Are a LOT of overloads common with the F5?

[djcnTexas]

Howdy ! I'm still fairly new to the F5, so please bare with me.

I've been hunting some extremely trashy, very old home sites and I am getting a LOT of overload signals with the F5 and DD coils (5" and 11"). Most of 'em are large pieces of rusty metal, beer cans, jar lids, old barbed wire, or other similar stuff. Some of the overloads come only after I've dug a bit and get closer to whatever the heck is giving off that high tone/VID number (dime, quarter,half $). I suspect that this is "normal", but am not sure. Anyone have similar experiences?

I'm also thinking about trying a 10" elliptical or 8" round non-DD coil to see if'n I can get a better response tone and not hafta dig so dang many big deep holes, just to fill 'em back up.

Any recommendations about the concentric coils? It's way too trashy and over grown for anything bigger than a 10 incher.

 

[MarkCZ]

Well, the detectors have this feature built into them to "Overload" on larger metal objects that are close to the surface. Now that means that a rusty barn door hinge may over load at the surface but it may not overload at 6" deep. But something like a water meter cover may still yet overload at 6" deep.
If the detector is overloading and they are larger metal objects that are causing it then it sounds like its doing what its supposed to do.

If there is a lot of surface iron in the way it may be good for you to work on just clearing that stuff out of the way first, maybe clear it out is small sections and then seriously hunt that area after its cleared.

Mark

 

[djcnTexas]

Of course, you are absolutely correct Mark! Unfortunately, as large as the area is, I could spend the rest of my life doing just that. I could clear a section and then seriously hunt it. I could maybe do 5% of it in a year if I worked on it every day, excluding fishing time and shooting time and gardening time, etc. Oh, and nap times!!!

I guess I'm just getting lazy in my old age! However, it takes about an hour one way to get to this place over dirt roads and through about a mile of trails and brambles, briars and fallen trees. Once I get there, it's still a huge a mess!!! There are at least 4 or 5 places where homes used to be that are quite old, maybe into the mid 1800's. Any "road" that used to be nearby is long gone and overgrown. I'm just looking for something a bit easier.

I'm hoping that an 8" round or 10" elliptical coil might at least help a little bit. I would be able to push the elliptical into some spaces that an 8" wouldn't go, but I'm not sure that would work very well. I had been using an F2 before I got the F5 and the 8" coil on it seemed to do a bit better than the 11" DD on the F2 with more accurate readings/tones.

Any other suggestions/recommendations would be highly appreciated, along with helping me figure out which non-DD to buy. I know, it's a LOT to ask... I may try both eventually, but then I may be broke before that happens

 

[osgood]

the fishers are sensitive, I tried working a cellar hole that was for years used as a farm junk site- like sheets of barn roof metal, rusty disintegrating bed springs, numerous jar, canning lids, spilled nails, old TV, refrigerators and more all stacked on top of each other and rusty away for years- it was basically impossible with all that large metal and rust leaching into the soil- total overload. Dont know how you could adjust the machine for that. CO

 

[stilpony]

Hi guys,

I took my F5 out on its maiden voyage today, and had the same overload issue, and when I dug up the target, it was normally an old beer can near the surface. I did have another question, though. What is the small letter "d" that comes up on the readout? Sometimes it's hard to get rid of, so I just turn off the machine, wait a few seconds, and then turn it back on, then it's fine. Any ideas? (yes, I could probably look it up, but it's more fun to talk to you all) lol

HH
Jake

 

[djcnTexas]

Hey Jake! The small "d" just tells you that the machine is in discriminate mode vs. all metals. The next time it actually detects something the "d" goes away and the screen is back to "normal". Hope that helps... HH - Dale

 

[sqwaby]

Overload can be large iron or junk, can also be a shallow coin if your scubbing the coil very close to the ground. Try swinging the coil over the target raising it slowly, if its iron, as you increase the vertical distance the tone will most always go low(iron grunt). If the tone stays high and the coil is 9-10 + inches off the ground, you will have most likely found a can or large junk. As always, if in doubt DIG.

 

[djcnTexas]

Thanks sqwaby! I've heard and read about what you described, but for some reason it didn't make as much sense as how you described it. I'll give it a try the next time it's dry enough to make it down to the spot I've described. It rained like heck last night and there's a chance for more over the next few days. Then combine that with dirt (not even gravel) roads and a huge wash I hafta track through to get there, it may be a few days. In the meantime, I still have several old, old home sites on my property to finish checking out. The F5 seems to do a bit better than the F2 has on these.

I'm still trying to decide whether or not an 8" round or 10" concentric coil would help with the high tone rusted iron. It seems like it helps on the F2 that I have and used before I got the F5. Seems like no one has any firm opinions, so I think I'll post a WTB in the detector accessory classified forum and see for myself.

Thanks again to all! HH - Dale

 

[stilpony]

Thanks Dale, that answered the question! lol I had it out again yesterday, and noticed it was doing that, but you just confirmed. (just paranoid that I'll have to send it back for repairs during the Spring....that would be bad) lol

I have another question: The F5 is a noisy bugger when in all metal mode, but is it normal for it to get real quiet when you disc out Fe and foil? I've noticed that the detection beeps are quieter, although I did start to pull out a lot more dimes and quarters after that. (hunting a tot lot at the elementary school). In Disc mode, do the beeps get quieter if the target is deeper???

Thanks and HH,
Jake

 

[djcnTexas]

Hey Jake! You're right about it being noisy in all metals. You have some control over the noise with ground balancing, gain and threshold settings. I've had to play around with my F5 to get it to quiet down. Of course, if you limit the size of the object by lowering the threshold too much you might get rid of things you want to hear (coins).

You might want to start a new thread with your coin questions. It may get more responses than on this one. Of course, I am more than willing to help through this one when I can.

I've never hunted totlots, or for newer coins, so I'm sure that someone can help in that regards more than I can. Around here, there is so much very old iron in the ground that I rarely hunt in all metals and just discriminate Fe. Foil and nickles are pretty close together, so I run in 4 tone mode and don't block the nickle signals. Hope this helps... HH - Dale

 

[ez4sure]

if your hunting a real trashy area all metal mode will overwelm most people stick to disc mode try running a real low sense setting like 30 to 50 set your disc at 20 you will be suprised at how deep you can get even with low sense setting good luck hh

 

[stilpony]

So when you say set the "sense to 30 to 50", are you talking about the Gain setting? I'm REALLY new at this, so talk to me like I'm a dummy! lol

Thanks guys, great info!!!

Jake

 

[djcnTexas]

Yep, many call the F5's "gain" setting the sensitivity setting. The higher the gain setting the higher the sensitivity. Kinda like lower vs. more "power" into the ground... HH - Dale

 

[Mike Hillis]

Hi DJCN Texas,
Yes, it is normal for the F5 to overload on large objects. The overload is telling you that the target signal is too strong for the discrimination circuit to properly identify or classify it. You might fool around with stuff to see how large an object has to be to cause the overload. Remember also that the overload will reset after about 2 seconds.

It is also normal for large metal objects to give a high conductive reading. Nature of the beast. Large iron and large non-ferrous like beer cans and such will give coin type signals. The secret is to learn to size the objects giving the responses. You will learn the difference in pinpoint responses of coins size objects verses larger than coin size objects.

Also, you might want to put it into single tone or dual tone mode when hunting around that type of site as it is easier to size the objects giving the response and you can cut down on digging up large trash.

But it sounds like you are figureing it out.

HH
Mike

 

[stilpony]

Thanks Mike! I have an area where they brought in a bunch of landfill dirt to put in an overpass near the sledding hill. The top of the hill is cluttered with big chunks of iron from old landfill deposits like old radiators, and the like. I'll try using the 1 and 2 tone settings to see how that works out! I did dig up a lot of old beer cans! (Pabst seems to be the beer of parents taking their kids sledding!)

Great advice, as always!

HH,
Jake

 

[djcnTexas]

Hey Mike!

Thanks for the encouragement! I'm learning, thanks to you and all the others for all the comments and help. I'm getting it, but still have a long way to go...

I posted a WTB on the accessories forum for 8" and/or 10" round/elliptical coils to round out my collection and options to try out. I have 3 coils for my old F2 and it seems that the non-DD coils make it at least a little easier to tell really rusty iron from coins on that machine. I haven't had any offers there yet, but I'll keep monitoring.

I'll give the single and 2 tone settings a try as soon as it dries up a bit. I don't mind getting my hands muddy, but most of the ground here is really too slushy/sloshy right now. On second thought, I ought to pull on my hip waders and see how different really muddy ground sounds.

HH - Dale