Tiger Shark in salt water - experience?

[pelanj]

Hello all,
I wanted to try out my Tiger Shark in the sea (I plan to use it mostly in fresh water). I have found some stuff, but I think I might have a problem with the machine.

First, the groundbalance knob goes 1/2 turn really freely and 1/2 turn it is really hard to move it - I suspect that that is not normal - is that covered by warranty? I guess there is some mechanical
misalignment inside - and that might lead to a leak eventually...

My other concern is, I cannot groundbalance in the water (depth around 1-2 feet) neither in normal, nor in salt mode. The GB is always too positive, the threshold rises with upward motion and disappears with downward motion. I can groundbalance on normal soil in normal mode and also on the same beach in normal mode in the dry sand and salt mode in the wet sand. But not in the water! Has anyone ever groundbalanced the Tiger Shark in salty water? Or is that another reason to return the unit? I got quite some falsing in the water but I expected that, I need to turn the sensitivity down a little.
My best guess with groundbalance was the position for salt mode air test - 5 turns negative and 1 positive. That calmed the machine a little but it was still nowhere near the right GB.

I do not expect PI performance from the machine, I am not searching primarily for deep gold jewellery but more for coins close to the shore. I do not want a special salt water unit as most of the year I cannot hunt in salt water and I have a Minelab Quattro for the wet and dry sand.

I am looking for some experience and advice before returning the unit to the dealer. Thanks for your input!

 

[mickfin]

Look inside thear is a alen screw on the back of the knob, Im not looking at one But i did it befor its hiden,
Thats way the knob turns 1/2 way free, Mickfin

 

[fwcrawford]

It sounds like the ground balance is too negative to me as you stated the: "threshold rises with upward motion and disappears with downward motion.
This sounds like the ground balance is set too negative to me.
Can't help you on the other problems.. hope others will chime in.
Good luck

 

[pelanj]

It sounds like the ground balance is too negative to me as you stated the: "threshold rises with upward motion and disappears with downward motion.
This sounds like the ground balance is set too negative to me.
Can't help you on the other problems.. hope others will chime in.
Good luck

You are right, I meant negative, sorry. No matter how I turn the knob to the positive side, it does not groundbalance in the water and stil stays negative.

 

[pelanj]

Look inside thear is a alen screw on the back of the knob, Im not looking at one But i did it befor its hiden,
Thats way the knob turns 1/2 way free, Mickfin

Do you mean inside the case? It is not only the knob - it is the whole assembly including the potentiometer that is getting stuck on one side of the rotation. I know it rotates as a whole as I can set the ground balance
on land.

 

[fwcrawford]

OK, that makes sense now.
I was somewhat confused by what I had read.
The only thing I can come up with is that when in the water, there is no mineralization due to the amount of sand, whereas on land you are able to ground balance because of some mineraliazation in the soil.I have noticed this when searching volleyball courts where the sand is very deep,, there is no to mineralization balance out.
I have also noticed this when searching around woodchip/mulch playgrounds.
However, this does not explain why you are able to ground balance on dry sand as you stated and not while in the water, unless there is much more sand depth in the water than on land and the detector is seeing the soil beneath the sand.. is this possible??
You got me stumped by this...hopefully someone has an answer for you.
As, far as the control being hard to turn, that should be a warranty issue. You could call the folks at Tesoro and speak with one of the techs.
Sounds like something is wrong with the potentiometer to me, but I'm no expert.
Hope this helps some,
Felix

 

[mickfin]

As the knob is hard to turn Some kind of binding, I think you should call Tesoro??? I was talking as to the Knob just free spining 1/2 way,
Good Luck,

 

[scubadetector]

I try to avoid playing with sharks!!!

 

[SRQBeaches]

Don't worry about the sound you get on the upstroke when ground balancing only the down stroke. If it goes quiet on the down stroke move the knob positive.

 

[pelanj]

Hi, I mentioned the sound on upstroke only as another fact. The threshold goes silent with the downstroke no matter how positive I try to turn the GB pot. I did even the "5 full turns" thing to be sure that I am at the most positive position - but the result is still the same.

 

[Crenman]

I would call tesoro they are verry helpfull

 

[pelanj]

I will do that probably next week, I have just sent an e-mail yesterday. It is a little difficult with timing due to the time shift. I do not want to use my cell phone while abroad to call to US. That would cost me a fortune, I need to wait to come back home. I hope they reply sooner than that...

 

[pelanj]

I got a reply this morning. The knob is definitely a warranty issue and Tesoro have offered me a throughout check of the machine when it is in the factory.

It was too cold and windy yesterday to get into the water - but after turning down the sensitivity a little, I could detect close to the water with minimal falsing and the detector does not react much on water if I swing the coil above it - before I turned down the sensitivity, the machine would beep with any swing above the water. I did that test on another place, I will go back to the previous one today and try it again.

 

[pelanj]

I thought I might update the status I got my Tiger Shark back and it is fixed. It is still chattery (when I use high sensitivity), but it is able to ground balance in the water. I have no idea what was the problem, but it is fixed now. It is definitely usable in salt water with a bit of patience.

 

[Hank68]

Send it in for the repair, th GB knob should be easy to turn cw or ccw!

 

[pelanj]

I should have put it more clearly - it has already returned from the factory from repair and the problem was fixed.