Ground balance minelab Safari.

[tkn. tony]

Iv'e owned the safari a few months now I like it-----most of the time-------but some times I can't get it to ground balance. I do it over and over --when it's working correctly i'm diggin alot of signals and finding the good stuff-when it's not i'll get a good sounding signal and go back over it and it's gone-- I get signals that seem to fade away--- I've had coins on top of the ground----- and the safari doesn't even make a sound. I'll see a piece of green metal on top of the ground---copper or brass ---no sound!!! When I ground balance, I do it in all metal and look for a clean area --hold it still and wait. I clean out the coil cover after every use. Drives me crazy to be swing a detector for my health---HELP ME!!!!! tony az

 

[hershey1]

Try manually noise canceling. Also even though it does'nt say in the manual I have pumped my coil like on other machines while the machine was noise canceling. That seems to work at times. You just have to find something that works where you are hunting. Turn that Safari on and don't noise cancel in that area like I say just keep playing around until something works. You may have a female Safari. HH

 

[Mtnmn]

With the Safari you are noise cancelling, not ground balancing. The ground balancing is done automatically while being noise cancelled. Many Safari owners noise cancel at the height that they will be swinging the coil over the ground, usually about an inch above the surface rather than the 12" the manual says. Personally I don't think you have a ground balance problem at all, but rather any one of a half dozen other problems such as a loose cable connection where it goes into the control box socket (be sure to release the control box camlock holding the upper shaft first before checking). Another possibility is either a bad coil or cable connection at the coil, a loose battery pack or the batteries themselves aren't being held securely inside of the battery pack. There is also a chance your Safari may need to be sent back to the factory because of either a bad solder connection or a bad component. In those cases you would have call Minelab's U.S. repair center to make an appointment to send it in to them. On another note, there is no need to keep cleaning out your coil cover, only clean it if your Safari starts becoming chirpy. You will just wear the coil cover out by constantly taking it on and off. When you say your signal either sort of fades away or there is no signal at all when over a known target, to me that indicates some sort of a electrical problem in your Safari. Be it in the circuitry, coil, cable or battery connections. A cold solder joint would be a good guess.

 

[Mtnmn]

Have you tried doing a Factory Reset on your Safari, that might help with your issues.

 

[Goldstrike]

Make sure there is absolutely NO junk targets or no targets period! under your coil. Put it in A.M. (All Metal) raise the sensitivity up to 16+ approx:, make sure it's not falsing because you'll always find something in the ground that will trigger a response to the machine i.e. traces of rust from iron targets that have rusted away etc; and ground balance or noise cancel if you prefer that definition and you should be good to go. If you want to put it in a different program i.e. Coins, Coins and Jewellery, Relic, I have found it to be just fine changing the program afterwards, although many will say that you should GB or NC in the program you plan to detect. When the terrain changes i.e. dry sand to wet sand, magnetite in the sand and so on, GB/NC again.
It's my humble opinion that there is no 1 program/ set-up, magical method of any way of metal detecting BUT that said, I have found this procedure works best for me and others I'm sure have other methods that work better for them and that's perfectly ok.
The most important part of this hobby though is to have fun and not take it too seriously. Mother Nature has a way of throwing many curve balls and rain/waves and numerous other factors, too many to list will change the game so be adaptable and remember.......GO HAVE FUN!!!!! GL&HH!!!

 

[Goldstrike]

By the way, having my coil aprox; an inch off the ground works perfectly fine for me and my Safari.
I could be totally wrong on this next observation but I believe when it is going through the Noise Cancelling or Ground Balancing time, not only is it measuring and cancelling out the E.M. in the air from power lines and any other power 'wave' generating objects/motors around it, it is also measuring and cancelling the metallic elements in the ground. It cannot completely cancel out what's below it because all soil contains some metallic elements.
The further away from the ground the coil is, the less able it is to detect and 'cancel out' what's below it in the ground.

 

[KinTN]

Goldstrike makes 2 points that should be chiseled in stone:

1-"The most important part of this hobby though is to have fun and not take it too seriously"

2-"there is no 1 program/ set-up, magical method of any way of metal detecting"

When having trouble, or running into a dry spell, go back to basics. Set your machine on as much Autopilot as it is capable and follow the factory manual to the letter. Then as you regain control, tweek here and there and see where it takes you. I've been rehunting a patch of ground that I have pulled serious coin (at least for me) and jewelry out of 3 times now. I continue to amaze myself that I left so much behind the hunt before (realizing that swing coverage and soil conditions are variables too).

 

[Des D]

Iv'e owned the safari a few months now I like it-----most of the time-------but some times I can't get it to ground balance. I do it over and over --when it's working correctly i'm diggin alot of signals and finding the good stuff-when it's not i'll get a good sounding signal and go back over it and it's gone-- I get signals that seem to fade away--- I've had coins on top of the ground----- and the safari doesn't even make a sound. I'll see a piece of green metal on top of the ground---copper or brass ---no sound!!! When I ground balance, I do it in all metal and look for a clean area --hold it still and wait. I clean out the coil cover after every use. Drives me crazy to be swing a detector for my health---HELP ME!!!!! tony az

Hi Tony,

Just spotted your post. I'm pleased that you're getting out n' about with your "Safari" and making the finds.

The Safari being an FBS technology metal detector will ground balance for you automatically as you search. You don't have to do a thing.
What you might have to do is a Noise Cancel procedure if you suspect EMI "interference" in the area/s you search in. Quite often, you might not have to bother about that either.
But, if you do carry out the NC make sure the coil is held motionless and is above the ground usually about knee height is good and in the same orientation plane that it will be used for searching.
A single NC will usually be enough for the few hours searching. However, if you switch off for a cigarette / coffee break etc it can make good sense to do another NC when re-starting.
There is no need to keep pressing the NC button and it might end up causing more confusion for the detector as it might have already chosen [ the only quiet channel] available to it and it might run errattically for you after that as it might have selected a "noisy" channel?
Pressing the Noise Cancel has no effect whatsoever on ground balancing - they are two entirely different things.

Your other comment on: i'll get a good sounding signal and go back over it and it's gone-- I get signals that seem to fade away
What might be happening here is, the coil passes over the target and responds to [a metal component] but the FBS system processes the signal in milliseconds and by the time you re-scan it has made a decision to reject the target hence no further sound-off on it.

I hope this helps.

Good Hunting

Des D

 

[DaugBiscuit]

Go back and read Mtnmn's posts, one of the things he has mentioned is probably the cause of your problems.

Good luck and HH,
Don......

 

[tkn. tony]

Thanks everyone for all the advise-havn't been able to get out yet- probbally next week will be the soonest I can get out there--- wiil be takin some notes of suggestions with me, thanks again to everyone!!!. I havn't posted finds on this forum yet, but soon will. Also, I run the Safari in auto sensitivity as it's new to me--- yes or no on auto sensitivity?---- Thanks Tony

 

[KinTN]

Yes.

When its time to leave auto, you will know.

 

[Mtnmn]

Some use auto sensitivity all the time, but most of us manually set our sensitivity according to the conditions we have encountered. By the way I don't think any of us know the Safari any better than Des D. does, he is as knowledgeable as they come....

 

[edjcox]

Sounds like batteries... Change them all out... One bad apple in the bunch and you got issues...