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New to P.I. Detectors....HELP!

A

Anonymous

Guest
Hey Guys:
First, I wish to thank you in advance for any help that you may be able to provide me and your courtesy.
Recently, I became the proud owner of a Pulse Induction Metal Detector. Being that I've never used a P.I. metal detector and don't know anyone personally who has, I don't exactly know what is expected.
My dilemma concerns the following: Normally a VLF detector has a threshold "hum" that can be adjusted to the lowest volume using the threshold tuning knob. This is of course after ground balancing. What I have noticed while bench testing is that there is a constant threshold "hum" that can be adjusted to a lower volume but there is also what seems to sound like false signals or interference at various pitches. The threshold tuning, frequency adjustment and discrimination doesn't eliminate this. What I'm currently doing is setting the threshold and headphone volume to just about audible and ignoring these signals when performing bench text. Please, advice whether this is expected of pulse induction detectors or its particular to this one.
Thanks Again,
Ernie
 
Hi Ernie,
Please let us know what PI detector you have. Bench testing is often difficult if it is carried out indoors. This is because the detector will pick up interference from power wiring, TV sets, computer monitors etc. The best testing is done outdoors, well away from such sources of interference. Also make sure that the coil is horizontal, as this give less noise pickup.
Eric.
 
Hi Brian and Ernie,
I haven't seen or tested an Infinium so I can't comment on that particular machine. All PI's are broad band, in that the front end amplifier in the receiver is a fairly wide open window. Noise filtering is usually applied later on, but everything is a compromise. You could have a treacle smooth threshold, but the response time would be slow, resulting in poor pinpointing and missing small deep targets. A sharp response does mean letting in more noise, so the background threshold of any PI usually warbles around a little bit. On some machines you can turn down the receiver sensitivity to get a smooth threshold, but then you lose range.
How does the Infinium perform on a beach, or out in a open field well away from power lines?
Eric.
 
Gentleman:
First, I wish to thank you fellas for your time and feedback. Your knowledge and experience is priceless and having a forum such as this is a treasure in itself.
Well, I'm back from the field after familiarizing myself with the P.I. detector. And "Yes" it is a Garrett Infinium LS. Just got a little bit of the butterflies in the tummy so to speak with this little MD transition.
This was not an elaborate test with nickels or even depth testing. It was simply to see whether this two-tone noise was interference or not which I'm happy to say it was. Basically, went out to a large field, which makes up most of South Texas, and cranked the P.I. up with the coil horizontal to the ground. There was just the soothing "hum" of the threshold. Then I scanned with the coil a little and picked up a target or two.
This all I was able to do due to a lack of time since the days are shorter this time of year. This of course won't conclude my "laymans" testing. This weekend I'll be spending a whole day at the beach and put this green baby to good use.
Thanks Again,
Ernie
 
I was interested to see what the report would be like in Lost Treasure magazine and it would appear that the tester had not used the Garrett if he had not mentioned insensitivity to small items and the difficulty of pinpointing with the twin tone response. Reverse discrimination he mentions as a 'unique' feature and the high/low audio discrimination which is unique is not mention at all !
Not having any major gold areas in the U.K. (though we do have some) I was more interested in the machine from the beach detecting point of view but I would have thought that sensitivity to small items would be essential for the average gold hunter.
One suprise was that the Garrett would wipe out the Deepstar from many feet away yet the Garrett was not to sensitive to the more powerful Deepstar.
 
Hi Brian,
Did you try shifting the frequency on either machine? Interference between PI's can be severe or minimal, depending on their relative pulse rates. Very often just a small shift in frequency is all that is needed to stop mutual interference.
Eric.
 
Tried everything with the Garrett (I see there is another two up for sale on the net).
I think from the people who contacted me and my own experience that the Infinium is more subject to interference than other P.I.'s . Not a problem in the outback but in our small island something to bear in mind.
Hows my upgrade on the Deepstar going Eric ?
 
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