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Sovereign Meter New

As Kered said it is a tight fit but to make it easier to close when using headphones with a right angle jack you can take a wide piece of Velcro around 1 inch by 3 inches long and attach it to the flap first and then just pull it down to close it.
 
Critter that's actually a cell phone organizer that I use for my meter when hip/chest mounting. It has elastic sides so the meter fits snugly plus no holes to cut out for the cables. I just tuck the top flap under my belt and can close it if needed.
 
The brochure lists a scaling chart for the input voltage range displayed on the LCD screen. You would adjust this by using two resistors before the IHI and ILO input pins. Refer to the schematic below I made to easily show the proper configuration. That should set the unit up to display anything up to 2 volts. You'd then use the calibration pot on the unit to tune it properly to show 180 for a quarter.

Further down in the brochure is a chart with proper setup based on if the positive or negative input pins to IHI and ILO are isolated from the main power source to the 0V and V+ pins. The unit could be damaged if set up improperly with this. I'll have to take the time to review the jumper configuration they supply to determine what needs done here. I'm not sure if the negative input to ILO is using a seperate isolated negative output from the Sovereign to the display input of commercial meters or if they are simply grounding this pin to the main ground. If anybody already has this information please post it.

They make reference to selectable decimal points but I don't see any mention on being able to change that. It wouldn't really matter anyway where the decimal point is on the screen. Just ignore it, but I would figure that set up for 2V resolution it would automaticly put it where it should be.

Final Note: I'm not sure if the two resistors below would have to be external. From the looks of the brochure it might provide solder points for this, or at the very least require these solder points to be altered. Isn't real clear, but it does make some kind of reference to that.
 
crazyman said:
Critter that's actually a cell phone organizer that I use for my meter when hip/chest mounting. It has elastic sides so the meter fits snugly plus no holes to cut out for the cables. I just tuck the top flap under my belt and can close it if needed.

Where do you have the meter in relation to the control box and your body? I'm thinking it would be easiest to have the meter in front of the box on my hip for easy viewing.
 
Once I have the Sovereign set up for a particular site and since I pinpoint in the discrimination mode there is rarely a need to mess with the settings so I slide the control box behind my hip and then the meter sits forward in front of my hip so I just need to look down at the meter when I hit a target.
 
Hey Critterhunter
I have been following you work closely on this subject of a digital meter for the sovereign. Looks interesting i might give it a go. Have you had any more information on making it work?
 
I need to dig up the coil cable pinouts for the Sovereign to figure out if the negative side of the input for the display is a seperate isolated ground or if Sovereign meters are using the main ground. In other words, depending on if the ground signal for the display is isolated from the negative ground being used to actually power the unit it's self. Depending on which the meter would have to be configured properly according to the sample circuits provided in the brochure and data sheet.

When I have the time to investigate this and further review the meter's spec sheet I'll throw up some simple wiring instructions containing everything needed to build the project. It isn't going to be complicated. Just some simple wiring and maybe adding a few resistors. Those might be supplied with the unit already. Not sure until I have more time to review the information. I'll draw up a simple and complete wiring circuit with instructions. Anybody who can do a little soldering and follow simple schematic should be able to build this in well under an hour's time.

I also need to take my GT apart to check a few things with my multimeter, including the ground signal(s) and also to find an easy and simple place to connect power to the unit. I'll try to find a spot providing proper voltage that will be easy to access. As for the voltage input to actually show a number on the display, more than likely the easiest place to connect to that would be right at the coil cable connector inside the box. I still need to look inside to confirm all this, though. Maybe tonight I'll break out the multimeter and start taking some measurements. I'll take some pictures to post and illistrate things. Even if I had the right information off the web I'd still be checking things with my multimeter for myself. Never trust the web, or me for that matter. :biggrin:

Again, use at your own risk. Until I build one myself I can't even say it'll work, let alone damage the machine. It's real easy to overlook something on paper. So long as I'm in there I might wire up a remote pinpoint switch for the GT. I haven't seen this done yet on this model with the multiple positions on it's switch. If I do I'll throw up some photos and info on that as well. I'll probably wire it up with a plug on the side of the box. That way if you hipmount the unit you can just unplug the remote switch and use the stock one.

If you don't have much experience with a soldering iron I'd urge you to send your machine to him and pay to have it done. I'll try to find an easy goof proof spot to make the connections so there is less risk of overheating something on the board by accident, but it's still safer to have somebody with experience do it.
 
great stuff critter, i know what you mean about the internet, all to easy to over look something!

Cheers and good luck!
 
Your second (100K resistor needs to be a 90K 1%, the first 910K needs to be 877K and put a 100K 15 or 20 turn in series (to cal the whole thing).

Looks like JP is REALLY p*@sed with you critterhunter, but I shouldn't worry too much, It's not like you stole the cure for cancer or is it?

I mean metal detectors are TOYS after all. No REALLY, compared to some of the military stuff I've worked on even the "highest tech" machine is a toy.

Check out this link; http://www.lascarelectronics.com/temperaturedatalogger.php?datalogger=108 There's even a calculator to help you choose the resistor values.

Just for the record, I thought about using this meter about 18 months ago, thought not quite in the configuration Joe uses, but discounted it as it was too expensive.

Hey why not add a switch and have the meter 500 AND 180. There, now I don't mind if you copy me, I couldn't care less. I've got nothing to prove when it comes to what I know about electronics.:ninja:
 
The resistor values are off the data sheet, but closer calibration probably is needed. With the setup you list you'd for sure be able to calibrate it properly. Only way to tell would be to wire it up.

As far as "stealing" goes, what am I stealing here? That voltmeter is available to the public. The way to use a voltmeter is going to be the same regardless of what it's being used on. You can't really protect how a general purpose device (like a volt meter) is used. That's what voltmeters are designed to do- monitor voltage from various sources, and the list of possibilities there is endless, with use on the Sovereign just being one of them. I could see why he'd be mad if he had a custom display that somebody copied, but this unit isn't specificly meant for a Sovereign. It's meant for any general purpose application where you need to monitor voltage. It could just as easily be installed on a workbench to monitor a power supply's output, or in a car's dash to monitor the battery voltage or alternator. Since there are already several threads on the web showing how to wire a voltmeter up to your Sovereign, the material for that already exists too. Any old voltmeter, including this one, can be used as a VDI display on it. By that logic Minelab or Sunray might just as well be mad at any aftermarket VDI display for the Sovereign, since they all are doing the same thing.

In other words, I'm posting nothing that doesn't already exist on the web. All I'm doing is trying to make it a little more clear for people and put it all in one place, whether they want to wire up this meter or any of the other thousands that exist out there that can be used on the machine. I'm not even sure if I'd want to use that meter as I've found a few others that I like better. I also probably wouldn't mount it that way myself. I'd probably install it in a tiny black box wired to the machine via flexible spiral wire. That way I could velcro it where I wanted, on top of the hand grip, to the side of the box, or even on the face, all depending on what configuration I had the box in. The main thing is no need to modify coil cables, and for that matter you could do the same internal wiring for any of the homemade meters that there are build threads for. I'm thinking of using a plug on the box that the meter can be plugged into. That way if down the road you wanted to use a different voltmeter you could just unplug this one and plug another in, or use one of the commercial ones in the regular configuration. I like this idea because at night I could plug in one of those glowing LED number displays instead of an LCD one used during the day.

That's about as far as I'm going to take this project anyway until I buy a voltmeter myself. I may post the pinouts and also take some pictures of the internals of the Sovereign to show where the easiest places would be to wire a voltmeter up internaly, This information will apply to any meter for the most part.
 
Hey, just checked out that link to this LCD display. Thanks for posting that. Like you said, already has a calibration tool for the resistor values. Very nice.

I dug up an old thread in this forum where a guy was making a homemade VDI display that would also list text next to the ID # for what the target could be. The pictures don't exist anymore nor does a link to further information. I think he was going to sell it but looks like he never went anywhere with it. That got me thinking that maybe there are VDI displays out there already built in which you can assign text to specific voltage numbers (target ID's). Not sure if they exist because I haven't searched the web yet, but if they do it would be a nice ability to have. You could enter ID numbers for various coins and common trash for it to display and not have to carry around a chart. I'm going to look into this. If none exist it would be beyond my knowledge to build one. Maybe you could program a PIC chip to do something like this as they program fairly easy but I'm not sure. If I can dig anything up I'll post it.
 
I found a link to building one of the homemade Sovereign meters which shows a pinout of the cable. They seem to indicate that pin 5 is positive and pin 6 is negative for the meter to read, but don't take my word for it because they don't exactly say that clearly, and I have yet to break out a multimeter to check. I also still need to figure out if the negative (if 6 is indeed the negative for the meter) is isolated from the main ground on the Sovereign. This is important because many of these voltmeter displays need to be configured properly depending on which is which. Use at your own risk.

With the right input pins for the display and also the right voltage input to actually run the unit just about any voltmeter can be configured properly to use as an ID display on the Sovereign. I'll try to get some pictures soon of the internals of my GT and take some readings to find a good easy spot to access power for the unit to run on, as well as if the back of the coil connector is an easy spot to take your input to display from. Pictures when I do that.

It would also be a simple matter to hitch up a led light to the same spot you are getting power from on the GT to run the unit and use the LED to light up the display at night. Mount it near the display and cover the LED's top with a black hood of some sort so that the light is lighting up the meter's face and not shining in your eye. Radio Shack sells a bunch of these at different voltage raitings. If the regulator is outputting 10.5v something in that range should work fine. These little guys are very low on power consumption so it wouldn't really drain your battery that much faster, but if you wanted to you could put a switch on it to only turn it on at night.

Once more: I may be wrong about any of this. Use at your own risk of destroying your machine or meter. Find someobody more experience to confirm your information with as well.
 
Siliquaesid said:
Looks like JP is REALLY p*@sed with you critterhunter, but I shouldn't worry too much, It's not like you stole the cure for cancer or is it?

Just for the record, I thought about using this meter about 18 months ago, thought not quite in the configuration Joe uses, but discounted it as it was too expensive.

Hey why not add a switch and have the meter 500 AND 180. There, now I don't mind if you copy me, I couldn't care less. I've got nothing to prove when it comes to what I know about electronics.:ninja:

Wanted to say I am sorry he feels that way, though. Didn't mean to step on anybody's toes. Now that you've posted the link to pick the right resistor values for calibration he can be mad at you too. :biggrin: Like I said before, if you can't do a little soldering or understand how to wire up a voltmeter you would be better off sending the machine to him to have the work done, rather than risk damaging something. It's nice that he's offering that service. Anybody who enjoys this sort of stuff, can solder, and knows what they are doing more than likely isn't going to pay somebody to do it for them. I refuse to pay to have the brakes done on my car because I enjoy it, know what I'm doing, and will save a bunch of cash doing it myself. Same type of deal.

Doing it yourself also means you can pick the meter you like best from the many that are out there on the web. They all pretty much are going to be wired the same way. Only difference should be the resistors to calibrate them properly and setting them for proper input voltage to run on. By not mounting it in the speaker hole you can also keep the speaker intact for resale value. I'd rather velcro the unit in place somewhere myself. I'm also looking into a cheaper display because like you said that unit seems a little expensive.

That 180/500 switch idea is something to consider. I always wondered if those meters offered any better resolution on some targets, but from what I've read the higher resolution is much too jumpy. That's what interests me about using a decimal or two after the 180 number. Since it looks like the Sovereign is outputting a certain voltage based on the conductivity of the target, I wonder if you can see slight differences in 180 coins using the decimal(s) after the number. Copper pennies, clad dimes, silver dimes, quarters....they all should have slightly different conductivity values. I just wonder if the Sovereign averages them all into one voltage number to output, or if there are slight degrees that will show?
 
Last night I planned on opening the GT to have a look around with the multimeter. After you remove the battery there are a few screws that need to be removed. It looks like there is one under a sticker in the middle which states that the warranty will be voided if you remove it. I've still got a while to go on mine so that's as far as I'm willing to go myself until my warranty runs out.

I'll try to dig up some schematics on the web. I'm pretty sure I came across some pictures of the internals on a Sovereign on the Geotech or Thunting websites. Other than that it's up to somebody else to move forward with figuring out where the easiest place would be to wire an internal meter up. I'd take some voltage measurements somewhere easy to solder to right after the regulator, and also check the 5 and 6 pins on the inside back of the coil cable connector. Make sure you find out if the negative (pin 6?) is isolated from the main ground that the display is getting it's power from. Configure accordingly.
 
By the way, I was playing around with the GT box mounted under the straight shaft in the back and found that I could easily see the top left corner of the box without having to move my head from normal hunting position. That would be a good place to mount a display when shaft mounted, and with some flexible spiral wire (phones, CB mikes, etc) you could then velcro a meter there or on the face if you had it hipmounted. It would still weigh a lot less than the commercial meters with the ugly extra long cable mess, and you could just unplug the wire from the box when you didn't want to use a meter. No more fumbling with coil cables to take the meter on or off, or having to take the time to wind that heavy coil cable around the shaft.

A friend of mine that I fly RC with has taken the aerial video stuff to the next level. He's using goggles to view live video from the plane for first person view like he was in the plane. He doesn't even need to see the plane by eye anymore and will fly a few miles out where that would be impossible anyway. If you wanted to get real slick about it you could mount a tiny LCD display in the corner of a pair of sunglasses and always have the target ID number in plain view.
 
Hi Critter, could you send me the link to this guys page i may have a way to find the lost information


Critterhunter said:
Hey, just checked out that link to this LCD display. Thanks for posting that. Like you said, already has a calibration tool for the resistor values. Very nice.

I dug up an old thread in this forum where a guy was making a homemade VDI display that would also list text next to the ID # for what the target could be. The pictures don't exist anymore nor does a link to further information. I think he was going to sell it but looks like he never went anywhere with it. That got me thinking that maybe there are VDI displays out there already built in which you can assign text to specific voltage numbers (target ID's). Not sure if they exist because I haven't searched the web yet, but if they do it would be a nice ability to have. You could enter ID numbers for various coins and common trash for it to display and not have to carry around a chart. I'm going to look into this. If none exist it would be beyond my knowledge to build one. Maybe you could program a PIC chip to do something like this as they program fairly easy but I'm not sure. If I can dig anything up I'll post it.
 
Do a search in this forum for "homemade meter" and it'll pop up on the first page or so. I looked again at that thread and I don't think it was labels but rather pictures that you could have show up with various VDI numbers on the meter. I wouldn't care for that as much as just some text reminding me what targets could be in that number range. Haven't been able to find any voltmeters that will display text with various voltage readings to easily do this, though. I'm sure they exist somewhere as it would make sense for certain equipment displays to have warning text or other info displayed when certain voltage levels are hit.
 
What irks me is that here we have a person who as in the past has a great product and again a better product in which he has invested time , effort and experience and there is always someone who in a matter of a few days thinks to save a few bucks he can produce the same results. I really do not like posting this type of response but I also really don't like scammers who try to cut out hard working entrepreneurs .
All I can say is if you are so inventive then rather than copying why don't you produce something we can appreciate?

Rob
 
Robcz said:
What irks me is that here we have a person who as in the past has a great product and again a better product in which he has invested time , effort and experience and there is always someone who in a matter of a few days thinks to save a few bucks he can produce the same results. I really do not like posting this type of response but I also really don't like scammers who try to cut out hard working entrepreneurs .
All I can say is if you are so inventive then rather than copying why don't you produce something we can appreciate?

Rob

So your first post Rob is this. Not very forum friendly is it? I know i haven't been here long but still now some etiquette. Honestly how many people would be willing to take apart their own sovereign to do what critter hunter is saying? 10% maybe 20% of his sales. Also this the internet is a free domain and unless the idea and technology behind the meter has been patented then unfortunately anyone can have a go them selves to build a homebrew version.
That is the reality of the world we live in, look at naptser, film sharing, you tube, google all here for us to sit at home and basically find out any information we want no one is a scammer it all freedom of information.

Its scary but George Orwell 1984 has happened when google was born!
 
My motto is if you can't say something nice keep your mouth shut. As someday you may need help and no one will help you or give you the wrong info. Being on social security I need to save all I can and now the Black House wants to mess with my insurance. Eat hamburger instead of the steak welfare people eat. I will build a meter if and when every thing is finalized. Have a nice day from the deep south.
 
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