Time Ranger Owners HELP!!!!!!!!

[Alimo88]

Picked up a NEW BHTR from the classified's but have a bit of a problem with Ground Balancing.

With the coil in the air and watching the ground tracker at start up. The ground tracker has an initial reading 0 but the drops to -3 after a second or two. Is this normal?

When ground balancing as per the manual I need to be over very "easy" soil to get it to auto ground balance. No way could I get it to work down the beach even away from the water . is that normal?

Is the ground tracker a live readout? Mine only ever reads -3 or -2. Would have thought it might have been closer to 0 (zero) thats on general soil you would encounter anywhere

any idea of the scale the readout is in?

Finally even after ground balancing it seems to drift within about 15 seconds and produces a mid volume, slightly wavering hum. Far to annoying to detect with. is this normal?

thank you all in advance

PS I am normally on the fisher side of the forums

 

[TerraDigger]

Below is an excerpt from the WhiteRiver Hints Page I emailed you.

For the most reliable and stable operation, I'd follow BH's recommendation. It has been my experience that BH's advice is always good. Bottom center of the control panel is the ground monitor. The pointer will be on "0" in good soil conditions. If it moves left or right and doesn't go to center in a short time, simply pushing "all-metal smart trac" on the touchpad to reset the ground circuitry. Bounty Hunter's advice is to make sure you are not over a target when you make this adjustment.

 

[Alimo88]

Had it out again today and it still read only -3 or -2 very occasionally.
damn the bad luck

 

[Alimo88]

It only read -3, and occasionally would read -2. is more correct English

 

[TerraDigger]

Alimo,

I know this seems rudimentary. Have you buried a 1-2 Aus dollar coin......and see if the machine detects it?

 

[Alimo88]

Oh it works in "normal mode" but the ground balancing / gold detecting / all metal mode are all affected buy the machines apparent inability to
A: ground balance and stay tuned
B: inability to ground balance on mildly difficult soils
C: ground tracker stays on -3 or -2 where we think 0 would be a better place for the arrow to start

I do appreciate your help

Red wine time here thank god

 

[nick hunter]

Hi.

First of all, the ground pointer, at least on the version 4 (that with the "P4" prospecting mode), will NOT go to "0" once ground balanced. It indicates the ground status, NOT the GB status. A dry sand beach contains absolutely NO mineralisation, so it s normal for the ground monitor to indicate "-3" to "-2", as this corresponds to the (inexistent-very low) ground mineralisation. The use of the Ground Monitor? Well, if you balanced on the dry, getting "-3", and then venture to just a few meters below the HIGH tide mark (DAMP sand), the Monitor will increase his status. It's the user, who knows his gb setting corresponds to "-3", that has to re-balance the detector for the new conditions signaled by the monitor.

A second point concerning GB : I'm an old rot, so believe what follows : if you want to use one of the all metal GB modes (all metal or P4) on the DRY sand, just GB the detector on the DAMP/WET sand. Weird? No !! you'll get a GB reading o 220 or more. Now go back to the dry and search in either of the GBalanced all metal modes : you will be able to hear a difference between ferrous and non ferrous targets. People will tell you that, your detector not being perfectly GBed, you will lose some depth. But what is an inch (at its maximum) compared to the ability to reject/recognise iron, while still retaining the detector's full capacities, especially the sensitivity in the P4 mode.

At last, to GB with the V4, I switch of course to all metal, put the searrchcoil ON the ground, at a place free of metals, and press/hold the smart trac button, until I hear a wobbly sound terminating with a high pitch. At this moment, I count about one second and release the button. You will see the numbers calculating and stop at the found ground value.

Hope this helps. The TR is a very versatile metal detector, I sure don't regret the purchase.

HH

Nick

 

[TerraDigger]

For an Old Rot.........your cranium matter works quite nicely........Cheers..