Minelab SDC2300 information and questions

They also sell the 9V for the booster and pinpointer as well also good value

RM Outback said:

Paul_mac1, glad to hear the DS batteries work well I bought 8 the other day around $7.00 from memory, due to closing down I spose. Good info in this thread, cheers

Click to expand...

Im glad you find the info useful, its all about sharing ideas.
cheers,
Paul

I also find these containers handy for storing batteries, they're available from the big super markets, made by sistema, clip lock and waterproof, 4 c cells fit perfectly in there and batteries dont roll around.




and stackable


cheers,
Paul

I wonder if it would have been a better option to have a manual channel select. In stead of doing the noise cancel routine which is a bit hit and miss, each press of the button changes to the next channel so the user gets to pick the best channel by ear. Surely this would be quicker and more reliable that numerous auto scans.

orgone500 said:

I wonder if it would have been a better option to have a manual channel select. In stead of doing the noise cancel routine which is a bit hit and miss, each press of th
e button changes to the next channel so the user gets to pick the best channel by ear. Surely this would be quicker and more reliable that numerous auto scans.

Click to expand...

Patent the idea, minelab will have to pay you to use your idea
Cheers,
Paul

Now I'm only new to the SDC2300 so flame away but I have run it within 2 meters of the electric fence at Jupiter and you will know when you are close to it. Machine goes apeshite I have used it at Chapel hill with no problems whatsoever .

I have found a issue though which I believe to be due to the auto ground pulse. I was at Jupiter creek and the machine started doing a repetitive noise. The repetitive noise is what made me realise that it was something the machine was doing and not something atmospheric.

The machine was basically unusable so I started to move back to the car whilst it was making this respective noise, it did this for over one kilometre. Once I was back at the car park I tested and found it was still doing the same thing.

It was a moist morning and as I have been putting samples in the scoop over the plate I had a build up of fine sands etc absorbed by the moisture on top and the side of the eight inch. I turned the machine of took the skid plate of and cleaned the whole lot thoroughly. Put the skid plate on turned the machine on and no sound what soever.

I then headed back to the spot I had been in and no problems at all. I believe the problem is in the auto ground balance and the material collected on top and in between the skid plate. Since I now clean my machine every time out and never allow material to sit on top of the 8 inch I have never had the problem again.

Anyway flame away but keep your machine clean and I bet you find a improvement

Hi Dewalt,

No flaming needed here at all

Yep, definitely experienced those issues with the SDC as well -particularly in the first weeks of release when we were still learning the machines quirks.

On heavy due mornings when running over and around wet grasses it seemed to enhance the atmospheric EMI. Once dried out this would go completely. It's funny as I haven't had this issue while detecting the same areas in pretty steady rainfall. Perhaps it's an issue between the wet and dry areas responding differently? Nothing too major though.

Never run near an electric fence, but I would imagine it wouldn't be very cooperative. Haha!

Also had the same issue with hot/mineralised dirt caught up in the coil cover causing a bit of false signalling. I make it a point to give it a quick clean out and wipe with a cloth every few days when detecting full time. It's something I'm sure most SDC owners have experienced now and again. Most of my dust and the odd little twig work their way in at the coil cover gap just under the shaft knuckle. I may try a very soft bit of flexible foam in that gap next trip. Tried duct tape last trip with no success, mostly due to dust. These temporary fixes don't hold up too well over time though. That coil joint area on the base of the shaft cops a good bit of use and abuse.

Hope it pulls the goods for you in the future however!
All the best and kindest regards,
Shauno.

http://www.detectorprospector.com/forum/topic/1875-minelab-sdc-knuckle-skid-plate/
Nifty idea! I used a semi round piece that I cut out of an old Minelab armrest & secured it with cable ties too. Worked well but in reality I'd reckon you'd want some serious hours & heavy handedness to wear the actual knuckle joint out.
Electric fences can/will upset a lot of PI's & other machines. Remember a mates GPX5000 making some strange pulsing noises one day & we couldn't work it out. Found out later that an electric fence was on but still some distance away. The GPX appeared to have been picking up the pulses from the fence.
Have also heard that wire fences in general can be conductors for EMI.
After using the SDC I got into the habit of cleaning it down & taking the coil cover off to clean under it about every 2nd trip. I've continued the habit with the GPZ & was surprised at the amount of fine dust/dirt between the coil + cover after my last day out. Good habit to get into & really only takes a few minutes at the end of the day.

Chuky boy said:

Have u run a couple of loops of electrical tape around your batteries before installing them???

Click to expand...

I've had to do the same with my batteries. Couldn't work out what the prob was - kept thinking there was a bad issue with the machine, but after using the tape, all was well again.

Hi Guys
Hope all had a good weekend.
We are hoping to have a wander around wa Goldfields, possibly middle May.
We have decided to bite the bullet and add a sdc2300 to our ex. 705.
Will be calling at Reeds (Perth) in the next couple of weeks, has the sdc2300 @ $3000 at the moment, sounds to us like a good deal
bg68

Paul_mac, you are on the money with the battery positive terminal size.
the problem appears to be all about the spring connection not being able to keep contact with the battery positive button.

Taping the batteries keeps them still in the case but the contact can still be sloppy if the lid is not put on carefully.

We ended up using a small piece of alfoil folded over and placed that over the top of the batteries. This worked every time so I ended up cutting a piece of brass shim material to the same pattern as the battery slots and now I just drop that over the batteries before closing the lid.

Emi from power lines is not a serious issue here as once you leave town there are none. Atmospheric stuff can be a pain with electrical storms.
I have noticed that on hot days the machine seems to get more noisy as the day warms up. Most of the time the issue is fixed by hitting the auto tune button
and as some have said it can take a few resets to get the sweet channel.

Dirt in the skid plate is also an issue in the laterite country or any other heavy mineralised soils.

I'm thinking about building a PI detector from scratch, The Surf PI seems good, but i'd like to have a crack at it myself.

Thanks

I think Steve's speculation is pretty close but I personally think there is more to the story. The Multi Period bit in the MPS means there may be many TX pulses or perhaps many samples for the one pulse (which I think is more probable). Perhaps they vary the TX pulse width over a time period. There doesnt seem to be much info out on the SDC compared to the 7000. Perhaps its just a more tight spec machine where sampling is a lot closer to tx turn off.

In some of my experiments I managed to get a sampling delay close to 4us. It certainly helped in detecting very small targets.

I am currently working on my own version of a SDC using a microcontroller so I can experiment with different TX and sample times. Its a follow on of a machine I was working on before the 7000 came out. Once I got the 7000 I didnt see the point of continuing to try to build a similar machine. I am scaling down the coil size and seeing if I can get similar results to the SDC. I dont need as much power as I was going to use on the other machine so it will be a lot lighter than my original design.

My theory was, and this its just that, that varying the TX time could be used to determine size, or even composition, as we all know that the decay rate of the signal and the return signal are going to vary depending on composition.

If you take 3 different lengths you should get three points that you could plot against known curves(electronicly(yeah thats not a word)).

But mainly i was after the pulse length to determine the componentry that would support said speed.

The Surf Pi or the MPP will support the speeds you want. You would need to change the timing components obviously. I have run the MPP using a ChipKit UNO instead of the onboard timings and achieved good speed and very short delay(there were a few changes to circuit but basically was ok) I did change the TX fet to a faster one with less capacitance (slighty higher Ron). You will also need to build a very fast coil in order to sample with a very short delay.

My head's hurting you blokes :lol: :lol: :lol: Sorry, carry on

Last week of Dicky smith 90% off now I see there still lots 2 packs in the Isa DS I already got 2 X 4 packs

Hi Guys,

we are toying with the idea of buying a 2300 for the wife.
Has anyone actually purchased one and had positive results in finding nuggets no matter the size.
Are they easy to use ?
Would appreciate some advice.
Cinken

They are the Easiest to use with only 4 functions but cost $3000 to 3500

Next is a GP Extreme or a GP 3000 only a couple of swithes to play with and with a 11" DD running on mono setting they are SO simple to use also
BUT only cost $1000 to $1400 GREAT VALUE FOR THE MONEY

i hav both and would recommend a GP

And Thanks Oldhand ( John ) for the simple tip on using these GP`s their sweet to use in mono

Good Luck Dave

Yep got 1 and have had consistent finds mind you plenty of trash found with each outing. Read up on Scroungers post's he only uses the 2300 and his tips are worth reading. Good luck.