Electronics Tech from the Oilfield caught the bug!

Welcome from New Mexico.


Swapping coils is a pile more complicated then just getting the correct pin out on the connector.

Some Coils have active component within.

All Are tuned to a specific freq and or Impedance.

As for Discrimination of all but Silver and Gold?

Let us know when you figure it out and your going to make a pile of bucks.  LOL!

As it is , if you want small gold your going to have to did the Pull Tabs.




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Welcome from New Mexico.


Swapping coils is a pile more complicated then just getting the correct pin out on the connector.

Some Coils have active component within.

All Are tuned to a specific freq and or Impedance.

As for Discrimination of all but Silver and Gold?

Let us know when you figure it out and your going to make a pile of bucks.  LOL!

As it is , if you want small gold your going to have to did the Pull Tabs.

========================================================

   Thanks for the reply.   I have a pretty good grasp of the implications of mismatching impedances and even the consequences of underestimating the differences in circuitry and the damage that one loaded coil might do to a detector that does not use such a coil.  I will be researching their two frequencies as well as testing for coils with my DMM for the telltale nearly shorted resistance.

  I wish I had an impedance meter though.  I could simply set it to the detectors operating freq and make sure that it is a match.  Heck, while I am at it I might even try to match those impedances with different methods to make sure that I dont go loading down my favorite unit into oblivion.

.   I am confident that I can figure it out on my own but I would be a fool to not even troll the board for someone who might have done this before.

  Then again, I do believe that I saw a 10 inch bounty Hunter coil for $70 bucks somewhere that might save me the pain and suffering.  Maybe I should just take that big old Ice Cream container of dirty old coins to a change machine and buy one?  I promised my best half that I would never spend any more of our money on this habit.  As you might imagine I have had my problems justifying golf to her.  My Titleist AP1 irons did not go over very well at all.

  Thanks again for the reply.  I have been talking to my gal about taking a vacation around the desert areas and maybe finding a couple of spots to detect at.  That part of the country always held a fascination for me.

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Tri City Ditty

		Quote:			Posted by TriDitty
	Welllllll,   I guess it's official.  I rush out of work at 17:00 so that I can hunt for new spots before it gets dark.  I always have a half day or so set aside every weekend for detecting.  I a,m currently planning a hunt at an old deserted town that nobody has ever thought of detecting around.  After I finish this post I will wire up two NTE1932's to replace my 9 volt batteries in my detectors because I am simply convinced that both of my units work better with every little bit of extra voltage I can safely muster.(lol)

My goodness. Where to start. I guess offering greetings is the first step. Welcome aboard.

Adding two voltage regulators to your detector will most likely cause the internal regulators to overheat. Every detector I have ever seen has them. You cannot eke any more from your machine by adding voltage. Instead, look at increasing the amp hours by perhaps adding an 11 volt LiPo battery without the regulator in the circuit. A voltage regulator feeding a voltage regulator almost always results in the failure of both devices. This is from a design engineering standpoint and lots of experience. I do hope you read this before you potentially damage your machine.

		Quote:			Posted by TriDitty
	I guess I got that bug.  The funny thing to m,e is that my best coin is just a 1952 half dollar.  That coin along with a half dozen silver quarters, a dozen silver dimes and one mercury dime is where I am at but I plan on cashing in only when I hit $8000.00 worth of loot to get myself a particular ground penetrating radar unit that essentially looks like an oversized metal detector for looking deeper around old forts and such.  I guess I can count the gallon jug of alloy coins that are black from the ground as well.

Do some study on the use of GPR before you go and spend some money on one. They're not a bit of good for coins and jewelry. Bigger than a can of beans, yes. Individual coins, nope.

		Quote:			Posted by TriDitty
	I don't look for anything but silver because I am tired of trash.  I have gotten to the point that I can just hunt for silver coins with highest coin to trash ratio when you consider alloy coins.

There are hundreds of topics here covering that subject. Turn off your discrimination and dig everything.

		Quote:			Posted by TriDitty
	I guess I have a couple of questions to lead off with.   First, since I only have experience with two detectors (MPX and Pioneer 505) would other detectors be able to give me better ID on gold so that I would not be digging up bottle caps or pull tabs to the point that nobody would ever want me digging up their property again?  Maybe something worth a little more than $250 bucks?

There is no such thing as a detector that will eliminate bottle caps and pull tabs and allow you to still find gold. Sorry, but you will leave it all behind for the next guy to come along.

		Quote:			Posted by TriDitty
	Second, I am very well schooled in electronics circuitry and theory but can't find any scheme on my MPX 10 in coil to find out how it would work with my Pioneer 505 detector.  If nobody here can give me the pin out of the MPX and Bounty Humter coils to match them up then I guess I will use a tone generator or something to try to figure it out.  Maybe all it would take would be to see which pairs are being transmitted on by the detector with my Fluke 87?  Would any difference in the coil's signal impedances be a problem?

When asking questions about technical things, it's always best not to lead with your alleged experience followed by a question that shows you really don't have the experience. Study up on the types of detectors and learn what kinds of coils there are, how they function and which are used with what machine. Once you have that under your belt, rephrase that question. I have spent decades in electronics design including detector design and I am still learning things about how metal detectors work and how they can best be utilized.

		Quote:			Posted by TriDitty
	Thanks in advance for any suggestions,   Tri City Ditty

Go immediately to the tech forums here. Do not pass Go, do not collect $200.00. Start reading the project topics, the coil manufacturing topics and the design topics. Then go to the downloads section and look at some of the types of detectors, their circuitry and their operation. Maybe even build one.

For a very good LCR meter that won't break the bank, here's one for a price you can't beat. I buy over $1000.00 a month from these guys and can recommend this because I bought one.

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Thanks for the detailed reply GoldDigger.  I guess I should try to better clarify the purpose for the two rectifiers.

  My favorite unit uses two 9volt batteries and simply seems to not get enough bang for my buck from them.  I have been admittedly buying cheaper batteries but that is only because I like fresh batteries and I change them out every single time I go out for more than an hour or so.  I am convinced that the unit does not get deep enough when the batteries get below 9 volts.  For this reason, I have decided to use regulators that will keep a much much larger power source at a voltage very very close to 10 Volts and no higher.  I will be using two fast blow fuses that be valued at the lowest possible working amperage since I do not expect much amperage spikes to be needed while using my ear buds for speakers.

  The regulators are going to enable me to use bigger batteries at higher voltages for a much longer time than the typical cheapo 9 volts from the dollar store.  I have bought two 6 volt lantern batteries to hook up in series and wire to the two regulators in parallel.  Their two outputs will have their negatives grounded together with each positive going to a positive 9 volt battery lead.

  The regulator's inputs will have a 1mfd cap across them.  Each output to the detectors two batteries' hookups will have a 0.1 mfd cap across them.  These cap values are pretty generic to me and I would certainly appreciate a more experienced hunter/designer such as your self's opinion of them. 

  My intention here is not just to get a half of a volt more out of my powerr source but it is to also save money.  I can honestly see myself wiring up my dewalt drill's 12 volt battery packs to the inputs of my regulators because of their quality, light weight and rechargeable awesomeness.

  I feel that I must clarify that I am here to learn from more experienced engineer types such as yourself but I also felt a need to let anyone know that I am not going into component level alterations blindly.  The simple fact that I have posted this on this board instead of simply doing it makes me feel like I am at least trying to be wise about these things.  At the same time I am very confident in my ability to enhance my equipment over time with the right studying, research and, at times, guidance.

  As for the GPR, I have absolutely no doubt in my mind that I will do a whole lot of research on the next step for my relatively new hobby before I spent that kind of money on something like that.  It is certainly more likely that I will find a higher quality/ deeper metal detector for my next step..  From my novice point of view, the unit that I saw a while back would give me the ability to find buried loot around old forts that might not have been reclaimed due to the owners demise in the fighting.  There are enough places around the Louisiana Gulf coast that served as forts and camps in the civil war and earlier that make me certain that someone with the right equipment would be the very first to go thru these places at depths past a couple of feet.

  I guess instead of playing the lottery, I would rather go out and hunt down my Power Ball Jackpot.  If I am going to hunt I guess I should go for the gusto from time to time.  Maybe then I could go out to the places that have those impressive Roman coins that are just lying around calling my name.

  And now you know that I have an insatiable tendency to be very long winded.  I assure you that I am trying my best to curb that impulse but it seems to get the best of me quite often sir.

  Thanks for your time and I will definitely be checking out some of the sources on this site sooner rather than later.

Posted on: March 02, 2011, 10:12:03 PM

---

Thanks auminesweeper.  I sometimes wish I was in older country like yours since this area is really nearly impossible to find anything over a couple of hundred years old.

  Maybe I will get a few tips about finally breaking the 1900 barrier that seems to elude me thus far.  I guess I am ok with being content with silver US coins for now.

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Tri City Ditty

Really Homefire?  Your advice is interesting and appreciated.

  I am truly surprised to hear that this would not work.  Please allow me to clarify my plans because I am not sure that I have explained myself very well.

  My detector is a Bounty Hunter Pioneer 505 which takes two 9 volt batteries for it's power.  I plan to use a single larger batter around 12 Vd/c to drive my unit instead of the two rinky dink little 9 volt batteries that drop too quickly for my confidence.

  I have verified continuity between the detector's two battery's negative leads.  The two positive leads go to two different places or are just isolated in some way (diode or even a zener?). 

  To simulate the two battery sources I will use two ten volt regulators.  If I use just one large battery then I will parallel their inputs to that one battery.  A cap will go across the battery terminals becaues that's just how momma raised me.  Another cap will go across each of the two regulator's outputs to prevent bad coin hunting karma.

  I would have thought that this would work just fine.  I am not sure if you are talking about parelleling both the inputs and outputs of these regulators so I am trying to fully explain my plan.  I guess I could have just drawn this out, scanned it and posted the scanned picture to make it quicker but it is my bedtime now.

  Thank you for your time and consideration.  I might come across like I know it all but I assure you that I would not be putting this on a message board for all to critique if I did not wonder if it was flawed.

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Tri City Ditty