Minelab SD2200 tips, settings, questions

Hi guys and gals, I have an SD2200d and it has a commander 11"DD on it which runs reasonably stable in mineralised ground, I also have an 11" commander Mono, which is terrible to use, false signals etc.
My dilemma at the moment is I am wondering if there is a better more sensitive to the smaller sub gram pieces than the 11" commander DD I am using at the moment.
I see coiltek pushing the new Elite range in 11" and 14" but I have my doubts about running a mono coil, I hear good things about the 11" DD Pro which I think is the terracotta colour coil, is the DD Pro 14" as good at the smaller stuff?
I know Nenad has had some good results with the Nugget finders and Detech coils.....

I guess I'm just curious to see what other are running on the old SD series machines for the smaller stuff.

Thanks in advance,
Elusive

G'day
I used to use the round 14" Coiltek mono coil on my 22. Found many many nuggets at very good depth both small and larger. I also used a nugget finder 18" mono but never found anything deeper than I did with the 14.

Hope this helps

Chrisco

My old man runs the 14" Coiltek Pro Elite DD coil on his 2200v2 and its a killer.. i run the same one on my Extreme and have had really good success over the last month since picking one up..

DD coils are imo best for the older units, but i've had good success with mono too, tho the ground where i am is very mild..

many people were using mono coils on their 2200 with out any troubles, have you tried another mono coil .Coiltek have coils you can try run it in tracking or in fixed but fit a ground balance button regards john

Thanks for the replys guys, Food for thought........

Cheers,
Elusive

Hi guys, new to this forum, but have been reading lots of threads here for a while. My father has an old SD2200D which has not been used for a while. He has lost the battery box, but the rest is in excellent condition. I am an electrician and also into rc hobbies, so I would like to use a lipo battery (7.4v) to lighten it up and not need the backpack thing. Has anyone used a 7.4v lipo direct onto this machine without a regulator? Bear in mind that fully charged 2S Lipo outputs @ 8.4V.. Also was there any electronics in the battery cover? I don't want to hook it up and blow it up. thks in advance. Brad.

Qlder said:

Hi guys, new to this forum, but have been reading lots of threads here for a while. My father has an old SD2200D which has not been used for a while. He has lost the battery box, but the rest is in excellent condition. I am an electrician and also into rc hobbies, so I would like to use a lipo battery (7.4v) to lighten it up and not need the backpack thing. Has anyone used a 7.4v lipo direct onto this machine without a regulator? Bear in mind that fully charged 2S Lipo outputs @ 8.4V.. Also was there any electronics in the battery cover? I don't want to hook it up and blow it up. thks in advance. Brad.

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Dont see why not qldr,the old dome tops i think had a regulator inside them,back in them days i used the coiltek pocket rocket system,ive got one for sale on the forum here,runs 6.7 for gps to 3500 or 7.3 for the sds.
I fiddled with a lipo setup a while ago on my 45,wasnt that happy with the setup so im just waiting on a few bits to arrive and have another crack at it next week or so,i think the sds can run over 8volts easy,i had a modded 2000 yrs ago that ran an adjustable voltage,i cant remember the max voltage but i think it was up around 8.5,i think the 2200s couldnt handle it quite that high,this was all years ago,my memories fading,ill post a link to a small regulator ive bought off ebay a cuppla days ago,i shouldnt need it for the gpx45 with a 2s lipo but i was looking at a cuppla 3s packs -12v+ so thought i might need a regulator,ordered a small project box also to mount it in,lots of them all over ebay in different sizes so its easy to bang up ya own tiny regulator,ive bought 2 different types of regs also,they were cheap so thought id try a tiny compact one i seen also.....
https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com.au/ulk/itm/222672612695

https://rover.ebay.com/rover/0/0/0?mpre=https://www.ebay.com.au/ulk/itm/351708629817

Qlder said:

Hi guys, new to this forum, but have been reading lots of threads here for a while. My father has an old SD2200D which has not been used for a while. He has lost the battery box, but the rest is in excellent condition. I am an electrician and also into rc hobbies, so I would like to use a lipo battery (7.4v) to lighten it up and not need the backpack thing. Has anyone used a 7.4v lipo direct onto this machine without a regulator? Bear in mind that fully charged 2S Lipo outputs @ 8.4V.. Also was there any electronics in the battery cover? I don't want to hook it up and blow it up. thks in advance. Brad.

Click to expand...

Hi Brad,

Welcome to the forum!

From memory, the sd2200 won't turn on if the voltage is over 7.6v. You won't blow it up as it has a power input protection circuit.

So for a 7.4v lipo, you are going to need to reduce the voltage when it is fully charged. For the most part, you probably only want to run the voltage between 6~6.8v. Running higher than that can cause ground noise that you would not otherwise hear.
To reduce the voltage, you have 2 options, LDO linear regulator, or diodes in series.

It is best to stay away from switching regulators because if they are not set up properly they can cause the detector to be noisy and being new to detecting you won't know if/when it happens.

Cheers!

Sounds like you know ya stuff on regs etc auman,whats your thoughts on those ones in my link off ebay,doubtfull if ill need one but thought id grab a couple in case,now my memories jolted a bit to ya right about the 2200 voltage but i do remember the odd one would handle a touch over 8 volts im sure,a few mates in vic where messing with the higher volts yrs ago,i recall running my 2000 adjustable reg on a 22 i had but cant recall when it cut out, It did though and the 22 just shut off,no damage.....

Goldchaser1 said:

Sounds like you know ya stuff on regs etc auman,whats your thoughts on those ones in my link off ebay,doubtfull if ill need one but thought id grab a couple in case,now my memories jolted a bit to ya right about the 2200 voltage but i do remember the odd one would handle a touch over 8 volts im sure,a few mates in vic where messing with the higher volts yrs ago,i recall running my 2000 adjustable reg on a 22 i had but cant recall when it cut out, It did though and the 22 just shut off,no damage.....

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It is really hard to say without testing, but I would say that as they are, they would most likely be noisy. There will be a lot of ripple from these and that needs to be reduced significantly before feeding it into a detector.

Every detector from the 2200 onward will shut off / not turn on if their voltage limit is exceeded. That being said, I have not pushed a gpx to that limit

Roger thanks mate,ill stick to 2c but there on there way so i might try one out for interest sake,ill let ya know if its a fail or not.....

Thanks for the replies, I might just give 7.4v lipo a crack and see if it turns on. If not a couple of diodes should do the trick.The other option is 6v Nimh pack, just a bit heavier for same capacity .

Another option I have used is to purchase a later model lucky lark battery and booster system that needed a new battery as they are about 190 for replacement battery and a lot of people dont want to spend that much. I paid$50 for the last one I got. Has all the electrics and protection, is lightweight and has a adjustable pot switch inside to alter the output. They run a 11.1 volt battery system. Should be possible to replace with a suitable battery. I actually got a replacement from reeds prospecting but there seems to be lots of hobbie ones available. Done right probably get another 10 years from this system.

I ran one of these on my 2200, worked perfectly.
https://detectormods.com/shop/63/lightweight-battery-kit

I would definitely recommend a higher voltage battery and run it through a regulator to give you a constant 7.2V. The SD's input was not regulated so every time you get a rapid drop in voltage you will hear it, just like a false signal. The higher voltage also seems to give the audio circuit a bit more boogie.

Remember the SD's are pretty much not serviceable these days (depending on fault) so I would not be gambling with higher voltages. Better to be safe than sorry.

Thanks for replies. I have tried it with a 3000mah 2S LIFE pack, they are Nominal voltage 6.6v and fully charged 7.2V .Seems to work well. They are light, have a fairly flat discharge curve and don't self discharge very quickly. This should work for my purposes. The detector is only a back up for my elderly father, it will stay in an old caravan in the middle of the property for when he feels up to having a go when we are there checking water etc . He's only good for @ 15 minutes at a time so should be fine.

He has a GPX4500 for times when he actually plans to go looking but won't leave that on the farm haha.

rgds Brad.

Cool, a 3000 mah pack should still be good for around 4hrs.

Redfin said:

I ran one of these on my 2200, worked perfectly.
https://detectormods.com/shop/63/lightweight-battery-kit

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Hey Redfin, did you ever measure or have any idea if Woody's battery pack is regulated back to around 6.4V or so?

I've seen that the SD/GP (domed) battery pack from Reeds Prospecting is stated as delivering 6.4V, vs Woody's states 7.2V
I have an SD2100 that I am looking at getting a lithium battery pack for, & all the comments I found around batteries for the SD's suggest 7.2-7.4V
I would send DetectorMods/Woody a query but Ive tried asking a few other questions on his mods, inclusions, prices etc, over the last couple of months & getting an answer is like getting a tooth pulled (eg ask 4 questions, get an answer to 1).
from photos Woody's battery kit does not appear to have a regulater but I don't know for sure.
Any comments on this from anyone appreciated

For those interested, current prices I found;
Reeds 6.4V listed as $190 (states 4.5mAh but it has 2 batteries & I notice each one has 4.5mAh on it, so should be 9mAh total)
DetectorMods 7.2V battery & charger(s) kit 6.6Ah $145, 13.4Ah $215
single battery only 6.6Ah $120, 13.4Ah $190

No idea mate, it just worked.

Ded Driver said:

Redfin said:

I ran one of these on my 2200, worked perfectly.
https://detectormods.com/shop/63/lightweight-battery-kit

Click to expand...

Hey Redfin, did you ever measure or have any idea if Woody's battery pack is regulated back to around 6.4V or so?

I've seen that the SD/GP (domed) battery pack from Reeds Prospecting is stated as delivering 6.4V, vs Woody's states 7.2V
I have an SD2100 that I am looking at getting a lithium battery pack for, & all the comments I found around batteries for the SD's suggest 7.2-7.4V
I would send DetectorMods/Woody a query but Ive tried asking a few other questions on his mods, inclusions, prices etc, over the last couple of months & getting an answer is like getting a tooth pulled (eg ask 4 questions, get an answer to 1).
from photos Woody's battery kit does not appear to have a regulater but I don't know for sure.
Any comments on this from anyone appreciated

For those interested, current prices I found;
Reeds 6.4V listed as $190 (states 4.5mAh but it has 2 batteries & I notice each one has 4.5mAh on it, so should be 9mAh total)
DetectorMods 7.2V battery & charger(s) kit 6.6Ah $145, 13.4Ah $215
single battery only 6.6Ah $120, 13.4Ah $190

Click to expand...

Got a coiltek pocket rocket if ya want it DD,6.7 or 7.3,3 leads one to suit gpx also,needs new batts and charger (cheap on ebay) will throw in a booster,my 22 is setup for coil dragging,runs a quad bike battery,they were a fantastic system,much better quality then detector mods one.....