X-Terra and interference..

[fwcrawford]

I was invited to search around an old home few days ago that has been recently remodeled and had problems with interference.
The house dates back to 1905 and has some very large Ash trees in the front yard which looks promising.
When I turned on the X-Terra 50, it just started chattering continuously.
I tried noise cancel and lowered the sensitivity, but nothing worked.
The area around the house is pretty large so I just moved around to various parts of the yard swinging to see if the noise got better,
but no matter where I went, I could not get the detector to quiet down.
There is an underground service to the house and an invisible dog fence which the owner shut off while I detected, so I don't think either one of these things caused the problem.
Last night I stopped by to ask them about any other possiblitly and they informed me that they had "WiFi".
Could this be the culprit?
I have used the X-Terra for about 8 years and never had problems like this.
I was using the stock coil and am wondering if I switched to the high frequency coil or just used another detector at this site, would that make a difference?
Just curious if anyone else has experienced this situation before where you could not detect an entire site due to some interference.
I appreciate and help and advice,
Felix

 

[Old Longhair]

Yep! That's it! Wi-Fi is one of the worst offenders.
If you can get the owners to shut it and the UG fence off, I bet your machine will be back to running smooth.

 

[BillF]

Hmmm... I have WiFi and don't experience any problems at all, even within 4-5 ft of my router.
Wish I could tell you what is causing it, if it is WiFi maybe its their particular router.
If all else fails try a reset.

 

[fwcrawford]

Thanks guys,
I'll get them to shut it down next time and take another detector or two just in case.
Hopefully the different operating frequency will help with cancelling out the noise if turning off the WiFi doesn't work.
I'll post my results the next time I go in there.
Thanks again,
Felix

 

[mapper65]

Hmmm... I have WiFi and don't experience any problems at all, even within 4-5 ft of my router.

Same here. I can turn my detector on within visible site of my wi-fi router and I have no interference. I have a dual band router which transmits on 2.4gHz and 5gHz. There used to be a 3.6gHz frequency but I don't think there are any of those in existence anymore.

I would expect that if they turn off their wireless router your are still going to have the noise and they have something with a loose neutral or possibly a grounding problem in their house. If that's the case they may have bigger problems than noise coming through your detector. Very well could just be something else nearby.

 

[fwcrawford]

Thanks for the response ..
I'll let you know what I find out next time I go in there to detect.
Maybe the WiFi is not the problem.. I was curious about that after talking with the owners.
I looked around, but didn't see any other possiblilities as to the cause of the interference.
Could be what you mentioned about the loose neutral in the house.
I have several other detectors and will take them next time in case the problem still exists with the router off.
I'll keep you posted on this situation.
Thanks again,
Felix

 

[BillF]

Felix, try a factory reset. It might solve your problem. Even if it doesn't, it won't hurt anything.

 

[hitchhiker]

i had the same thing happen the last time i was out it done it about 4 times . Its something that doesn't happen too often but i've had this in the past as well. I was using the elliptical coil its a coil that i rarely use i cant remember if this was the coil i was using when ive experience this in the past. i've tried a factory reset unplugging the coil cleaning the dirt of the coil and taking the coil cover off but it doesn't stop it. it normally last about 3 or 4 minutes and the nearest house is about 10 minutes walk. I've come too the conclusion that it might be from a vehicle traveling along the road which again is about 10 minutes walk away using a CB radio or 2 way radio system that causing electrical interference.

 

[fwcrawford]

I used this detector a few days later all day at another site without any problems, so I don't think it is the machine acting up.
If it is not the Wifi causing the problem, I don't know what else around the area could be causing this interference.

 

[Old Longhair]

Radio transmissions and electrical discharge are about the only things that do what you're describing.
Anyone nearby running a lawnmower? If so, it could be that they don't have a resistor type spark plug.
Anyone nearby welding? Arc welders, particularly TIG machines cause horrible EMI.
Dirty transformer anywhere around? Whether above or below ground service, there has to be a transformer somewhere. Check out an AM radio station in your car to see if it's being affected by unusual static.

I'm still betting on the Wi-Fi.

 

[mojotrout]

Radio transmissions and electrical discharge are about the only things that do what you're describing.
Anyone nearby running a lawnmower? If so, it could be that they don't have a resistor type spark plug.
Anyone nearby welding? Arc welders, particularly TIG machines cause horrible EMI.
Dirty transformer anywhere around? Whether above or below ground service, there has to be a transformer somewhere. Check out an AM radio station in your car to see if it's being affected by unusual static.

I'm still betting on the Wi-Fi.

Lawn mowers?! Wow. I have not had any issues with EMI and the 705 except when certain vehicles drive by -- very temporary or close to power transformers. Id hate to think all of that stuff causes EMI problems, you'd have to go to a desert or mountain top to avoid it all. Almost every house has some wireless transmission going on-- WiFi in most, wireless electric consumption meters for the power company in all homes here, home security, invisible fences,etc. --and I haven't had any of my detectors (Tesoro, Minelab, Fisher) react to any of it that I know of. Lots of overhead power lines is the main culprit as far as I can discern. Hope you get it figured out Crawford, and I really hope you dont have to shut things down if a guy next door decides to mow his lawn.

 

[Old Longhair]

All of that stuff doesn't "have to" cause problems, but due to poor connections, poor grounding, or insufficient shielding they can.
And in the case of the lawnmower....most now use resistor plugs, but not all.
The vehicle passing by that you describe, likely has bad plug wires. I was at a park last year when a car pulled up and parked with the engine running, and they had bad wires causing EMI problems. I had to wait 'til they left to continue my hunt.
All kinds of things can cause problems, even neon lights, bad starters/ballasts in streetlights, ham or CB radios, shared cell towers.......basically just about anything transmitting radio signals or emitting static discharge has the potential.
Most transmitter involved problems aren't a direct frequency transmission intrusion. Most are caused by harmonics, so Noise Cancelling often shifts to a frequency where the offending harmonic doesn't resonate. But if there are a number of offenders, then in theory there might be sufficient saturation that you might not be able to find a clean channel.

Checking an AM radio for static can indicate electrical discharge and help point you in the direction of the source in some circumstances. If something's causing a problem for the radio, there's a good possibility that it can cause a problem for you too.

 

[surfchunker]

only twice did mine act up and once when a vechile went by with 2 way radio and the other was the Underground dog fence ... for the 2 way radio it cleared as soon as the truck went by and the UGDF was good once I moved away a little