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Sovereign Cables
- Thread starter Ray Hogan
- Start date
Critterhunter
New member
There are guys who have shortened them. I've never done it but I'd figure it would be rather easy, so long as the cable plug comes apart with no problems. You can pull back the rubber boot and see a metal plug which can further be taken apart. If it looks like you'll have easy access to all the pins to re-solder up on the back of that you'd just have to cut the wire and re-solder all of them. Just make sure you note which color is to which pin before butchering the thing.
What I have done to the 8 inch coinsearch coil is cutting the wires off the plug back a bit so there is still a little color on each wire, then when I replace the plug I desolder one at a time and solder on the new one so I know where each wire goes. Just remember if you resell it this could bring the resale value down on it, or if it is under warranty this will void the warranty.
I rang Minelab some time back and asked if they could shorten the cables on the E-Trac to cut down the weight. Their reply was, the cable needed to be that length. So i imagine all the detector cables would need to be the length they are, otherwise minelab would be wasting money, supplying excess cable.
Critterhunter
New member
I think cable length does enter into the tuning of coils. If I remember right Ifrom the Geotech & Thunting websites guys were taking this into consideration when building homemade coils. I'm not sure how critical this would be on most detectors, and I have heard of many Sovereign owners shortening the cable length to cut down a little weight and to clean up the looks a bit.
I've thought about doing this on my GT because the coil cable's length is extra long to begin with in case you want to hip or chest mount the control box and don't have a meter in between to add even more length. That's why the cable is too long even going to the box under the shaft at the back. With my meter on the shaft the needed coil cable length to reach the meter is even much shorter now so the coil cable length is way too long. I know the cable weight doesn't amount to much but every little bit helps, especialy when you consider where that weight is- spiraled around the shaft just below the meter, which makes you feel the weight more than if it was elsewhere.
Then there's the meter's cable length. It's just long enough for me to hipmount the control box as it should be, but if you have the control box at the back under the shaft you've now got excessive cable length from the meter to that. On a machine this heavy every little bit of extra weight adds up. That's why I've been thinking about doing this as well as dropping the weight elsewhere with things such as using a carbon tube or Whites lower carbon shaft in replace of the fiberglass one, using aluminum or a less thick steel shaft for the upper shaft, and using a much lighter lipo battery in place of the stock one. Using a meter that's built into the control box would further lighten things up. I guess you'd be better off with just a Whites upper/lower shaft to replace the whole thing. Heard of people doing that. Just wonder if there are any shafts people feel are lighter than those?
If you are going to shorten your coil cables you've got two choices. Either make it just long enough to reach the meter, or just long enough to reach the control box under the back of the shaft. You could also shorten the meter's cable if you had the box under the shaft. The main arguement against shortening your coil cables would be re-sale value, but I would figure this wouldn't be an issue so long as you had a cable extender to return the length to stock. That way if you sell a coil you could supply the cable extender with it.
In years past I have read of people who believed shortening the cables on a machine will lower the noise from interference a little, allowing you to go slightly higher with sensitivity. I also remember guys using aluminum foil or other forms of shielding to cover the internals of their control box to further reduce noise. Not sure how much difference that would make with more modern detectors.
Now you've got me thinking more about cutting down those cable lengths. Anybody know of a cheap source of for cable extenders with these types of plugs? If I start trying to lighten up the machine I'm going to weigh the stock setup with the box mounted and 10" coil. As I do various things to drop weight I'll post how much lighter the machine now is with the above mods as I go.
I've thought about doing this on my GT because the coil cable's length is extra long to begin with in case you want to hip or chest mount the control box and don't have a meter in between to add even more length. That's why the cable is too long even going to the box under the shaft at the back. With my meter on the shaft the needed coil cable length to reach the meter is even much shorter now so the coil cable length is way too long. I know the cable weight doesn't amount to much but every little bit helps, especialy when you consider where that weight is- spiraled around the shaft just below the meter, which makes you feel the weight more than if it was elsewhere.
Then there's the meter's cable length. It's just long enough for me to hipmount the control box as it should be, but if you have the control box at the back under the shaft you've now got excessive cable length from the meter to that. On a machine this heavy every little bit of extra weight adds up. That's why I've been thinking about doing this as well as dropping the weight elsewhere with things such as using a carbon tube or Whites lower carbon shaft in replace of the fiberglass one, using aluminum or a less thick steel shaft for the upper shaft, and using a much lighter lipo battery in place of the stock one. Using a meter that's built into the control box would further lighten things up. I guess you'd be better off with just a Whites upper/lower shaft to replace the whole thing. Heard of people doing that. Just wonder if there are any shafts people feel are lighter than those?
If you are going to shorten your coil cables you've got two choices. Either make it just long enough to reach the meter, or just long enough to reach the control box under the back of the shaft. You could also shorten the meter's cable if you had the box under the shaft. The main arguement against shortening your coil cables would be re-sale value, but I would figure this wouldn't be an issue so long as you had a cable extender to return the length to stock. That way if you sell a coil you could supply the cable extender with it.
In years past I have read of people who believed shortening the cables on a machine will lower the noise from interference a little, allowing you to go slightly higher with sensitivity. I also remember guys using aluminum foil or other forms of shielding to cover the internals of their control box to further reduce noise. Not sure how much difference that would make with more modern detectors.
Now you've got me thinking more about cutting down those cable lengths. Anybody know of a cheap source of for cable extenders with these types of plugs? If I start trying to lighten up the machine I'm going to weigh the stock setup with the box mounted and 10" coil. As I do various things to drop weight I'll post how much lighter the machine now is with the above mods as I go.
Critterhunter
New member
I haven't heard of any problems with doing it on a Sovereign. If anything I would figure you might get slightly less interference and can then run sensitivity a little higher as well.
The E-Trac has to be that long and is the shortest it can be, but the Sovereign coils are made longer for those that hip mount without a meter. This also is true for those that use a meter and hip mount as the meter cable has to be that long. The Sovereigns are made to be used different configurations where as the other Minelabs are not.
Ray,
I shorten my cable on the 8 inch coinsearch coil I had so I only had to twist it around the shaft a few times instead of 20 some, don't remember the correct measurements. After I did this I felt the Sovereign run a bit more sensitive, plus it seem the next few hunts in a well worked park I was picking up more silver than before. Now i was told by Minelab and Sun Ray that this should not made a difference, but to me I felt it did and that could be why I did better too.
On the Sun Ray S-8 you had a choice of either the standard length cable or the shorter one when you ordered one in, but hate to say I don't know if this is still the case as I haven't had to order one in for a while.
One thing I will say if anyone decides to shorten any cables is make sure you leave a little extra cable just ion case you have to cut it down more if the cable breaks by the control box connector. I bought a used one off the forums and the cable was cut too much and just barely was long enough to reach the control box and couldn't extend the lower rod to max.
I shorten my cable on the 8 inch coinsearch coil I had so I only had to twist it around the shaft a few times instead of 20 some, don't remember the correct measurements. After I did this I felt the Sovereign run a bit more sensitive, plus it seem the next few hunts in a well worked park I was picking up more silver than before. Now i was told by Minelab and Sun Ray that this should not made a difference, but to me I felt it did and that could be why I did better too.
On the Sun Ray S-8 you had a choice of either the standard length cable or the shorter one when you ordered one in, but hate to say I don't know if this is still the case as I haven't had to order one in for a while.
One thing I will say if anyone decides to shorten any cables is make sure you leave a little extra cable just ion case you have to cut it down more if the cable breaks by the control box connector. I bought a used one off the forums and the cable was cut too much and just barely was long enough to reach the control box and couldn't extend the lower rod to max.
Critterhunter
New member
That's interesting...that is seemed to run a little better for you. It would only make sense. Less wire length means less signal noise and less external noise being picked up by it as well. The shorter the wire the less resistance (more power) as well. I know the difference might be slight but it's there, and when you consider how little power a Sovereign is running on every little bit might help. I would think you might be able to increase sensitivity a bit more and the magnetic field put out by the coil might be slightly stronger with less wire resistance. Only question is if the slight improvement would even be noticed. Every little bit helps, I feel.
Does anybody have a source for cable extensions with the same plug? That would make everything mute since you could extend things later if needed or keep the re-sale value (might even raise it with the versatility offered to go short or long based on configuration). I might do this. Yet another project.
Does anybody have a source for cable extensions with the same plug? That would make everything mute since you could extend things later if needed or keep the re-sale value (might even raise it with the versatility offered to go short or long based on configuration). I might do this. Yet another project.
Not sure how this whole "wind the cable around the shaft" concept started but I don't do it that way.
I start at the coil, leaving adequate slack for the coil to move to the extremes each direction. A couple inches up I Velcro the wire to the shaft. Continue straight up the shaft with your coil wire, placing Velcro every 8 inches or so. As I approach the control housing I wrap the extra around my hand, making a series of neat coils. When the coils are right and the plug reaches the box correctly I fasten the coiled wire with several small zip-ties. This is then secured to the shaft with one last piece of Velcro. Makes a very neat installation if I do say so.
I start at the coil, leaving adequate slack for the coil to move to the extremes each direction. A couple inches up I Velcro the wire to the shaft. Continue straight up the shaft with your coil wire, placing Velcro every 8 inches or so. As I approach the control housing I wrap the extra around my hand, making a series of neat coils. When the coils are right and the plug reaches the box correctly I fasten the coiled wire with several small zip-ties. This is then secured to the shaft with one last piece of Velcro. Makes a very neat installation if I do say so.
GraveDiggerMax-VaBch-Va
New member
The question of shortening or lengthening the cables has gone on for a long time. In our testing we have not noticed a difference in operation whether the cable is 7' or 42" in length. If it was 50' or so then you might see a difference. I have coils with both short and long cables and they operate the same.
treasure_hunter
New member
Something to consider, if and when you go to sell the Sovereign, it is a disadvantage if the cable is shorter.
Critterhunter
New member
Something else to think about. Some new company installing that meter that goes in your speaker hole makes reference to meters feeding off the transmit signal's power lead in the coil's cable sucking a little energy/depth from the coil. They make this claim because they are drawing power to run the meter (not the vdi's display #, but power to run the unit) off of the main power from the Sovereign and not from the voltage it's putting out to the coil.
This has been done on all the Minelab meters and the SunRay meters as they do not have their own power supply so they have to be getting it from the detecor power supply and it work great. I dont feel it takes anything from the performance and know the meters have help me get those very deep targets my ears dont hear very good, but the meter will let me know on them.
Critterhunter
New member
The difference in performance is going to be there (but so slight you probably couldn't even measure it) by the meter drawing it's power from the transmit signal versus drawing it's power at the main battery. Again, to power it. Not talking about the meter reading the 0 to 2 volt display signal. The same thing can be said for shorter cables versus longer ones. There will be more resistance and thus less voltage at the coil. You can't change the laws of physics so both will sap some kind of power from the coil.
However, all that being said the difference would probably be so slight that you couldn't even measure it without some very expensive equipment. More than likely you won't see any improvement in depth, but I'm always fond of saying every little bit helps. Whether it's tweaking sensitivity to max or adjusting the threshold to just the right level for best performance. Not sure if things like that makes much difference but I'm going to take the steps anyway.
In RC plane building every little bit of weight you can shave off might seem trivial. Less glue here, thinner balsa there, but all these little things add up to a lot less wing loading in the long run. Same concept to me in trying to get my detector to max depth.
However, all that being said the difference would probably be so slight that you couldn't even measure it without some very expensive equipment. More than likely you won't see any improvement in depth, but I'm always fond of saying every little bit helps. Whether it's tweaking sensitivity to max or adjusting the threshold to just the right level for best performance. Not sure if things like that makes much difference but I'm going to take the steps anyway.
In RC plane building every little bit of weight you can shave off might seem trivial. Less glue here, thinner balsa there, but all these little things add up to a lot less wing loading in the long run. Same concept to me in trying to get my detector to max depth.
At any rate, one of my GTs is on the way to Joe for the Meter Mod. I have always hip mounted my control box and handle mounted my meter, so this will be interesting change for me. I just hope my old eyes will adjust to the smaller numbers, but, that's no big deal either, because I learned by the tones anyways. If I have a question, I'll check the meter (even put my glasses on if I have to). Because I mostly hunt at the beach, it will at the very least keep the sand out of the speaker grill! LOL! Joe is a good Sovereign man and a nice guy to boot.
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