Excalibur800 Discrimination Settings:minelab:

[nwdetectorist]

Excalibur800 Discrimination Settings


Hello folks,

I am a relative newbie when it comes to using Minelab multi-frequency machines.
I did use this same Excalibur800 about a dozen times in the summer of 2005 at a local fresh/saltwater beach on the Columbia river.
All I did was find tons of nails and iron of every kind, no matter what discrimination settings.
The Tesoro Vaquero that I also had then found lead fishing weights at about a 4 to 1 ratio versus the Excalibur. I don't get it.
Oh yeah, I did find 3 silver rings, a nice gold bracelet, and a nice lockblade knife, but again, mostly junk including bobby pins at 14 inches and so forth.
Pretty much seemed like the headphone cabling was shorted out or something wrong with the coil itself.
The machine was sent in for repairs and had a new coil, new headphones, repaired threshold and other stems, and a clean bill of health.

Now I am using the machine primarily for searching old sidewalk and construction sites.
What I need to know is how do I find anything besides nails.

I know the multiple frequencies is going to be a killer for me.
So until I can afford an Explorer SE/eTrac I need to know how to make this machine produce for this land lubber.

BTW: I would search rivers and beaches but the city buses do not go there

TOO MUCH DIRT, NOT ENUFF TIME!
nwdetectorist

 

[Art (NWOH)]

If you are finding a lot of nails then you don't know how to use it.
Tell us how you set it up. There is something wrong here..

 

[nwdetectorist]

Thanks Art (NWOH)

Uhh'

I dunno, but I usually set as follows:

Threshold: Barely audible

Discriminate: On and mostly set at 7, have tried 1, and tried 13

Sensitivity: Auto

Pinpoint: Off

That is what I remember my settings to be at mostly.


Thanks,

nwdetectorist

 

[nwdetectorist]

Hello Art,

I just copied/pasted setup instructions from the PDF manual for the Excalibur.
I made the file small enough to fold and carry in my wallet for the next adventure.

Is there anything else I need to know?
I thought that the multi-frequency was as easy as turn on and go.

Thanks,

nwdetectorist

Setting Up The Excalibur

 

[Art (NWOH)]

Auto sensitivity should very seldom buy you a nail. With a Sov if you go over 11 o'clock you will start geting them. There is a possibility that you have some dirt or sand that makes nails ping easily. I have never seen a spot , but could be out there, that will make a Sov or Xcal ping very often on a reasonable sensitivity setting..
I don't think I ever saw a Sov ping a nail on auto. An Xcal should not do it either. Too much sensitivity usually causes this.

Try this .....
Find a weak target. See where the sensitivity needs to be to give you the strongest hit. Pick the coil up a little if you need to.
If you find another target that is very weak, then repeat the process. UNLESS IT IS AN IRON TARGET>!!!!!
Do not do this on an iron target.!!!!! .....PERIOD
Do this on only nonferrous.


HH

 

[Art (NWOH)]

What you listed is bad. Keep it in disc. mode.

Do NOT turn up sensitivity as far as you can without problems. You can find places where you can turn it all the way up without any problem, but you will have a very bad time with nails and your audio and you will lose at least half your depth. You will pass up good targets because they sound like junk..This is a trap set up by the old standard belief that you should set your sensitivity as high as possible without too much noise. Don't believe it.You will screw yourself.

The setting that gives you the best target response is the setting to use. The other stuff for other detectors and the old wives's tales should go in to the crapper.
Trust me.

HH

 

[nwdetectorist]

Awesome advice Art,

Thanks very much for the pointers.
I am going to print this to bring in my recoveries pouch and use along with the setup instructions.


nwdetectorist

 

[Willee - Texas]

If you are searching construction sites you will have a lot of junk there.
I recomend you pick better places to search for what you are looking for.

If you do not have access to beaches or lakes then why dont you trade your excalibur for a detector better suited to your type of hunting.
In its present condition it would be worth a lot.

 

[Bling]

n/t

 

[nwdetectorist]

Great advice Willee,

I actually have a Tesoro BandidoII uMax and a White's XLT to work with.

But I just feel like the Excalibur might give me an edge because of the multiple-frequencies.
It seems though that in iron infested sites it does not do well. At least that has been my experience.

The only inland river beaches that I have hunted here in the Portland, OR area are heavily mineralized.
These same beaches are littered with iron debris and fishing weights.
The Excalibur does not seem to be able to find many fishing weights and yet the Tesoro picks them out just fine.

I am going to try out Art's suggestions for the settings and see what happens.
Our water levels in this area are still very high so not much beach to detect and the summer heat is not here yet so that people are out and about.

Thanks,

nwdetectorist

 

[Willee - Texas]

Consider a Sovereign ... it is basically an Excalibur in a box with other controls ... same sounds ... more control.
Besides having changeable coils it can be chest mounted for those times you want to hunt out to waist deep water.

Fishing weights (lead) should be a low tone on the Excalibur. Coins are high.
IMHO ... You should have no problems finding objects deeper than your Bandito can detect.
Be sure your Excalibur is NOT set on auto sensitivity but instead run it about 10 o'clock or less if required for stability.

If you ever get the opportunity, come on down to Corpus Christi and we will hunt the beaches.

 

[nwdetectorist]

Thanks again Willee for the info and the invite...

...I will have to make it south someday.
I made it through the Texas panhandle in the early 60's.
Does that count?


nwdetectorist

 

[nwdetectorist]

Thanks Art, and thanks Willee, and others...

I managed to get down to the Seaside, OR beach Tuesday morning for about 3 hours on the sand.
The setup as explained by the responders to my post worked great.

I did not find much at all but the target response and my ability to find something besides nails was a little better.
I still cannot quite seem to ferret out the difference between nails and a good target.
Bottle caps seem fairly straight forward with the sound they make, but the one junk ring I dug was exactly like a bottle cap in sound.
Just like other tone id machines, the bottle cap is vermin

Thanks,

nwdetectorist
TOO MUCH DIRT, NOT ENUFF TIME!

 

[kered]

on all my, Sovs my 2 excalis, etrac and explorer(conduct sounds) all sound off lead higher than coins, almost the same as silver, as for nails/iron, the threshold should go silent and then return as a low growl after passing clear of the target, if its big rusted iron you sometimes get a chirp after the null.

My Settings
Mode = disc
threshold=just audible(i set mine just audible with the iron buzz) see below
Volume =full or as high as you can stand(this is only target volume)if its too low you could miss a deep target
discrim= lowest setting
Sensitivity= depends on site but around the 11-12 o'clock, almost never in auto(this control works backwards to the norm, ie anticlockwise is a higher setting, clockwise to lower)threshold should be steady not wavering

Threshold
I have noticed that between models and even detectors this buzz is louder on some than the other tones, eg. my new Excalibur 2 has a louder iron buzz than the higher tones but the Excalibur 1000 has a quieter iron buzz so when setting the threshold i always set it so that i can just hear the quietest of all the tones.
I have had the Sov GT, elite and still have the XS2aPro, this applied to them also

 

[nwdetectorist]

n/t