Omega Coil Bad?

[RLOH]

The last two times I have hunted with the Omega, the detector went spastic for no apparent reason. I would be hunting along just perfect and out of the blue the detector would start chattering and numbers flashing wildly. It was just as though I got next to an underground dog fence, but that is not the case. The places where this has happened has never given me any emi issues. I put the coil to waist level and it is no better. I also had a difficult time trying to ground balance after this happens. I have removed my coil cover and cleaned it, tried new battery. I do have the stock coil for it and will try it the next time out. If the stock coil works OK, can I just send the 11 inch dd coil back to the factory, or will I have to send the detector also? Any thoughts or help is appreciated. R.L.

 

[Markmac]

If you were using head phones make sure they were plugged in all the way i had that happen with my 11 inch dd coil but found the head phone jack was not all the way in and havent had that problem since.May or may not be the problem but i would try it again to see if it acts up another time before sending back to first texas.Not sure but would think you would only have to send the coil back hopefully thats right...Markmac

 

[Monte]

The last two times I have hunted with the Omega, the detector went spastic for no apparent reason. I would be hunting along just perfect and out of the blue the detector would start chattering and numbers flashing wildly. It was just as though I got next to an underground dog fence, but that is not the case. The places where this has happened has never given me any emi issues.

This evening after work I got in a short hunt at full Sensitivity over by our city library and senior center. Sensitivity at '99' and smooth running with Disc. at '1' and Tones at d2 or d2, and a Ground Phase established just slightly positive at '74.3 or .4.' I was there just last Thursday and it was one noisy critter with a lot of EMI issues. I've encountered this on many occasions and it's just part of what you get with such a high-gain detector as the Omega.

Over the weekend I worked a few places where it would just barely splutter now-and-then, and only a few minutes later is was totally spastic! Perhaps my main problem of late is working in a very urban environment that has a lot of power sources that cause me some issues.

I put the coil to waist level and it is no better.

If anything it would more than likely be worse! Hold that coil in the air and in a position that is more susceptible to all sorts of nearby interference isn't a great idea. When the coil is near the ground and in motion, at least it is processing ground signal and that helps to tame some of the outside EMI.

I also had a difficult time trying to ground balance after this happens. I have removed my coil cover and cleaned it, tried new battery.

The Omega and Gamma, from what I have seen, are just very good detectors that are suseptible to outside/nearby interference more than many other offerings that are a bit whimpy in overall performance and sensitivity.

Also, I don't use a coil cover because it's best to search with the coil about

 

[NickT]

I had that happen with the DD 11". I ended up turning it off, turned it on and left the sens very low to see if I could Ground grab. It did but at a different number than I am used to in my area. So I just kept bringing up the sens and balancing until I got it close to 12 O'clock. It played nice from then on. Never had that happen with the stock 10".

Hope it helps,

Nick

 

[Low-Boy/LCPM]

Coil cover not a good thing make sure you use the best brand AA and did you try another coil....

 

[Furious T]

I've encountered times , when I get a signal and put the detector down to investigate/extract target, the noise from the detector/coil is distracting, and sometimes almost drives me nuts; but as soon as I stand up and start sweeping again, everything's fine. I had similar things happen with another very sensitive detector. It may be the coil, and if you've tried all the suggestions so far and nothing has worked (have you tried it in a different area), then you probably have no option but to set it to the factory for checking out/fixing. Good luck and let us know how you get on.

 

[RLOH]

I have played aroung with the Omega with the 11 inch dd coil for a couple of days in my yard and one of the places I had problems with emi last week. It worked great as long as I could find a place with clean ground and no emi to ground balance. In a couple of spots, I had to move four or five times to get it balanced and when I did it worked great. The park maintainance worker told me that a large underground cable split the large field I was hunting. When I got withing ten feet of it, the Omega went into overload with it's chirping and wildly oscillating numbers. Me like a dumb !@# would think it needed rebalanced and that was impossible to do in the near vicinity of these underground cables. Yesterday and today, while approaching the area of this cable, I ignored or turned the sensitivity down to 50 and kept on trucking until I moved ten foot past. I started turning the sens up as I moved away and was able to get back up to 80. I guess Monte is right when he says this is a high gain, high strung detector. Anyway, the coil is working great and today I found two more silver dimes, a childs sterling ring, and four wheat pennies, all from 6 to 8 inches deep. Live and learn. I have made good finds almost every time out with this detector and most of these coins have been found at places I have hunted hard in the past. I would like to think I am a great detectorist, but it is more in line to think I am an average detectorist swinging a great detector. Thanks for all the help. R.L.

 

[Hombre]

I have had the same kind of problems with other makes of detectors, there is all kinds of crap underground nowdays even in old 100+year old home yards. I have one place I hunt in and one area of the yard any detector I use goes nutz. The owner of this victorian house is an old detectorist from the old days, he has a Goldak, an old Bounty Hunter TR and some older Garret detectors, and he is kind enough to let a new guy to the hobby hunt his yard. He said the area where my detectors go spastic is an underground telephone line, and claims that with his old Bounty Hunter he heard part of a phone conversation with it! Go figure........

Randy

 

[bubbadirect]

Thank you for all who are discussing this! I just got my Omega yesterday, tried it out today in my front yard (subdivision) and it did some of the things described here. I'm glad to see that it may NOT be my unit being bad. I just need to get away from my area (in front of my house) and get to my detecting spots!

Thanks,
bubbadirect

 

[Furious T]

Good to hear that you got it sorted out RL. You're right, it is a great detector.

 

[rick (nova scotia)]

I have noticed mine "act up" a few times. I have also noticed is that it seems to have little or no effect on it's ability to detect while this is happening. So I ignore it, and keep swinging. Yeah it sounds funny when you set it down to dig a hole, just think of it as your engine idiling.

Hope no one thinks I'm joking, I'm not.

 

[kraykepler]

I've had the same problem a few times. Turning it off and on again "fixed" it.

 

[JeffNS]

Sounds like the same thing I've experienced with my Fisher F4. It's more prominent with the 11"DD coil which acts like a big antenna but also happens a bit when using the 8" round concentric coil as well. I'll be swingin' along quietly...find a target...set the machine down and it'll start beeping and goin' crazy. Has alot to do with the orientation of the coil at this point...lord knows what signals it's intercepting from alien life forms light years away in another galaxy....these are sensitive machines.

Just turn down the sensitivity and it quiets down...and contrary to what some may believe, decreasing sensitivity to 50% doesn't give you half the depth capability of the machine...not even close. I hardly noticed any decrease in depth ability and I've run sensitivity to below 50% in a couple of really bad EMI areas. Test and see for yourself.

 

[jbow]

Did you have your cellphone with you? They will cause that. They occasionally connect with the nearest tower. If you're in a place between two towers or if you're in a more remote area it can really be a problem. Underground utilities or overhead utilities can be a problem. Overhead are especially a problem if the power is "dirty". Sometimes the power can and will fix that problem. I had them come out to a house we used to live in an fix it. I could carry a portable radio out in the yard and walk under the line supplying power to the house and get lots of static. I called Ga Power, they came out loked at what was going on, went up the pole, found the problem and fixed it.
Abother thing that can cause EMI is loose grounds at power poles or in a home, building, or anywhere. IF the ground wires in a home are loose the power will be really noisy.

I'd look first at the cellphone or anything else you might be carrying. I've accidentally flipped the power switch on my pocker Uniprobe before and had problems but a cellphone is a prime cause of random bad EMI and if you're too far from a tower it will be almost constant.

Also the Garretts pinpointer interacts with the F75 when it is turned off because the coils are tuned almost the same. When you turn the pinpointer on it doesn't seem to be a problem, but it is a regualr, steady interference when you swing to the side of your body where you are carrying the Garretts probe... and this is when the probe is OFF. I doubt that is a problem since it is erratic.

J
Julien