Still a CT newbie but........something is wrong

[PokerShark]

I have had my CT for about 8 months. I have used it exclusively on land and have gotten VERY comfortable with it, and yes, I get great results. One of my goals when I purchased it was to start using it to wade in the water here on the Pacific coast and also when I visit my former home in Virginia every year. Last night was the second time I have taken it on the beach in the DRY sand. The last time it was just fine at the same beach, but this time something is for sure wrong. Every time my coil touched the sand the detector went nuts! If I sat the coil down in the sand with the detector on the machine would go ballistic and start dishing out random tones and readings like mad. As long as I kept it out of the sand it seemed to work, but I did not have many signals on what is normally (with other detectors I have used) a very trashy high traffic beach. I found a little clad in a couple hours, all at 3 inches or less, and yes the detector was more or less quiet unless I accidentally touched some sand while sweeping and it would momentarily flip-out and throw a random signal. Very odd behavior compared to my last visit there which was normal.

I tried Beach, with and without a ground balance, with the salt check box turned on and off. It made no difference, the detector was still wild.
I tried Coin, with and without a ground balance. And it again made no difference, same behavior.
I cleaned the coil off, removed the coil cover, checked all the connections, and performed several full resets. Nothing would calm it down. And when the coil was in the air, it was stable as a rock so I doubt it was any form of RF. I also tapped the coil while it was in the air to see if the coil had gotten shaky but it was fine! Does anyone have any idea what it could be?

I am taking my detector on a two week trip to Maryland and Virginia in 3 weeks and I hope it will not come down to a visit to the shop or I may have to wait another year to use it on the East Coast. That would not be good at all. I'm afraid my love affair with the detector would be over if that was the case because I already have permission to hunt some great built in 1780 to 1860 properties back home.

Thanks again,

The Shark

 

[GKMan]

You didn't mention checking sensitivity? Possible so rudimentary you just didn't, but that would be something I would check. If all else fails you could do a system reset, a bit drastic but it may "fix" whatever setting it is you may have changed and are just missing.

 

[PokerShark]

Thanks for the reply Gary.

I did perform several full resets and it didn't change the behavior at all. The machine was as stock as I could get it, just like it was before but it was VERY different this time for some reason. I will be plugging it into the computer tonight so I can take a better look at the programming, but I don't think it is programming after the resets because that should have zeroed it back to the same state as my prior trip to the same location. And it was really acting bizarre this time as opposed to last time. I have honestly never messed with the gain because here in California the soil is full of black sand and other minerals. Thus a higher gain results in an unstable machine, or at least it was with all my other detectors here. So I leave it alone for the most part.

The Shark

 

[GKMan]

There are a couple of hard core beach users on here that may have some ideas, can you test another coil perhaps? My first coil had some separation along the seams, it wasn't causing it to act up, but who knows what would happen if it had got wet inside..

 

[PokerShark]

Good idea.

As soon as I took it out of the car and turned it on I knew something was wrong. It never went anywhere near the water so I am sure it was not caused by any kind of leak, but a coil separation could be a possibility. Unfortunately I only own the detector and stock coil.

Thanks,

The Shark

 

[sube]

Do you have another coil to try my stock coil went bad and I hardy used it at all , the detector said coil not recognized . Minelab got me a new coil in two days and then they said to send it back in the same box they sent the new one in .They said the problem was where the coil wire connects to the coil . So try it again and wiggle the wire where it meets the coil if it go's crazy that's your problem . sube

 

["Dr.Tones"]

Did you try emptying the coil cover? Maybe you've got a bunch of black sand in there?

 

[PokerShark]

Thanks for the reply Doc,

Yes I did dump out the coil cover and actually removed the cover and used the detector "naked" just to test it - no change. Odd thing is the machine is acting normal in the grass so to speak. It was only nuts at the beach. Very odd.

Just spoke to Minelab a short time ago and they think I could have a bad coil, but he rather have me send in the whole machine. He said it would be faster to try the coil, but he was not so sure it wasn't the machine. None to amused about that because the machine is only months old and I have not used it a great deal since I got it - my work schedule changed not long after I bought it. Now I have a trip planned next month where the detector is the focal point of the trip and I may have to take the detector with a bad coil or risk having no coil at all if I send it in!! Minelabs America cannot assure me that I will have the coil I am sending to them back before I leave on the 12th. I asked about advance replacement even with a Credit Card deposit, but that is not their policy. My prior detector company (which I will not name here) advance replaced my D2 coil (I happened to be the 2nd owner of the detector to boot) under warranty and I had it in 2 days!! I didn't even ask for advance replacement they just did it!

Not saying their service is bad, I am only saying that I am accustomed to a different level of service is all. And they have scared me to death telling me it could take 10 to 15 business days to turn it around. The tech I spoke with said he has "4 racks full of detectors for repair, and they work on a first in, first out system." Because they are so backed up it would be better to just replace the coil to see if it fixes the issue rather than send in the machine.

On the bright side, the folks I talked to were helpful and very nice. The RMA rep gave me her direct dial number so I could call right back with the serial number for the exchange, because I didn't have it. She didn't think it would take 2 weeks to swap it, but there were no guarantees.

The Shark

 

[Digger]

Did you call the dealer you bought it from, and see if he could send you another coil? I'd think he could for at least long enough to see if it the coil or the detector. HH Randy

 

[DaytonaGold]

My ctx is also in for repair, 4 racks full of detectors??? This doesn't sound too good for Minelab and the CTX

 

[jimzilla]

Poker, two things: Are you running in AUTO or MANUAL sensitivity? Also are you using the wireless module? I few times, my detector was going crazy I switched channels on my wireless and it resolved the issue. It could of been crossed with an airplane or something but it worked

 

[Nes (south Coast-CA)]

I could be wrong, but around military or naval stations there are some serious signals in the air. Have you tried noise cancelling. Other than that, I suspect the machine may be bonkers... nes