Back to the barracuda legend.....

[plumabob]

Just an update. I have been using my barracuda quite a bit lately on my local salt water beaches. This thing is killer! Hitting zinc pennies at an easy 15 inches. Many targets I had to give up on because I just couldn't dig them fast enough in the surf. It is also very quiet and does not see salt water at all. No gold yet but conditions have not been favorable.

My specs are as follows. Did the LF412 swap to LT082 and the NE55534 swap to LT1115. Left the tip127 in as I'm having no problems with it. The coil I have currently been using measures 12.5 inches across R is 1.31 and a .446uH and I'm running 12 volts

Would like to hear others field results.

[dfbowers]

I know what you mean about the baracuda. Mine is a keeper for sure. In fact I just built a second one. I have not had mine out since last summer at the beach but I was digging things amazingly deep in the surf.

I'm using all the parts supplied by silverdog for both but I did find a difference between my first and second build. I cannot get my second one to react to ferrous the same way that my first one does, although I have not used the same coil on both yet. I'm using a 9" coil of about 450uH on my first build. Unfortunately, I'm stuck to coils no larger than 10" since I cannot vacuum form anything larger from the kitchen oven.

As far as the coil goes, right now that is my limiting factor for depth and I am getting maybe 10" on coins.

Also, I'm very curious about the TIP127 as I am using the IRF9640 and what the differences actually are.

Don

[plumabob]

Hi Don,

I did try the IRF9640 and it was very unstable in the house. It may be better on the beach but I have been doing so good with my current set up I chose not to use it. The Tip 127 runs smooth like butter. I made this 12.5 inch coil from an old coil cover I had laying around. I had an original Barracuda many years ago and remembered what a deep machine it was.

Bob

[dfbowers]

Mine is unstable in the house has well. One observation I made while playing with the dampening resistor... It seems like the 450uH coil is overdamped somewhat with the 330 Ohm resistor, so I bumped it up a bit. The closer I got to critical dampening, the more noise. I got to almost 900 Ohms until I could detect any ringing. In the end, I just left the 330 Ohm resistor in place as it ran quieter with no loss of sensitivity. I will have to take a trip to the local Radio Scrap store and pick up a TIP127 as I think they carry them there. Did you use a heatsink with the TIP127?

[SVEN1]

Hi,
What Otter box are you using? Are you using it as a water machine submerged? Wouldn't mind finding a more compact waterproof box than what I am currently using by Underwater Kenetics.
Good luck with your Cuda

[dfbowers]

Sven, I think you might have mentioned this before, but where do you order you parts from? (pole and handle). I want my next one to be a straight shaft arrangement.

Thanks.
Don

[SVEN1]

Don,

That straight shaft was made up of multiple parts I had on hand from various detectors.
At the time didn't feel like spending $$ for a commercially made straight shaft set-up

Fisher lower rod and middle rod, Garrett Master Hunter middle rod. Minelab handle (was $24 now $30) from http://www.metaldetector.com/metal-d...poles-hardware

[plumabob]

Don yes I used a heat sink as that is what I received with the kit.

Bob

[plumabob]

Hi Sven,

It's a Otterbox 3000 I believe. 8 x5 x2 inches roughly. I use a small battery pack made up of aaa nimh's. I don't think your setup would fit with those large batteries. There also isn't any room on the side for switches. My coil connection and headphones come in through the bottom also for the same reason. I don't submerge it but it gets a good dunking once in awhile. So far it has held up very well.

Bob

[Astromic]

Very clean build, good work mate

Mike

[bernte_one]

here is my last indoor video from bara with last setup
powered by lipo 3s 11.1V 900mAh
with magic coil (just a joke)
lt1115
standard 4700uf cap and all the rest standard too

with other coils, a can hit a red bull can at 80cm , 2€ coins 30cm+
but i need some small coil for my next beach run to pickup all the surface coins
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3RFWNjv2yso

regards