I am new to the hobby & I purchased a Tek. Delta 4000 because of all the good reviews I came across. I have been having a awful time searching trashy areas with this machine, It doesn't eliminate iron well & the VID is all over the place. Could anyone please help me with any tips, I would be very grateful.
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Tek Delta 4000 question
- Thread starter jakejr1
- Start date
SteveP(NH)
New member
I have found that the Delta has a very effective discriminator. Since you are new I am going to start with some basic stuff, if it is too basic I apologize. First when setting up your machine insure you are hunting in discrimination mode not one of the two all metal modes. Set the discrimination level to at least 40. Make sure you are not over driving the machine by having the sensitivity too high. To do this set the machine on the ground and do not move it. It should be totally quiet without making any pops of squeaks. If it is making any noise then lower the sensitivity until it is quiet.
If you are still getting excessive noise when swing the machine in search mode then make sure that the coil cable is tight and isn't loose enough to wiggle at all. Confirm that everything is working ok by finding some target free soil and putting down a couple of test targets such as a dime a screw or nail, a bullet or metal button and move the search coil over each target to insure you are getting a stable target ID. If you note anything wrong during these tests you may have a bad search coil and will need to contact First Texas support for assistance.
If everything is ok above return to your trashy area and search there. Target IDs that change frequently is not a malfunction of the machine in this case. It is the machine telling you that you are moving the search coil over two or more targets with different conductivity level. In other words it is telling you what it is supposed. This is a hunting technique situation instead of a technical one. In order to isolate one target so you can get a stable target ID you need to find a way (direction) to swing the search coil so it is only going over one target. It is often helpful to pinpoint the target of interest so you can narrow down where it is. Then use short swings to minimize the chance you get a second target. You will often need to change the direction of your swings, if you are swinging north to south, you might need to swing east to west, or south east to north west.
If you see and hear a high conductivity target but it won't lock it could mean that there is another piece of metal so close to the good target that you can't isolate. In these cases you just need to start digging and get the junk out of the way so you can find the good target.
Hope this helps good luck
If you are still getting excessive noise when swing the machine in search mode then make sure that the coil cable is tight and isn't loose enough to wiggle at all. Confirm that everything is working ok by finding some target free soil and putting down a couple of test targets such as a dime a screw or nail, a bullet or metal button and move the search coil over each target to insure you are getting a stable target ID. If you note anything wrong during these tests you may have a bad search coil and will need to contact First Texas support for assistance.
If everything is ok above return to your trashy area and search there. Target IDs that change frequently is not a malfunction of the machine in this case. It is the machine telling you that you are moving the search coil over two or more targets with different conductivity level. In other words it is telling you what it is supposed. This is a hunting technique situation instead of a technical one. In order to isolate one target so you can get a stable target ID you need to find a way (direction) to swing the search coil so it is only going over one target. It is often helpful to pinpoint the target of interest so you can narrow down where it is. Then use short swings to minimize the chance you get a second target. You will often need to change the direction of your swings, if you are swinging north to south, you might need to swing east to west, or south east to north west.
If you see and hear a high conductivity target but it won't lock it could mean that there is another piece of metal so close to the good target that you can't isolate. In these cases you just need to start digging and get the junk out of the way so you can find the good target.
Hope this helps good luck
I tested the detector by using test targets before I went back out to the trashy area & it was stable & reading correctly. I cut down my sensitivity until my machine was quite when I went back out. I did find that my target ID still was very unstable, however I managed to get a few solid hits while in discriminate mode & dug a few coins. I think Hightone is on to something about the soil because the coins I dug were not reading correctly, for example....zinc pennies were coming up as aluminum. There may have been multiple targets in one location that caused instability also but I only dug solid hits in which I was just happy to get some. I did find while testing that if you lay a rusty nail over a coin, the detector has a very hard time picking up the coin while iron is discriminated out. My thoughts are if I can learn to use this detector in trashy areas then clean areas should be a breeze. I will try another location this weekend.
The rusty nail over the coin means nothing. Just because you notch out iron doesn't mean it becomes invisible. The processor still sees it blocking the coin, you just do not hear an iron hit.
Remember, the TID is set up as though the coins are flat (parallel to the coil) in a perfect world. Once a coin starts to sink into the ground, and angles, the TID starts losing confidence. I don't know the area, and you said it is trashy. Is this the same trashy area, or a different one? I once scanned a place that I later found out was a place where welding and grinding was done outside. The minute bits of metal drove me nuts, almost giving my Deleon (at the time) a heart attack.
I'd try an easy place and work up, rather then a challenge the first few times out. Get to know the unit when it's not having a nervous breakdown.
Remember, the TID is set up as though the coins are flat (parallel to the coil) in a perfect world. Once a coin starts to sink into the ground, and angles, the TID starts losing confidence. I don't know the area, and you said it is trashy. Is this the same trashy area, or a different one? I once scanned a place that I later found out was a place where welding and grinding was done outside. The minute bits of metal drove me nuts, almost giving my Deleon (at the time) a heart attack.
I'd try an easy place and work up, rather then a challenge the first few times out. Get to know the unit when it's not having a nervous breakdown.