Minelab SD 2000 Mods/Upgrades


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I have just acquired a mint condition SD 2000. It is said to only have 30 minutes usage on the machine. It is complete with all accessories. I have been told there are numerous mods/upgrades available for the SD 2000. Does anyone have info on which mods/upgrades are for real and enhance the unit and which are either useless or just window dressings? I like the looks of the unit and have a gut feeling it will serve me very well, if upgraded. I have found a couple of sites in Australia that do mods, but have no experience with them. Any recommendations?

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Hello Turkey,

Yes, visit Ismael's website on his Minelab mods. Everyone I know that has had them done has praised Ismael and his service. You might want to email him first and see what he can do to your unit.

A couple of friends just had some SD's and GP's modded and love them!

Hope this helps,

Rob Allison

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I have one of Ismaels personal 2000's. It has a 6 frequency switch, extra gain switches. I just received it back from Ismael a few months ago. He added the VCO mod and a extra ground balance for chanel 2. It also has the sound enhancer and adjustable voltage switch. In my opinion the VCO mod is a must along with the sound and power enhancer. After the mods you need a 12 vold battery. I use 2 6v gell cells batteries. Ismael stands behind his mods! If you have the 2000 get the mods from Ismael. You won't be sorry!

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I have one of Ismaels personal 2000's. It has a 6 frequency switch, extra gain switches. I just received it back from Ismael a few months ago. He added the VCO mod and a extra ground balance for chanel 2. It also has the sound enhancer and adjustable voltage switch. In my opinion the VCO mod is a must along with the sound and power enhancer. After the mods you need a 12 vold battery. I use 2 6v gell cells batteries. Ismael stands behind his mods! If you have the 2000 get the mods from Ismael. You won't be sorry!

Thank you very much for the info. SO, if it will require 2 - 6 volt (12v total) batteries, then a 'Pocket Rocket' will not work. I am working with it daily to get a 'feel' for it before I ship it off. Will probably sens it out after the first of the month. I do not understand why he will add an extra ground balance because it already has 2 of them, which I have not been able to understand nor figure out yet. I get no reaction with either ground balance adjustment knob regardless of how much I turn them. Maybe you can give me some clue on this. Again, thanks very much.

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Make sure you contact Ismael before you send it off to him. I know he uses the end caps from a 2200 and has trouble getting them. The mod works on voltage from 6v to 8.6v or so. The voltage is adjustable. You adjust the voltage depending on conditions. With the set up there are extra gain switches and at times you need a extra ground balance in Ch 2. You need to work with your 2000 and learn how to use your ground balance. Make sure you read all the info on Ismaels site on the subject and the mods. :)

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Make sure you contact Ismael before you send it off to him. I know he uses the end caps from a 2200 and has trouble getting them. The mod works on voltage from 6v to 8.6v or so. The voltage is adjustable. You adjust the voltage depending on conditions. With the set up there are extra gain switches and at times you need a extra ground balance in Ch 2. You need to work with your 2000 and learn how to use your ground balance. Make sure you read all the info on Ismaels site on the subject and the mods. :)

Thank you again. Yes I will have some serious communications with Ismael prior to shipping to him. He sounds like he knows his business and I feel comfortable about using him. Thank you for the additional info.

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Couple photo's of my mod 2000. The VCO mod on the low frequency end is .9 Mhz to 1.3 Mhz. Ismael was able to break 1 Mhz with his VCO mod to .9Mhz. This is important because the low frequencies are used to search for large gold, deep with BIG coils. Or in my case Thunting. I use my unit after I find something else and need to search deeper. The VCO mod is not a fixed frequency crystal but a adjustable frequency knob so you can fine tune your coil / detector combo.

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Hi Turkey. Are you testing at home? If so you may have so much electrical interference that your machine can't be dialed in so you won't be able to ground balance. My SD2100 (unmodded) will easily balance out the ground by:

turn on machine and hold coil straight out about waist height and slowly turn in a circle until you hear the most noise. Put the coil down to the ground at that direction and put balance switch to #1. Make sure there is NOT a target there.

Raise and lower the coil about 6 inches and turn knob #1 all the way left and then right until the noise stays the same without wavering ( count your turns... maybe 5 or more full turns from left stop.)

Put balance switch to #2 and repeat above step until sound is stable. Put the balance switch to the center position and adjust the threshold level until you can just hear the steady sound. You should be ready to hunt. I would recommend you learn your machine before you spend money on it as they are very good at their job as is and you may find plenty of treasures with it "stock". Sure, the mods will give you more depth but you still have to get your coil over a nugget which is where I have trouble. I am very, very good at finding junk targets so can't help you find the yellow metal !! Good luck, Ken

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