5" Excelerator Findings

[earthmansurfer]

My 5" excelerator II coil arrived today and I had an hour to test it in the yard. It is labeled as a "II" coil (Note Pic), though the pic on the website didn't show that. It measures exactly 5" across.

First thing I noticed IN the house is that in 3 frequencies I could put RX at 15 and Disc up to 95 AND Tx on... and it was quiet. I guess I got lucky. Second thing I noticed with an air test is that with Rx at 12 ish and Disc at 95 (Tx off) the coil has a large edge effect. You can hit a penny a good 2" from the edge of the coil. Not exactly what I was looking for. If I turned the Rx down to 6 ish, then the edge effect was gone.

Air tests - In 3 frequency and 22.5 (yes it ran solid in 22.5) withe the following settings [Rx 10 Disc 95, Recovery Delay 23, Filter 7.5 Band] were as follows:


Penny - 8" with ID jumping from 77-81. Normal ID of 65 in 3 freq and 83 in 22.5 normalized
Nickel - 8" with ID jumping from 20-30. Normal ID of 21 in 3 and 21 in 22.5
Dime - 8" with ID jumping from 80-89. Normal ID of 75 in 3 and 77 in 22.5
Quarter - 9" with ID jumping from 85-91. Normal ID of 83 in 3 and 85 in 22.5

I got a jumpy signal that I probably would not dig from my 9" buried Nickel. But, that Nickel is around lots of iron and on the 6X10). A variety of sensitivity settings worked and I settled on Rx8, 80disc. (This dropped the air test numbers to the following: penny 6", Nickel 7", dime 5", Quarter 6"
Filters above 7.5 would not pick up the small coin. The VDI was 70 plus but the sound was good. I realized there is a lot of iron flakes in the ground and it up averages most everything. These settings hit a 4" deep buried Nickel easily. You have to drop your recovery delay a lot with a small coil. 23 really seemed to give the clearest signal with a medium to medium slow sweep speed.

From playing with the coil I can say (from my test garden anyway) that American coins (due to their larger size) hit well, no matter the iron flakes. But smaller hammered coins (and I think this might apply to lots of jewelry) are VERY AFFECTED by iron flakes and iron in the ground. I am worried about the edge effect of this coil when Rx is turned up. Correlate with a span of 45 only hurt the signal.

In summary I have to say it was really difficult getting this coil going on the hammered coin. But for you guys in the States don't worry about it with coin hunting. Also, it appears that even though I can jack this coil with power, it can be counter productive around iron flakes (as it probably lights up the ground, the 6X10 is less affected in this way.) Lastly, I have a feeling I didn't really luck out and that the newer coils may be nulled for the V3i. I just can't imagine that I got lucky with a coil that I can open up the sensitivity on with Tx boost to boot. I didn't really notice but a little improvement with Tx on in the test garden.

Curious, does the 4X6 coil also have this edge effect?

I hope this is of some use to you guys,
EMS

 

[Rob (IL)]

You just got lucky, they are not nulled for the V3i. As I've said before, I have a 10x12. The signal% is great for 2.5 and 7.5 but just terrible for 22.5. The problem is the null varies so much from coil to coil. You being able to even use boost has also been reported by other users for the 10x12. Mine won't do it and RX12 is about the usable max. ROB

 

[earthmansurfer]

You just got lucky, they are not nulled for the V3i. As I've said before, I have a 10x12. The signal% is great for 2.5 and 7.5 but just terrible for 22.5. The problem is the null varies so much from coil to coil. You being able to even use boost has also been reported by other users for the 10x12. Mine won't do it and RX12 is about the usable max. ROB

When did you buy your coil? I think the older coils might not have had the tolerances/null. Mine appears different than the older picture on some websites.

It would be interesting to see if those with newer coils are able to turn up the sensitivity. Also, the serial numbers might be of assistance as somebody could have recently bought a coil that was made a while ago. I guess this could easily be answered by asking the company...

Have you noticed much of an edge effect on the 4X6 or 5.3?

 

[Rob (IL)]

I don't use either coil anymore, so I can't check. Whites has stated the SEF are not V nulled. The non V rated Whites coils work the same, some are good and some are not. Since I live 1200 miles from the store, I can't pick and choose from a batch of coils, I wish I could. ROB

 

[Neil in West Jersey]

I know many of you have read my observations before. I purchased a 12x10 SEF "Butterfly" coil back in November. In my opinion this coil works great in Best Data or any Single Frequency mode. (I have not tried Correlate or Salt Compensate modes). I regularly run the coil in Mixed Mode with the RX at 12 or 13, my All Metal Sensitivity at 74, and my Discriminate Sensitivity at 92. It is quieter than the D2 or the 950 coil and I have found tiny targets as deep as 10 ++ inches.

I think it has better trash seperation than the White's coils, even with the recovery delay at around 90.

Since purchasing the coil, it is my main coil and rarely comes off.

 

[burlbark]

You just got lucky, they are not nulled for the V3i. As I've said before, I have a 10x12. The signal% is great for 2.5 and 7.5 but just terrible for 22.5. The problem is the null varies so much from coil to coil. You being able to even use boost has also been reported by other users for the 10x12. Mine won't do it and RX12 is about the usable max. ROB

When did you buy your coil? I think the older coils might not have had the tolerances/null. Mine appears different than the older picture on some websites.

It would be interesting to see if those with newer coils are able to turn up the sensitivity. Also, the serial numbers might be of assistance as somebody could have recently bought a coil that was made a while ago. I guess this could easily be answered by asking the company...

Have you noticed much of an edge effect on the 4X6 or 5.3?

The 4x6 has edge effect and quite a bit of it when you turn up the gain. It is so small that it is still a nice coil to have.

The 5.3 however often goes deeper than my d2. In trashy areas this coil shines like no other. I pulled 7 wheats out of a spot that has been hit for years in around an hour and one merc. Deepest depth 7"+. I dont even like taking this coil off my detector, unless I have a big open field with few targets. Just about zero for edge effect and has a nice cone shaped search signal for really getting between trash. I guess you know what coil I prefer....

 

[Low-Boy/LCPM]

n/t

 

[Rob (IL)]

If it's a Whites coil its number starts with a V or some 12" an SS. If it tests RX15 without overload it is good and it is nulled well enough. If it is perfect it will also do TX boost with RX15 and not overload. This all you can test.

If it tests RX15 with no overload in the air Whites considers it a good coil and won't replace it. ROB

 

[Low-Boy/LCPM]

I took my 8" butterfly coil and tested it and it was quite and could turn up the RXG all the way. not did not use TX boost

 

[Rob (IL)]

When you run the Excelerator coils check the signal%. The higher the number the less head room until it overloads. My D2 might run at 18% and at the same RX my 10x12 runs 51%. As long as when hunting it doesn't overload you are fine. As I said I cannot run TX boost and it has nothing to do with the coil age.

I ran it in single frequency 7.5 on a relic hunting trip. Because I wasn't running 3 frequency ( therefore no 22.5) the signal percent was low but it still won't run TX boost. If you have a good one, all the better for you).

ROB

 

[Rob (IL)]

Earthmansurfer, I saw your other post. Believe me, the day that Kellyco can say the DeTech coils are V rated there will be [size=large]NO[/size] delay in getting the information on their site. The sales would definitely increase. They aren't and they can't.

I wish they were. ROB

 

[earthmansurfer]

I got out for a couple of hours and played with the 5" coil for one hour and the 6X10 coil for one hour by a site that goes back to the 1400's.

Score - 5" Excelerator = 3 coins, 1 buttons, 6X10 = 1 coin, 1 button
Settings - 5" Rx 6, Disc 95, Recovery Delay 23, 7.5 band
6X10 Rx 9, Disc 95, Recovery Delay 32, 7.5 band

I got off my bike and tried to find a place to ground balance that small 5" coil. Instead I found a silver coin (below) from 1700 (middle bottom in pic)! Really, ehehe. Nice start and I didn't know how I walked over it before with the 6X10. Took a bit to find a place to balance that 5" coil! Then I found a couple of buttons and then around 10 feet from the small silver hammered I found a large French Hammered coin around 5" down, VDI was around 17 (upper right corner in pic). I was mostly hunting in 22.5 Hz as from testing it's apparent it gets the smaller stuff by iron. I found a 1940 at around 5" with the 6X10 (bottom right) - It's one of those Nazi coins with a swastika on it. The other coin above the silver is an 1896 pfenning, best shape of the bunch. It's dime sized for reference. The coins are all in pretty bad shape and this is after cleaning. I think the iron mineralization just gets to them all.

Anyway, I'm very happy with the 5" Excelerator compared to the 6X10, though the later goes over a large area. The numbers don't lie. I had my best 1 hour of hunting in recent memory. I may have worked only 1/4 as much space with the 5" as the 6X10, but I had more finds. I wasn't exaggerating about the level of iron. An interesting note, after I found the large hammered coin I didn't know how I could have missed it as I had been there before. I didn't hear much iron around the area and then when I switched to the 6X10 and when I went there it lit up. Apparently having the Rx down on the 5" really helps. My idea was to lose the edge effect and get between the iron and that it did. I still got a button at 5" with it. I got that small button at 6" with the 6X10 and it hit well.

I have found quite a few hammered coins with the V3i (Stock coil, 5" and 6X10). The higher frequency clearly has an advantage over my Omega 8000 as I have found more hammereds in two weeks with my V3i as I did in a year with my Omege. Running Consistency at 8 and Fade at 2 or 3 really helps to get the small foil out of the picture and keeps the spectragraph clean (jewelry hunters take note)

 

[Low-Boy/LCPM]

I still am trying to get use to the falsing..It will hit on a target and nothing is there I think it is the disc that takes a few mil a seconds to realize it is a disc target...