Possible problem with E-trac??

4thDoctorWhoFan · Apr 10, 2010

I am new to metal detecting and recently purchased an E-trac. I am having an issue in detecting deep targets and your help would be appreciated.

I experimented with a coin garden in my yard and something seems to be off a little.

The main issue is on deeply buried coins. Since I don't have any silver dimes, I buried a clad dime around the 8 to 9 inch range. The detector in auto sensitivity even in the +3 range could not detect the dime.

I changed to manual mode and once I changed the setting to a sensitivity of about 25 or 26, I was able to detect the coin. However, at target ID is not steady. The FE numbers will jump all over the place and the CO numbers vary also except not nearly as much.

Am I doing something wrong or is this the typical behavior of the etrac with the stock coil? Or could something not be working correctly with either the coil or the detector?

Any help and insight would be helpful.

Ed in KC · Apr 10, 2010

Newly buried coins are harder to detect because the ground has been disturbed; in a year or two you'll probably have better results.

Cherry Picker · Apr 10, 2010

You're seeing typical results.

As Ed in KC posted, freshly buried coins are tough for any detector to find. While there are a lot of theories as to why this is so, I believe it has to do with disturbing the ground matrix which makes it tough for a detector to see the difference between the natural ground mineralization, and a deeply buried coin which would have a small change in the signal.

Don't be concerned your E-Trac sounds like it's doing just fine. When you get out in ground that hasn't been disturb, you'll hear those deep coins.

4thDoctorWhoFan · Apr 19, 2010

Have been to a number of places now like parks and schools and am I still haviing issues with depth. I have only found shallow coins and the only deep targets the detector seems to pick up is large iron. The detector seems to be unstable even in Auto sense as I get a lot of erratic readings below 4 inches. I am using Andy's coin program and have tried numerous setting configerations with no luck so far. :no:

I guess its possible I could be doing something wrong or the places I have been hunting have no deep targets but I am starting to get a sinking feeling that something is wrong with either the coil or the detector itself. Very disappointing.

I don't know if I should return the Etrac or send it in for repair or at least have a technician look at it.

Cherry Picker · Apr 19, 2010

How does it air test? Can you air test a coin at more than 6"? If you can I doubt there is a problem with the E-Trac. Make sure you do a noise cancel EVERY TIME before you hunt. On the erratic signals, are you digging up coins or garbage?

When I get erratic signals(I.E. CO jumping a lot) on targets less than 6" deep it's always been a non-coin target. On targets below 5" you will get some CO number variation, but it should give a reliable average. That is to say you may get varying numbers on each swing, but the majority of the time it should give you a number you can rely on as most likely.

4thDoctorWhoFan · Apr 19, 2010

Detector said:
How does it air test? Can you air test a coin at more than 6"? If you can I doubt there is a problem with the E-Trac.

Upon further experimentation, I have come to the conclusion that the Etrac is working properly. The problem with the depth issue must be with me, the places I am hunting or a combo of both.

Here are some results of a simple air test using a clad dime:
In Auto +3 the dime was detected at 8 inches.
In Manual 26 the dime was detected at 11-12 inches.
I had trash set to low, fast recovery off and deep off.

I was able to detect a clad dime I buried at 6-8 inches. Although the signal was not real strong, it was strong enough that I would have dug it.

This tells me that the machine is working correctly and the problem must be operator error and places I am hunting. :lol:

Thanks for the input.

Possible problem with E-trac??

4thDoctorWhoFan

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Ed in KC

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