How to Test Whites Metal Detector Coil Frequency 5900/di MXT All Pro

[@rciancia]

This is really cool... I love how you show that these common pieces of test equipment can be used for many things. EXCELLENT Video Terry. Thanks Ron

[@getsmart2594]

That is a cool opening for your WHITES METAL DETECTOR, REALLY COOL !

[@jomon723]

My first detector was a 5000D back in the early 80's bought it used :))

[@Wildman9]

Another cool video Terry, my Dad loved his White also.But he did like the Garrett too,I believe that was the name.He had a buddy they probably went out to the desert at least once every Month.I was a litt me kid then.He even had a Geiger Counter too,him and his partner thought they were going to hit the mother lode! Memories!!Thanks can't wait for your follow up.

[@TheRadioShop]

Nice demonstration Terry. I like to see different brands on this.

[@jfranciskay]

Is that a D104 in the background? Brings back memories...Nice video!

[@SeattleRingHunter]

Excellent demonstration. You took me back to my days in the early 1990’s when I was a Rf bench technician repairing and tuning Motorola pagers “beepers”! We did it all back in the day all the way down to surface mount component repairs and Xtal oscillator tuning. Looking to grabbing a handheld frequency counter to test some of our new fast multi frequency metal detectors and possibly publishing some fresh content on this to my channel. Cheers, #SeattleRingHunter

[@50Quid-d3x]

In a side by side shoot out on you tube... the MXT was out gunned by the newer MX Sport... and after checking the voltage the MX Sport is running a higher voltage into the coil vs the MXT by 28%. My new project is adjusting the frequency on my MXT to run at 15.5 kHz in prospecting mode and stay at 13.89 on both coin and jewelry and relic modes. Taping in after the mode switch so the frequency only changes for prospecting mode. The target change off point, or tap in point off of the mode switch will have an input tap for my bench top frequency generator and eventually a connection point for an oscillator circuit that can be switched on and off from 13.89 to 15.5 kHz. The MX Sport has a -7 and + 7 frequency shift for elimination of cross talk... but unfortunatly the Whites development staff never understood that 13.89 was a ting low for gold prospecting and 48 kHz in the GMT was way to high for tracking deeper gold targets in highly mineralized goldfield soils... the higher 48 kHz frequency tending to blow up in hotter iron soils. (Bad ground reduce gain) on the screen and a blaring alarm sound to match. Prospecting in iron soils like we see in Colorado and also in Australia and elsewhere... Well, it's best to have a VLF metal detector that can handle the hotter ground like the minelab 800... and a better choice would be to have both a pulse induction metal detector like the Minelab 4500 and a couple of good vlf gold metal detectors that can handle ironized soils to some degree and still be able to see gold and also be able to work milder and midrange ground in places like Arizona. The GMT, when it was first introduced was of interest to prospectors in Austrailia because it could measure ground conditions and discriminate out iron junk. But lacked any and all ability to hit larger deeper targets in the dry iron rich soils like the older minelab 4500 metal detector. The GMT and MXT's were revolutionary for their time, but the two detectors never did and still don't have the ground canceling circuitry needed to see through highly mineralized soil and seperate out these hotter soils from the gold as evidenced by the new marketing campaign for the GoldMaster 24K The MXT with its lower frequency and hyper vsat outperformed the GMT in hotter ground. It's lower frequency being unable to hit small pieces of gold shallow like the GMT and the newer Whites/Garrett 24K. The GM 24K promises to be a big improvement in hotter soil... with its new XGB ground canceling circuitry. The MXT's all lacked the follow the black sand mineral strength indicator. Indicating mineral type, but not mineral strength. A simple must have soil condition indicator. Which most detector manufacture have now replaced with a series of bars making the GMT a prized must have metal detector for gold prospecting. The newer Garrett GM 24K... claims to be a big upgrade in ground effect cancellation effect and auto ground balance... so we shall see. It does have 50% more voltage running to the coil. I measured 61% in my preliminary test. In big bold letters in the 2020 and 2021 White's catalogs said "The XGB ground balance system can handle mineralized ground unlike other VLF prospecting machines". (Unlike the GMT). Then they said this about the GoldMaster GMT... "Used in goldfields around the world! This detector ignores the harsh ground found in gold bearing areas... and find nuggets large and small. (Bad ground reduce gain). Does the Garrett GM 24K run in hotter soil compaired to the GMT? I'll have to make up some test bags of quartz sand and black sand mixed and see what they do, but until they lower the frequency on the new Garrett 24K to say 24K... I think it's just not going to be able to run in the hot soils found in most modern goldfields as advertised. The minelab gold Monster 1000 running at 40 kHz has very simular limitations as do all of the new higher single and multi frequency XP metal detectors. They cannot handle the hotter high mineralization soils associated with gold deposition. Right now we know the XP Deus II blows up in hotter ground and does not have the sensitivity to small gold like the The Deus I and simular ORX. The ML Equinox 800 does a much better job of seeing through and operating hotter soil, but does not have the sensitivity to small gold like the newer Equinox 900 and the Manticore. How well the Equinox 800 and the newer Equinox 900 and the high performance minelab Manticore perform in hotter soil and hit small gold targets... I can't say until I get all three detectors out in the goldfield. When the soil is to hot all we can do at that point is switch to a pulse induction metal detector and or start random pan sampling and setup a sluice box or drywasher. So we got a new Whites/Garrett GMT running at 48 kHz... when what we really needed was a newer VLF GoldMaster running at 48K and 24K... Unfortunatly people who know how to build metal detectors don't know how to find gold and people who know how to find gold are busy finding gold and don't really know how to build metal detectors. Then everything is handed off to the marketing department where big bold statements about ground effect cancelation are created mostly out of thin air.

[@glencaple3888]

Hello. Great video. Very informative. I bought a White's DFX brand new in '04. Really enjoy it. I also have the Digging Deeper w/the DFX book by J. F. That book really helped me to understand why I was missing nickels and gold jewelry during the first few years after I bought the machine. Question: Is it possible to modify the detector with a higher frequency to better detect gold nuggets? Is that a software item? Could it be done w/a few electronic parts changes to the main board? The 15 hz 'can' work but it is not optimum. I've had to make alot of adjustments to block edit /hot rock reject, and a few others, to keep a quieter headset in areas of hot rocks. Thanks.

[@chrisg514]

Have you looked at the Equinox? Rumour (US forum) is it either doesn't transmit or doesn't use all of the claimed frequencies in the various programme modes. Would welcome your PoV.

[@tricelbor]

Have you ever tried to change the pin configuration to make adapters to swap coils between models? I think whites change this in order to make us buy other coils, in case of the Vcoils like your mxt they can run in 4 khz up to 20khz in a v3i at the same time or single freq selectable too, it seem you are a techi guy an can pull this one up, this could be a game changer for some of us that have older machines and have to buy scarse older coils

[@TheGuitologist]

Cool video. I wonder if you couldn't do a "poor man's version of this test and wave the detector over a small output transformer or inductor coil and feed to a speaker instead of the spectrum analyzer. Then you could simply get a free smart phone guitar tuner and measure the frequency. Would that be possible?

[@d-labelectronics]

Man, excellent idea. Your right, most people do not have a signal analyzer laying around. I am trying to locate a general purpose hand help frequency counter with a bar graph display for another demo. I will also see if the coil trick to tuner will work. There is a real lack of info out there regarding metal detector repair.

[@TheGuitologist]

Never done it myself but I subscribe to nuggetnoggin, who is a detectorist. Younger kid. Good channel. He uses Garrett AT Pros. I know virtually nothing outside what I've learned watching his channel.

[@bemi-ton]

a dynamic mic on the tuner input, or perhaps just the smartphone itself under the coil should work, too ;)

[@crazycressy7986]

Would you be able to test a CTX 3030 ,they are saying it uses FBS and uses 1.5KHz to 100KHz all in one go ?

[@findingfun4747]

Wow that's cool ! Great educational video!

[@michaelumlauf494]

Great video. So interesting.

[@techguy9023]

Any source for old Whites Goldmaster and Coinmaster schematics and service manuals? I expect to need to replace capacitors in my 40 year old unit and it would be nice to see test points or at least a schematic.

[@kilner79]

hello i would like to do this same test and i thank you very much for the information in your video im strugling to find a simulair 2.5mH coil do you no if the sercher coil 5000 turns would work or would that be to big or any links to anything that would work i appreciated your time and all your content thank you

[@patprop74]

Do you still go out detecting Terry?

[@zalmans5zalmans540]

Please help! What is the reason that my detector also detects gold as iron? Where can the error be? in a roll? Or in the display instrument panel? Thanks for your response!

[@spresc2180]

Hi Terry: VERY nice video. 👍 Question: Your 1st detector, Whites 5900di, like the others was frequency tested with its circuitry case intact. It was discovered to be off frequency higher than it should be, on your Spectrum Analyzer. Its freq spike was to the right of where it was supposed to be on the units graph. So you rotated your "magic knob" to bring the spike to the left to its correct frequency position on the graph. So, my question is that where the units case remained intact, thereby no adjustments/tweaks to the units circuitry were made to vary its frequency, it seems to me that the Spectrum Analyzer itself was adjusted to come in line with the advertised frequency of the detector, versus adjusting the detectors innards to bring it to the correct frequency position on the analyzer. I watched the vid 3 times and keep asking myself the same question. Am I missing something? Help out this 1960s electronics era (tubes/transistors) old guy.

[@mikesmuseum]

Sam P Great question...I agree. None of the parameters of the metal detectors were adjusted to see a range of frequency or where they were sitting at. No baseline was established at all.

[@spresc2180]

Michael Massa Thanks. Its nice to know I am not alone.

[@d-labelectronics]

Hello, For this simple test, the desired center frequency is set on the analyzer, then you adjust the fine frequency adjust until the peak centers on the screen, this will be the frequency that the analyzer reports. You do not adjust the metal detector internal or external adjustments. You can do the same type test using a basic frequency counter that has a bar graph showing amplitude. The instruments are simply used for monitoring the signal. The intent was not to repair or adjust the detectors output. Hope this helps. TD

[@spresc2180]

D-lab Electronics Okay, thanks Terry. Setting the "desired center frequency" and then centering the units waveform on the graphs center seems to indicate my interpretation is correct. The main takeaway here is seeing the individual units output waveform & frequency, incorrect or otherwise.

[@dirkayala5812]

Super Cool...Thanks!

[@patprop74]

Thank you !

[@astro_puppet3159]

Love your videos! I have an MXT that will not turn on. The battery pack is good and I have power to the terminals on the board. Checked with a meter. Still nothing. The battery pack was left in when it went into storage 😑. Wondering if there's anything I could try that might help. Thanks in advance.

[@astro_puppet3159]

Well, I just watched your dead 5900 video and said, ya know, lemme just get new batteries just in case.......bingo 😁

[@50Quid-d3x]

The battery slides in and hit two contact pins... maybe bend the contact pins forward a ting!

[@GPCTM]

2:20 All of this is based on "the induced frequency is the same" Where have you read that? I can't find it anywhere.

[@kenhancock8931]

FIRST!! Exellent video terry THX

[@cheycasters]

Great show!!

[@JobyP]

Weird looking Guitar Amp there hehe :) I have a BEAUTIFUL old radio that needs to be converted, might give you a ring this weekend Terry... interesting video... even for a guy that’s never touched a metal detector.

[@d-labelectronics]

Hey man, I will be here, plus have $$ for you on that Heathkit amp sale. TD

[@JobyP]

Cool, you sold the Zenith Conversion too Right? I just wanna re-invest it into a build with this beautiful Old Radio I picked up, so it's all gonna be yours anyway lol ... It's literally the PERFECT size, shape for a cool conversion.

[@PaulinTaegu]

So you must be a Silver Stacker too! ;^) OK Now your going to make me get out my detectors and go dig in the yard this weekend. Since most might not have a fancy spectrum analyzer but may have an O'scope, we could basically get the same info using it to test a metal detector too right? Nice tip to hook a scrap radio coil inductor to our input and wave the MD over it! We might have to do some basic math calculations by hand to get our result numbers. By hand those tenths and hundredths of a Khz get rounded off to, close enough. LOL 8^)

[@wadereynoldsgm]

Another hobby? Electronics and treasure? Where do I find the time? Interesting video!

[@d-labelectronics]

Yep, way too many hobbies here. Just an electronics junkie.

[@renegademind1833]

Does anyone know if the "BLUE Max' series "Maxima 1500" search coil fits on old Whites Coinmasters. The plug looks the same. I have a 6000 DI series 2, whites coinmaster Thanks for the video

[@Apollo1van]

I picked up a 6000/DI with no dish or rod can i test it to see if it works ?

[@nathanielblas5792]

It looks a little deferent than yours I don't know we're two start please help

[@JoseLuisVasquezGiraldo]

Terry, before I start watching the video I must tell you, the d-labamps domain is gone, Wham!

[@d-labelectronics]

Yep, I let it lapse, due to inability to manage it.

[@bombproduction2169]

TC-90 metal detector It looks the same

[@cliffordwells2793]

Can you not just test the khz with a multimeter?