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Ace 250 is driving me crazy

S

SEJayhawk

New member
Bought an Ace 250 a week ago and the 1st couple of days I used it I didn't really have any problems finding small "treasures". Found 58 newer pennies, 2 dimes, 2 wheat pennies (1952's), 1948 nickel and 1 quarter from 1952. Along with a host of other ? stuff.

All these came from about a 20' area in my back yard.

Now...... the problem began on the 3rd day. Same yard. I suddenly started digging dry holes. MD would go off sounding like I hit a coin ..... meter would show .10 - .25 or half dollar consistently no matter what direction I swing from and depth shows from 4 to 8 inches. I haven't changed anything in what I was doing the 1st couple of days. Instead of hitting a dry hole for every 20 -30 hits its changed to about 1 in every 3.

Question ..... and I may be crazy ..... but I started to notice that on 90% of the dry hits, the coil was brushing the tops of a clump of grass or dandelion. (1 inch or so off the ground). Is it possible that something is wrong that would cause this? I would think that a coil should be able to come in contact with grass and such. I tried my theory on bare ground with one small clump of grass ...... and ..... every time I went over the grass it would have a good ringtone no matter how I swung the coil or from what direction.

If I hit pinpoint ... it'll zone in on something like a ghost. Thing is, it will sound on any mode I use or whatever sens. setting I put it on. I will say that once the sens. is set over 4 or 5 notches it gets worse.


I'm about to pull my hair because I'm not doing anything different than I was the 1st couple of days and I'm hunting in the same dirt!

I've checked connections, how the cable was wound, used different modes and changed the sensitivity till I'm blue in the face.

Please tell me I'm doing something incredibly stupid or if this normal?

Any input would be much appreciated! THANKS in advance!
 
Mine sounds off when I hit saplings and low branches, it sounds normal to me. You need to turn down you sensitivity.
 
The 250 like a lot of machines can false beep in wet grass. Also have you reduced the sens? Are you working around any power lines now? Are you sweeping too close to your boots? Is your cable connection tight? Do you have the coil wire running strait up your shaft and strapped tight?
 
Hmmmm... couple of good thoughts!

Grass seems to be dry and I am away from power lines. cable connections are tight but I wound the cable around the shaft (spiraled) like they showed in the owners manual ..... over the top with the 1st loop and used electrical tape in a few places to hold it tight.

Do I need to have a straight run on the cable somewhere on the shaft?

Also, I've even turned the sensitivity all the way down to no avail.

I far as near my shoes .... I'm swinging around a 1 to 1 1/2' or so ahead of me.

I guess what bugs me is that I used over areas that I previously did that didn't give me the false reading or the mysterious hits. The tone is the same as when I found the silver quarter and the other silver I tested it on. And when I use pinpoint it still makes me believe there's a target there. Still seems weird that it didn't do it near as much the 1st couple of days.

Maybe I'll try the larger coil that I got with the sports package and see what happens .......
 
Just for the heck of it put in some fresh batteries. Then when you turn it on push and hold the power button in until you hear 2 quick beeps. (about 6 seconds)
 
That is strange that if you turn the sensitivity all the way down and you still get hits??? I would replace the batteries and try another location (like in the woods) your yard may be full of aluminum slaw..My 250 will sound off when i hit the grass and limbs.. I think you may have a detector problem being that it worked fine the first few days.. As far as your shoes make sure they are not steel toe i made that mistake once and every other step i took i got a hit..
 
Are you getting hits from surface or very shallow pieces of foil or can slaw? Its happened to me more then a few times, when I has a solid good reading (dime or quarter) at 6 inches. Then went on to dig a plug and search for way too long before discovering that it was a small bit of foil right on the surface. Now if I get a weird signal, I will sometimes scan my pinpointer right on the surface to see if I get a beep before I probe or dig my plug.
 
G'day SEjayhawk.
Welcome to the forum.
From what you are describing, most particularly, hitting between .10 and .25 and the fact that you are experiencing a 'ghosting' type of pinpoint, what you are most probably picking up, is deeper cans or larger pieces of buried aluminium. These always show up as shallower targets than they are, and the ghosting that you are talking about; is what I call a pinpoint fade. A coin or ring will give a fairly sharp drop off of signal; but the tell tale sign of a larger item, is the fact that the pinpoint signal just wants to keep hanging on.
It sounds like you just had a bump with the learning curve. I bought a GTI 1500 5 weeks back, and for the first 20 hours of use, I felt like tearing my hair out at times as well. The good news though, is that with more use, it will get easier. you have a great machine in your hands, and that will become more apparent to you with experience.
Try and hunt a few different locations, like around children's play grounds and beaches, as the recoveries are easier in these locations.
Good luck.
Mick Evans.
 
....Or having a cell phone in your pocket at the same side where you hold your detector? My ACE starts to keep terrible noise when cell phone and base station are "negotiating". First I though I broke my MD, but soon I realized what was wrong.
 
Okay ....... Thanks for the great response! Well I think I solved the problem or problems!

First off, I went back to the the part of the yard where I was having the most problem and ...... since this is my own yard ...... I took my sharpshooter along, deciding if it was indeed aluminum buried deep ..... I was going to get to it just to see if thats what was up. Wife thought I'd finally lost it! Anyway about 14" down I found a spool of old electrical wire ........ close to 100 feet of it. On to another spot, and sure enough more wire! I went to over 6 different spots and found spools or coils of wire in every spot .... some covering up to 3 feet of ground and anywhere from 8" to 16" deep ...... which explains a lot of the patchy, here and there hits.


Actually, I guess this worked out better than finding jars full of clad coins with the price of scrap copper today. Found , I'm guessing close to 1,000 ft of old copper wire. I think it used to be the old knob and tube type of wiring and it had set in the ground long enough that most of the insulation had rotted off ...... saving me a ton of time in cleaning!

A neighbor of mine came over and after finding out that I was not planting trees or that I hadn't lost my mind .. told me that a house used to sit there on the lot were I was digging and it was torn down about 50 years ago. He thought that where I was digging, there was once a well and a cistern that they threw some junk in and covered up. He also told me to check near my corner fence because he remembered the elderly couple that lived there used to keep a stash in an old shed. Every time my neighbor mowed the lawn for the gentleman he would move an old barrel and the old guy would pay him for his services .... usually in silver dollars. I guess the old couple was killed in an auto accident in the mid to late 50's and no one lived on the property since.



After reading the posts, I think I may have had my cell phone on me the last couple of days also! Never dawned on me that a phone could cause a problem! Anyway, I left my phone in the house and tried again and although I did have a few mystery blips they were nothing like I had before.

I can't express my appreciation enough for all the great responses! Great forum! I think I may just hang around!

THANKS again .......
 
:laugh:

Not sure what to expect if my first week has went this way! Wife is worried I'll borrow the nephew's backhoe to "check" the rest of the yard.....

Definitely think the MD bug has bitten me hard. Hope you all don't mind if I pick your brains in the future. I'm sure I'll have more questions as I go.

Thanks again!

SEJayhawk otherwise none as: Russell
 
Their may be a cache buried in your yard. You found a cache of copper already,next will be silver.:detecting:
 
One never knows what's buried down there in never never land. I once dug up a large metal box with someone's dead pet inside.



Bill
 
Tell your wife you won't be borrowing any backhoe......you'll buy one instead!!!!
 
Glad to hear you got it figured out. Got my 250 about a week ago and sure having fun with it. Good Luck.









Cayenne
 
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