Ground Balance

[Terry in PA]

Those who have the AT PRO I have a question for you. I've been detecting for the last 25 years. I have used many different detectors and also the Garrett gta 1000,gti1500,gti2500.I never had a problem with the ground in my area. The AT PRO will ground balance at 85-86 in most of my area. In pro mode which is what I hunt in the most it has constant chatter pops and clicks. Now when the coil is not on the ground it's quiet. With the iron audio on its just unreal most of the time even with iron discrimination at max 40. I know there is not a lot of nails or other iron in these areas. Could it just be the minerals in the soil ? If so why hasn't any of the other detectors acted in the same manner as the AT Pro ? Anyone else have this problem and if so what did you do to correct it?

 

[LuckySteve]

Try changing the frequency (hit pinpoint button once) it could be a lot of emu in the area. Also try to turn the sensitivity down a little until it gets quiet.

 

[ajaj]

First, make sure the connection from the coil to the box is all the way in and appropriately tight; when not all the way in, chatter and falsing can result. Next, make sure that temperature extremes are considered...for example, if you store your detector at 70F and immediately bring it outside at, say, 35F, some small bit of condensation can occur within the box's air spaces (e.g., battery compartment, coil and headphone connections, inside the electronics). Lastly, make sure all connections are clean.

aj

 

[spudnuts11]

Make sure the first wrap of the coil wire is over the front
of the bar.Use electrical tape to secure the wire high above the coil so it cant move.
Try to manually adjust ground by pushing the ground balance once then adjust wit
the notch discim button - or+,then turn down the sensitivity down a few clicks.
the ground is still frozen hear, I have been marking targets with sticks waiting to thaw!!!

 

[BarryL]

Hunted an area yesterday and I could not get the 5X8 DD to quiet down pops and clicks ground balanced just like I always do at about 85 then I back it down about 4 clicks never had this problem before no high voltage anywhere around within 200 yds so decide to put the 6x9 concentric coil on and did the same thing so it had to be just covered in some type of metal so I decided to dig a few of these pops and clicks and found tiny pieces of aluminum can shreads small as finishing nails

 

[Terry in PA]

Everything tight, wrapped the right direction. When in pro mode I use zero mode with iron discrimination at 32 most of the time but I can run it up to 40. The pops and clicks almost sound like discriminated targets. When switched to iron audio it just constant iron chatter there's no way there's that much iron in the ground. Been here with the other detectors and don't remember any of that chatter. Now the area I hunt is close to the river. May be there is a lot of iron mineral in the ground. Don't know for sure. My friend just bought a new AT PRO so I'll check and see what his does in the same area.

 

[BensJamming]

The other day mine was acting a little wonky like you said. Was getting chatter and such but I was near power line and underground water lines and tons of trash. I tried checking the cables, changing batteries, and everything else I could think of but didnt seem to help much. Finally in desperation I remembered to try a RESET and it immediatly quieted down for the rest of the day. Later that night after getting home I did notice that the coil cable wasnt fully tightened even though I know I had it tight before. Since the reset and snugging it up I havent had any falsing issues whatsoever. Maybe give that a shot. Also to change freq you dont just hit the pinpoint button once, you hold it down and push the - or + for the sensitivity to switch between them.

Hope this helps ya out and was one of the first things that Rusty from Garrett reccommends to try first.

 

[grumpysrb]

Yep, I often have the same problem. Ground Balance number is the same as yours. Try reducing the sensitivity to one bar prior to Ground Balancing. Then raise it back up. After that you can try the Frequency Adjust and or reducing the sensitivity. Also make sure the Coil Connection is tight.

 

[Night Crawler]

Hi Terry in PA

I have that happen from time to time in some of the high mineral area we hunt in. My friend uses the Ace250 and it doesn't have the Gbng features the AT Pro has and he picks up a lot more mineral in the rocks that The AT Pro ignores. The reason I bring this up, is he has asked me to run my coil over the same minerailized rock his Ace is giving a signal on and in some cases I will get a short Blip/Click sound from it which is normal. I usually GB at 91-94 in this area of high mineral content so I think the AT Pro does a great job filtering out those type of rocks but some will give off a short/abrupt sound.

Having said that, the important thing to keep in mind when this Blip/click sound happens is to look at your depth meter. If it reads 8" or above it's most likely filtered out mineral at this point, if the depth meter reads deeper than 8", then it could very well be a good small target and would need more investigating to make sure. Another thing to be aware of with the AT Pros and why i run my machine (Wide Open) at all times is the deeper the target, the lower the tones. Some good ring targets "will" give off a Grunt low tone if it's around the 8" mark or deeper.

This is very important to keep in mind and why the depth meter is what you look at next when you get a low tone signal, if it's above 8", then it is most likely an iron target, if it's deeper than 8", it could very well be a good target like a 14 or 18 kt ring where their is metal mixed with gold. That's why I run Pro Zero (wide open), I don't mind the extra chatter that some spots give off.

I'm still learning my machine and enjoy every minute of it and that is what I have learned from the AT Pro so far. I'm sure I will find out more neat things when I get a chance to go out again this year.

PS: As for scrubbing the ground with the coil, (persoanlly speaking) I never touch the ground with my coil at anytime. I get as close as I can with the coil, but never touch it when I metal detect, I think (personally) it really wears things out real fast and I still dig targets at the 8" - 12" mark in a 91-94 high mineral enviroment on a regular bases.

Make sure the coil wire isn't wrapped to tight either, that "will" give off false signals like mine did when I first got it. I run my coil wire straight up for about 6" then lighly wrap one or 2 times around the shaft. I also run my coil wire straight out of the plug-in for about 4" to make sure the wire isn't being stressed. Another thing my firend and I found out is run a good set on Name Brand batteries in it. My friend was getting a lot of chatter and falsing when he was running the cheap no name brands, he switched to the energizers and doesn't have that problem anymore, I run Dura - Cells in mine.

Just some things to consider as well as what has already been mentioned by others here.

 

[Terry in PA]

Took my Pro down to my friends house the other day to check out how his new pro was acting. He has the smaller coil on his and that thing ran nice and quiet. But I also took mine along and give it try in his yard and it was a lot quieter in the soil around his yard. It has to be the minerals in the area I was hunting that caused it to act the way it did. I'll go back and make a few adjustments and see what happens.

 

[MikeLab]

If the area is wet and there is salt, even fertilizers have salts, that is called conductive ground and it will make lots of pops and crackles. But there is lots of minerals in sand, too. One trick is to only pump the coil an inch or so off the ground when balancing. Auto balance does not work as well in these conditions.