is." The V3i doesn't give me 8 or 9 or 10 post GBing, seems to always gravitate to 7 ot 7.8"
I can't afford to sell off my V3i and all of the extra coils I have from the 4 years I've tested my 2 different machines, so I suppose that makes me a guinea pig. I gladly accept that. After years of my time though from working with the V and struggling to see VDI results of 13, my past mentor's words still stick.
Again, I state that there is more going on with this 3F machine from Whites than what seems to come back automatically from the staunch White's followers. All I meant to say about the phrase "It is what it is", is saying that the V3i ain't near perfect. martin
I have used the V3i since it was the Vision. My Vision was upgraded to the V3i software when it first became available.
I have always performed a manual ground balance as it is stated in the manuals Complete Guide to Spectra V3i and Spectra V3i Advanced User's Guide and that is to: "pump the search coil over the ground (1-12 inches) until the background hum becomes steady..."
The manual does not say anything more about a manual ground balance (unless I have missed it).
On my recent trip to Fauquier County Virginia I was using the white 10x12SEF coil and while ground balancing I would see a wide range of numbers but always relied on getting that steady hum. If I could not get a steady hum then I would lower the gain or all metal until I did get a steady hum.
The majority of the time I ran the gain at 5 and sometimes up to 7 (ground was too hot to go higher) with the offset at +1. This still allowed me to find deep targets. I found 5 .69 caliber round balls at a measured depth of 13 inches. This was in a small 6x6 foot area and had missed these with the 10DD coil. Maybe that extra inch of depth from the larger coil allowed me to find these bullets.
A .69 caliber roundball has a "footprint" of .64 inches...just over a half inch. To dig a target that small, with the gain at 5 to a depth of 13" in some of the hottest ground in the country is pretty good in my book.
Just my two cents.
I have always performed a manual ground balance as it is stated in the manuals Complete Guide to Spectra V3i and Spectra V3i Advanced User's Guide and that is to: "pump the search coil over the ground (1-12 inches) until the background hum becomes steady..."
The manual does not say anything more about a manual ground balance (unless I have missed it).
On my recent trip to Fauquier County Virginia I was using the white 10x12SEF coil and while ground balancing I would see a wide range of numbers but always relied on getting that steady hum. If I could not get a steady hum then I would lower the gain or all metal until I did get a steady hum.
The majority of the time I ran the gain at 5 and sometimes up to 7 (ground was too hot to go higher) with the offset at +1. This still allowed me to find deep targets. I found 5 .69 caliber round balls at a measured depth of 13 inches. This was in a small 6x6 foot area and had missed these with the 10DD coil. Maybe that extra inch of depth from the larger coil allowed me to find these bullets.
A .69 caliber roundball has a "footprint" of .64 inches...just over a half inch. To dig a target that small, with the gain at 5 to a depth of 13" in some of the hottest ground in the country is pretty good in my book.
Just my two cents.
One last time then I'm done with this post because I can't make it clearer.
13" is used to find a clean spot. It is done before G/B begins. Get it, before ground balancing. It has nothing to do with the actual G/B. It is telling you, you have a clean trash free spot. The V3I depth numbers only go to 13. If the depth numbers went to 12 then people would be talking about 12 instead of 13.
There are no numbers to see or check after you ground balance. [size=large]
Once the hum (threshold) doesn't change you are balanced.[/size]
13" is used to find a clean spot. It is done before G/B begins.
Get it, before ground balancing. It has nothing to do with the actual G/B. It is telling you, you have a clean trash free spot. The V3I depth numbers only go to 13. If the depth numbers went to 12 then people would be talking about 12 instead of 13.There are no numbers to see or check after you ground balance. [size=large]
Once the hum (threshold) doesn't change you are balanced.[/size]
