E-trac falsing or is it something else

[screwynewy]

Since I've had my etrac a little over a month now I probably have 50 hours or so on it and I am really starting to get a good feel for the tones. A couple of times while out hunting I will start getting a lot of low tone signals with readings ranging from 8-3 to 14-5. Imagine what it would sound like to be in a 1 acre field of can slaw every 6 inches. They are very short and random almost sounds like a bunch of cars blowing their horns in real short burst. It has happened to me two different times at different sites and starts maybe 15 minutes into the hunt and will last 30 or 45 minutes. Does anyone have an idea what it might be?

[ACS]

What is your sensitivity? Is it trash? Is it repeatable? We need more information.

[Romeo7]

If you stop swinging, do the readings continue? It may be EMI if the readings continue to bounce with no movement. Either decrease your sensitivity, or move to another area that is quieter.

[screwynewy]

I have the sensitivity set at auto +3 but I tried lowering it 4 notches and it didn't make a difference. I forgot to mention that if I raise the coil it still makes the sounds and if I rotate the coil roughly 30 degrees left then right in a quick motion with the coil raised it makes the sound really bad. I thought it might be a coming from my headphone connection but when I unplugged the phone jack the sounds still came out of the speaker.

[Greek2Me]

Do you have a cover on the coil? Try taking it off and cleaning it if you do.

G2M

[screwynewy]

Originally Posted by Greek2Me

Do you have a cover on the coil? Try taking it off and cleaning it if you do.

G2M

Yep, thought of that too. I tried it and it was pretty clean then put the cover back on and it didn't make a difference.

Maybe next time it happens I'll try to video it so you all can have a better understanding of what its doing.

[Iron Patch]

I assume this happens at different sites? From what you describe these are the three things to try, and in this order...

1) Factory reset (you want to unplug the cable from the conrtol box and insert it again before you do this)

2) Change to Alk batteries if you are not using them.

3) Different coil


If you still have a problem it's probably a more serious issue.

[screwynewy]

Originally Posted by Iron Patch

I assume this happens at different sites? From what you describe these are the three things to try, and in this order...

1) Factory reset (you want to unplug the cable from the conrtol box and insert it again before you do this)

2) Change to Alk batteries if you are not using them.

3) Different coil


If you still have a problem it's probably a more serious issue.

Couple of questions.

1. If I am going to do a factory reset can I just back up my programs and reload them after the reset?

2. I haven't tried alkiline batteries. What difference would they make?

3. I have a 6x8 SEF coil and will switch to it next time it happens to see if maybe I have a bad coil.

Thanks for the suggestions.

[Iron Patch]

Originally Posted by screwynewy

Couple of questions.

1. If I am going to do a factory reset can I just back up my programs and reload them after the reset?

2. I haven't tried alkiline batteries. What difference would they make?

3. I have a 6x8 SEF coil and will switch to it next time it happens to see if maybe I have a bad coil.

Thanks for the suggestions.

1) Someone else will have to answer that one. I'm neither an E-trac user, or a person who uses programs. Definitely something you would want to know before you do it, but is very possible that is your problem. People should do a factory reset every so often, especially when new because the detector could have a problem and they don't realize. I've hunted with people who had theirs for months and neither realized their units were a mess. A reset made both perfect again.

2) It is possible the battery pack could be bad. Most times low falsing is a bad coil, but since it's not doing it all the time, it could be the pack. Plus it's easier to try alks then another coil for someone who doesn't have one. All this assuming you have had these issues at different sites and have ruled out interference.

3) It could still be the coil, just a short in it. Try turning your detector on and tapping the few inches of cable where it enters the coil. If it makes a low tone false every time you hit it, then you likely have a bad coil.

[carcur]

noise cancel
try to see if its something in the ground shredded tin foil or something???

[Joves]

Originally Posted by screwynewy

Couple of questions.

1. If I am going to do a factory reset can I just back up my programs and reload them after the reset?

Yes you can just load your settings to Etrac Xchange on your computer then reload them from there.

[Silver Strike]

Sound like an EMI problem as romeo suggested.

[Iron Patch]

Originally Posted by Silver Strike

Sound like an EMI problem as romeo suggested.

It could be but in 11 years of detecting I've never encountered interference that wasn't there in the beginning, came lasting for 45 minutes, then went away.