there always been talk about that shortening u coil cable will make ur machine go deeper ??

[tomcatpl]

any1 tested it ?? maybe it will make ur machine respond to targets a bit faster since the signal will get to the control box faster ??

 

[OldBeechnut]

Last spring I Shorten the excaliburs cable by 2 feet, noticed no difference in performance, added 6 feet to the Sovereign just to see..no difference, because the numbers are so small, difference if any is very minor.

 

[mudpuppy]

n/t

 

[tomcatpl]

got the s-8 today (s-12 r on back order again) just waitinhg for the connectors

 

[JohninNC]

For there to be any improvement with a shorter cable, the cable would have to exert some sort of lose or slow down of the signal from the coil to the machine. Most cables I've dealt with are twin co-axual or have a shield and the signal wire is large enough for there to not be any deprivation of the signal. I would expect the shorter or longer cable to make no difference at all.
John

 

[fowlercharles]

Hi tomcat, I have been detecting a long, long,,long time and that is the first time I ever heard of such a thing.Then again maybe it is some more of their(whoever) newest Technology being put out there for us to get all excited about..Give it some time and I am sure we will hear plenty more. HH, Charlie

 

[Lineweed]

i doubt a few inches reduction of cable can make a difference in depth...

 

[edjcox]

ok

here's some facts to ponder

electricity flows at close to the speed of light in copper wire. making coils feeder wire shorter will shorten the distance of travel but the time saved is so short it's irrelevant (picoseconds or smaller)

So no, it won't make a damn bit of difference. But if it makes you feel better why worry about facts?

Now what it might do is allow you to void your warranty, introduce a faulty or intermittant connection, or simply ruin your machine.

Does not seem to be a very good idea...

 

[khouse]

Electricity travels at 186,000 miles per second. Your cable length won't make a difference. However running your gain as high as possible in your ground, proper ground rejection and coil technique is essential to getting the most depth. Well among other things......

 

[Critterhunter]

I tend to agree but there are two factors to consider. The less wire the less resistance, which means more voltage at the TX coil. The other factor is there is less chance for RF noise to be picked up by the signal and degrade it. The sensitivity dial on most detectors functions by increasing the gain (strength) of the signal received from the RX coil. The higher the gain the more any introduced noise can distort or degrade the signal. That's why you can often run higher sensitivity settings in the woods or away from buildings and power lines. There is less introduced noise in the RX signal to distort it.

Whether any of the above two factors are big enough to make any kind of impact on performance is anybody's guess (probably not). I do, however, remember reading about a guy who did repairs on Excals and he would shorten the cables on them, claiming it improved performance. Whether that is true or not I don't know.

 

[otlew]

All I can say is these are engineered machines, and the variables involved are very well known by the engineers who design. If a couple of feet of coil length were a factor they should have considered that. I bet they did.

 

[Critterhunter]

Well, the problem is that on the Xcal and the Sovereign the coils have very long cables on them. This is so you can hip or chest mount your Sovereign control box for less weight or when water hunting and still have enough cable length to reach things for that. Problem is if you are land hunting and have the box mounted on the shaft you've got a lot of cable to coil around the shaft. Not a big deal to me, because I like to chest mount and go water hunting so I appreciate the extra coil length to be able to do that. Just that I've got more cable wraps around the shaft than other detectors I've owned.

 

[Ism]

Logically it can make a difference.

If the cable isn't shielded the long cable acts as an antenna for RFI. Any amateur radio operator will even make the ground wire on his set as short as possible because the extra wire can induce stray EMI into the radio set "and thats a ground wire". In addition, if the cable wrapped around the shaft it becomes an inductor which resists current change. The more wraps the greater the inductance ergo a greater resistance to current change. It also makes for a better antenna similar to a ferrite wound coil. Its minimal to be sure, but its there. In a noisy environment it can make enough of a difference to be noticable. Single frequency detectors might not be affected as much as a multi-frequency detector like the Minelab. Those that believe it can improve performance are not talking about speed of light, but about induced noise and we all know that affects depth and performance.

If it doesn't make a difference, why do engineers now cram detector circuitry in the coil?

 

[nge]

For there to be any improvement with a shorter cable, the cable would have to exert some sort of lose or slow down of the signal from the coil to the machine. Most cables I've dealt with are twin co-axual or have a shield and the signal wire is large enough for there to not be any deprivation of the signal. I would expect the shorter or longer cable to make no difference at all.
John

Try using different metal wires like , platinum or gold. After all, the ARE better conductor's of electricity......nge

 

[Critterhunter]

If it doesn't make a difference, why do engineers now cram detector circuitry in the coil?

That's an excellent point. Unique to the Xcal/Sov models (I only know of one other detector that does this), they have a pre-amp circuit in the coil so it can amplify the very week RX coil received target signal right at the source....Before it has a chance to pick up EMI and other distortions while traveling up the coil cable to the control box. Once it reaches the box the signal is then further amplified by your sensitivity setting. Too high a sensitivity setting means you are amplifying too much noise (EMI) or other distortions in the signal (even ground "glare" to an extent from minerals in the soil), and thus you get an unstable machine. That's why there is some merit to amplying the signal inside the coil at first before these kinds of distortions contaminate it, and also so that the signal is strong enough to be more inmune to picking up these distortions as it travels up the coil cable.

So, yes...I would agree that ideally the coil cable should be as short as possible to both avoid EMI, inductive resistance, or just plain old resistance in the circuit because of a longer wire it has to travel up...And also resistance to the power being applied down the coil cable to the TX winding (transmitter coil)...Which *might* get you a slightly stronger/deeper field as a result.

 

[JohninNC]

You might not believe it, but it's silver, copper, gold, then aluminum in that order. There is such a small difference, it won't help your coil. Shortening or lengthening the wire has very little effect on the resistance or the inductance.
John

 

[Critterhunter]

I don't think anybody is saying that shortening the coil will change resistance or inductance all that much at all to where it could even be measured unless you were using a really high resolution scale multimeter, but the EMI issue alone is reason enough to consider *potential* benefits. The more EMI or distortion introduced to the signal as it travels through the cable, the less sensitivity can be turned up for maximum depth. It might not be something you'd notice out in the woods, but in more suburban environments where there is more electrical/mechanical activity I bet it can make a difference, at least some times. After all, one of the reasons why they shield the inside of the control box with foil grounded to the ground trace on the circuit board isn't just about protecting other nearby devices from the electrical noise the detector is making, it's also vise versa.

 

[Hobo lobo]

Why don,t you mount the control box down by the coil then you could have a really short cable .LOL

 

[Ism]

If you think resistance, inductance and capacitance dont matter, read the coils forum at Geotech.

 

[Hobo lobo]

If you think resistance, inductance and capacitance dont matter, read the coils forum at Geotech.

They matter in the right place, but a few inches on the coil cable makes no difference.