Is my Platypus broken ?

[carter]

took out my new never been used Coiltek Platypus coil today and it has a faint wobble sound under the threshold sound, sounds off some times if you bump something and if there is digging with in 4' it picks it up ? If this is not normal for this coil can it be fixed do not have this with other Coilteks I have ( use it on a SD2200v2 )

[grubstake]

Check your connections, thats not normal. Check the connection at the coil its self, when they are shipped, from Coiltek, they undo the nut on the coil, so they won't get broken, Grubstake

[nuggethunting]

Hello Dogrunner,

Like Grubstake instructed, you need to make sure all connections are tight. You don't need to use any type of wrench/plyers, but make sure they are finger tight. Sometimes when you bump obstructions such as rocks, bushes and other types of vegitation you might get a response. It has to do with the windings moving, but since the windings dont move in the Platypus coil, I would say it's probably in the cord and connections.

It's very normal to get a response if you coil is only 4 inches away from where you're digging. I recommend placing the detector and coil 2-3 feet away from where you're digging.

Hope this helps a bit,

Rob Allison

[grubstake]

Yes, I overlooked the part where the pick was only 4 inches, I thought it said 4 ft. Get the coil away from and metal, when you dig or check your hole. The Platy is one of the best coils Coiltek makes, I've had mine for years, and never had a bit of problem with it. Grubstake

[carter]

all connections are tight and it is 4 FEET you can hear the digging in the headphones if the coil is on the ground it would sound off bumbing plants or rocks not always but more than I thought it would

[carter]

Yes, I overlooked the part where the pick was only 4 inches, I thought it said 4 ft. Get the coil away from and metal, when you dig or check your hole. The Platy is one of the best coils Coiltek makes, I've had mine for years, and never had a bit of problem with it. Grubstake

[grubstake]

Well I have the#1 prototype, and it works great, in my opion the best coil Coiltek ever made, Mine will sound off some if you bump it on a rock, but not overly so. no more than any other coil. The platypus is very sencivtive, and will pick up sub grain gold. I have on problems with putting my coil 4 ft away and digging. its only when the pick comes with in a couple of feet, it will sound off. as pick are big hunks of metal, and they are moving when your swinging them. You could be stting you coil on very hot ground, Have you tried auto tuning it, before you hunt? Or maybe there was trash in the ground you did not see. I've done that before, set my coil down right on a buried hunk of metal, while digging another target. Grubstake

[DOC]

This is extremely important.

A lot of falsing has nothing to no with the plastic strain relief down at the coil. Especially being it is a Platypus that is sealed in EPOXY.

A word of caution.

If you want to finger tighten the strain relief down by the coil, make sure you put an adjustable wrench on the bottom of the strain relief base, so when you finger tighten the strain relief, you do not want to twist the base inside the coil because you will surly break off the wires inside the coil and then you have damaged the coil beyond repair.

The other thing that makes almost all coils false, it torquing the coil plug to get it to align to the detector so you can plug it in.

If after wrapping your coil cable, the plug does not line up perfectly in order that you may plug the coil cable straight into the detector without twisting the plug one way or the other, unwrap the cable and rewrap it.

Twisting the plug one way of the other to get it to line up causes undue pressure, on the plug on the detector and causes the coil to be hyper sensitive and will cause it to false.

I learned this quite by accident one day because I had a 14 inch coil that worked perfectly some days, and others it would false. I soon figured out the reason it falsed was because the plug had been torqued into position.

Take care!

Doc

[nuggethunting]

Hello Doc & Dogrunner,

Very important point about twisting the coil cable too much to get it aligned just right. Like Doc stated, if you wrap your coil wire all the way up and then realize the tab on the connector is 180 degrees out, then it's best to re-wrap the coil wire to make the alignment is better and you don't have to twist the connector so much to get it to fit.

P.S. Grubstake, I still have one of the original Platypus test coils and it still runs great. I haven't used it much this year, but last year I done well snipping some of the watercourses around the Bradshaw Mountain Range.

Take care,

Rob Allison

[grubstake]

Rob, I still have the#1 proto type, it never fails me, I've had it in water up to the ajustment knuckle and its a gold getter for sure. Like I said, I still think its the best coil Coiltek ever made, of couse getting many oz's of gold with it helped. Remember I got a very nice nugget the very first time out with it in a pounded patch. Grubstake

another thing Dogrunner, is take the coil cover off, there no way to tape the inside of that cover, you could have something in the coil cover making it sound off like that. Grubstake

[adam]

took out my new never been used Coiltek Platypus coil today and it has a faint wobble sound under the threshold sound, sounds off some times if you bump something and if there is digging with in 4' it picks it up ? If this is not normal for this coil can it be fixed do not have this with other Coilteks I have ( use it on a SD2200v2 )

Dogrunner, to answer some of your questions.. You say a "faint wobble" that Sounds like interference. Lift the coil in the air, find the worst interference, and press the Tune button. You may have to repeat this process a couple times. It will give you the best auto tune possible for a Thinking machine. A slight warble in the threshold on a 2200 V2 is very common. This is various interference issues that may not be able to be tuned out.

When digging a target you must set your machine/coil aside 3,4,or even 5 feet away. I would say that 3-1/2 feet do me fine. If you have a magnet on your pick ,and it moves just slightly while digging a target the coil will hear it up to even 5 feet away. It may sound like a lighning strike, a real sharp raise in threshold.

All coils will cause a false signal when hit hard enough. Dont knock it againt something deliberately. Be easy with it if you can, afterall you should be going low & slow as a general rule.

Make sure you are in both channels and not channel two only. Channel two increases sensitivity in the coil, but the symptoms of that are usually increased ground sensitivity, not neccessarily EMI issues.

[FlakMagnet]

I would like to pass along one of the most valuable tips for detecting

that I have found. DOC's post reminded me of it.

Please have a look this tip will change your detecting experience for the better

as far as cable falsing is concerned.

http://www.arizonaoutback.com/azotips.html

scroll down the page to a section called "building a Coil Cable Stabilizer"

All the best,

Flak