Some type of interference

[ngrelic]

Took the x50 out relic hunting this morning. About 45 min. into the hunt I started getting some type of interference that made the numbers go crazy and got so many mixed tones fluttering all over the place that it sounded like a demented flute player. I had already found a musket ball and carbine bullet before this started and was able to read a minie ball, another musket ball, and a pistol bullet even through the noise. Also the numbers locked on the signals. The noise cancel did nothing to deter the interference. I came home after about an hour and a half of hunting. First thing I did was try the machine in my yard, worked perfectly. I believe I would have found much more at this spot had the noise thing not happened. The x50 seems to be a great relic machine so far.

Has anyone else experienced this type of interference? What do you think it may be? By the way, I was not that close to power lines. Any help would be appreciated.

 

[John(Tx)]

Were you by any chance using wireless headphones? The reason I ask is because I had the same problem yesterday with my machine, thought I was going to have to send it in for repairs. I checked the GB and batteries but couldn't get it to act right. Got home and check it in the yard and it worked flawlessly, hooked up my wireless phones and started acing up, unplugged the phones and it was ok. The headphone battery must of been going out cause after recharging the phones everything is ok. The wireless headphones are from Radio Shack, my second pair. I hooked up my Troy phones, A-ok. Hope this helps. John

 

[ngrelic]

Thanks John, but no I wasn't using wireless headphones. Glad to hear you solved your problem though. I'm sure this was some kind of interference from an outside source and not a problem with the x50.

Like I said, the x50 seems to be a great relic hunter so far. Last week I went to one of my "hunted out" spots with a buddy that was using a DFX. We did some signal comparisons as I am still getting familiar with the machine. The x50 kept up with the DFX with no problem and even did a better job of discrimination on a couple of targets. We were both able to recover a couple of bullets, and a copperhead.

 

[Mark in S.E. IA]

Hey ngrelic, the same thing happen to me about a year ago with the X-50. I had to send it in to ML for repairs and they replaced the main board, rebuilt the batterie box and did something to the phone jack.

 

[ngrelic]

Mark, was your problem intermittent or constant? When I tried the detector in my yard later it worked perfectly.

 

[khouse]

I was in a yard with my 70. I was running the sens at 28 with the 6 inch hfdd coil. There was an area in the yard that my 70 got the jitters real bad. All I did was hold the detector coil on the ground. Then started reducing the sens until the jitters stopped. Then went down 2 more numbers. This was #14 on the sens. I hunted that area at low sens and found 3 nickels (one was a P nickel the other a Buffalo!) that I know others passed by. I'm sure there is a shallow electrical wire or something just in that area. I had already tried adjusting the noise cancel with no success.

 

[Mark in S.E. IA]

ngrelic, it would come and go. The first time it acted up I was in the woods. I changed the batteries, unpluged the phones, reground balanced, checked the noise cancel and it was still going nuts. I went home and turned it on and it worked just fine, I guess I ran into some bad ground at that place. 2 days later I was working a farm field and it started to do it again, so I started to work my way back to the pickup and it started to work just fine. I was at that field for about 4 hrs that day and the problem would come and go. sometimes it would last for 20 min's and then work just fine for an hr or more and then act up again.

I would say your unit is going bad, call ML and get it fixed, so you can get back out and find the good stuff

I've owned the X50 since Jan 2006 and I MD at least 6 days a week if the grounds not froze. Every problem that you may have read about the X-50, on this forum or any other forum, I have had with my X-50. ML has replaced my X-50 , 4 times now and I sent my 4th X-50 in for repairs a year ago because of the problems were talking about right now.

Now on the flip side of the coin. My first year of using the X-50 I found 167 silver coins, V's, Buff's, IH's and over 600 wheats. Most were found at hard hit parks and schools. The second year my numbers were a little lower and this year my numbers are way down, not because of the X-50, because I'm running out of good places to work. For the past 2 years I have been using the 10.50 MF DD coil and I have no problem finding coins 10" or a little deeper at those hard hit parks and schools.

 

[moa]

My x50 went nuts over the weekend a number of times, very similar situation, But it seems if you adjust the sensitivity, to 14 or 15 it goes away. And I think it may happen if you ground balance in an area with metal....... I didn't want to send mine back just yet. But it does like going nuts.........

 

[ngrelic]

Thanks for all of the replies. If this happens again I'll for sure contact Minelab about repairs or replacement.

 

[Mark in S.E. IA]

Hey moa, if you lower the Sen to 14 or 15 and it stops chattering then you don't have the problem that I was talking about. When I was having the problem with the X-50 I lowered the Sen to #1 and it still would chatter and the number would jump all around. It sounds like to me that you were MD'ing in some tuff ground and lowering the Sen will help deal with that.

 

[moa]

Mmm, I just had a detect in the area I have been detecting in since I got the detector. It has never jumped around before. It is only after the weekend when it started and it Jumps quite a bit without any reason..... I do have a new type of batteries they were cheaper than the previous ones. I wonder if that has anything to do with it. I might stick with the more expensive batteries.......... I do like this forum It helps alot!!! through the periods of no chattering I found 3 silver 1930s nz coins and a 2dollar, a 1 cent and a couple of other 1960s coins. They may just throw wobblys , if they havent found a silver coin in a while.

 

[ngrelic]

Yeah, this is certainly not a ground balance issue. I think I will go ahead and contact the guys at Minelab.