17" coil wiggle noise

[bklein]

[video]https://youtu.be/hzXAdPito8U[/video]
As shown in this video (at So. CA beach), I am noticing audio beeps at the end of many of my sweeps. Here I just wiggle the coil and get it.
My coil cover is tie-wrapped to the coil - so yeah there is water and sand in-between the coil and cover. But note that if I raise it up high the interference stops.
So do you guys see this with your 17"? Water inside the coil? It has not been used enough in my view to have issues.... The coil gets some underwater exposure - up to a foot or two, but mostly I'm on wet./dry sand with it.

 

[jas415]

Well, I would remove the coil cover and clean it off really well, then try it without the cover. If that didnt resolve the issue, then ck all connections (might spray them with some sort of silicon spray), do a very close examination of the area where the coil cable enters the actual coil. Look between those ribbed areas to see if the inner sheath is split and you can see colored wires inside. And last I would do the exact same motions with the coil removed and see if you get a noise, then swap coils to see if you can isolate it to the one coil vs cables or head unit.

 

[bklein]

The cover has been there from day one and the problem just started in the last few months. It sneaks up on me, making me think it could be water intrusion. Been lazy at spending time determining what's going on.

 

[trojdor]

Barry,
I don't know if it's the culprit in your instance...but coil covers are infamous for trapping black sand and mineralized dirt.
(And causing all sorts of depth/stability issues.)

The 17" is especially sensitive to minerals...far more so than the other two coils.
FWIW, I remove my cover and clean out the junk at least every other hunt.

Of course, the issue could be something completely different in your case, but you should still get into the habit of removing the coil cover and cleaning it out.
(This goes for all detector brands/coils.)

Good luck, and HH.

mike

 

[IDXMonster]

How high is your Sensitivity? I've had some crazy issues on other machines with the Sens and Gain pegged...but because yours goes away when lifting the coil(now the weight is distributed differently) I would suspect a coil-to-machine interaction. Does the problem go away if you sweep the coil in a more gentle fashion?

 

[Champ Ferguson]

The cover has been there from day one and the problem just started in the last few months. It sneaks up on me, making me think it could be water intrusion. Been lazy at spending time determining what's going on.

There it is. Pull the coil cover off and be amazed how much gunk is there. even if that's not the problem, you need to do this regularly.

 

[foggynotion]

I got fed up dealing with the coil cover on the 17 inch coil, so I removed it and coated the bottom and sides of the coil with 3 coats of truck bed liner spray. That was a year ago and I only have had to touch up a couple of small spots that wore on 2 occasions. That is water and beach detecting. I highly recommend doing it.

 

[foggynotion]

Just as a follow-up to my post above. The product I used is Dupli-Color Truck Bed Coating Black. That is the only one I have used and I don't know if any other product will be as durable. Also, I hear some bed liner coatings may have metal in them, which would not be good!

 

[bklein]

Yeah I am very happy with the detection of the 17" on small lead/aluminum nuggets. Never yet found a gold chain though.
I'll run some tests maybe next weekend and post results.

 

[TerryinHawaii]

Replace the washer on the end of your lower rod. I got one of the new Coiltek 14 inch coils. It was driving me crazy with false signals. Then I realized that something is moving that should not be moving. Ordered new bolts and washers. Installed the new washers and problem is fixed with no more false signals

 

[bklein]

I went to the beach with the CTX and 17" and ran some tests.
When I first got there it was quiet during the wiggle. Got it wet and the noise appeared as per the video.
Cut the coil cover off and maybe it was a bit better but still bad. Good enough to use so I did the rest of the day.
When I got home I looked at it further and found the exposed wires at the strain relief.
This is probably the cause. I had electrical tape and a plastic sheath around the feedline where it enters the shaft as I knew it could be cut by the shaft plastic.
Lucky that I looked at this as it was about to cut through the electrical tape.
What a pain in the butt. I guess I could try Aquaseal on the strain relief? Probably out of warranty on the coil. I don't go deep underwater with it.

 

[Ben Town]

I've got my 17" and 11" reinforced with electric tape and then a tough silicon around that to try and protect my coils from what yours has done.
The best solution I think is the two Anderson Shafts that I bought . One has the 17" and the other has the 11" and I leave my 6" on the stock shaft.
I think the Andersons don't stress the cable like the stock shaft plus I hardly ever position the coil horizontal with the shaft, I leave it in the hunting position.
BT

 

[jas415]

Some time back I posted my own fix for the split sheath on the wires. Two bad coils at the same place, so I cut a 1" diameter pvc collar, about 3/4" high, threaded it on the cable, superglued the pvc collar to the coil, then filled the inside of the pvc up to about 2" above the coil with silicon. Flexible, hasnt peeled off or broken in about 6 months now. I sprayed the cable for about 6" with electronics cleaner, dried and then covered with the silicon.

It aint purty, but it works! 5 years, 3 CTX's, and 5 coils total and no failure since the PVC application.

 

[bklein]

I never have any luck with superglue. I remember seeing your post and it looked impressive. I think we need access to MEK to do this right.

 

[AngerManagement]

I went to the beach with the CTX and 17" and ran some tests.
When I first got there it was quiet during the wiggle. Got it wet and the noise appeared as per the video.
Cut the coil cover off and maybe it was a bit better but still bad. Good enough to use so I did the rest of the day.
When I got home I looked at it further and found the exposed wires at the strain relief.
This is probably the cause. I had electrical tape and a plastic sheath around the feedline where it enters the shaft as I knew it could be cut by the shaft plastic.
Lucky that I looked at this as it was about to cut through the electrical tape.
What a pain in the butt. I guess I could try Aquaseal on the strain relief? Probably out of warranty on the coil. I don't go deep underwater with it.

Osmosis has been at work and if you were to cut teh cables, the TWO main wires will be the worst affected. One will look almost orange... Even if you seal it, the damage is done and the copper cancer is terminal.

Never fold you coil flat and even more so if the shafts are extended as that will bend the restraint and pulls the outer sheath away from the internals... Saltwater gets in and coil is terminal..

 

[bklein]

Yeah the 17" gets way more flexing. The waves kick it back and forth and I was storing it flat on the shaft too.
Thought the protector would do its job and didn't look close enough at the poor design. Basically Minelab did this mistake in many places in the CTX - seems they got the electronics working and didn't focus on the organics and hazards of the mechanical design. This is now hurting them in warranty repair costs. This 17" was basically in almost new shape - not used many times. They'd see this happen if they ran some usecase testing for a few weeks.