Thoughts on power

This just might be another one of those "newbie" questions, but here goes.

What are the issues with redesigning a schematic for a larger power source? I see some detectors on the web that show multiple 9 volt batteries and some with only 4 AA. For a metal Detector could one be correct in saying that more power is better? I feel like the more power the further the detectable range. I also understand Coil size and shape have something to do with it. Also, would more power mean greater ability for discrimination, or would the power create a distortion effect much like too much volume through a small speaker?

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homefire, How is the weather out there. Cooling off yet? Today,in Tampa, it was down to 87 and the humidity was less than 60 % just a touch of fall in the air. I'm thinking I'm going out tomorrow morning early before the sweats start. Gambol

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The first thing to come to my mind when I started this is how to get more depth. I've been doing it a while and have decided that more depth is not always the best thing. Many of the productive hunting sites I go to have enough trash in the first 6 inches to give a response  everywhere you go. The larger coil is more likely to be blinded by iron junk in the soil. Of course there are situations where you can use all the depth you can get. I was hunting a freshly graded road bed where the 6-8 inches of soil was removed. It was so quite I had to do a throw-down to see if my machine was still working. gambol

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		Quote:			Posted by denizen
	This just might be another one of those "newbie" questions, but here goes. What are the issues with redesigning a schematic for a larger power source? I see some detectors on the web that show multiple 9 volt batteries and some with only 4 AA. For a metal Detector could one be correct in saying that more power is better? I feel like the more power the further the detectable range. I also understand Coil size and shape have something to do with it. Also, would more power mean greater ability for discrimination, or would the power create a distortion effect much like too much volume through a small speaker?

This is an unusual question in that you are mixing two different terms used for power. The battery power is not going to affect the detector output at all. The power to the coil is limited by the internal components and an improperly designed coil can completely destroy the electronics that drives it. The DIY community is littered with the corpses of detectors where people tried to add a huge coil (1 meter, for example) and found that their internal components would handle it just fine, for about 10 minutes, before cooking themselves.

Your battery power will determine how long your detector will work before it needs either new batteries or a recharge. There's no magical way to increase your depth by increasing power.

The limits to how much power you can send down into the ground are set by physics. If not, you'd have the ability to delve into the earth for miles and miles. The field of the transmitted pulse can be made larger by increased power. When that happens, it must be allowed to build up for a long time, relatively speaking. In a PI machine, that field MUST collapse before you can turn on the receiver and see what is out there. By the time you wait for it to go to zero, the items will have lost their induced charge and still be invisible to you. As I said, the depth is limited by physics, not power. Even the venerable VLF/TR machines don't benefit by extra power after a certain point. All types of detectors sense the residual magnetic fields in the buried metal objects and the field of the TX circuit and coil does hide the much weaker eddy currents induced in the targets.

No matter what you call the technology, the all, every one, rely on the induced eddy currents or surface magnetism induced in the targets.

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GD Does that go for a pulse detector also Of too much power will burn up peg board?

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