V3/D2 coil frustration

Just before the holidays, my D2 went bad, and I shipped it out to White's and they replaced it, tho it took 3-4 weeks and a few e-mails/phone call. I let them slide since it was over the holidays.

New coil seemed fine -- now I always air test and do a probe, and always got an recommended RX of 15 in the air (on the one that went bad, the recommended RX was a 7 on an air test).

Today was no different, RX of 15 on both air and ground probe. I put TX on and was doing fine (except for digging clad instead of silver @ 7-8 inches :bangahead01:). Then all the sudden I started overloading all over the place -- I figured it was a buried pipe, but no matter where I went, I was overloading. So I backed off the TX and did another probe, this time air RX gain was 11, and ground was 7.

Soon thereafter, the recommended RX gain on air test was an 8, then a 7. TX boost was unuseable. Turns out the targets I was overloading on were simply canslaws 3 inches deep. This was pretty much like when the first D2 went bad.

This is pretty frustrating, and am seriously considering bagging this and just getting an E-trac. Even if they send me another coil, I just don't think I'm going to enjoy the machine always worrying about it going bad. I've used this new coil less than ten times.

And after making thru a back injury, then those blizzards, then a foot injury, I am finally able to get out again, and I don't want to wait another 3 weeks for a new coil.

Well, that's my sob story :) I think I'll call White's and see if they can send me a new one before I send the old one in, so I don't have to wait. Otherwise, perhaps I'll just give the E-trac a spin. Since I can't afford two machines, I'll then decide which one I enjoy more, and sell the other.

Sorry for the length, but I just had to vent :bangahead01: :bangahead01:

Hey Randy, I understand your frustration about not being able to hunt and being happy with the machine you are using. Before you wrap it around a tree lol let me ask you if it came with a 9.5 V rated concentric coil too. If not ,you may want to get some opinions from other V3 users. One option is to get that 9.5 coil as a replacement instead of the D2, or maybe try a 10x12 SEF coil for it. I just got a 12x15 SEF for my E Trac and was amazed at it's depth and stability. In my limited opinion, and from what I have read and heard about it, the V3 is a great machine when running correctly. I really feel that the D2 coil is most of the problems. A lot of guys run the other coils and don't have bad coil issues. Just something to think about before you spend another $1500.00.

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Originally Posted by coinnut

Hey Randy, I understand your frustration about not being able to hunt and being happy with the machine you are using. Before you wrap it around a tree lol let me ask you if it came with a 9.5 V rated concentric coil too. If not ,you may want to get some opinions from other V3 users. One option is to get that 9.5 coil as a replacement instead of the D2, or maybe try a 10x12 SEF coil for it. I just got a 12x15 SEF for my E Trac and was amazed at it's depth and stability. In my limited opinion, and from what I have read and heard about it, the V3 is a great machine when running correctly. I really feel that the D2 coil is most of the problems. A lot of guys run the other coils and don't have bad coil issues. Just something to think about before you spend another $1500.00.

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Yes it is an excellent machine, even when the D2 is working. I do have a V-rated 950, and am getting RX on air test of 15, so the D2 is definately the issue. I just would prefer a DD coil in general for the machine. As for the SEFs, I was waiting to see if they would come out with a true V-rated one someday.

I'll call White's can see what they say. I can use the 950 in the meantime, but I'd rather them just send me a good DD. Mayble they'll send me a 6x10, which I hear works pretty well.

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Originally Posted by randy

I'll call White's can see what they say. I can use the 950 in the meantime, but I'd rather them just send me a good DD. Mayble they'll send me a 6x10, which I hear works pretty well.

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That is a great idea. The 6x10 is a great coil and is tried and tested. They may want to do that for you. One things for sure, I wouldn't be buying any D2 coils on E Bay in the near future lol

My very limited experience tells me the D2 is not the coil for the V3, although I'm going to try and make it work. $250 coil should work on the darn thing!!!! Anyway Cybersage was working me thru some of my problems with the RX gain flucuations and his stability problems and he and I came up with modifying the outgoing frequency. Here is a link to Jack's post in the V3 thread. In his video Jack shows how to offset the frequency to help stabilize the D2 and get better RX GAIN recommendations.

http://www.americandetectorist.com/f...10295#msg10295

Hopefully this might help. We are all guinea pigs with this V3/Vision machine I believe.


I have pretty neutral soil so the 9.5 concentric coil will be my main coil, but it would be nice to have a Double D coil that works when I need one or want to use one.

I'll share my 10D2 experience(s)...

I bought one of the first Visions to hit the market...about an year ago.

The 10D2 coil was bad immediately. Fortunately, I ran into Jimmy Sierra in San Jose and he gave me a new one on the spot (he's a White's distributor). That's been about ten months ago.

The second 10D2 worked just fine for about nine months. Then, right out of the blue, it went bad...smack dab in the middle of a hunt.

I'm using my v-rated 6x10DD now with no issues. I sent the coil back to White's...along with a not so nice note about the quality of the 10D2's.

Here's another coil test that White's claims is better than the standard one we (you and I) used earlier. It's from Carl at White's...

• [li]The best way to check your coil is to set your RX gain to 15.[/li][li]Turn TX Boost on with the coil in the air (not on the ground or around other metal).[/li][li]If you don't get an overload, your coil is good.[/li][li]That is what the detector is designed for - not overloading at the extremes. The probe (zoom on the sensitivity live control) that suggests a recommended gain is not a good coil test.White's will consider any loop that has a recommended gain of 8 or more in air to be a good loop. Carl[/li]

I went through two bad D2 coils myself. It was very frustrating. Never took longer than a week to get my coil back though. The last time it went bad I they were kind enough to send me a V rated Super12 instead. I just recently bought another D2 coil and it is working fine. I was not a fan of this coil until this last purchase. This coil when working correctly is great! The SEF 10x12 has a slight edge on depth when doing a direct comparison of the two in the coin garden. if you end up using the SEF or V rated 950 you will need to allow for wrapping on deeper targets. Hang in there.

Jack

White's is sending me another D2. They still have great customer service. If that one fails, I'll ask for a 6x10 next time.

BTW, I had read somewhere that the ones with the orange labels were less likely to fail than the ones with the while labels. Don't remember where I read that, but I asked White's this question, and they said they were exactly the same. FWIW.