Minelab Excalibur series tips, settings, questions

[Scoopa]

Just want to pick someones brain for a little bit of info.
I've been watching a few videos from the US of A, and the Excalibur detectorists over there seem to be using the Coiltek 15 inch WOT coil. Could anyone give me any info as to which WOT coil would be suitable and how to change the coil plug to suit the excalibur. Thanks Team!

 

[Dogmatic]

I bought a 15" WOT for my Sovereign but haven't used it yet. Will put it on when next I go to the beach.
No good around my way as there is to much trash for such a big coil.

 

[Scoopa]

Thanks Dogmatic. When you give it a swing, let me know how you go. I've got one on my e-trac any it's great on the beach. I don't use it anywhere eslse. How ever the excalibur coils are hard wired not plug in.

 

[Vk3laj]

Howdy,

Looking at one of these for a second detector..
Anyone have any experience with it? Depth? Issues?

Or vs other land/sea .. Infinium ls, surf pi dual field..
Use for deep beach + underwater + gold fields..

 

[Sa_bogan]

Hi mate, just saw this post tonight

I had the excal 1000 which is pretty much the same as the excal 2 and i can say it was a really good detector. The depth was great and didn't really false much as it was used at the beach. One issue i can say and its the same with the sov models is the recovery speed isn't the greatest from nulling on iron. To counter act this i just went a lot slower and had to listen for threshold silence. Use for under water and deep beach is what its meant for and having the hard wired water proof headphones and different control box mounts makes it awesome to use at the beach. As for the surf PI and the infinium i haven't used these detectors but many others on the site have and they will tell you the depth is very good but you will be digging everything as there is no discrimination like the VLF detectors.

Hope this helps and i would pickup another one as a spare, i can say i miss the tone machine over a ID screen machine

 

[AngerManagement]

Would want to see the conditions of the cables and the coil strain relief and the knobs...

Have used a II and seen/repaired a few others AND know that cables and knobs can be the biggest pain.

Can also be expensive to rebuild. So unless in GREAT A1 condition OR at the right price there is always a risk.

 

[Sa_bogan]

yeah the knobs on the one i bought were replaced with some from jay car as the originals fell apart. Good thing was he had never put it in the water and only used it a few times and i got it at a wicked price which i passed onto another PA member

 

[PhaseTech]

Excals are great if you are looking to dive or wade to chest deep. If it's just general beach use and occasional shallow wading then I'd go for a Sovereign GT (but no longer available new). Main reason for the Sov is you can plug in any headphones and you can easily chest mount it in the accessory bag. When chest mounted you can run it without headphones - perfect for those warm summer nights.

BBS technology is a bit of a PI/VLF hybrid but you get more stable performance over the salt, and full depth discrimination. The drawbacks are it won't go as deep as a good PI, and isnt very sensitive on fine gold, but on rings the Sov and Excal are great.

 

[AngerManagement]

EXCALIBUR II or 1000 WITH FALULTY THRESHOLD

A simple fix, if your out of warranty.

No need to replace the switch (hard to obtain and the after market ones needs a mod), all you need is to re set the pot/switch. I went to the trouble of getting a couple of switches and machining up the shaft adapter and = Not needed...

Once you get the Excal apart and can get to the Threshold switch; it is about 45 sec to reset. Another 45 sec if you wish to fool proof it.

If you need assistance or need yours fixed and post warranty.. Then drop me a PM and or post here....

 

[Robert Le Mal]

ok so wading with the CTX3030 wasn't enough. Ever since I got the Excalibur from SA Bogun I've been thinking of going back to diving and taking a detector.
Today was my second attempt and I have to say even though I did find stuff it's nothing on what I get wading.
So if you're bored I put a GoPro on the end of the Excal so you can see how nasty it gets as soon as I start fanning a target.
The editing software and my old PC are limited - but you get the idea.

http://youtu.be/pSKKB4C5FSs?list=UUP5KG4GgTrH_9XwVSvlQpsg

On the upside I now have reading glasses that I can take under water.

If anyone has been diving with a detector I'd love to get some tips.

 

[the duck]

ill give you my best tip you wade out till its chest deep and then when you start to swim, your rings fly off hope this helps
This gives you and area between low tide and high tide to search

 

[Robert Le Mal]

thanks Duck - I've been hitting Williamstown & Altona when the tides are at their lowest and wading down as far as I can go, usually score coins (and rings though most are junk). Was hoping there were more goodies just out of reach but I get the feeling I may be disappointed.

 

[Heatho]

Cool, I know a place where tourists used to throw coins in the water for the local kids to dive for. This went on for about 60 years until they banned it. If you ever bring your diving gear to Sydney PM me and I'll show you exactly where it is, I bet there would be a lot of good stuff down there.

 

[Robert Le Mal]

Hi Heatho,

that sounds excellent, will definitely keep your offer in mind. I do get up to Sydney once or twice a year.

At the moment though I'm getting targets but can't recover them as I need make some sort of underwater scoop. Fanning doesn't work very often.
Really sucks when there's something there and if I was wading my stainless scoop would nab it :-(

 

[the duck]

Tried a table tennis bat for fanning

 

[Robert Le Mal]

Hey Duck,

have tried a plaster spatula, and now have a potting scoop from Bunnings, my main problem is getting sand out before it collapses back in as well as the cloud of sediment I stir up. Might see if I can get a feed scoop from a pet or horse supply place and drill holes in it... there has to be a solution.

And this morning's disappointing but fun efforts (almost all junk).

1962 half penny - exposed and cemented on a rock.

rollex - just kidding, it's cr*p. Unfortunately couldn't find watch body.

So much iron & steel from the old pier lying on the bottom that it made detecting pointless.
Some video here...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ytIQHmZGzq4

 

[Heatho]

Hi Heatho,

that sounds excellent, will definitely keep your offer in mind. I do get up to Sydney once or twice a year.

At the moment though I'm getting targets but can't recover them as I need make some sort of underwater scoop. Fanning doesn't work very often.
Really sucks when there's something there and if I was wading my stainless scoop would nab it :-(

Sure would be a whole new level of frustration trying to recover targets. Would love to see what is in the spot I mentioned, just let me know mate the treasure will be all yours.

 

[Robert Le Mal]

Heatho do you dive?
I might be passing through on the way to an event in QLD middle of next year, will be in touch before that.
The possibility of watery treasure sounds too good to miss.

 

[Heatho]

Hey Robert, no I don't, not sure if I'm allowed to either as I had a collapsed lung a couple of times in my younger days, apparently happens to tall skinny young men mainly. I'd love to learn but.......... Happy to watch and lend a hand and keep an eye on any of your gear for you.

 

[silver]

Hi Robert, maybe you need one of those submersible recovery vacs,..you can dive with them and you just push them into the bottom and it sucks the sand/mud up and out through the top with a small recovery basket to catch the find where the overburden exits the vac,...fresh or salt water use,...not sure of their name or the supplier though,...saw pictures somewhere in the past though and read an article somewhere,..you could just work your way slowly up against the current/water flow.