Sovereign GT with Patriot Meter Mod, well balanced.

[Old California]

Today, added the finishing touches to an on going 3 year project. Auctally took three Phases to complete, then a forth today switching over to a T-handle setup.

Extreamly well balanced, Analog meter assembly above the handgrip with all the meter circuit components inside the rear housing.

One lightweight model, the T-handle is super light and the Analog meter assembly light as well.

Many thanks to Joe Patrick for inventing the Patriot Meter, I wish Minelab would have used Joe's Patriot Meter on future Sovereign models. Would have been a success, the setup below is what I believe it would have looked like or very similar.

Great meter, ID is spot-on. Has several neat features, One I prefer to use is the Block feature. All nickels (v-nickels, Buffalo, shield) ID the same with block feature, no chance to miss one even deep.

Very excited, been a long mod in the process and it's finally finished.

Thanks for looking,
Paul

 

[Mega]

Simply stunning,that is a superb piece of craftsmanship,it looks like it should have left the factory like that

 

[Old California]

Thanks Mega,

Yes, That's important getting the finished mod to look like it came off the assembly line.

Doesn't always work out that way, but luckily this one did.

Thanks for the encouraging words.

Paul

 

[Percy]

A beauty for sure.......great job !

 

[vito]

Hello Paul.
That's a really nice custom job.
Looks like fresh out of the card box to me.
Great like all your customizings. ---

Thanks for sharing.

 

[Old California]

Thank you Percy,

I'm so glad this particular Meter assembly worked great, was about to go with another setup but finally ditched that one and went with the XLT meter setup.

Thanks again,
Paul

 

[Old California]

Thanks vito,

I've always enjoyed tinkering with stuff, especially with metal detectors. Do have other detector mods on the books hopefully can get to them in the near future.

Have another Explorer mod going on, that one will be my all-time best if I can find the energy to complete it. Another Mark 1 mod, hopefully this year.

Thanks again,
Paul

 

[Cameraniac]

Wow, you really turned that GT into something special. Nice job.

 

[woodchiphustler]

I love it "My Old Friend"

 

[Donny nj]

n/t

 

[Old California]

Thanks George,

Sorry for the slow reply, been off line for quite awhile.

Thanks again old friend

Paul

 

[Old California]

Thanks Donny,

Yes, one of my favorite mods. Luckily, went smooth with no issues.

Thanks again,
Paul

 

[MickTwin]

Simply Gorgeous, and yes, Minelab should bring back the Sov in this configuration (and waterproof) !
Excellent job - Old California!

MickTwin

 

[Old California]

Thank you MickTwin,

Actually got out today for a quick hunt with the GT, Bagged an 1897 V-Nickel down between 7" - 8" inches. Patriot meter called it spec on as a nickel, sure enough a deep nickel.

The cool part with this mod, no coil cables run to or from meter assembly. The Patriot meter circuit board is soldered directly to GT circuit board hidden inside GT housing, all Patriot meter switches are mounted to the front of GT housing. Plus, the GT housing can still be disconnected from mounting clip for hip mount or for disassemble for additional future mods.

Thanks again,
Paul

 

[dixiedigger57]

Nice looking Paul!. Curious, is it hard to calibrate the meter? Does it drain down or dilute the effects of the machine circuits? Or just use a little battery life?.
Really like the look of meter graphics not being a meter person, but that's much more readable to us farsighted people.

 

[Old California]

Hello dixiedigger,

Those are great questions, how to Calibrate and does the meter circuitry delute performance or battery voltage.

One of the several things i enjoy with the Partiot meter is the calibration feature, Joe Patrick did an outstanding job designing the meter. He did away with the miniature pot for calibration, once it's calibrated by the user its set calibration is locked even when turning off the detector. No more drifting or accidentally bumping the meter or potentiometer effecting calibration, that's one of the several cool things about the Patriot meter.

To calibrate, Simply press the little red button over a clean patch of ground. Using a quarter, scan the coil 2" to 4" inches above the coin until the calibration times out this usually takes about 35 seconds. During this process of calibration the meter needle will sweep back and forth, after calibration is completed the Iron Sentry indictor red light will flash on and off and the meter will slowly raise until it reaches 180 which is the coin
ID portion on the analog meter face plate. From here, the meter is calibrated until the user changes coils.

This past weekend, met up with a local user and he had a GT. Naturally, Was curious if our two GT models fared differently on performance and how his 180 meter compared with the Partiot meter. He has one of Ron's meters.

The 180 meter is an excellent meter for the Sovereign, I'ved used them for years but after using the Patriot meter I'm spoiled. Especially, No more constant calibrating with the Patriot it's locked to the coil even after turning off detector. Both meters did good on surface and deep coins, ID swayed of course on the deeper coins but both correctly gave us an indication the coins were deep.

Performance between the two, no difference both had the same performance on depth no differeces.

Battery drainage, the Patriot meter uses one 9-volt battery, has a back light. So it doesn't drain power from the Sovereign circuitry, like Ron's meter it uses the coil cable to create the ID. In my case, Did away with extra meter cable and solder the patriot meter circuitry directly to the board then adding a small jack to plug in the meter. This allows the control housing to still be disconnected from the handle, leaving the modified analog portion outside tucked inside a gutted XLT meter housing.

Overall, The unit is well balanced and sort of gives the user the impression the detector is analog technology.

HH,
Paul