Vaquero very erratic at lake today

[kansa54]

Took the Vaq. to the lake today to check out a swimming area. The V worked okay for the first 30 min. or so, but than it started chirping and giving false signals. I had a brand new battery in it and I have detected this area before without any trouble. I had it super tuned at first but soon switched back to normal operation and it still continued making a lot of chatter. I kept hunting and it would lock in on good targets but all the chatter was sure annoying. Anyone else experience this with their V.?
By the way, no gold but I found several coins, fish sinkers and lots of trash.
Clint

 

[Sandtick]

I've had this happen to me with my Vaq also. It turned out to be a homeowner who installed a new electric dog fence next to the area I was digging.
I also had this happen to my Tiger Shark but that turned out to be a leaky coil.

 

[wheatymike]

Happened on my Vaquero once. The battery was not staying in good. As it lost connection it would act erratic. Turned out to be the cheap battery wouldn;t fit well.

 

[Topo]

that has happened to me also, one time it was the battery almost running out, on another occasion it was due to the coil connector being loose

 

[tabman]

A too negative of a ground balance will cause a lot of false signals and will make you think it's EMI or a lot of ground clutter.

Lowering the sensitivity will make a too negative ground balance seem less bad which will lead you to believe the problem was a too high of sensitivity setting.

Been there done that.

tabman

 

[BarberBill]

Have had this problem twice with a Silver Sabre umax. Once it was a battery problem - replacement battery was no better than the one it replaced and the other time it was due to a hairline crack in the coil which had let the coil take on water.
BB

 

[kansa54]

Wheatymike, maybe it was the battery. I was using a cheap battery and had a hard time getting it to fit. Tabman, I believe I had it ground balanced okay but I will be more aware about it the next time. Great advice, thanks.
Clint

 

[SpiritRelic]

Could also be a girl laying out talkin or texting on a smart phone.Make sure your phone is off.It could be many sources of emi. Close by electrical equipment.A far off electrical storm.Early morning due on the grass can make the detector false.If you go to another area and the vaq works fine then there was or is a strong source of emi at that location.There could be minerals at the lake.