HELP!! F5 Will Not Respond To A Silver Dollar:ranting:

[MarkCZ]

My two brothers Ron and Greg are out hunting as I type this post! they are hunting in an area where some larger silver coins have been turning up, so far that's been a couple of half dollars, quarters, and some dimes.
So, here is the deal, brother Ron brings along a silver dollar so Greg can get some testing numbers with his F5 on the dollar, Ron just called and said no matter what settings they tried they couldn't get the F5 to respond to the Dollar at ALL! I'm not sure if they tried the all-metal mode or not, I'm assuming they only tested the discrimination settings. I know that the coil they are using on the F5 is the 11" DD.
Ron, said that the F5 hits good on the half dollar size or smaller coins fine. Anybody know what the problem could be?

I did suggest that they find some LARGE metal and test the overload response.

When Ron called he ask me to go ahead and start this thread, so this evening we can expect him to check in and see what feedback has been posted. Meanwhile he ask me if something helpful shows up while their still hunting he ask me to call him back on the cell phone.
HELP!

Mark

 

[Hombre]

I have read about some FTP instruments being set too positive with the Ground Balance, The ETP and GBP are the ones that have known problems.

 

[MarkCZ]

Well, the F5 has manual or adjustable ground balance.

My thoughts at this point is to try to reset everything.
Power it off,
Remove the batteries,
Disconnect the coil,
Install fresh batteries,
Reconnect the coil, power it back up and recheck the dollar test.

Has anybody else had this happen with detectors like the F5?

Dave_J are you out there?

Mark

 

[WV62]

Brother Ron here back from detecting.
When we first got there brother Greg told me that he just put new batteries in this morning and we done the testing before we did any hunting so in around about way we did what Mark said. We done a ground balance several times and it came up pretty close to the same number and I did the same with my F75 in the same spot and I was getting the silver dollar with no problem. We did find a pop can and put the F5 over it and it went in to overload.

I told him to adjust all his controls one at a time up a little and down a little and that didn't work, he did try all metal pinpointing mode and it hit it just fine. As Mark said I had a silver quarter and silver half with me and the F5 was reading them just fine.

At the end of the day Greg found 2 silver dimes to my none.

Ron in WV

 

[Hightone]

Null? Did you try setting the GB about 3+ positive of the ground? If you depend on the GB numbers and you set the GB to say 83, anything that the detectore finds at 83 could be eliminated.The coil doesn't see the difference between the whole ground at 83 and a small coin (compared to the size of the coil) at 83. If the silver dollar hits at 83, set GB high if the ground is 83. You may have to go a bit higher.

 

[WV62]

I just called Greg and he says he was GB between 55 to 57, and he did both a + and - offset from that just to see if we could get it respond to the $. He also said that a quarter shows up at about 84 and the half $ was showing 94, so the silver dollar would or should be coming in above 94.

Ron in WV

 

[Monte]

Some detectors on the market have a Ground Balance control that is tied together with, and functions well in adjusting, the Discriminate mode GB setting.

Some models have Ground Balance that is tied more directly with the All Metal mode, and to a degree with the Discriminate mode .. BUT ... we have can have a model where there are circuitry designs that can cause problems, like so many Tesoro's with a Disc. mode GB off-set more positive than the All Metal mode GB setting. Others do allow some variance in the Disc. mode GB adjustment, but they can still have some software setting glitches. If the software is set too positive of the Disc,. mode, then that could be the issue.

If you can get the silver dollar in All Metal but not in the Discriminate mode, ship it off to FTP to get taken care of as it's out of your control.

Monte

 

[Mike Hillis]

Hi Mark,
What version is the F5?

There are three revisions that I know about. I have a post on here that describes those three revisions. Maybe you can find it if you look back a year or so. The third revision dealt with high conductor issues. The first and second verisons had an issue with large high conductors. It was fixed in the third revision. I had both a revision 1 and a revision 3. The revision 1 worked great around large flat iron like those old flattend oil cans and rusted tin roof peices that surround some of the old house sites.....but.....what made them run well around that stuff also made it poor on large high conductors. The revision three solved the large high conductor issue, but made it necessary to run the high notch around the flat iron.

But regardless. Monte is right. You need to call the factory and see what they'll do for you.

HH
Mike

 

[MarkCZ]

Hi Mark,
What version is the F5?

There are three revisions that I know about. I have a post on here that describes those three revisions. Maybe you can find it if you look back a year or so. The third revision dealt with high conductor issues. The first and second verisons had an issue with large high conductors. It was fixed in the third revision. I had both a revision 1 and a revision 3. The revision 1 worked great around large flat iron like those old flattend oil cans and rusted tin roof peices that surround some of the old house sites.....but.....what made them run well around that stuff also made it poor on large high conductors. The revision three solved the large high conductor issue, but made it necessary to run the high notch around the flat iron.

But regardless. Monte is right. You need to call the factory and see what they'll do for you.

HH
Mike

Mike, I'm not sure what version the F5 is at present, but I do know that its an earlier model because it has the push-in type coil connector.
Mark

 

[WV62]

Mike can you give us instructions as to how to get revision number? My brother Greg is not a member of the forum and we will need to contact him and have do what ever to get the revision number off the machine.

So it could be it is not broken, it could just be an early revision number?

Ron in WV

 

[Mike Hillis]

Mark, if it has the push in connectors, then most likely you have a revision 1 or 2.
I believe the version numbering went 1.1, 1.2, and 1.3.
version 1.1 was the intial release.
version 1.2 fixed some issues related to the all metal mode.
version 1.3 fixed the large high conductor issue.

I'm not in position to access my F5 at the moment to tell you how to see the version. I think you just had to hold the pinpoint button down while turning it on, but it has been a while since I have done it and don't remember right off hand.

HH
Mike

 

[supertraq]

Theres nothing you should be able to do to knock out a silver dollar..Its broke

 

[Hightone]

When I hold down PP and turn the F5 on, I get an 01 on the display. I have one of the first F5s with the push in connectors (about 7 years old). So I might assume an 02 is the next revision. Then 03.

 

[MarkCZ]

Theres nothing you should be able to do to knock out a silver dollar..Its broke

I received a PM this morning from a forum member who stated that he had an older F5 with the push type connector and he had found out some time ago about the problem and had contacted FT (Filex) about a firmware update or fixing it and he couldn't get much done about it, he said they just didn't seem interested in doing anything about the issue, he said he even offered to pay for it.
Now, I'm thinking if this is a known problem at birth and these detectors are suppose to detect US coins and a certain model doesn't, then the creator should make an attempt to resolve the issue. I mean Some people never find a Silver dollar in their lifetime but to have a detector that won't hit on one is insane! that puts the odds of finding a Silver Dollar pretty near 0% unless one falls out of a tree and hits us on the head.

Mark

 

[WV62]

Hightone,
Can you get your hands on a silver dollar and test it on your machine? Mark got a PM from a guy and he says his machine has the same problem, if we were to get a third then we could say for sure if it is broken or just a bug. Thanks for the how to get the revision number of the detector.

Ron in WV

When I hold down PP and turn the F5 on, I get an 01 on the display. I have one of the first F5s with the push in connectors (about 7 years old). So I might assume an 02 is the next revision. Then 03.

 

[Hightone]

Easier said than done. I have no silver dollars. I don't know if my bank would have one either. Mike is probably correct in assuming revisions. Let me see if I can talk to one of the Fisher engineers and I'll post back.

 

[Hightone]

n/t

 

[Hightone]

I agree, Mark. I hope Dave calls me back. Otherwise mine is off to EBay.

 

[MarkCZ]

I agree, Mark. I hope Dave calls me back. Otherwise mine is off to EBay.

Great KEEP us posted.

Mark

 

[WV62]

I called brother Greg and he done the PP button and turned it on and he is getting a 01.

Ron in WV