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ID- meter ?
- Thread starter Hobby
- Start date
Art (NWOH)
New member
All the meters work on all the Sovs.
HH
HH
.........................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................Hobby, from what I understand there are 3 types of meters! 1) Bar Graph ID meter, 2) Digital Meter Calibrated at 550, and 3) Digital Meter Calibrated at 180..............................The 180 meter seems to be the most popular but I don't have one so I have no opinion on that! I have the 550 meter but since I just got it........................ really have no opinion on it either! But it sure looks good playing with it in the house!............HH..JoeHobby said:
HighPlainsHunter
Well-known member
There is/was also an after-market analog meter available called the "Winburn" (sp).
HighPlainsHunter
HighPlainsHunter
Art (NWOH)
New member
Good ID down to the last inch or so.
i have the digital meter calibrated at 550 and it wont even get to 550 i can get to 500 and sometimes to 549 but i cant get that 550 calibration they told me to send it back so my opinion of it is t sucks as for the gt 180 meter i have no idea ive never used one as far as this windburn-analog meter ive never heard of it i think you may have the wrong name there is a awsome analog meter that someone use to make and i have been in contact with him within the pst 2 weeks i have his email addres and this is 1 of the best analog meters ive ever seen he has offered to build me one since he stopped making them 3 years ago i forst saw a used one on ebay and i should have bought it then but i didnt it works on all sovereigns it clamps onto the rod and on the gt model it clamps to the bottom of the handle so all you have to do is look down at it while hunting its very very accurate he sent me the pictures of it there in adobe format but he sent the instructions and how it works and what it can do and what all the functions are i still have it saved in my documents im not wild about sharing it because if everyone gets one then everyone will have a leg up on me ...lol lol lol (joke) to me metal detecting is all about sharing information and helping out your fellow detectorist il be hppy to send the info that he passed onto me now i cant guarantee he will build several of them as he only offered to build one for me at a high price of 280.00 dolars but for what this thing does to me its well worth it theres a light for night hunting ,there is a tune button that tunes the meter to your coil with the push of a button its multi clor it has iron ,foil,pull tab,bottlecap, penny,nickle,dime,quarter/dollar,gold and silver as for iron it as an iron mask that deletes iron more then it normally would in the discrim mode there is a toggle switch but i cant remember what it does but its very useful from what i reemember reading theres a red light on the side that tells you when you run over iron but no matter as it voids it out if ayone is interested ill be happy to send the pictures of it o whoever is interested but remember like i said its 280.00 but in my opinion well worth the money with this you can now tell where to turn your notch and discrim controls to without the worry of cancelng out anything good oh it also has vdi numbers
I think what what you are thinking about is the Patriot meter that is the analog one and sells close to $300. Some like this meter and some don't like me as it is big and heavy and find it is not as fast as the digital meters are for those weaker signals we like to find. It does have the best back light i have seen and find the iron sentry for me worked only when a target nulled so we know it was iron by the tone without looking at the meter or the red light that come on. I like the auto calibration as it worked good.
Now what I have used and liked was the Sun Ray DTI meters and I have had the Windburn meter too, but this one has to have a separate 9 volt battery to power it. Minelab come out with a digital 550 meter on the XS2 and it was OK, but I found the numbers varied too much and some target overlapped one another, but some of the Elite 550 meter were much more stable and felt they worked much better than the earlier 550 meters did. Many were re calibrated to read 180 numbers to make them more stable. Now there is the new Digisearch meter that came out when the Sovereign GT were introduced which I find work as good as my Sun Ray meter. There is also another digital meter too that was being made called the Night hawk which had a back light too that was powered by a seperate 9 volt battery that seem like a good meter as I had one of those for a while, like to try them all.
Now with the 180 meter when calibrated to 180 for a new quarter all my copper pennies, clad coins and silver would read 179-180 while the new zinc pennies, IH pennies and some of the older Wheaties back in the teens would read 176-177 and my nickles would read 144-145 inmost cases. A very deep one which you will learn from experience the tones and meter will be trying to climb and you may see the correct tones and ID for just a slit second while doing the Sovereign wiggle, but wont lock on like a good target not that deep, the GT seems to be better on IDing the deeper ones.I say if the ID locks on to number that is the ID of it, but if it is trying to lock on but just cant and the signal is small and weak is one I will dig.
The Sun Ray DTI is no longer being made and I think the same with the Night Hawk and the Windburn so if you want one of them you have to find use one. The 550 meters can still be found and the new Minelab Digisearch 180 is the one that can be found new or used and feel it is the best one you can buy new now.
One thing with the Sovereigns tones and meter reading is you cannot serrate the pennies from the clad, but with experience you may be able to tell the silver from clad the way the 180 meter act as a clad coin or copper may bounce a little from 179-180 while the silver seem to stick to the 180 numbers more in most cases.
The meter is valuable to learn the Sovereign and I find the 180 meter also will tell me more about a target my ears can not and seen where I got the nice nickel tone and the meter read beaver tail (140-141) and it was a nice gold ring. This is why I like the meter as once you know the tones and what meter readings go with each tone you will want to dig all those the the tone is different then what the meter says as many time this is where you get some great finds.
Now what I have used and liked was the Sun Ray DTI meters and I have had the Windburn meter too, but this one has to have a separate 9 volt battery to power it. Minelab come out with a digital 550 meter on the XS2 and it was OK, but I found the numbers varied too much and some target overlapped one another, but some of the Elite 550 meter were much more stable and felt they worked much better than the earlier 550 meters did. Many were re calibrated to read 180 numbers to make them more stable. Now there is the new Digisearch meter that came out when the Sovereign GT were introduced which I find work as good as my Sun Ray meter. There is also another digital meter too that was being made called the Night hawk which had a back light too that was powered by a seperate 9 volt battery that seem like a good meter as I had one of those for a while, like to try them all.
Now with the 180 meter when calibrated to 180 for a new quarter all my copper pennies, clad coins and silver would read 179-180 while the new zinc pennies, IH pennies and some of the older Wheaties back in the teens would read 176-177 and my nickles would read 144-145 inmost cases. A very deep one which you will learn from experience the tones and meter will be trying to climb and you may see the correct tones and ID for just a slit second while doing the Sovereign wiggle, but wont lock on like a good target not that deep, the GT seems to be better on IDing the deeper ones.I say if the ID locks on to number that is the ID of it, but if it is trying to lock on but just cant and the signal is small and weak is one I will dig.
The Sun Ray DTI is no longer being made and I think the same with the Night Hawk and the Windburn so if you want one of them you have to find use one. The 550 meters can still be found and the new Minelab Digisearch 180 is the one that can be found new or used and feel it is the best one you can buy new now.
One thing with the Sovereigns tones and meter reading is you cannot serrate the pennies from the clad, but with experience you may be able to tell the silver from clad the way the 180 meter act as a clad coin or copper may bounce a little from 179-180 while the silver seem to stick to the 180 numbers more in most cases.
The meter is valuable to learn the Sovereign and I find the 180 meter also will tell me more about a target my ears can not and seen where I got the nice nickel tone and the meter read beaver tail (140-141) and it was a nice gold ring. This is why I like the meter as once you know the tones and what meter readings go with each tone you will want to dig all those the the tone is different then what the meter says as many time this is where you get some great finds.
HighPlainsHunter
Well-known member
Here are plans to make your own 180 meter from an inexpensive multimeter:
http://www.dcdetec.com/meter/meter.htm
Found the link for modifying the Minelab 550 meter here:
http://www.geocities.com/sovereignmods/rescaling.html
HighPlainsHunter
http://www.dcdetec.com/meter/meter.htm
Found the link for modifying the Minelab 550 meter here:
http://www.geocities.com/sovereignmods/rescaling.html
HighPlainsHunter
HighPlainsHunter said:
I just took a look at the do it yourself link.
If I'm correct the meter is just reading a voltage from the detector? So all the meter actually is is a voltmeter that costs big bucks.
I'm going to throw together a circuit using a Pic 12F685 micro-controller and a nice inexpensive back-lit display.
I think I'm going to add two switches to mine.
One will put the meter in an "averaging mode" and the other will be a peak hold.
Since it will be mostly a software affair in the Pic it will be easy to give the meter more bells and whistles.
You guys have any suggestions?
I'll keep you posted and look forward to suggestions.
Ok, I've got my homebrew meter working and exactly matching the operation of the Minelab meter.
I'm beginning to write into the program facilities for the meter to display the expected item such as coin, ring,
or such.
Who has a good list of 180 meter/item readings?
Another feature I have is that across the top of my LCD I have the 0-180 displayed in 17 steps.
Depending on the target a segmit will rise under that number, kinda like a spectrum analyizer display.
I really need a good list for the 180 numbers as I have been using the 550 meter since I have owned my sovereign.
Thanks
I'm beginning to write into the program facilities for the meter to display the expected item such as coin, ring,
or such.
Who has a good list of 180 meter/item readings?
Another feature I have is that across the top of my LCD I have the 0-180 displayed in 17 steps.
Depending on the target a segmit will rise under that number, kinda like a spectrum analyizer display.
I really need a good list for the 180 numbers as I have been using the 550 meter since I have owned my sovereign.
Thanks