How to get a "tune-up."

[mwaynebennett]

The Pioneer 505 I got yesterday has several small issues.

1) When I wave a 1964 silver dime past the coil, it registers as a quarter. When I wave a 1964 silver quarter, it registers as a half dollar and, you guessed it, when I wave a 1964 silver half dollar, it shows up as a dollar. This is not a terribly disturbing situation, but indicates that the unit is out of calibration.

2) The second issue is that according to the owner's manual, the "Battery Low" light is supposed to flash upon the unit being energized. Mine does not so respond. Those of you who have Pioneer 505 detectors, do yours flash the light upon start-up?

If I were to send in the unit for a tune-up, do I send the stems along with the head? Do I send the coil also? Should I contact First Texas first to get a price and protocol instructions etc.?

Thanks,

Mark

Eilte 2200
Pioneer 505
WA St.

 

[dave5710]

Definitely call first and get an authorization number, so that you can track it and they can answer any questions that you have regarding it, after it arrives there.

 

[salmonriverhotrock]

Hello Mark

My 505 battery LED will turn on and turn off once through 3 audible tones. I see in the instructions that if the battery is low, the indicator will continue to stay on.

As for the silver coins, your still in the silver range though registering one step above each you mentioned on a LED. Did you pass a common dime, quarter, and half by the coil to see how they registered? Silver is going to be much more distinct on a machine that uses variance in sound (not tones) like my Garrett's. Without trying to get my silver out to try it on my 505, I suspect the machine is typically set for the more common coin metal content and that those with a greater silver content will hit in at a higher reading.

On the web for BH, you may want to send an e-mail to "Ask and Expert" to see what they have to say.

 

[mwaynebennett]

Hey Robert:

I tried using a clad dime and a clad quarter and about 50% of the time the 505 go it right, better than with the silver varieties as you suspected. The other 50% of the time, there was the "one coin to the right" shift.

Regarding the led for the low battery indicator, have you ever opened your 505 to see what was inside? I am afraid if I open it there might be gremlins in there. Maybe the LED is bad or maybe the LED driver is kaput. Do I really need to sent it to Texas to have it fixed?

Mark
Elite 2200
Pioneer 505
WA St.

 

[mwaynebennett]

Hi Robert:

I opened up the 505 and about 90% of the volume of the case is comprised of a mixture of mainly gaseous nitrogen and gaseous oxygen. Why the designers thought such a configuration would be beneficial, I have no idea.

There were no gremlins in the case, just a small circuit card. The LED for the low battery indicator seems to be part of the top LCD display assembly and I was not about to go disassembling the innards of the unit. I'll just change batteries every 4 to 5 hours.

Mark
Elite 2200
Pioneer 505
WA St.

 

[salmonriverhotrock]

Dug out my silver and some clad. With the 4" and 8" coils, both gave me pretty consistent results in the air until almost at contact or about under an inch at center of coil. At that point, the Half's and Quarters began to vary on the indicator though the tone remained the same but maybe a couple times. The Dimes however were much more stable that close. When the others were at what would be very close to the imaginary bottom of the open center inner coil of the 8", the dimes were stable but the half's and quarters were not. At contact, touching the center bottom of the 4" coil, it would not even respond to the half and quarter and only a bit on the dimes when passed over center but would hit on them all at contact when out of the center area of the coil. All Metal got them no matter where on the 4" coil.

Not a real precise test and was a quick one to maybe help give you a comparison. I suspect why the last inch gets more unstable is the coil would normally be used at about a couple inches above ground unless pin pointing in all metal. I set it at both low and high sensitivity with the Discrimination mode set all the way low and high. Silver or clad, they both read the same on my machine.

Have never been inside any of my machines but to replace batteries. I'm sure First Texas will try to help. Have never sent anything to them before myself but I have read elsewhere that most are always satisfied with their service.