Critterhunter
New member
A friend got a new Excalibur and wanted me to wrap the coil cable well for me, as far away from the coil as possible (on the stock shaft). I prefer to wrap the coil cable on my GT up past the grip, but obviously there really isn't the room to do that on the stock Excal shaft. Two places a coil cable tends to short is right at the cable where it meets the coil connector, due to no flex there to relieve stress. For that reason if body mounting it's important to make two loose loops right before the coil connector where it plugs in, to absorb and motion before it reaches the plug. The other point where coil cables tend to short, especially in the water due to drag, is right where the cable meets the coil. For that reason I prefer the cable snug there so as not to be flopping around in the water with each swing, working it's self back and fourth which over time can cause a short there too.
I like to run coil cables straight up the shaft, secured well, without spiraling them around the shaft, as I feel the quicker you can get any metal away from the coil the better. Couldn't do that with this Excal though. Well, I probably could have but a few attempts found it to be a real PITA to get the length right and still be able to stick the coil back on the shaft, since obviously I can't detach the coil from the detector to wrap it easily like on my GT.
If the cable isn't moving it might not be seen by the detector, but just the same metal in the detection field can cause the field to "butterfly" in it's pattern, creating dead blind spots at both top and bottom of the coil (double image), from what I've read anyway. Besides saving weight, that's one of the reasons I prefer to use the extra long Whites Tall Man Carbon Fiber rod as my lower shaft on my light weight land rig. Even on the stock shaft, which is my water shaft, I flip that little snap pin used to adjust the detector height upside down, so the bottom of the "V" is pointing away from the coil. Maybe it won't help, but then again maybe it will to some degree.
By the way- handing tip- drill out the other side of the shaft where your snap pin pops out, so both heads can pop out, as that will take a ton of slop out of the stock shaft. Camlocks are pretty much worthless IMO. On my custom land shaft I don't use a land shaft, but because I've got the snap pin popping out both sides it's very snug. Don't know why Minelab didn't just spend the extra 1/1000th of a cent in production to run the drill all the way through the shaft for the snap pin. Just make sure to drill very straight, and only as big as needed, as drilling bigger will not help as much to rid slop, and also slightly off center and you'll never get both heads to pop out both sides.
PS- When I chest mount my GT to water hunt, I like to secure the cable on the shaft right at the grip, and then have it route over the opposite side of the shaft on top before routing to the control box, where then it loops twice loosely before plugging in. At the shaft though, I've been thinking perhaps I should make two loose loops there as well, as a sort of shock absorbing point to avoid stress being place on any one small area. Thoughts?
Here's some pics of my velcro nightmare job on his new Excal. Sure, using velcro all over like mad might not look too sleek, but it's far better than a short down the road. Notice I even secured the battery POD's end of it's "loop" motion it makes, so that isn't flopping around over time in the water...
After thought...While this Excal is in my possession I'm going to do a video air testing it's 10" Tornado against my GT using it's 10" Tornado, in a low EMI remote environment so both machines will be at full sensitivity. Also plan to test the low/high volume thing on the Excal as I've already done on video with my GT, to see if the depth changings for PP (which I expect it will as it did on my GT). Also curious to see if the depth of disc on the Excal changes with full volume, as on my GT I saw no such change in depth with the headphones I'm using. For that reason I feel that a depth change in disc might be due to the headphones being used, where some might not sound off as well at fringe depth with lowest volume. Curious to see if the Excels headphones require full volume for disc to blast thru at fringe depth.
I like to run coil cables straight up the shaft, secured well, without spiraling them around the shaft, as I feel the quicker you can get any metal away from the coil the better. Couldn't do that with this Excal though. Well, I probably could have but a few attempts found it to be a real PITA to get the length right and still be able to stick the coil back on the shaft, since obviously I can't detach the coil from the detector to wrap it easily like on my GT.
If the cable isn't moving it might not be seen by the detector, but just the same metal in the detection field can cause the field to "butterfly" in it's pattern, creating dead blind spots at both top and bottom of the coil (double image), from what I've read anyway. Besides saving weight, that's one of the reasons I prefer to use the extra long Whites Tall Man Carbon Fiber rod as my lower shaft on my light weight land rig. Even on the stock shaft, which is my water shaft, I flip that little snap pin used to adjust the detector height upside down, so the bottom of the "V" is pointing away from the coil. Maybe it won't help, but then again maybe it will to some degree.
By the way- handing tip- drill out the other side of the shaft where your snap pin pops out, so both heads can pop out, as that will take a ton of slop out of the stock shaft. Camlocks are pretty much worthless IMO. On my custom land shaft I don't use a land shaft, but because I've got the snap pin popping out both sides it's very snug. Don't know why Minelab didn't just spend the extra 1/1000th of a cent in production to run the drill all the way through the shaft for the snap pin. Just make sure to drill very straight, and only as big as needed, as drilling bigger will not help as much to rid slop, and also slightly off center and you'll never get both heads to pop out both sides.
PS- When I chest mount my GT to water hunt, I like to secure the cable on the shaft right at the grip, and then have it route over the opposite side of the shaft on top before routing to the control box, where then it loops twice loosely before plugging in. At the shaft though, I've been thinking perhaps I should make two loose loops there as well, as a sort of shock absorbing point to avoid stress being place on any one small area. Thoughts?
Here's some pics of my velcro nightmare job on his new Excal. Sure, using velcro all over like mad might not look too sleek, but it's far better than a short down the road. Notice I even secured the battery POD's end of it's "loop" motion it makes, so that isn't flopping around over time in the water...
After thought...While this Excal is in my possession I'm going to do a video air testing it's 10" Tornado against my GT using it's 10" Tornado, in a low EMI remote environment so both machines will be at full sensitivity. Also plan to test the low/high volume thing on the Excal as I've already done on video with my GT, to see if the depth changings for PP (which I expect it will as it did on my GT). Also curious to see if the depth of disc on the Excal changes with full volume, as on my GT I saw no such change in depth with the headphones I'm using. For that reason I feel that a depth change in disc might be due to the headphones being used, where some might not sound off as well at fringe depth with lowest volume. Curious to see if the Excels headphones require full volume for disc to blast thru at fringe depth.