my first post, first time out and my first modified ace250

[GuANu]

well its my first post here, just got my metal detector about a week ago.

so my first time out was during the night and found about 31 cents, lots of trash and one interesting find for a beach.. its a ricochet bullet.. must have hit something and ended up on the beach..

also since the first hunt was during the night, I thought garrett missed out on putting a backlight on the unit, so I took it upon myself to add one, I initially wanted it fully internal, and turn on with the unit, but the test points on the circuit board that tested at the correct voltage I needed, messed the unit up from the draw of the LEDs.. so I knew I had to make it externally powered (using the batteries that are part of the unit).
only thing I had to figure out is where to get a small enough switch, how to power the LED, and how to make it look covert... so I took apart an old Cold Heat soldering iron i got for xmas 2 years ago since I dont use it. even had the LED I needed already attached and a mini circuit board that did all my resistances all set up for the 4 AA batteries that the ace uses.. perfect.. anyways, on to the pics, just wanted to say hi and I'm a newbie learning still..

also, anyone got any beach hunting tips? like what to look for as a good area and such.. thanks

G

Bullet:

backlight:

Switch mounting location under speaker:

mini circuit board mounting location and wiring:

LED on:

Backlight installed:

thanks for viewing

G

 

[THingfool]

nice mod guanu. HH

 

[Uncle Willy]

Very innovative. Can we call you Darkman?

Bill

 

[GuANu]

sure =) i just did the mod because the first time i went out with a detector was at night, so if i do further night walks on the beach, I can see what i'm hittin...

so far past few days i've found less than a dollar in change, and alot of foil and ptabs.. so i'm still very much trying to figure what to look for when detecting.. gonna take awhile of learning

G

 

[GuANu]

n/t

 

[zamora]

with your smarts it wont take you any time at all and you will be a pro MDer

 

[Mick in Dubbo]

A bit of electrical know never hurts.
A night beach hunt can be very relaxing. Don't mind digging up the pull tabs, as a number of them are going to turn into gold rings! You're doing great. The best way to learn, IS to dig everything at first, as long as your pain thresh hold allows. When you get annoyed, just change to coin mode (If you are in the US).
Mick Evans.

 

[NM5K]

Pretty nifty light rig.. Myself, I use the clip
on LED lights that I get at the dollar stores, etc..
I clip it to my arm band, and it lights both the
display, and also the ground I'm hunting at the
same time. I can clip on two of them if I need
"brights".. Also, I bought another one the other
day that has twin LED's in one light. It's pretty
bright.
MK

 

[khouse]

n/t