Ground balance

[WV62]

In general is it best to run the ground balance dead on, or + a little or - a little??

Ron in WV

 

[amberjack]

is there any in general with metal detectors? depends on ground, brand of detector, and targets sort..and sure some other things too

AJ

 

[filternozzle]

In general is it best to run the ground balance dead on, or + a little or - a little??

Ron in WV

I think you should try all three, that is slightly positive, slightly negative and spot on with your own machine on land you normally detect and see which is best for you.

 

[Dave J.]

In general, in manual ground balance all metals mode, slight positive response is best. In discrimination mode, dead-on (if you have that choice) is theoretically best but slightly positive carryover from all metals mode in machines that carry it over will rarely make any difference.

In most models with computerized ground balancing (either "grab" or "track"), it balances dead-on regardless of what mode you're in: A few products allow you to offset it slightly positive if you prefer searching that way.

 

[bootyhoundpa]

1st time through i set slightly positive till i get the feel of the site... after the easy pickins are gone i usually set to what ever gives me the most chatter that i can handle within reason.... when micro jewelry hunting i continually tinker with ground balance anywhere from 0 -70% on my whites 5900... i find it makes a difference but im sure what you can get away with on one machine might not give same results on another...

 

[Dan-Pa.]

For what its worth believe preset units are slightly positive....always balance dead on myself but many experiment...

 

[amberjack]

and that's why I run my F19 at GG thanks Dave

AJ

 

[Mega]

and that's why I run my F19 at GG thanks Dave

AJ

Same here when using my trusty old T2,GG job done but also doing a GG every so often maybe say every 10 minutes,Ground Balance is one of the most important but over looked settings on a detector for optimum performance.

 

[chuck ky]

How do you know that the ground balance is working or not working? When I first got the T-2 I ground balanced but never could tell any difference. I hardly ever do it any more.

 

[amberjack]

if the ground is mild and doesn't change much you probably wont notice much difference but as above its that 5% difference of doing it that can make a difference some days in getting that nice coin or ring

AJ

 

[Elton]

If your in disc it runs pretty good at preset 90 GB. In fact if you don't balance over clean ground the 90 preset on the T2 is better ..
A very bad ground balance does cause a loss of depth.. Remember the machine GB's to the ground or what is in it when you Fast Grab.

 

[still looking 52]

I've learned to ground balance whenever​ I notice a change in the color of the dirt when I'm digging. Also like to just check the setting every 30 minutes or so just to make sure I'm ok.

 

[WV62]

I know if you don't GB or if the GB is off it will mess your all metal pin pointing, it will pretty much make it unusable. My F75 has the same 90 factory reset and I never tried just hunting in disc like that but I was say it would cost a lot of depth.

Ron in WV

 

[vlad]

For fixed machines the phase error between the internal “ground preset balance” and the actual ground condition can be much more than “slight”. The internal preset is calibrated for +0.5 degrees. This is in an area where a real ground phase never occurs. The actual ground phase may be -2 or -3 degrees “negative“. That’s a huge difference, maybe 2.5 to 3.5 degrees. This much phase error will in effect cutoff several inches of detection depth.
~George Paine~

 

[Dave J.]

Different manufacturers have different rules of thumb regarding the offset from 0 degrees. On most of our products it's in the range of 0.9 to 1.6 degrees.

George's comments regarding ground balancing phase error and "depth" pertain to detection of the all metals signal, and actually are highly variable depending on ground conditions. In discrimination mode, the discriminator by its very nature cannot be ground balanced and that has far more impact on detection depth than does the ground balanced signal used for controlling the discriminator, even if the ground balanced signal is off by several degrees.

There are exceptions to this as well, but it holds as a general rule.

 

[chuck ky]

How do you check the setting and how would it tell you that you need to adjust the ground balance?