Thursday Hunt

[cwilk]

Awful morning. I don't know why I could not get my large 12 inch imaging coil to work right. It air tested fine. Swung that heavy sucker for an hour and not one coin. Did find some very deep bottle caps. I am toward the end of the life of a set of batteries. It might have been that. I went to an old standby spot that produces a lot of modern coins with my stock coil. It was sort of acting up too. I did a factory reset and everything went back to normal. I wish I had thought of that earlier. Did not put the big coil back on.

The old standby spot is a middle school. Kids are off. Maintenance guys were on. Went over while they were all taking a smoke break to make sure I wasn't offending anybody. Nobody cared and we talked about how the kids littered all over the place and the amount of trash in the ground. Tried a new area and got handful of coins and the Gameboy Advance Cartridge. When it dries out I'll give it a test. Of course I have a GBA! Might be a great find if it works and I like the game! Went to the picnic area and had to notch out everything below copper penny. Area is just too full of trash and I haven't gotten a sniper coil yet. I have this superstition about ending on what I start on. Started on quarter. I went a half hour where I dug 15-20 dimes and pennies until I finally got a quarter. Thats why there are so many dimes. 63 coins. $7.52. Highest dollar total so far in 2008. Long way from highest ever daily clad total.

The pile of coins off to the right I found in the bottom tray of the Coinstar machine this morning. Great place to find unusual coins. There is an old Canadian nickel and an obsolete French 5 centimes piece if you can't see.

Good luck gang!

Chris

 

[cwilk]

The game works and is Mega Man Battle Network 2 for GBA. About 10-12 bucks on eBay.

An unusual find. Rang up down around nickel.

Chris

 

[daxdog]

Good job. I only got to hunt about 15 minutes at a new spot. It is a senior citizen park. I figured to find more stuff there than at a tot lot because seniors have nicer stuff than little kids.

Well, I learned that seniors are more careful with what they have. I only dug up 4 pennies and a number of bottle caps.

I did get more practice in with the 9x12 coil for my ACE 250. Several of my digs (both coins and bottle caps) I was able to stick in my screwdriver and just pop out the treasure.

 

[Rosco Bookbinder]

[quote cwilk]I am toward the end of the life of a set of batteries. It might have been that. [/quote]

Chris.......Have you ever done any testing to see how the detector actually works good or bad or no change with batteries getting low? I never run mine down past two bars and I am sure they still have plenty of life in them. But as you experienced, I've had times when I just didn't seem think I was getting the performance that I should be. I don't have the large coil. I would guess it uses more juice.....

 

[cwilk]

I always try to replace at 2 bars too. Today my battery meter was cycling between 2 and 3 all day. That is normal a few hours before I nomally replace them. I put on the big coil and made two mistakes. Since I was going out primarily to test I should have put fresh batteries in the machine and I should have done a factory reset so I would know where I started. I was really going to just putz around for half an hour mainly testing. Problem was I couldn't find anything to test. I guess my third mistake was leaving my stock coil home.

I asked 3 or 4 times in the past if it was necessary to factory reset after changing coils. I never got an answer either way. I have read about a dozen metal detecting books and of course about 10,000 posts online and never read anywhere where it was necessary. I do know that this afternoon when I put the stock coil back on it was acting up too and a factory reset put it right.

I am convinced my 2500 and my Ace 250 do not function at 100 percent with 2 bars on the battery meter despite what the manuals state. I have never done any bench tests to prove this theory. Everytime I install new batteries, though, it seems like the number of finds and depth of my finds both improve.

I am planning a short hunt for an hour or so tomorrow morning and I will start with these batteries and see what happens.

Another thing to consider. This set of batteries has been in my detector since March 6 and my battery log says I have hunted only 15 hours with them. I have been doing a lot of bench testing though, maybe 2 hours, and they also sat in my field box all Winter and were not kept at optimal temperature for around a month before I thought I should bring them in from the cold. That and I never wear headphones and I have volume way up and treasure talk on for imaging.

Chris

 

[Rosco Bookbinder]

First of all it sounds like you are using throw away batteries. I believe you would be out voted by all the people that use rechargables now days. It's just too darn easy to pop them out, throw them in a charger and use the fresh ones you just pulled out of the charger. I myself have an inverter in my truck that I charge bats while detecting or geocaching. Need fresh ones..........there they are.......

On the other side, I haven't heard either way about resetting the machine for using a different coil. My brother changes from the stock to his pizza platter and has no problems. I only have a sniper I've used a few times but didn't have a problem switching either. Not sure about the reset thing. There should be some info on that someplace........or there isn't because it's not needed.....

I've been wanting to do some battery testing in my own yard and see what results I come up with. Just haven't gotten around to it. Maybe someone has and I'm sure that's on here someplace..........Matter of fact I remember some posts some time back about it. I just might have to do a "search" of all things to find them......ehehe.......

 

[cwilk]

I buy expensive 2500 mAh rechargeables for my digital camera and they never perform up to how they are supposed to. I follow proper battery care to the letter and they still don't perform well. I just bought a new set of 4. Charged them up and cycled them a few times and I still only get around 30-40 pictures before they die. Plus they don't hold a charge for more than a week. I figure its easier to buy 20 batteries for $10.52 at Walmart. Thats $4.21 for roughly 22-25 hours of detecting and I never have to worry about my rechargables letting me down as they always seem to in my camera.

If I was running primarily my 250 I might try it but the 16 batteries I figure it would take with the 2500 is too much work for me.

I need to extend my battery life by using headphones but I just can't force myself to do it.

Chris

 

[Rosco Bookbinder]

[quote cwilk]I buy expensive 2500 mAh rechargeables for my digital camera and they never perform up to how they are supposed to. I follow proper battery care to the letter and they still don't perform well. I just bought a new set of 4. Charged them up and cycled them a few times and I still only get around 30-40 pictures before they die. Plus they don't hold a charge for more than a week. I figure its easier to buy 20 batteries for $10.52 at Walmart. Thats $4.21 for roughly 22-25 hours of detecting and I never have to worry about my rechargables letting me down as they always seem to in my camera.
If I was running primarily my 250 I might try it but the 16 batteries I figure it would take with the 2500 is too much work for me.
I need to extend my battery life by using headphones but I just can't force myself to do it.
Chris[/quote]

Not sure what to say on this one. I've been using rechargeables in all of my electronic toys for years. Never had a problem with any of them. I run 2500's, 2300's and 2100's Panasonic and Energizer. My camera (Cannon Power Shot A95) will sit for weeks until I take it out and shoot a ton of pics. They all come out as they should. My GPSr same thing. Turn it on and battery life is still at least half. It's been sitting for a month or more. With my dectector the same. I use it for HOURS before changing batteries. It will sit for a week or sometimes two before I can get it out and the bats are still no problems.......

Hard to say about rechargeable batteries. They work great for some and others hate them.......

 

[cwilk]

I go to a lot of Nascar Races and originally bought rechargeables for my scanner and camera. About half the time I had to either stop using the devices or go get new batteries at track prices. One time I walked right by Richard Petty at Bristol with no batteries. I got to shake his hand at least and he asked me what I was doing in a restricted area. It was funny as hell! The security guards I walked by said nothing to me! I installed those batteries in all my remotes where they worked fine and never had to be recharged in about 2 years. Waste of rechargeable. When I started selling on eBbay I used those 8 batteries exclusively in my camera and it would require all 8 batteries to take 75 or so photos. They finally died and my counter told me I got over 2000 photos out of them so I was fairly satisfied. I then bought this latest set of 4 about a month ago that performs equally poorly so far. I do use the flash a lot which is a drain obviously and it is an older camera. Since I only eBay at home, it's not such a big deal if my 2500mAh Energizers let me down. Would be a different story if I was out in the middle of nowhere detecting.

One more then I'm done with battery talk. When I went to take a photo of my clad from this afternoon, of course the batteries I charged last Friday and took only about a dozen photos with were dead.

I think your last observation is best. Work for some, not for others.

Chris

I have made mention I was in the Navy a few times. Let me add that I was a Submarine Sailor and that I was a member of the engineering department and that I have some experience with batteries and battery charges on a grand scale. Can't seem to make the little guys work as well.

 

[Uncle Willy]

I don't know if it makes a difference but I always reboot after changing coils just in case the machine and coil may not be perfectly in tune. The GTI's are like any other computer - finicky.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

I use rechargeables and run mine down to one bar often. Once in awhile the tector will get a little flaky on that last bar.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

My rechargeables outlast alkalines two to three times. I can run my 250 forever on rechargeables.

Bill

 

[Uncle Willy]

There are good batteries and bad batteries and you never know which ones you'll get. It's the luck of the draw. I've been using Unross 2500 rechargeables for the past couple of years in all my machines and never had a lick of trouble and they outlast alkalines by a mile..

Bill

 

[Paul(NWO)]

n/t

 

[draaiorgel]

Hey Chris,
Looks like you had a good day there even after a bad start.
That Gameboy thingy must have added a few dollars to your total as well.

 

[cwilk]

I didn't add it to my monetary total on my spreadsheet. Maybe if I play it and like it I will. I looked on Gamefaqs.com and it got great reviews. Now you got me thinking. If only if it was in good nick. (Did I use that expression right?)

Chris

Also what is the origin of your handle?