Why does my metal detector beep win i touch the wire and why does it be trash on gold items?

Question

Why does my metal detector beep win i touch the wire and why does it be trash on gold items?

Answer 1

You may have a loose connection at the box which is causing a signal when bumped or touched. I made a few velcro straps to keep the coil cord snug to the shaft.

As far as your machine rejecting gold items it's more than likely that your discrimination level is set too high. If you've canceled out pulltabs and pop tops you're more missing the gold.

I don't know what make and model of detector you have and how much you can customize settings, but here's how you can tune in your machine to achieve better performance.

Place a pulltab, pop top, gold ring and a nickel on the ground in a clear area. Make sure the area is clean with no signals and that the items are spaced far apart so your coil only is over one item at a time.

Turn on your machine and run your coil over each item and listen closely to the sound. Adjust your discrimination so that the trash is almost completely cancelled (chatter or popping sound).

Depending on your detector, you may want to tune in just enough discrimination until the gold or nickel signals null.(completely silent)

I have  Fisher 1266 which has dual discrimination. I hunt in disc 1 which on;y rejects rusted iron and switch to disc 2 when I receive a signal. Disc 2 is set to null gold and nickels.

You may have to hunt in all metal mode and switch to motion discriminate.

Keep in mind that you want a good clean signal normally in both directions of your sweep while in all metal mode.

You'll get the hang of it, but it does take time to really learn the subtle signal you'll receive. Also, if you don't already, wear headphones. Once you do, you'll never be without them.

Hope this helps!

Mike

Answer 2

I'm going to assume this is a hand-held model, not those oh-so-fun boxes at the airport.

How Stuff Works is always a great resource: http://electronics.howstuffworks.com/met...

As far as gold, if your metal detector is just using magnets, it will only detect ferrous (that is iron-based) metals. Contacting the manufacturer may be the best the solution for your particular model.