Myers Depot Metal Detectors

won't detect through leaves!?!

Donneybrook

Donneybrook

Elite Member
Joined
Jun 24, 2013
Messages
4,340
So recently i noticed that the reason why my MD usually doesn't work well in my woods is because it wont detect through a carpet of leaves! It detects through grass, woodchips and sand fine but wont detect through the leaves! I'm forced to rake the leaves before i detect! Just curious if anyone else has had a issue similar to this.
 
Donneybrook said:
So recently i noticed that the reason why my MD usually doesn't work well in my woods is because it wont detect through a carpet of leaves! It detects through grass, woodchips and sand fine but wont detect through the leaves! I'm forced to rake the leaves before i detect! Just curious if anyone else has had a issue similar to this.
Click to expand...

Have lots of Ironwood trees in your neck of the woods, do ya? :D
 
Ummmmmm, hmmmmmm, somethin aint right, u can detect through dirt, rocks and roots....but not dead leaves???? Ummmm what machine
 
its only a tiny bit of leaves. My detector is $74 bounty hunter, not that great a machine. But yes, the leaves do screw the machine up! its the weirdest and most annoying thing ever!
 
If the leaves are too deep and you are staying above them then you may be to high above the actual ground. Depending on the detector and coil you have here is an example...... if the coil is one inch above the leaves and the leaves are 3 inches deep above the ground surface , thats 4 inches total you are above the actual ground and already getting close to some detectors maximum depth range. In that scenerio you are hunting mostly whats in the leaves not in the ground. I dont know all the details , but just from the info you have given this is one possible explanation.


edit: I just looked back and seen you said there wasnt that many leaves but since you have a lower price bounty hunter if the problem was you werent finding anything it could still be valid. If the issue is the leaves causing false signals or something then I have no idea what it could be.
 
Some leaves do contain some magnesium.

It seems pretty farfetched for that to be your problem, but perhaps your detector is very sensitive to that and is causing your problem. Otherwise, I think it has to do with soil mineralization or ??????. In any event, it is an interesting situation. Please keep us updated.
HH,
John Morton
 
ohiochris said:
.


edit: I just looked back and seen you said there wasnt that many leaves but since you have a lower price bounty hunter if the problem was you werent finding anything it could still be valid. If the issue is the leaves causing false signals or something then I have no idea what it could be.
Click to expand...

The leaves are all pressed together mostly so there is less than a quarter inch of leaves usually! crazy eh? When i go over the leaves it gives out a lot of false signals and takes out alot of the real ones.

@jmorton
At first i had thought the soil was highly mineralized, but that is definitely not the issue, im 100% sure the detector just doesn't like these leaves!
 
Ok, now it's really really weird.

What kind of trees are the leaves from? Are they really moist? Are there iron/rusty patches on the ground? Is it just one patch of leaves or is it many? Does your BH react to all patches of leaves the same way?
Are there any sewage or drainage lines in the vicinity? Could someone have dumped some industrial/medical waste in the leaves? Could there be a buried cable or pipeline in the vicinity? Cell towers? Radio/tv towers? Could there have been a photographic processing plant nearby?

Is there any place nearby where you could test the machine on a bed of pine needles?

From what little I remember of my Botany classes, the process of photosynthesis depends on the presence of microscopic traces of magnesium and copper, and I guess that they remain in the fallen leaves and are simply included into the nutrient cycle. I doubt that the small amount of metal that is naturally in the leaves could affect a metal detector. Whatever is causing your situation has to be some sort of after-the-fact addition to the fallen leaves, at least I think so.

Can you borrow another MD to try it out in your misbehaving roughage?
HH,
John Morton
 
jmorton04 said:
What kind of trees are the leaves from? Are they really moist? Are there iron/rusty patches on the ground? Is it just one patch of leaves or is it many? Does your BH react to all patches of leaves the same way?
Are there any sewage or drainage lines in the vicinity? Could someone have dumped some industrial/medical waste in the leaves? Could there be a buried cable or pipeline in the vicinity? Cell towers? Radio/tv towers? Could there have been a photographic processing plant nearby?

Is there any place nearby where you could test the machine on a bed of pine needles?

From what little I remember of my Botany classes, the process of photosynthesis depends on the presence of microscopic traces of magnesium and copper, and I guess that they remain in the fallen leaves and are simply included into the nutrient cycle. I doubt that the small amount of metal that is naturally in the leaves could affect a metal detector. Whatever is causing your situation has to be some sort of after-the-fact addition to the fallen leaves, at least I think so.

Can you borrow another MD to try it out in your misbehaving roughage?
HH,
John Morton
Click to expand...

The leaves are dry, its a forest, so the leaves are all over, they're are no sewage dumps or any other chemical dumps, no cells towers or anything that could be affecting it.

All i know for sure is it struggles with accurate beeps when the leaves are there and when i rake them away its fine!
 
Had a tracker 4 and it shouldn't matter. If you have a few inches of leaves, I would totally get it because it's hard to get much deeper that 3-4 inches with that machine. 1/4" will not make much difference. There is no reason it would do that.
 
gameoftag said:
Had a tracker 4 and it shouldn't matter. If you have a few inches of leaves, I would totally get it because it's hard to get much deeper that 3-4 inches with that machine. 1/4" will not make much difference. There is no reason it would do that.
Click to expand...

Thats what i thought, but its most definitely the issue. The machine works great otherwise!
 
Are you just blasting through the leaves with your coil? That's what I'd do... rake through the leaves with the coil, scrubbing the ground with the coil. If they are dry leaves they should just brush aside.
 
HighFlyer said:
Are you just blasting through the leaves with your coil? That's what I'd do... rake through the leaves with the coil, scrubbing the ground with the coil. If they are dry leaves they should just brush aside.
Click to expand...

I try to do that or skimming now because it seems to work better when i do that. An inch or so off the ground and it doesnt do well.

So no one else has had a issue like this? With any detector?
 
OK, I think I have the answer,
The speaker points toward the ground and the leaves are making noise. and muffling the beeps....
If your detecter has a provission for headphones?? Try headphones.

I can tell a BIG difference in my BH beeps depending on the amount of grass.
Also make sure your batterys are fresh or properly charged.
I can tell when my batteries are about to die the beeps get softer.

From trash2find!!!
 
trash2find said:
OK, I think I have the answer,
The speaker points toward the ground and the leaves are making noise. and muffling the beeps....
If your detecter has a provission for headphones?? Try headphones.

I can tell a BIG difference in my BH beeps depending on the amount of grass.
Also make sure your batterys are fresh or properly charged.
I can tell when my batteries are about to die the beeps get softer.

From trash2find!!!
Click to expand...

Fairly new batteries, plus i've this issue for years. Do you mean you think me stepping on leaves muffles beeps? The minor beeps it gives off are just ghost signals, no real metal detected.
 
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