Minelab XT 17000 tips, settings, questions

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Beagleboy

Milan
Joined
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Hi, guys. A friend of mine offered me the above detector that used to belong to his dad. It is about 20 years old and it has not been used in a while. I have done a bit of research and it looks like this was the ducks guts in its day. Is there anything I should be checking? I heard they had some issues with the battery housing. This would my first detector and hoping to learn the ropes with it. I appreciate any comments from anyone that has any experience with this machine. Cheers.
 
I have XT 17000 given to me by a friend. The machine works but the bracket where the control box attaches to the shaft has snapped. Does anyone know where I could get a replacement? The other option is to put the control box in to this bag that Minelab makes and carry it on my shoulder. I would prefer to keep the control box on the shaft. Can anyone help? Many thanks.

1385766653_photo-5.jpg
 
As mention above, I would like to get a bit more depth from the XT17000 on the goldfields, and the odd trip to the beach. Won't be going in the water, so waterproofing is not a big issue. They are both similar price, with the 11" coil probably being easier to handle due to its size. I already have the Goldsearch 8", and Coiltek 6" for finer gold.
Any opinions?
 
Hi there.

Go to Bunnings and get a length of aluminium "U" channel that will fit around the shaft. Pop rivet the bottom of the channel to the box then pop rivet both sides of the channel to the shaft.

Axtyr.
 
Hi all,

I have not posted in detecting before as I do all my prospecting with my pan and dry Blower however I was recently given an old XT 17000 to use for as long as I want. Not knowing a great deal about detecting I thought I would ask a bit about it and find out what the consensus is on these units.
From What I have read through a quick search here and what I've been told these machines are the forerunner to what now is the Eureka Gold and in their day (1995) were a great machine.

Its in really good nick, the battery still holds a charge and comes with the standard 11" DD coil. I tested it out in the backyard and found the nails my young fella had nailed into the grass :mad: and I tested it out on about a gram of fine gold in a vial and it gave a slight murmur of a response. It seems sensitive enough for my abilities anyway.

I would like to know what other peoples thoughts are on these and also if the coil can be swapped with something from a later machine. I plan to take it out to Beaufort in the coming weeks and see if I can at least ping a little nugget.

Cheers
 
MJB said:
Hi all,

I have not posted in detecting before as I do all my prospecting with my pan and dry Blower however I was recently given an old XT 17000 to use for as long as I want. Not knowing a great deal about detecting I thought I would ask a bit about it and find out what the consensus is on these units.
From What I have read through a quick search here and what I've been told these machines are the forerunner to what now is the Eureka Gold and in their day (1995) were a great machine.

Its in really good nick, the battery still holds a charge and comes with the standard 11" DD coil. I tested it out in the backyard and found the nails my young fella had nailed into the grass :mad: and I tested it out on about a gram of fine gold in a vial and it gave a slight murmur of a response. It seems sensitive enough for my abilities anyway.

I would like to know what other peoples thoughts are on these and also if the coil can be swapped with something from a later machine. I plan to take it out to Beaufort in the coming weeks and see if I can at least ping a little nugget.

Cheers

Hi MJB.

Is it the 11" round coil you have? Or the 10"x5" elliptical coil.
It won't be long before the rechargeable battery pack is no good. They develop memory the ol nicads,,, and stuff up quickly when power gies out during chargkng, or by mistakingly giving them short charges. If its the 11" round coil, you should mangage 10 hours on hot ground before it needs a charge. Miners Den sell new battery packs that fit the 17000's and are quite dear, around $80. You have a nice little detector there, and if it's the 10x5 coil you have, you'll be surprised how sensitive the 32khz is with it. You'll hit tiny nuggets out of your own dry blow heaps!
 
All the 4 pin coils from it and the xt18000 and Eureka gold will fit it. The earlier GT and FT and Dual Ace were 5 pin.

If you are planning using a big coil, 11" and 14.5" coiltek all terrain, she'll run quite smooth in 6.4khz. The 32khz with the bigger coils aren't a good match.
 
It has the 8" goldsearch coil and is round in shape, sorry for the confusion. I read the manual and it kept referring to a 11" and I assumed that's what it was and I only just now ran a tape measure over it :p . The manual shows that the DD coil is still round in shape.

I was thinking that it would be a good detector to go over the dry blow heaps that I create but am unsure whats going to be the best set up for it. As for the battery pack, it also came with the AA battery packs so in case the rechargeable one dies I will carry the other one which should get me out of trouble.

I figure for checking the dry blow heaps I use the 32khz setting for smaller nuggets close to the surface?

Thanks for the reply guys and putting up with my newbie to detecting lack of knowledge :8
 
Still a capable little unit in the right ground, along with the Goldstriker, XT18000 and Golden Hawk.
 
MJB said:
It has the 8" goldsearch coil and is round in shape, sorry for the confusion. I read the manual and it kept referring to a 11" and I assumed that's what it was and I only just now ran a tape measure over it :p . The manual shows that the DD coil is still round in shape.

I was thinking that it would be a good detector to go over the dry blow heaps that I create but am unsure whats going to be the best set up for it. As for the battery pack, it also came with the AA battery packs so in case the rechargeable one dies I will carry the other one which should get me out of trouble.

I figure for checking the dry blow heaps I use the 32khz setting for smaller nuggets close to the surface?

Thanks for the reply guys and putting up with my newbie to detecting lack of knowledge :8

Nice enough coil the 8". Glad to hear you have te AA alkaline battery case's, chuck the old pack away, as if it's not bung already it soon will be.

Watch out MJB..... If you dig, spread, detect and refill... You may become addicted to detecting and give away the double handling of the dry blower altogether.
 
Hello. who can tell me? recently bought on ebay XT17000 metal for $ 400, soon after receiving the package and inspect the instrument on it noticed this hole in the hull (see photo).

1457103780_csryyx.jpg


Asked about this question on ebay, he said that no idea what I'm saying, and that is opening and it was done with the plant. It is seen in the opening variable resistor that can be adjusted with a screwdriver ...
hole drill drilled clearly. holes are not smooth edges ...

what is it and why, who knows?
 
It's the user-adjustable Tone Control potentiometer, as explained in the Instruction Manual:
1457123634_xt_tone_control.jpg


The original XT 17000 Instruction Manual is available for free download from Minelab's website here:
http://www.minelab.com/__files/f/4140/Inst Manual XT17000 Website.pdf

They're an excellent detector - my wife and I had a lot of success with them in the WA goldfields back in the day.
 
Thank you. we still winter. snow. the soil is not thawed. I tried on a frozen ground to adjust the balance of the earth but nothing is impossible. It is overload and constant squeak ... :D
 
I'm after some advice on my xt 17000. I finally paned my first bit of gold. It is 0.01grams!!.
1491887189_rps20170411_150554_123.jpg
I haven't picked up any gold yet with the detector accept junk. So I thought I would place the gold on the pan to see if could pick it up. It picked it up on 32khz. But not on 6.4 ghz. I also Burried it a couple of cm's down, only a little sound change on 32ghz but still nothing on 6.4 ghz. The settings are Sound normal. Soil difficult. Disc all metal. Threshold a little back from full colckwise. Sensitivity full. Volume full. I retrieved these info from the owners manual. The coil I'm using is a 8 inch minelab gold search coil.
1491887401_1491887371069-1905433485.jpg
. I'm only new to detecting. Is it worth taking it somewhere to see if it is working or is it my lack of experience understanding the detector. Any advice
 
With the detector held horizontally,
Settings as above
then turn the threshold anticlockwise untill
you hear it.
With the coil about 6 inch's above the ground,
Set the thresh hold until you can just hear it.
Will be a Mozzie type buzz.
Ground Balance the machine and re adjust again.
The xt17000 machines run fairly quite so setting
the thresh hold so you can just hear it will make a big difference.
Another trick I used to use is set Discriminate on 1. The lowest
setting. Nothing higher.
Then go through the above.
 
32k is for small gold and 6.4k is for larger deeper targets just us the 8 inch coil .The detector were a good detector in their day still capable of finding gold theses days but you must realise the newer detector all have a major advantage over the 1700. You say you are new to detecting well work where the latest detectors cannot electric fences ,phone lines and power lines you may have some luck use 32k regards john :Y:
 
Thanks for the setup info. Its a old detector I know, but is better than not having one. Hopefully I'll find the money to upgrade to a higher spec one in the near future. Cheers
 

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