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View Full Version : Auto GB vs Lock, Drifting GB In Auto



MartinL
09-09-2011, 08:52 AM
OK, I've been using Lock for ground balance for quite a while because I have mainly been detecting/practicing in my own yard since it's been so hot. I decided to go back to Auto yesterday, and I believe I've found an issue, which caused me to think over the operation of the Auto feature. My V3i, after maybe 15 minutes of hunting in low trash ground, including time in known trashy areas such as next to the house. The V3i began to give me no tone at Pinpoint when I was about an inch above ground over the target dueing the end of the 15 minutes while in the trashy area, so I thought GB maybe. I went back to my good, clean area where I initially GB-ed 15 minutes before to re-GB, did a fresh GB, and the tone in PP came back to the good GB spot I always use, which is in the cleaner area of my circle drive, 30' away from this target where audio went silent. I've been pretty happy running manual GB during the last couple of months without any pesky issues of lack of audio in PP, and very little re-balancing at all. The change back to Autotrak seems to have resurfaced that issue.

My question is, how does the Auto balance of the V3i effectively adjust without getting all mixed up, since the coil goes over trashy areas just like it does cleaner areas, in the same general area? Logic seems to tell me that Auto may easily be troublesome and actually cause more unknowns than just a simple manual balance in Locktrak, because it has to be sampling trashy areas along with cleaner areas all the while it is doing it's Auto thing. You'd think that the computer processor would be getting mixed signals if working between trashy spots, adjacent to cleaner spots, all connected by common soil conditions concerning minerals and such. Ideas?

FYI, You really learn a lot from staying in constant detector school with your own machine, in your own yard, when you are basically stuck with no place to go hunt, little time, and/or the heat is just too unbearable for a reall hunt. You can adjust and try a new setting, then scoot back inside to the PC and the internet to cool off, check the board here and elsewhere, run back and tweak some more...it just seems a lot easier to digest what's going on with these V3 based machines programming when done in nibbles rather than sessions, especially when you have an excess of home time. Might be more me, but I don't get my V3i so mixed up like I do when I purposely go out and spend an hour or so JUST practicing and doing tweaks. Jm2s. martin

CyberSage
09-09-2011, 10:31 AM
Martin the following two settings will help you with this behavior...

From page 35 in your V3i manual.

• Inhibit – When ON (“X” in box) ground mineral tracking is restricted during target signals that have a high probability of being a ground mineral or hot rock. Doing so prevents errors in ground tracking caused by ground anomalies in search area. When off (empty square) ground tracking occurs regardless. ON is suggested for most types of searching. OFF is suggested for Prospecting.

• Speed – Selects the speed or aggression of Auto Tracking. Press ARROW Left & Right to select the
speed of Auto Tracking. Excessive ground tracking can be as bad for performance as insufficient ground tracking. A speed that keeps up with progressive ground changes is desired. A setting that adjusts significantly when passing over slight (spotty) ground imperfections can cause instability and errors. Ideally select a speed that keeps up, yet doesn’t overcompensate for every unusual rock.

Since I mostly hunt park environments I have switched to using locktrac and GB often. Seems to quiet things down a bit for me. I have noticed that EMI can cause the 3 frequency pinpoint to drift when using autotrac. Loctrac also helps with this issue.

MartinL
09-09-2011, 07:50 PM
I'll have to check on the inhibit switch, but if it's set in the C&J factory file, then it's still set, I have not switched that in any way. I can also understand the speed influence, except for the possibility of the balancing sequenece occuring during real trashy areas.

I just knew that I had fine tuned this V3i a lot in the last several weeks here at home, salt compensation made it real quiet and finding a sweet spot RD speed setting for picking up the buried quarter I measure for practice. Finding coins again here in my over worked yard said a lot about the state of the V3i! So, I invited myself out to an old GF's house to hunt her yard today...a yard I've hunted before, mostly just the driveway. I really thought I had found most all of what was there back then last year. Well, Me and the V3i yanked even more out of the drive way again, plus lots of coin in the front yard, several toy cars, and more stuff in the back yard. I went to cherry picking and passing the pennies. This was probably the best day of fun with the V3i that I've had. IMO it was the manual GB, the recovery delay tweaks along with using the salt compensation that did the trick. It paid off to keep up the tweaks here at home!

Oh well I'm rambling, and tired! I haven't worked my body this hard in quite a while, but it feels good. Thanks for the help and patience. martin