Syndyne said:
Hi Syndyne,
What do you meam scrubbing the ground carefully? Should I have the coil of the SDC on the ground when detecting or just above it?
My First Impression of the new SDC 2300
- Thread starter Steve Herschbach
- Start date
Help Support Prospecting Australia:
Hi Syndyne,
What do you meam scrubbing the ground carefully? Should I have the coil of the SDC on the ground when detecting or just above it?
G
Guest
Wooly each to their own on your question. Some like to sit the coil above the ground others like to touch the ground.
My preference would be to scrape the ground with the coil touching the ground as you detect.
My preference would be to scrape the ground with the coil touching the ground as you detect.
condor22
Mike
Heatho said:
Thanks Heatho.
In real terms not the best, I'm surprised that it's 6v not 12v, given that it would be easier to charge from the car.
Applying Ohms Law, if the wattage used by the SDC & the ATX are similar (I'm not suggesting they are) and the voltage of the SDC is half, then even though the mAh of a C cell is better than the AA, the thing that suffers is time.
6.5 hours means that the actual time may be less at optimum voltage, which would indicate carrying an extra set all the time.
Running rechargeable NiMH flat everyday isn't the best thing to do. Dropping a NiMH battery below about 1.0-1.1 volts may cause permanent damage to it. They normally run at about 1.25 volts so the real voltage of the SDC battery pack is nearer 5 VDC.
I'm pretty sure the ATX draws a lot more power. We were stopping for lunch and doing an hour top up, then another full charge that night. The charger came with a 12v adapter for car use also. I'll be getting a spare set of batteries soon, just in case.
I've only had 1 battery warning so far and that was with a set of Energizers running out after about 8 hours. The supplied batteries are great, so far....
I found my first nugget right before sunset, a good 4 hours detecting after lunch time top up.
I've only had 1 battery warning so far and that was with a set of Energizers running out after about 8 hours. The supplied batteries are great, so far....
I found my first nugget right before sunset, a good 4 hours detecting after lunch time top up.
Syndyne
Shaun Galman
Wolfau said:
Right with you there Wolf!
I've found that running the coil against the ground has offered up more targets that I missed prior. The pieces can be so small that it's only a matter of 5-6mm between a nice signal and one that is barely there in some circumstances.
That's why they make skid plates after all.
Cheers,
Shauno.
My first impression, my first post!
I have had 2 half days detecting with my SDC 2300 and I am pleased. I found 3 nuggets 0.3 and 0.4g at about an inch down (obvious signals) and 1.0g with a barely noticeable signal at 110mm. All came from an area I had not passed my GPX 5000 over before but would have been easily detected by the GPX
Where I had passed the GPX 5000 over I found at least 30 tiny ~3.5mm dia., old, well corroded, shot gun pellets. Most were obvious dig me signals with the SDC, but not noticed by the GPX... Obviously, I was trying to find some of those tiny nuggets beyond the reach of the GPX 5000...
Batteries:
Don't bother with alkaline batteries! I have found new quality batteries last no more than 2 1/2 hours. Worse, the battery indicator drops from full to minimum in 1/2 hour - and surely, with this low voltage, the machine is not now operating at 100%.
The supplied rechargeables are ok - after 5 hours they were only down to an indicated 50%.
In my test bed:
mm depth in quiet ground.
Au nugget SDC 2300 GPX 5000, 8"mono
g Normal 2 Salt 1 FG, gain 13
100 230 290 320
15 170 160 260
8 150 160 150
0.8 100 120 120
0.15 70 20 50
0.05 30 5 ND
0.01 10 touch ND
Pb 3.5mm 70 50 20
The signal on the Pb shotgun pellet above is much sharper on the SDC.
Increasing the sensitivity to Normal 3 etc gives 10 to 20mm depth improvement
To Salt 2, 20mm.
The GPX settings were about as quiet as Normal 3...
The 100 and 15g nuggets were found at the FG limits of my 17" elliptical coil, about 2" deeper than the GPX depth above i.e. the SDC would not have detected them.
You can see from the above that a flake at 10" or 0.07g at 7" is unbelievable. So often the nugget falls down the side of the hole...
that's your lot
dc
I have had 2 half days detecting with my SDC 2300 and I am pleased. I found 3 nuggets 0.3 and 0.4g at about an inch down (obvious signals) and 1.0g with a barely noticeable signal at 110mm. All came from an area I had not passed my GPX 5000 over before but would have been easily detected by the GPX
Where I had passed the GPX 5000 over I found at least 30 tiny ~3.5mm dia., old, well corroded, shot gun pellets. Most were obvious dig me signals with the SDC, but not noticed by the GPX... Obviously, I was trying to find some of those tiny nuggets beyond the reach of the GPX 5000...
Batteries:
Don't bother with alkaline batteries! I have found new quality batteries last no more than 2 1/2 hours. Worse, the battery indicator drops from full to minimum in 1/2 hour - and surely, with this low voltage, the machine is not now operating at 100%.
The supplied rechargeables are ok - after 5 hours they were only down to an indicated 50%.
In my test bed:
mm depth in quiet ground.
Au nugget SDC 2300 GPX 5000, 8"mono
g Normal 2 Salt 1 FG, gain 13
100 230 290 320
15 170 160 260
8 150 160 150
0.8 100 120 120
0.15 70 20 50
0.05 30 5 ND
0.01 10 touch ND
Pb 3.5mm 70 50 20
The signal on the Pb shotgun pellet above is much sharper on the SDC.
Increasing the sensitivity to Normal 3 etc gives 10 to 20mm depth improvement
To Salt 2, 20mm.
The GPX settings were about as quiet as Normal 3...
The 100 and 15g nuggets were found at the FG limits of my 17" elliptical coil, about 2" deeper than the GPX depth above i.e. the SDC would not have detected them.
You can see from the above that a flake at 10" or 0.07g at 7" is unbelievable. So often the nugget falls down the side of the hole...
that's your lot
dc
G
Guest
Deasea said:
That 1 gram nugget you speak of with a bearable hear able signal at 110mm which is just over 4" what shape is this nugget?
And asking this question for you to just get this nugget at 110mm I am wondering if the nugget was sitting on the ground with
its thin side up.
This is where we are going to get different depth readings.
It really depends how the nugget was sitting on the ground and how much of this
nugget was detected with the detector.
Just lightly skimming is my preference
Ok Wolfau, I hope the photo of the nugget is attached.
I have a depth scale on my pick handle and always measure the depth of nuggets that are on the limits... it should be no more than +/-10mm out.
I have spent many boring hours on my home and goldfield test bed. Sadly, I know of no otherway to quantify what changing settings, coil or detector have - no one will tell you, even if they know...
Physics tells me a nugget will try and orient so it is laying flat, with maximum surface facing the detector. The same way a body falling through a fluid does.
The ideal shape for a target for the GPX 5000 seems to be coin like and facing the detector. The depth on edge is about 2/3 of flat and there are countless orientations in between. So, I have found shape is as important as size and all you can ever get is a rough idea, but it is good enough to know that 0.07g at 7" and similar is wrong... Oh and the 2/3 ratio did not seem so strong with the SDC and may partly explain why some have said it works well on specimens...
I hope this helps
dc
Araratgold
Rick
Gidday Nenad,
I like the look of that very professional looking headphone adaptor lead, and you say there is a solution coming.
Any idea when, as I have already buggered my SDC headphones lead / plug trying to adapt them for a booster ?
I am baulking at the $195 price tag for a new set of UR30's with the " special " plug, as I have a brand new set of UR30's with the standard 1/4 jack that I would like to be able to use !
Here's a pic of 19 tiddlers so far for 1.7 grams with the SDC on areas I have flogged with my 5000.
Cheers,
Rick
I like the look of that very professional looking headphone adaptor lead, and you say there is a solution coming.
Any idea when, as I have already buggered my SDC headphones lead / plug trying to adapt them for a booster ?
I am baulking at the $195 price tag for a new set of UR30's with the " special " plug, as I have a brand new set of UR30's with the standard 1/4 jack that I would like to be able to use !
Here's a pic of 19 tiddlers so far for 1.7 grams with the SDC on areas I have flogged with my 5000.
Cheers,
Rick
G
Guest
Araratgold said:
This might be a solution.
Cut the the headphone cord 4" or so Away from the detector
plug End. Attach a female head Phone jack to that end then
on the head phone Lead attach a male headphone plug.
You could use heat shrink to hold firm in place then attach
The female to the body of the detector with a dab of silicone
So it holds the lead connector on the detector firmly in
Place.
If you need extra cord get someone to hold the phones
Stretch the lead a little and hit with a heat gun so plastic
Or rubber stays in place.
Teemore
One foot out the door
wooly said:
Hi Wooly,
By no means an expert but strongly suggest you scrub the ground with the SDC .... I'm advised it gives better depth penetration and the benefit of the SDC is that you can knock rocks, stumps or whatever without the SDC missing a beat (something that some other detectors apparently can't handle).
Good luck look forward to seeing your Results, T.
condor22
Mike
condor22 said:
I got a reply from Garrett, customer support
"Im sorry, but we dont swap out items from set packages."
Araratgold said:
Hey Rick, the adaptor lead is coming along. Have made a slight tweak to the test samples. Should have them available soon, hopefully before end of August, fingers crossed. It uses the same connector and overmould as on the supplied headphones. The SDC's audio signals are very crisp through my TD80s and Technics headphones.
Araratgold
Rick
Gidday Nenad,
Thanks for that, I'll definitely buy one from you when they are available. Any idea of pricing yet ?
Cheers,
Rick
Thanks for that, I'll definitely buy one from you when they are available. Any idea of pricing yet ?
Cheers,
Rick
Trying to keep it under 100. That connector aint cheap.
Araratgold
Rick
PhaseTech said:
Nenad,
That's great, considering the flexibility it will give users !
Cheers,
Rick
I will be getting a loan of the sdc2300 in a couple of weeks to try it out. I read the manual last night and i see what you fellows are saying about the adapter. One thing i like about this detector is the lack of needed accessories. 
