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Bad Pointer Bad

#1

Today my rage got the better of me.
This pointer had to be internally examined, not easy when it is waterproof.
Cause of demise: Dremel.

Here is my previous review

Bits in the bag are from a previous surgical examination of a Minelab Pro Find 25. (lower circuit board & coil)

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As you can see the end is a tiny thin wire coil. No ferrite rod even, so it actually does pretty well (10cm range)

image.jpg2448×2448 2.59 MB

It was surprisingly easy to remove the innards, they were not sealed in with resin as I was expecting (apart from end), only some rubber. Although the whole detector was a glued pvc pipe, with an expanded rubber seal where battery went in. After opening the end up, I actually noticed some sand grains inside of the rubber seal, which makes me think that water could actually get in a way. Very concerning as I had not used it at depth, and with all that air within would increase the pressures if it was taken far down.
Suppose the tiny coil made it very power efficient, I’ve not replaced the battery yet.

#2

Hi pandemic,yeah I know how u feel,i almost tossed my pro-pointer the other day,was playing up,falsing and the like,very frustrating when your,re trying to recover something and wastes your time.hard to find a reliable pin pointer,anyone out there got any ideas or can recommend a better pin-pointer.

#3

My Minelab Pro Find 25 never gave me any trouble.
I’d not changed the battery either.
I’ve heard the Garret Pro Pointer At is good, which one do you have?

In other news, well I now have to detect without a pointer.
Some people prefer this method.
So far I’ve discovered that I can determine depth by hovering coil higher above ground.
Also with DD can swtich to mono for a smaller detection range, and also a fine point detection area (mono gives a cone shaped detection field).
And if you dig a long trench you can put the coil in vertically and determine which side it is on.

#4

iv been having proplems with all of my pointers falsing for a few months now…iv been hearing alot about solar flares etc for a few months to and wondered if that may have some connection…all my pointers seem to be fine when they are pointed straight down but if i point them up they start falsing…4 different brands all the same problem…seen it happening on youtube vids from over seas to…may just be my over active imaginatin tho lol.

#5

I’m having similar problems. I use a Nokta Pointer and seems to work fine for about 15-20 seconds after turning it on and ground balancing it and thens starts to false. I just turn it off and on again and go for speed recoverys haha

#6

Sorry to hear about the falsing, I’ve experienced it briefly with the Minelab one, but only once after it was on for some time. Perhaps they just wear out over time, or need retuning.

#7

hey gp,in reply to your post,yeah I,ve got a garrett propointer,has good days and bad,may consider building my own one soon,can,t afford to keep replacing stuff all the time.merry xmas.

#8

http://www.talkingelectronics.com/projects/200TrCcts/MetalDetectors/MetalDetectors-1.html

That link has some very simple circuit designs.
You can make them with just transistors. But most people use the 555 timer IC.