Excalibur 1000 diving issues

[Carter]

While wading in salt water the machine was smooth and stable giving solid responses at good depths. During this time I was waist to chest deep with the whole detector under water. Sensitivity was on auto and discriminate was at the minimum.

The next day I went diving using the short lower shaft with the coil wire wrapped fairly tight around the lower shaft. I found it impossible to search in discriminate due the machine constantly sounding off as though I was near power lines. I switched to all metal and the threshold was very unstable but I was still able to decipher strong signals. After the dive, I called Dick at Minelab and we tried trouble shooting over the phone. I also spoke to Mr. Bill out of Mass. Here are the changes made before I went for a second dive:

- Went back to the longer stem so as to make sure I was not picking up my tank

- Secured the coil wire with only one wrap around the lower shaft (the remainder around the upper shaft).

Second Dive: This time I walked in from shore with the machine

 

[Tony from Tidewater]

Carter: This might sound stupid but are you using a dive computer to keep up with your air,depth? If so, i think that might interfer with it. Just a thought. Tony from Tidewater

 

[Carter]

Tony, good suggestion but no dive computer is being used. Carter

 

[Grumpyolddiver]

Hi Carter Grumpy here. I'm not sure but you may have a speaker that has a crack that lets water in when you dive and are getting feed back to the main board? Try submersing one side of your earphones in a bucket of water then the other then both.That may help to narrow the field on where to look.As a rescue diver we use two or three different types of underwater com units and when they act up it's usually speaker (or microphone)water infiltration.After a short time they quit completely.Or in your case become unstable all the time.Hope this helps Doug

 

[Carter]

Doug, Thank you for the insight. Minelab already suggest that I send back the detector but I will forward your suggestion to them. Since the unit only became unstable after the headphones were fully submersed, your deduction makes sense. Thanks again for taking the time to reply. Carter

 

[John (west central FL)]

I don't SCUBA dive but use my Excalibur snorkeling. I have experienced problems similar to yours. The erratic threshold can be caused by not keeping the coil close to the ground and also by having the threshold control turned up too high. You may also want to use manual sensitivity.

John

 

[Carter]

John,

I tried every variable while diving including turning the sensitivity fully clockwise along with turning the threshold counter clockwise until I could not even hear threshold tone.

The suggestion in this string from Grumpyolddiver makes sense to me since the machine seemed to become unstable only when the the complete unit and headphones were underwater at the same time. I have already returned the old unit and have received a new one. I will be diving sometime next week and will report the results.

Thanks for taking the time to respond to my posting.

Carter

 

[GraveDiggerMax-VaBch-Va]

i hunt only the surf at 1PM on the clock face where i am. might be noon for you, B U T when i submege the entire unit and mine is belt mounted on my back, i have to cut it back to 2PM to keep it stable from the waves knocking me around, even at 2PM some big waves will set it off.

my two cents worth.
max

 

[GraveDiggerMax-VaBch-Va]

n/t