Just bought a Minelab Sovereign (older one) and I'm lost!

[bgscofield6]

I just purchased a used Minelab Sovereign (one of the original ones) and it has a digital target id on it as well. When out in the field or benchmark testing it just goes crazy with the numbers going back and forth even when there is nothing within 5 feet of the detector. I can't seem to get it calibrated properly and the manual that came with it does not tell me much of anything that is useful.

Any help or sites I can visit?

Thanks,
Brian

 

[Troy]

If you want to read the suggestions they gave me just search my name on this forum. I'm new to this detector the only advise I can offer is to make sure you have good batteries and that they are installed properly.
Good Luck,
Troy

 

[Art (NWOH)]

Hi Brian......

You can expect all the Sovs to work pretty much the same way, so here goes.......

You say the meter is going nutso..
If your battery is good (12V or better), then......

Check your setup....
Minimum disc and notch.
Threshold should be just audible at about mid range.
Mode switch to disc mode.
Volume max.
Sensitivity to auto or fully CLOCKWISE to minimum (backwards from other detectors).

At this point the threshold should be smooth.
The meter should be giving you a reading that is either solid, or intermittently bouncing up and down by a digit or two (depends on what meter you have, and how it's scaled.
If you are hearing a lot of noise and the meter is going nuts, then the most probable cause is severe electrical interference. There are places that are so bad that unplugging the coil and meter are the only way to stop it. (some days in my own front yard)

A note here...
The meter does not function for ID in the all metal mode.
It will bounce around depending on the strength of the target, but will try to center on about 124 with a 180 scaled meter, and about 384 on a 550 scaled meter when it is calibrated to a dime, quarter, or COPPER penny.
It will bounce around with a large negative number if the last object was iron.

Back to calibration....provided that it is running smooth...

Wave a dime over the coil a few times and look at the meter.
It should be fairly stable and should adjust with the knob on the back to a reading of 180 or 550 depending on the particular meter. You should also hear a high, steady tone in the threshold that approximately matches the tone you heard when you waved the coin.

If everything is working right, then you are ready to hunt. Would suggest you use auto sensitivity for a while, as manual can be tricky.

You can also find more info on Wildherre's "sovereignmods" website.
Good reading for any new Sov user.

A couple other notes...

The Sov is a motion detector in BOTH all metal and discriminate modes.

Your coil is going to be a DD type, and does not cover ground the way a concentric does.. This may cause you some trouble at first.

If electrical noise may be your problem, try a different spot.

See how this pans out, and let us know what you come up with.

The way things are going, Rick will probably be typing a post at the same time and you will get a double dose of info.

HH
Art

 

[Art (NWOH)]

n/t

 

[bgscofield6]

Thanks for the tips and information. You are explaining things a bit better than the manual does. I am starting to learn how to calibrate it properly (or so I think) and I have put fresh batteries in and I will take it out on a test hunt while my friend uses my Garrett Ace 250 and we can compare results because I trust the Ace with finding coins at shallow depths.

Thanks,
Brian

 

[Art (NWOH)]

This is really going to be different for you.

Information overload will be your first problem.

Take your time, listen close, work it slow, and you may find it to be the best you ever used once you get used to it.

You might also download the GT manual from the Minelab site.
Just ignore the parts about the controls that your particular model does not have.

I have the 2a and the GT.

Feel free to ask for help any time. Plenty of Sov swingers on here that will help you out without handing you a line of BS.

HH

 

[bgscofield6]

I took this detector out today for another test run after reading the advice of everyone on this forum and other forums. I had my friend tag along and use my Garrett Ace 250 to test the thing out.

I calibrated it to 550 with a clad quarter. I continued to get it to go to 550 with pop cans, pieces of metal, even tiny tiny pieces, etc. I can't find anyway to work this machine to my advantage. I even installed fresh, unused batteries into it as well to see if that might have been the problem. The only items found were a clad penny and the butt of a shotgun shell, both by the ace250.

What am I doing wrong?

Thank again,
Brian

 

[Art (NWOH)]

Air test it with a few items.....

Zinc penny should read 539-540. Nickle 446-448. Tabs will vary, but between nickles and zinc pennies.
Should have a different tone between different objects.

Aluminum cans and some iron will read like high coins.

See if this is working.

Never heard of a Sov giving the same tone and meter reading on all objects before.

Most objects will read 300-550 . Just once in a while lower.

Try some gold rings . Should be in the 300's or 400's.

See what comes up.

HH

 

[bgscofield6]

I tested it out with the following items:

Walking Libery Silver Half Dollar : bouncing around 400s
Quarter : calibrated with this to 550
dime : 548-552
penny : 540ish
ball of foil : 300s
nickle : 550
Piece of rusted iron: 550
metal tootsie toy truck : 550

here are my results from stuff out of the ground:

pop can: 550-560
penny: 538 (found on top of ground)
pop tab about 8 inches deep: 515
various metal objects: 550s
shotgun shell butt : 550

Everything just repeated the same signals over and over. The worst thing is when it locks on to a signal that you don't want and just sits there holding it while you want to continue detecting. Like it will lock onto a 300 signal and I have to wait 30 seconds for it to clear before I can begin detecting.

This machine just confuses the heck out of me.

 

[Art (NWOH)]

Sounds about right.

You didn't say if the tone was different between lower and higher objects.

High coins all read the same (550) on a Sov. Nickels and zinks will be lower, but you may have trouble distinguishing between zinc and copper/clad/silver by tone for a while.

The threshold tone and meter reading hold at the last target value until you hit another target. Then the new value and tone will be present.

Meter and tone DO NOT reset to any default value, except on startup.


That's how it works.

HH

 

[Art (NWOH)]

Your in ground tests sound OK, but watch the air tests.......

As the object gets farther from the coil on an air test, it will usually read lower than it should. I can get a silver quarter to read into the high 300's when it should read 550 this way.
Stay within 3-4 inches of the coil for air tests.

Also you might air test a clad dime, with sensitivity and volume at max, and a slight threshold (disc mode). Should give some kind of response (but not right one) somewhere around 10 inches.

HH

 

[bgscofield6]

I was doing the air tests by laying the targets on the ground and running it over quickly, slowly, very slowly, and then I do the sov wiggle. All of this is done within an inch or two of the target.

As far as volume at max and slight threshold. The threshold control is the volume control, right? How do you have it one max and slight at the same time?

 

[bgscofield6]

The tone is relative high with virtually all targets between 400-600. Everything below that 400 line is a pretty low tone.

 

[Art (NWOH)]

The on-off switch is also the volume control. the threshold is a separate control. This is a Sov, right?

Are you speaking of tones to be "generally" high or medium, or are you really getting just two or three tones??

The Sov produces a few hundred different measurable tones, many of which are so close together that they are virtually indistinguishable to the human ear. If you listen close, you should hear a very slight difference if the target shifts the meter reading by 3 or 4 digits.

Also if you were testing coins on the ground, you need to check in all metal first to see if there is an object there. If there is, it can cause the tone and meter to be off due to target averaging. If you check in disc mode, a hot rock or piece of iron will null out the threshold without giving you target audio.

I am trying to determine if there is anything really wrong, or if you are being overwhelmed by the Sov, or are trying to make it work like a different detector.

HH

 

[bgscofield6]

Yes, it is a sov, and the threshold and volume are the exact same nob. The nob that you use to turn it on is labeled treshold.

For the most part, all of the tones are virtually the same. They are a bit different, but not when the numbers are in the same range. It just gets really loud.

 

[Art (NWOH)]

You got me now. Not familiar if it is the original Sov. Don't have a picture of the control panel. All I am used to is Sovs with seperate volume and threshold controls.

This is a guess.......

If there is no volume control, then you would have to set the threshold for a slight tone, then adjust the headphones for volume.

Somebody help me out here........running out of ideas and knowledge.

HH

 

[Art (NWOH)]

If there is no volume control, then set the volume with the headphone volume controls for a strong, but not painful level when sweeping a target, ......THEN set the threshold for a faint tone with no target present.

Yes, guys, I said "UNCLE"!!!!!

HH

 

[Rick(ND)]

I figured he had a original Sovereign the way he was talking. I tried 2 of them and notice the tones were not as nice as the XS and later models for me anyway. Some Like them and I maybe one of the only ones that found they didn't have the depth and harder to tell the tones with.
I am trying to remember the controls on it, but remember it has a iron mask switch I believe and also like our GT has a pinpoint control separate from the disc and all metal switch, so for normal use you have to leave the one switch in pinpoint and the one in disc to detect, then switch to all metal to pinpoint. I would have the iron mask on too so you will hear the coins next to iron.
For Brian all i can say is have some patience and do some practicing on different coins and remember that all copper, clad will give the same number on the meter and tones will be the same, the zinc pennies and nickles will be lower numbers and lower tones. With the zinc penny and the IH they may sound the same for most and this is where the meter comes in for IDing. When you go over any one of these try to go over just the target you are tyring to ID and get the best tone and highest meter reading,this is what we call the Sovereign wiggle as you are going back and forth quick maybe a inch over the target and trying to get the highest reading. This now will be the ID of that target. Now when you think this is a target you want to check out you want to switch to all metal being you have the other switch in pinpoint already. Now go side to side over the target trying to get the best signal, put not forward and backwards. When you have the best signal push the coil to the ground so it don't move off that spot and turn with the coil 90 degrees and then go side to side again and when you have it centered the target will be right under the very center of the coil. Now if this was a questionable signal you can check it out a little more as you have this target right under the center of the coil. While you have the target right under the very center of the coil switch back to disc and just slightly wiggle the coil, if the good tone comes back it is a good target, if it nulls than it is iron target you got a false signal off of it.
Many people have a hard time the first few times with the Sovereign, but don't give up and take the time to learn it as it will be worth it. This detector will tell you more about a target than any other detector you may have used and it is confusing the first few times, but if everything is working right the Garrett 250 wont stand a chance against you with the Sovereign as you will be IDing better and going much deeper, but you also will be going slower too.
One thing to remember is the Sovereign keeps the tone of the last target until it sees the next target, only the volume will change. With This the numbers on the meter will also stay until the next target is seen. For me I hear more of the low tone of iron (more of a growl) and see neg numbers on the meter. Use the meter only after you hear a tone you think may be good and not looking at the meter while detecting as the numbers will be all over the place with some looking like good target.
Also you have the 550 meter and to me the number vary a lot more than the 180 meters and why many have had the 550 meter rescaled to the 180 numbers. Mine will lock on to 179-180 for a good coin(this will include big pieces of alum cans and some trash items you will know when you hear them from experience) a 176-177 gets me a new zinc penny a IH or even some of the Wheaties in the teens. A 145-146 will get me a nickle most of the time, but some war nickles will read up to 151 and still have the nice nickle tone to them. If I get a 178 it seems like they are screw caps and a 140-141 even though sounds like a nickle they are beaver tails, if these are deeper sounding i will dig them as they could be a V nickle or even a gold ring.
Like I say try a quarter a zinc penny, a nickle a nail and some pull tabs and go over each one and notice the tones and the meter readings as you should hear a big difference between the quarter and the nickle and a slight between the pull tabs and the nickles, or pull tabs and the quarter.
Have patience and do some practicing.

Good luck

Rick

 

[Art (NWOH)]

At times like these, it would be so much easier if the individual having the problems lived just down the street.

That's the problem with getting a detector and having nobody close by that you know of that has at least a reasonable experience level on the machine to help out.

When I stepped up to the Sov from a Bounty Hunter, I understood that it was completely different, so should not expect it to work the same way. Didn't try to understand it all at one time.
Played with it and took my time. Began with more questions than answers and eventually ended up with more answers than questions.
Tried everything I could think of to see what happened, and developed pretty much case by case strategy on what to do with each target or set of hunting conditions.

Was doing reasonably well after 2 or 3 sets of batteries.

Guess you can make it easy or hard depending on your approach. Certainly can't just run right out and use it based on how you use a different detector.

Need more coffee.....have to wake up and stop babbling.

HH

 

[jbow]

About the tone locking and holding. If this happens to me and I want it to clear, which most of the time I do, I just wave the coil over my boot which seem's to have a little ferrous in it and voila.... back to normal. BTW, the boot never give's me any trouble while hunting, i have to get the coil right over it in order for it to hit on it.

Julien