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Ron`s meter
- Thread starter tometusns
- Start date
Critterhunter
New member
Yep, it's a great meter, and standing up it's easier to see down the shaft past the grip than the Minelab meters which lay down low. Some even mount Ron's meter on the grip by bending the pipe hanger mount it uses. One of the other perks to Ron's meter is that he uses a very short length of coil cable and then a thin cable to plug into the meter, unlike the Minelab meters which use a very long length of coil cable. Less mess and fuss on your shaft with Ron's for a more clean look and a bit less weight. Also, you can plug an extension from Radio Shack into that thin cable and chest or hip mount the control box if you don't have a long enough thin cable to do that.
Some of the old mods for homemade meters...All of them I saw would tap into the coil connector by stripping back the connector and gaining access to it behind the connector. Problem is you had to hack every coil for that deal to plug into your home made meter. Ron's solution using a short length of coil cable so you don't have to hack into cables is the perfect solution IMO. I'm curious how long his meter will run on it's battery. I'm betting at least a year of run time with normal hunting if not more, as that meter is very easy on batteries.
Other perk is no need to use a v-clip like the Minelabs do, so you can mount it anywhere without having to remove the V-clip and re-screw (use flat head screws) or re-rivet it somewhere else.
I wonder if Ron has thought about using the version of that volt meter that has a back light as I've seen the same one with that. I think that light only comes on a few seconds when you press a little button on it but he could change that easily to stay on all the time by removing the little capacitor it charges and using a small switch to turn it on/off. Those tiny LED lights draw very little battery power so I'm sure it would still run for many hours with the light on.
Then again people could just buy a little clip on LED light at an auto parts store or something meant for dashboards and clip it right on the shaft aimed at the meter for night hunting. Those led tiny snake flashlights you can adjust anyway and clip on to stuff last for many hours before the battery goes dead.
Some of the old mods for homemade meters...All of them I saw would tap into the coil connector by stripping back the connector and gaining access to it behind the connector. Problem is you had to hack every coil for that deal to plug into your home made meter. Ron's solution using a short length of coil cable so you don't have to hack into cables is the perfect solution IMO. I'm curious how long his meter will run on it's battery. I'm betting at least a year of run time with normal hunting if not more, as that meter is very easy on batteries.
Other perk is no need to use a v-clip like the Minelabs do, so you can mount it anywhere without having to remove the V-clip and re-screw (use flat head screws) or re-rivet it somewhere else.
I wonder if Ron has thought about using the version of that volt meter that has a back light as I've seen the same one with that. I think that light only comes on a few seconds when you press a little button on it but he could change that easily to stay on all the time by removing the little capacitor it charges and using a small switch to turn it on/off. Those tiny LED lights draw very little battery power so I'm sure it would still run for many hours with the light on.
Then again people could just buy a little clip on LED light at an auto parts store or something meant for dashboards and clip it right on the shaft aimed at the meter for night hunting. Those led tiny snake flashlights you can adjust anyway and clip on to stuff last for many hours before the battery goes dead.
Critterhunter
New member
Ron is the moderator. Look at the title of the stickys at the top of this forum You'll see his name under them. Just click on his name and shoot him a PM (private message).
GeorgeinSC
Well-known member
I purchased my first metal detector, a Sovereign Gt, in July and quickly learned that my hearing is such that even with hearing aids I was not hearing the difference in tones. Bought one of Ron's meters. Installed it and was one happy camper. With the aid of the meter I am beginning to be able to hear the tones much better. Maybe it is just having the meter as conformation of what I think I hear that makes the difference. Sure Glad that Ron provides this service to us Sovereign owners.
Critterhunter
New member
That's too cool. You know, in a way perhaps the meter is teaching you to "re-learn" your hearing so you can distinguish tones you couldn't before? Know what I mean? Like anything else practice makes perfect.
Oh by the way, some guys do the "Dixie Mods" in that they'll tweak the internal tone pot on the Sovereign to adjust to a tone more to their liking. Many prefer making the tone higher for so that silver for instance has an even higher pitch than it does now. I've thought about doing that, because my ears are tuned a little more to the higher pitch I'd hear on my QXT Pro for silver. But, over time I've gotten used to the slightly lower pitch of silver on the GT. But I still might play with that to see. So if your hearing isn't meshing with the GT, perhaps a lower or higher adjustment on the internal pot will put the tones more in your range of hearing, depending on if you have high or low frequency nerve damage?
Only thing is make sure you mark the POT where it was set from the factory well, so that you can return it to that if you ever sell it or don't like what it was changed to. I have read that some claim they can hear deeper targets a little better with a higher adjusted pitched on say silver, but be warned that ALL the tones rise or fall depending on which way you adjust that POT. And also be warned that there is more than one POT on the board (from memory here), so don't be adjusting POTs unless you know which one you are playing with. Search this forum or the modifications forum and you might be able to find threads that were posted a while back on that. Far as I know all the Sovereign models had this tone adjustment POT in them.
Oh by the way, some guys do the "Dixie Mods" in that they'll tweak the internal tone pot on the Sovereign to adjust to a tone more to their liking. Many prefer making the tone higher for so that silver for instance has an even higher pitch than it does now. I've thought about doing that, because my ears are tuned a little more to the higher pitch I'd hear on my QXT Pro for silver. But, over time I've gotten used to the slightly lower pitch of silver on the GT. But I still might play with that to see. So if your hearing isn't meshing with the GT, perhaps a lower or higher adjustment on the internal pot will put the tones more in your range of hearing, depending on if you have high or low frequency nerve damage?
Only thing is make sure you mark the POT where it was set from the factory well, so that you can return it to that if you ever sell it or don't like what it was changed to. I have read that some claim they can hear deeper targets a little better with a higher adjusted pitched on say silver, but be warned that ALL the tones rise or fall depending on which way you adjust that POT. And also be warned that there is more than one POT on the board (from memory here), so don't be adjusting POTs unless you know which one you are playing with. Search this forum or the modifications forum and you might be able to find threads that were posted a while back on that. Far as I know all the Sovereign models had this tone adjustment POT in them.
Myself I am very hard of hearing so I have very power full hearing aids and can not use them with headphones, so I had to find headphone with the most volume and good tone quality which makes a big difference.
Now on the tone I had bought 2 used ones to resell and found they had the tones set as high as they go, both people I bought them from bought them this way and said they couldn't find much with them. I tried it and found my nickles almost sounded like my 176-177 signals and the high tones were so high I would get on a copper or silver coin that it was very hard to hear for me. I set them to what my other Sovereigns were and found they worked excellent for ME after that and sold them with no complaints and the people that bought them do great. I got a very nice XS in and did a bunch of air test, then set the tones higher and loss about 1-1 1/2 depth on all my targets I had used, so put it back to factory spec and it worked fine. Now I am sure a lot of this has to do with my bad hearing so it is something like you say is mark the spot on the pot so you can turn it back to if you see what I did, plus if you ever decide the higher tones work best for you then make sure you set it back to where it should be before selling it. I learned from experience to ask before I buy a used one to see if any mods are done to the control box, if it has I am not interested.
Give it a try Critter and let us hear what you think of it.
Rick
Now on the tone I had bought 2 used ones to resell and found they had the tones set as high as they go, both people I bought them from bought them this way and said they couldn't find much with them. I tried it and found my nickles almost sounded like my 176-177 signals and the high tones were so high I would get on a copper or silver coin that it was very hard to hear for me. I set them to what my other Sovereigns were and found they worked excellent for ME after that and sold them with no complaints and the people that bought them do great. I got a very nice XS in and did a bunch of air test, then set the tones higher and loss about 1-1 1/2 depth on all my targets I had used, so put it back to factory spec and it worked fine. Now I am sure a lot of this has to do with my bad hearing so it is something like you say is mark the spot on the pot so you can turn it back to if you see what I did, plus if you ever decide the higher tones work best for you then make sure you set it back to where it should be before selling it. I learned from experience to ask before I buy a used one to see if any mods are done to the control box, if it has I am not interested.
Give it a try Critter and let us hear what you think of it.
Rick