Manual ground balance on a Compadre

[Fictioneer]

Hello everyone,
I've been watching this forum the last couple months, learning a lot and enjoying all the projects. My question is, has anyone has ever added manual ground balance to a Tesoro Compadre? I've been thinking about this a while now, after noticing that there are only two Tesoro machines running at 12kHz: the Compadre and the Tiger Shark. This got me to wondering if maybe both these machines aren't using the same circuitry? I was going to buy a Tiger Shark for shallow freshwater hunting, maybe 10-20 feet, but now I wonder if I can't just modify the Compadre, encase it in a water proof box, and accomplish the same thing for about $400.00 less?

Any insight or advice will be most welcomed.
Thanks,
Doug

 

[khouse]

I would think that there is a GB trimmer on the board that could be panel mounted. The real problem is that there is no way of putting the detector in all metal mode to be able to adjust it. You might go with a Silver and panel mount the GB pot.

 

[Fictioneer]

I hadn't thought about that. Humm . . . being that I only intend to use it in fresh water, do you think a manual GB is necessary? Maybe the preset GB would be adequate? That the Compadre has only one knob somewhat simplifies the task of waterproofing it.

Doug

 

[khouse]

I think it would be a good detector as is. You may have to put some ballast (sand bag) or something to hold the coil under. You could use a wireless headset to eliminate one penetration of the waterproof box. I suggest the 33-1253 from Radio Shack

 

[Skillet]

The box cost about $20 on ebay and should be big enough to house the 'brain' from the Compadre. Only negative is that coil, which will want to float.

That's why I converted a Garrett 150 and a Discovery 1100 into wading rigs with Otterbox 3500s, the coils from those two machines don't float. Weighting the lower rod helps with buoyant-coiled machines, but I did that with my Garrett 1000 PM and the stress from the coil wanting to float cracked one of the coil-mounting 'ears' and I got a leak/scrapped the coil.

My earlier post on the "Otter-Ace" might give you an idea or two on wade-proofing your land machine.

I have a Compadre myself, it's a simple but capable little machine that should respond well to most jewelry...

Be interested to see how it turns out.
Skillet

 

[Fictioneer]

Thanks Skillet,

I'd be interested in where you got your waterproof connectors from. It seems to me that if you were to weigh-down the end of the shaft instead of the coil, you'd accomplish the same thing without the stress placed on the coil itself.
In researching a bit further, the Compadre has the ED-180 discrimination built in. If my reading of other posts is correct, the ED-180 has a true all-metal function. I'm a little out of my experience-league here, but would this give me the threshold I'd need to set up a manual ground balance?

Doug

 

[Skillet]

To seal the holes. It's not pretty, but it works.

Sorry I can't answer the GB question. I just use the Compadre as a turn-on-and-go machine.

BTW, my lower rod was weighted when I cracked that Crossfire coil on my 1000. It was the stress from the coil trying to float combined with the stress from 'swishing' it through the water that caused the crack IMHO.

Skillet