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My V3i seems unstable now, please help with settings

S

scottjedd

New member
I'll do my best to explain what's going on...

I have maybe 15 hours on this machine so I'm still a newbie. I've made some super finds already with it so I know the machine is locking on to good targets...yesterday I dug an 1883 Indian at 6" and an 1899 Indian at 4". The problem seems to be with its threshold / stability.

When I turn it on and ground balance, if I just keep the coil on the ground in a clean spot without ANY movement, the VDI numbers are jumping all over the place, even well into negative range. And the corresponding tones also sound off. So even though I'm not swinging it side to side, its sounding off incessantly as if I were actually swinging it. It seems like maybe one or more of my settings could be way off, or worse, there could be an issue with the electronics.

Here's my settings:

Battery: 11 volts
Program: Coin & Jewelry
Discrimination:
Visual reject: ON
Bottle cap reject: 5
Hot Rock: +0
Sensitivity
RX Gain: 6
TX Boost: ON
Discrimination: anywhere from 65 to 90 with no change
All Metal: 50
Frequency: Three freq.
Freq offset: +0
Ground Tracking: Locktrac
Soil Type: Normal
Filter & Speed: Search
Ground Filter: 7.5Hz Band-pass
Recovery Delay: 60
S A T: 20
Filter & Speed: Analysis
Ground Filter: 10Hz Band-pass
Recovery Delay: 60
S A T: 20

Maybe I'm ground balancing incorrectly? Maybe my threshold is not set correctly? It just seems to me that it should not be this jumpy / unstable. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks,
 
Just tried that. No change. Lots of "signals" still sounding off even when the coil is in the air & not moving.
 
Howdy Scottjedd,
I'm a new guy also, but I agree with Boonyman - EMI. I've had it happen to me, but I can't remember the circumstances. I'm pretty sure it was when I was at a park with a substation nearby and an aluminum fence about 10 feet away. I think your machine is fine.

I won't offer advice on EMI because I'm too new at this. Someone will chime in. If not, do a forum search for EMI, and you'll find some answers. If it is EMI, you can usually minimize it with frequency offsets. As another side note on EMI, it can come and go. It's not always the same in a given location. The park I mentioned seemed to kick in stronger every day at 3 PM. So it is possible to be ok one minute, and horrible the next.

Dave
 
I don't think its EMI, the machine acted the identically at 3 different spots I hunted yesterday, and the locations are 80 miles apart..
 
I am a noob with my v3i also and thinking of selling it because I think I am in over my head with this detector. Scottjedd, My machine does the same exact thing if my battery level gets below 10.
 
I upgraded from the M-6 and thought that it was a great detector, I was able to discriminate out iron pretty good with it and other junk, This v3i picks up everything in the ground, yesterday I was at a beach and was picking up very small pieces of twist ties and very small iron chips, why cant I make it to where the detector doesn't hear this junk? Please help
 
Once I had exactly the same problem with you, when at first worked with the detector and had good finds next day at same spot was so unstable with as you described. Well the area i hunt it is salty but the day first,, was dry and everything was fine, but the next day I 've been there it was after a rain in the night so the rain and salt made it so unstable noisy without a reason nothing I could see at that point. I thought the same thing that it could be a problem with the detector and it was just a week after I bought it....Well after all there is nothing with the detector but are logical reasons they could be avoided with adjustments of salty areas etc, but my self I am not going again to salty areas and especially after rain. I suggest to you to check to another site first and see the behavior of your detector. I don't know about your settings cause I don't know your area but if it is on the factory's coin and jewelery it should not respond that way to area with low to medium mineralization even more! But I just do not truly believe it is a malfunction with the detector. It could be electronic magnetic interference as well.
 
To Michigan Treasure Hunter it happens when battery drops yes, but it should drop more than 10 v or less than 9v I think. As far as to junk iron pieces you have to use a program that discriminates iron out or accept all with lower tones to junk!
 
Try the smallest coil you have for the EMI and see if that helps along with turning down the Sens and Disc. Yazoo
 
Yazoo I wanted to add your custom program to my v3i but I am such a noob donkey that I can't figure out how. Any idea if there is a step by step walk through online somewhere for noobs like me? I had the m-6 and upgraded to this, I am seriously in over my head and overwhelmed :(
 
You said, This v3i picks up everything in the ground, yesterday I was at a beach and was picking up very small pieces of twist ties and very small iron chips, why cant I make it to where the detector doesn't hear this junk?

Sounds to me like it is doing what it should. The VLF detectors get their depth from their high sensitivity. That is why the V3i can find the smallest pieces of jewelry. For starters why not discriminate out the ferrous targets or setting their tones to zero.

Now time for a question. Where are you guys buying the V3i detectors? Can't your dealers help you get set up?

We have been through the set up procedures before. If you want we can do it again, just ask.

The first thing is to always check you have a good coil.
The second is to determine if you have EMI.
 
I bought mine out of state (online) I am using default programs and my v3i is just always noisy. I tried deep silver mode and it sounded like my detector was gonna explode. I realize that I got in over my head by jumping into such a advanced detector but I really would like to keep it, I am just so overwhelmed with searching forums and just not getting it. trying to figure this all out really has me feeling like a stupid person. I thought that I would try to load yazoo's program into my v3i and use it but I can't even figure out how to do that. All of the forums that I have found have post that are 3 yrs old, this is the first site that I have actually had contact with online users. I am so desperate for help that if any of you are in michigan I will pay you to teach me this detector.
 
My guess is a bad coil. Do you have access to another one to try. Ask you dealer to replace it or call White's for a new coil.
 
Go ahead Rob Set him up with yours or Magics program.To much typing for me. Yazoo
 
If I was to give each step to set up tones, discrimination, offsets, gains etc. the post would be as long as this entire post. Magics program is just Hi Pro with different tone blocks, and a 5 tone instead of zero. I think Magic said he starts with a coin and jewelry program.

I can tell you how to setup one setting at a time.
 
Thanks everybody for the help. I've made some adjustments, with only slight improvements. I'm leaning towards a coil problem, as I can just hold the detector up in the air motionless with no EMI present and it just jumps around all over the place with beeps & blips and VDI numbers flashing from -95 to +95.

I think I'll call White's tomorrow.

Thanks,

Scott
 
Had a bad coil myself and the symptoms you describe are very similar to my own.Mine started with false signals so kept reducing the the sensitivity over a many outings until got to the point any small item more than 2 inches deep was undetectable. Finally I couldn't get the machine to stabilize at all so sent the coil back to Whites and found it was "several parameter's out " and was replaced. The moral of my story is contact Whites if you suspect a problem as I will never know what goodies I missed while struggling on with what was finally found to be a bad coil !!
 
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