Question(s) about Manual/Semi-Auto mode on the Exp II with the X-1 probe...

[Pete in MI]

I have read many places where lots of guys are using Manual instead of Semi-Auto to get better depth. I also read that when using the X-1 probe it should be used in the Semi-Auto mode. I am not sure why the X-1 would have to be in Semi-Auto (I think the testing of it was done in Semi-Auto by SunRay).

Has anyone experienced the X-1 probe acting erratic because it (Exp II) was in Manual as opposed to Semi-Auto?

If that be the case, I am guessing to best run Manual using the detector, then when one is about ready to use the probe to switch to Semi-Auto. Does that sound like a reasonable solution?

I've noticed using the probe (detector in Manual) that I can get a close point of the item....before flipping the detector to Pinpoint...without a lot of chatter. But, if the probe is still in the hole when I flip to Pinpoint on the detector, the X-1 goes nuts. I've read that when going to pinpoint mode with the X-1 the probe has to be removed from the hole first then the pinpoint button can be pushed, and the probe lowered back into the hole. The chatter from before is not there...supposedly. Fact, fictions or

Using the probe sometimes is a nightmare with all the noise it makes...and I think it is me doing something not quite right...like being in Manual instead of Semi-Auto or not taking the probe out of the hole first when going into Pinpoint and using the X-1.

So what am I misunderstanding? Thanks in advance for your input.

 

[Arturo de Zorro]

YOU WROTE (I've read that when going to pinpoint mode with the X-1 the probe has to be removed from the hole first then the pinpoint button can be pushed, and the probe lowered back into the hole. The chatter from before is not there...supposedly) That is the way mine acts if the probe is near metal when you push pinpoint, The next time you have a deep target leave it in manual and see where it gives the signal for the target (a little wide), then turn on semi-manual and you will find out that in semi the probe will be dead on the target. I have alway hunted in manual then semi when I use the probe. So my question to you is should one use manual or semi-manual when swinging the coil in normal hunting? I have been hunting in semi and it seems to separate better a tiny bit in trashy sites. but I am sure less trashy sites manual is the way to go, now if I can only find a less trashy site. now one more thing you will find out that the probe works better if the gain is set 7 or lower, I use 6.

 

[Big Fang Coin Biter]

Hey Pete,
I have never used semi-auto sens with my probe. I do have the probe go wacky once in a while when I go to pinpoint. I just turn pinpoint off and on again with the probe in a different spot (until it works right).

I think simi-auto for hunting areas with a lot of iron is not so good. I tried it a long time ago. I had hunted the iron infested site before so after running semi-auto for about fifteen minutes with no threshold nulls, I knew something was wrong. I am pretty sure that the machine was seeing the iron as mineralization. I got a nice steady threshold but the sens must have been running at single digits in order to do it. I put it into manual sens with around 25 sens. - all the iron showed right up. That was probably my last use of semi-auto.

HH - BF

 

[Arturo de Zorro]

Try this, go to your coin garden and set sensitivity at 1 in manual and you will not hear coins at 4 inches or deeper. Now change it to semi-manual at 1, and I will hear all my buried coins down to 8 inches. My coin garden is over 13 years old and I have them buried at 4" to 8" at both flat and on edge. I have hunted in manual since the the XS first came out then continued with manual on the Explorer II (tried an SE for 2 months but my Ex II sound better on the same targets). I have used semi for the last 5 hunts without any problem so far, the sites here have more modern trash and less iron so maybe thats the difference. The iron in my soil will put fur on a magnet when dragged across the soil, nails are few around here.

 

[Arturo de Zorro]

Manual sensitivity 6 equals semi 1 in depth.

 

[Hard Nosed Dave]

Hi Pete on Ml,

When it comes to running semi-auto I found that it mostly comes down to how much Sensitivity you set the Explorer at.

Read the info from the 2 following links to these sites for a start.


http://www.treasuregizmo.com/settings.htm

http://usetheminelabexplorerlikeapro.blogspot.com/

They should help you out BUT maybe start by lowering the SENSITIVITY and increasing to suit your relevant ground conditions . Also adjust your gain by lowering it To start at the default value and then maybe increase but not to hear every single signal that may not actually be a target.

David Di

 

[Pete in MI]

Thanks David. I have set the detector up with the settings that Charles (NY) had suggested. Have only had a chance once to use those settings. It was January this year and freezing weather after a one day thaw. Did score a couple Wheat pennies and a 10k gold 1945 class ring. Just too cold to stay out longer. Haven't read the second link you provided yet...though it is familiar...must have found the site before, marked it and forgot it. Appreciate the link will read it this time.

 

[Pete in MI]

The site I have been hitting has LOTS of those crown caps...all rusty of course. Am not sure what was on this property before it was turned into a school baseball field back in the 1920s. Does seem to have a lot of iron. Have been using various settings but last time I was out I gave settings from Charles (NY) had and scored a nice 1945 class ring (10k gold). I did use semi-auto before then used manual when I found the ring on the last outing.
Guess I need some good weather so I can get out and try the suggestions out.
Thanks for your ideas, BF.

 

[Pete in MI]

Will have to give that a try. Most of what I have found so far has been old iron....nails, those crown caps. Was using semi-auto up until January thaw when I gave the settings from Charles (NY) which netted me a nice 1945 10K gold class ring. It was freezing out so I didn't pay a lot of attention I guess to what the detector/probe was doing and had someone from the fire department tell me it was 'their property' and did I have permission. I did, since the township owns the fire department, I had permission above and beyond 'their' control.

Need some warm weather so I can get back out and try you suggestion and to pay more attention to detecting instead of harassment and freezing...though the excitement from the ring sure made me happy I got out.

 

[Pete in MI]

I think when I was in manual I was at about 22 to 24. Prior to that I just ran semi-auto at the preset 16.

 

[dewcon4414]

Im using the SE and the manual suggests you run in manual with reduced sensitivy in trashy areas. I assume because its like locking out the ground balance and you wont track into the iron causing you to loose depth. Ive used auto and turned it up to 32 and still maintained the same threshold as factory set auto.... so why not crank it us and give the machine a wider area to function? Trashy areas are difficult to get any depth just because the Explorer locks on to disc targets really well and doesnt like to recover very quickly.

 

[digitrich]

Regardless of why and when the probe goes nuts... if you put it in pinpoint and touch it close to a coin or any piece of metal it instantly desensitizes and about five seconds later it starts working again and then you can put it back in the hole and start again. It does go nuts in manual high sensitivity. And in extremely wet soil it acts up quite a bit, just like the Explorers for that matter just to the second power. But keep that trick in mind, turn on pinpoint, make the probe overload by putting it too close to metal (like the switch on the Sun Ray switch box) and it will desensitize, then put it in the hole and when it starts again it works fine for me. Last night, I was detecting in the rain in manual sensitivity quite hot and most of the time that trick worked for me and the few times it didn't I just hit the auto sensitivity button and it worked perfectly. I found an extra 1900 and 1902 Indian heads with it I wouldn't have found otherwise. After I dug the first wheatie, I checked the hole with the probe and heard iron, dug a nail, went back in the hole and got the 1900, dug that, back in the hole-another two nails, dug them, back in the hole and found the 1902. When I was done it looked like a gopher had tried to build a den under the lawn. I have found many coins this way. Without the probe I would have only found the wheatie and I'll take one Indian over ten wheaties any day. By the way I know Ralph only hunts in Manual sensitivity and I am sure he would have tested his probe with his favorite settings, for sure. The probe falses so much because of how sensitive it is, if it didn't, you couldn't get that magic 4 inches of depth with it. Would you rather it were perfectly stable and only went to a depth of 1 and a half inches??? See my point? Another time I was at the beach and even in auto sensitivity my probe acted up to the point it was nearly useless, later I washed the salt and sand off my stock coil and I noticed I had gotten that same sand in the strain relief support at the top of the probe. That black curly piece on the probe wire just above the probe itself. I just rinsed it out with water and then it worked perfectly. Don't attempt to unscrew the part and re screw it as every time it is loosened and tightened the metal prongs in it dig deeper into the coil wire and would eventually dig through the shielding on the cable itself causing a water leak and/or a short I would imagine, so don't do it. I believe allot of the falsing of the X-1 probe has allot to do with the fact the Explorers are auto ground balance machines that adjust automatically while you sweep. The Explorers themselves are not calibrated whatsoever for a 1 inch coil, and the fact that Sun Ray gets 4 inches of depth with that 1 inch coil is an engineering feat in my mind and I am extremely thankful for their availability.

 

[digitrich]

It's not the iron that makes as much of a difference for me in semi auto or manual sens. It seems to have a great deal to do with whether there is electrical interference present. In an area with little electrical interference I can run the sensitivity in manual extremely high which is awesome however it gets quite ridiculous digging 22 shorts at 7 inches that sounded off like a quarter on the surface. Auto sensitivity seems to work better than manual in areas with lots of electrical interference or heavy mineralization. I always first attempt lowering the gain from 7 to 6 to 5 and then the sensitivity. That seems to produce the best depth for me.

 

[Ralph Sun Ray]

Digitrich,

Just to correct a couple of things. I hunt in both manual and semi-auto sensitivity, with a lot of other settings, depending on the ground conditons and trash. Where you ever got the idea I only hunt in manual sensitivity I have no clue. Also, the teeth on the strain relief are plastic, not metal. However, the strain reliefs are tightened by us when manufactured and should not be tightened more as they are set where we want them. (See my response on a post today on the Sun Ray Detector Electronics Forum for more information.) Thank you.

Ralph (Sun Ray)

 

[Steve(MS)]

The Explorer pinpoint mode sensitizes/desensitizes itself according to if you have the coil or probe close or far away from the ground or metal object. If you have ever laid the detector on top of the ground with the coil facing no ground, sometimes it will start going berserk while in pinpoint mode. As you move toward metal, it will start to desensitize quite rapidly. I think part of the problem lies with how the pinpoint mode operates.

 

[digitrich]

Sorry for the typo Ralph, I should have said mostly hunts in manual sensitivity as that's what I noticed and you have told me on several occasions in our different discussions of you helping me to learn my SE in the past; thank you, by the way. My point was, that I strongly doubted that you built a probe and then only tested it in auto sensitivity, as Pete posted above. I thought that statement needed correction, probably, yes, better by you than me. Sorry, just trying to help Did I catch you on a bad day, buddy? Well, I hope it gets better.

 

[ED-NH]

I run in manual sensitivity as I lose depth when running in semi-auto. As for the pinpointer, I have noticed some erratic when I switch on the pinpointer. I may try swapping to semi-auto when that happens just for comparisons sake. Overall manual works well for me in both normal detecting as well as using the pinpointer.

Ed-