You guys with the Sun Ray X-1 probe.....

[Pete in MI]

have you ever flipped the switch to the Probe position then pressed the Pinpoint button on the detector only to hear a constant loud sound? Had that happen to me several times today when I went out...feel lucky I got one Wheat penny. Had lots of signals but just could not use the probe to pin point. I was thinking maybe the setting got changed from Conductivity to Ferrous or something so it was working in reverse????

I'll have to get it figured out.

Oh yeah do we lose our last used setting on the Exp II when batteries are changed? I seem to have lost the settings I had the other day when I got that 1898 V nickel.

Open for suggestions.

 

[Joe G]

Pete:

I've heard of some guys who glue a "guard" over the toggle switch. You can get your finger in there to switch from probe to coil, but you won't accidentally switch it to probe. Have I done that? Too many times. As far as the reset is concerned, I believe you have to hold down the "on" button as you are putting in the battery pack. When I change my batteries, I just make sure the machine is off first.

 

[Pete in MI]

I've done the reset back to factory specs and still had the problem.

I have from time to time had the switch in the probe position when turning on the machine and doing the noise cancel then walking a hundred feet...wondering why the chatter then realizing it has been on probe not coil all that time.....DUH!

I've never had the machine on when removing battery packs. Weather permitting I'll get it out today with my strips of coins and see what happens. Will go back over the strips to re-Learn the coins.

Just can't imagine why the probe acts like it has found an item when it is held away from anything metal.

Joe, what do you run your detector in Ferrous or Conductive sound?

I tried something different yesterday and maybe that was the problem. I was in Advanced and then went into Iron Mask with it set at 0 to block out all iron. I am still unsure of when to use Iron Mask. Do I use it with Discrim? Only when in the basic Quickstart mode.

There is a lot of rusty iron in that ballfield I have been hunting. So far (up til yesterday) I never used the Iron Mask mode. (Got a nice old gas cap yesterday along with the usually crown caps - lots of those in that place and also the nails and screws. Even though still in Discrim and having Nails X'ed out I still get nails and screws. Doesn't seem right to me. I still have a lot to learn I guess.

Open for ideas how to better set up the machine for this ball field. Ferrous - Conduct? Use the Select and X the nails, crown caps? Let me know your thoughts.
Thanks Joe

 

[Mike from MI "Iron Brigade"]

The X-1 will do that. What you need to do is put the X-1 in the hole then hit pinpoint. That should take care of the problem.
You should not lose any settings when the batteries die.

 

[Pete in MI]

I have been using the probe to get the general area then the pinpoint using the probe to zero in.

Would Iron Mask change any settings that would make it work in reverse? I'm grabbing at ideas.

Thanks Mike...I figure it has to be me more than the equipment...I take better care of the equipment than me...and yesterday I was pretty much bummed about a lot of things.

 

[Mike from MI "Iron Brigade"]

Anytime you want to use it to pinpoint put it in the hole first. You can then move it around and even take it out of the hole to check the plug.
I don't think the I.M. would do that to the machine.
Keep your chin up! many of us are thankful for you and your service!

 

[Joe G]

[quote Pete in MI]I've done the reset back to factory specs and still had the problem.

I have from time to time had the switch in the probe position when turning on the machine and doing the noise cancel then walking a hundred feet...wondering why the chatter then realizing it has been on probe not coil all that time.....DUH!

I've never had the machine on when removing battery packs. Weather permitting I'll get it out today with my strips of coins and see what happens. Will go back over the strips to re-Learn the coins.

Just can't imagine why the probe acts like it has found an item when it is held away from anything metal.

Joe, what do you run your detector in Ferrous or Conductive sound?
I run in ferrous all the time; Mike however runs in Conduct. I find in heavy iron areas, I like ferrous better because iron sounds in a low tone. In Conduct, it'll be a high tone

I tried something different yesterday and maybe that was the problem. I was in Advanced and then went into Iron Mask with it set at 0 to block out all iron. I am still unsure of when to use Iron Mask. Do I use it with Discrim? Only when in the basic Quickstart mode.
0 is too low. Depends on when I'm hunting. Iron mask at 10 will block out most iron but you'll be able to hear a deepie that's out of discrimination range of the machine. Sometimes a low tone will sound "flutey" and it's worth it to dig

There is a lot of rusty iron in that ballfield I have been hunting. So far (up til yesterday) I never used the Iron Mask mode. (Got a nice old gas cap yesterday along with the usually crown caps - lots of those in that place and also the nails and screws. Even though still in Discrim and having Nails X'ed out I still get nails and screws. Doesn't seem right to me. I still have a lot to learn I guess.
Pete, I've been using this thing for over 2 years now and I can honestly say I'm just getting it I find myself relying on my ears more and my ears are right more than not. I've "practiced" a lot. I've gone back to the same places over the same spots and tried different settings. Some areas are trashier and need the iron mask. Some places you need to bump up the sensitivity because targets are deeper along with the gain. Sometimes they're not and boosting the sensitivity hurts you. For instance, the one place I hit on Saturday was loaded with rusted bottle caps. I edited in an iron mask pattern and then x'd out the crown caps. I ran the machine as hot as I could and pushed up the gain a bit. I pulled 1 deep Merc and another at around 4 or 5". Yesterday, all of the silver was very shallow, around 1-3" but the area was also loaded with crown caps. I used the 8" coil and lowered the sensitivity and the gain and had success. The settings, in my opinion, depend on the conditions of the place you're hunting and the average depth of the good targets you're digging. I'm still learning but I seem to be getting better and better at finding stuff others have missed. I'm almost to 50 silvers this year and that shatters any record I had

Open for ideas how to better set up the machine for this ball field. Ferrous - Conduct? Use the Select and X the nails, crown caps? Let me know your thoughts. Just try an iron mask -10. Don't swing too slow but overlap all your swings a lot. I find when I "rush", I'm not hearing targets well. In all that trash, a good target may only have a very small window; sometimes only facing one way with the very edge of the coil. I run with the limits and the variability at max. Silver / quarters, dimes, will give you a high tone. Crown caps will do the same but they sound different, they "chop" off. Same with Iron falsing. The sound is just different. I was showing the guy I was hunting with the difference in sound between a Rosie and a clad dime. It's a little higher with my settings (depending on the depth) but sounds much nicer. Hard to explain.
Thanks Joe[/quote]

 

[Pete in MI]

Found out something interesting with the Minelab Explorer II and using the Sun Ray X-1 probe. I don't know if this is the way it is supposed to be or just a fluke on my Exp II.

I found that if the sound is set to CONDUCT, the X-1 when switched to Pinpoint will scream loud as though it had found something and won't stop screaming until Pinpoint is shut off. (There was no hole..just scanning the top of the ground where I had packing tape with a string of coins along the tape.) BTW when resetting to the Factory specs...it goes to COND as the default.

If the sound is set to FERROUS, the X-1 when switched to Pinpoint operates as it should....quiet until the item is found.

So to compensate, all my settings are such that FERROUS is the sound of choice.

I saved a few setups. S1 is No Discrimination. S2 is for silver coins only. S3 is silver coins plus added the old buffalo and V nickels, Wheat pennies and Indian Heads. S4 is all coins...the above plus the clad as well.

I seem to prefer Ferrous over Conduct. I am used to good stuff sounding high and iron low (goes back to when I had a BFO detector I guess). I am not used to running COND so when resetting the machine it changes and I wasn't aware of it...probably explains why I suddenly find more crown caps and rusty item huh?

So as long as I run Ferrous I know the probe will do its job ok...at least with surface coins. Oh speaking of surface coins...found a dime while checking an area to lay the 'coin strips' down to do the Learn routine.

 

[Pete in MI]

Check out above my reply to you and Mike...something interesting I found.

 

[Pete in MI]

Still gave me a problem a few times today. I did try something different. I put the probe coil down onto the ground next to where I wanted to pinpoint then turned on pinpoint. Worked pretty good in most cases that way.
(That was still before doing any digging...just checking to see it the item was in the first 3 inches or so.)

Oh well.