Pulse Devil Update


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Hi All,

I have decided to post an update on the Pulse Devil so people who are interested will have a better idea of who, what, when, where, and why as it concerns this detector. Now, before updating people on the exact specifics, I would like to discuss a little about the Pulse Devil for those of you who have not read much about it.

The Pulse Devil (PD) is designed to be a full discriminating PI capable of PI depths while being able to discriminate like the VLF. The design and development of this detector has taken many years and in those years, has taken many twists and turns. That is why people may have heard of the project, but not much on the details. Considering no such detector exists today, this concept and development is quite a feat in itself.

Now, this project originally began as more of a hobby project for Dave just to see if he could do it. The deeper he got into the project, the more determined he became to actually build something that doesn't exist and make it available.

The final result is basically Dave has decided to develop the PD for the public and is doing so is a one man company. This by itself is no small feat, but does fall in line with his main business as an independent design engineer.

Ok, so where does the PD stand right now? Basically, the PD is almost complete and has just a few small details to finish up. So, as of today, the plan is still on for Dave to be at Rich Hill on March 10 with his new Pulse Devil for people to see and watch it in action. The plan is to try the new detector on the 24K club with people present to see it for themselves.

As many of you may know, there have been a couple of issues that have caused some delays and they are still being finalized as you read this, so the PD is not completely done as of yet. The last, but key change was a really dramatic one. It consisted of eliminating a bunch of knobs and replacing them with electronic controls. This required a special microprocessor and associated programming. This particular change has taken much longer than anticipated but is coming along fine.

Now, to complicate things, Dave just informed me of some personal family matters that could possibly interfere with the introduction of the detector at Rich HIll. For those of you don't know, Dave is originally from England and he still has family there. Without going into details, there is a possibility that he may have to help one of those family members and could be flying to England if required. If that happens, it could alter all his immediate plans including the AZ trip.

Now, having stated the above, Dave indicated he is 85% confident he will be able to make the March 10 deadline.

So, lets hope all goes well.

Regardless of the Rich Hill demonstration, the plan is the Pulse Devil will be available for sale in the US, this year. So, more information will be available later as it develops.

Now, Dave has already discussed possible dealerships with 3 key established credible dealers here in the US. These dealers will be sent a Pulse Devil shortly to test for themselves. If everything goes ok and they are satisfied, they will be the US Dealers for this new detector.

The potential dealers are;

GERRY'S METAL DETECTORS (covers the western part of the country)

Gerry McMullen

1501 N. 12th Street

Boise, ID 83702

(208) 345-8898

Dixie Metal Detectors (covers the eastern part of the country)

David Keith

1120 Berwick Trail,

Madison, Tennessee 37115

(615) 860-4333

Alaska Mining & Diving Supply, Inc. (serves Alaska)

Steve Herschbach

3222 Commercial Drive Anchorage, AK 99501

(907)277-1741

Now, don't forget, the above dealers do not have the PD yet so they can't provide any more answers at this time. Once they have the units and have tested them, more information will be available.

One final note, delays in the introduction and final development of a metal detector are really quite common. The big difference is, most companies try to keep information under wraps until is formal introduction. So, most people do not hear much except rumors.

In the case of the PD much more information has been distributed. To make matters worse, the plan was to have units available to send to OZ by the end of last year and that was mentioned. However, Dave decided to incorporate a significant change and that particular change has taken much longer to complete than anticipated. Hopefully, the majority of the problems are in the past now.

Reg

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Hi Gary,

I can't say for sure just what Dave is going to use a the official forum in the long run. I know that at the onset, most information will most likely be posted on the prospectinginoz forum.

I will try to keep people informed as I find out things, but I would recommend you watch the OZ forum for most of the info, at least, at the onset. There is no doubt if it can perform well over there, it can perform well anywhere and they will most likely be doing most of the initial extensive testing.

Reg

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Reg

Can you give us a site address or link were we can get a look at the Pulse Devil.

Thanks AzNuggetBob

There are some pictures of early prototype Pulse Devils in the Dave Emery photo album of my forum. I expect to have some pictures of the production version (which will be very different from the prototypes) on my forum soon together with a detailed write up by Dave. Dave also hopes to have a Pulse Devil at Rich Hill Arizona with Reg Sniff on the 10th March so there might be some pictures from here as well. I will be testing the Pulse Devil in Victoria,Australia and will post field reports on my forum.

Doug

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ProspectinginOz/

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi All,

This is basically a copy of information I posted on another forum updating the latest about the Pulse Devil. There are a couple of minor changes.

I just got off the phone with Dave Emery and it is still a go for the March 10 meeting. Dave did indicate that family matters could still interfere at the last minute, as could programming issues still pending, so we are going to try to make backup plans just in case. Now, such plans could include Dave sending a PD down for testing and not coming himself at that designated time, or he could possibly come a couple of weeks later once the issues are resolved.

Now, as mentioned, there are still some programming issues being resolved and that is why a unit hasn't been sent as of yet. He is hoping all that will be taken care of in the next few days.

Now, if things work out that Dave comes down later, he has promised me he will send me a unit to test should he miss the deadline, so I should see one soon, regardless. I was told I get to try one providing I give it a thorough evaluation and let the world know the good, the bad, and the ugly of the unit. Personally, I hope he can make the deadline.

Now, we spent a couple of hours mostly on tech talk, as he was updating me on some of the more technical changes.

Dave also indicated that he should have pictures available of the PD in the next few days. So, we should see just what the PD looks like shortly.

One of the things he spent time explaining was how he has decided to take care of a few last minute "what if's". Now, what does this mean? Well, the PD is designed to be very compact and chest mounted. It is also designed to be adjusted with one hand. Now, one of the problems, because of the compact design, is it makes a difference as to ease of adjustment between a left handed person and a right handed person? Yep, if nothing changed, it could be difficult for one or the other. If the unit is set up for a right handed person and then used by a left handed person, the operator would find his hand interfered with seeing the display, thus making adjustments difficult. So, to eliminate that condition, the unit can be physically altered such that it can be set up either for use by either hand. Normally, the dealer will make the change.

Now, the PD has a long run time so a battery shouldn't be an issue. However, most people prefer a spare so one can be obtained quite cheaply since it uses a common Canon battery. Dave indicated they sell for about $15 or so on Ebay.

Well, that is the latest on the PD as of this evening March 1.

One last note, Dave did sound like he had a bad cold but he said he was fine. I hope his health problems go away quickly. I am looking forward to meeting him in 10 days or so.

Reg

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I hope as part of your tests you will take it right to the heart of Decision Corner where the nails, cans, bits of rust and other junk are thickest....of course you may need a good-digger to dig three foot holes to verify what is being detected...Which brings a question I don't think has been asked...........will there be a signal on all targets, and then the operator decerns the difference; or will iron just be nulled out and one will not be aware of its presence? I am assuming the PD is in the Prospecting mode for these questions.

Thanks Reg, you are the man for this job!!!!

Fred

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Hi Fred,

Yep, Decision corner is on my list for testing sites for that reason. In fact, I was asking Dave some specific questions about the iron discrimination feature just last night. One of my biggest concerns is the small pieces of tin cans. Nails are not a problem. Dave indicated he felt the design will eliminate it all.

Now, it is my understanding that in the prospecting mode, the iron is ID'd by a low tone. So, the answer to your question is yes, all metal objects will cause a audible signal in the prospecting mode. Iron trash will generate a low tone. Non ferrous objects will generate a high tone.

Now, it is my understanding that that will or could change in one of the other modes. In other words, such signals could be eliminated much like what happens on a VLF. So, it is possible that in the coin mode, iron objects would not generate a audible signal.

BTW, if for some reason the PD is delayed and I don't get to test it there in a little over a week, I have plenty of pieces of the old rusty cans here so I can create my own mini Decision corner. I deliberately kept one pouch full of the junk I dug up for the reason of being able to simulate the location. Heck, the ground at my house is just about as intense signal wise, so the test should be quite valid. Oh, yeah, I have brought back plenty of the basalt rocks also.

Reg

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Hi Seeker,

You know me, I will tell it like it is.

Now, here is an update on the second detector I mentioned quite some time ago. For those of you who remember, I mentioned there was another individual who has been working on a discrimination PI and was planning on trying to make it for the same date.

This particular detector is very close to being finished also, but it is still touch and go.

Now, I am going out on a limb and saying that if Dave doesn't make it, this second individual will not either. I am sure he doesn't want similar flak about his detector.

He has kept quiet and I haven't mentioned much but I will pass on a little more information.

This individual is in the process of applying for a patent covering his latest design. Much of his time has been involved working on a special medical project, which to him is more important. Now, he was just issued a patent for an unique coil design recently.

Yes, this detector is real also. the name of the detector is "GOLDSWEEPER"

Here is a link to some information. Now the history behind the detector is a must read fellas. I think you will really enjoy it. The gold detected by one of his designs is what we dream about.

Here is the link;

http://www.golddetector.info/

BTW, Allan and Dave happen to be good friends. One of the reasons for the test at Rich Hill was to have his detector evaluated as mentioned on his website

Enjoy,

Reg

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Hi George,

I thought people might enjoy the article. I am glad you liked it.

Now, I have no technical info on the detector except to say I have read the patent information on Al's new coil design. The basic principle involved is to use an additional set of windings and switch them at the proper time. The windings are initially set to oppose the the main signal but are switched to aid the main signal. This technique allows for a cancellation of the main signal during the pulse on time, thus, it makes it possible to sample extremely soon. The result will be a detector capable of detection of very small gold.

As for the extra connections on the coil, I suspect they contain the switching and initial amplification, but that is only a guess on my part.

Now, I hope I got it explained right.

Reg

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Hi George,

I thought people might enjoy the article. I am glad you liked it.

Now, I have no technical info on the detector except to say I have read the patent information on Al's new coil design. The basic principle involved is to use an additional set of windings and switch them at the proper time. The windings are initially set to oppose the the main signal but are switched to aid the main signal. This technique allows for a cancellation of the main signal during the pulse on time, thus, it makes it possible to sample extremely soon. The result will be a detector capable of detection of very small gold.

As for the extra connections on the coil, I suspect they contain the switching and initial amplification, but that is only a guess on my part.

Now, I hope I got it explained right.

Reg

Hi Reg,

You are pretty savvy about these things--the preamplifier and the coil driver are in those little "pods".

This stratagem eliminates the cable capacitance and the motion artifacts. The lower the capacitance across the coils, the higher the self-resonant frequencies of the coils. The sooner the oscilliations can be eliminated, the sooner one can sample for "invisible nuggets" an other small gold.

The picture on the web page shows a balanced design with NiCad cells in a tube. I have recently tried LI Ion

cells that are much lighter, and this changes the "balancing act". The tube with batteries no longer hangs down--instead, there is an enclosure at the far end, with the battery and switching regulators, which are best kept as far as possible from the receiver coil.

I'm working feverishly to get a unit ready for a demo...

Thanks for the publicity,

Allan

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