Gold Bug 2, pulled plug wiring, need help

[Hodad]

The wires got pulled out of my Gold Bug 2 and I need help on where to re-solder them. I was surprised that there are only two wires from the coil, Green and Orange, with no shield or ground wire. Does anyone have the info. on this?
Thanks a lot!

[Dave J.]

Over the history of the Fisher Research Lab Gold Bug II (introduced 1995) there have been at least three different searchcoil cable and wiring arrangements. They're supposed to all be compatible, but experienced users may have noticed minor differences.

All arrangements have had at least four searchcoil wires/connections, two to the transmitter and two to the receiver. Of those, at least one will be a shield, and I believe that all arrangements have had two and only two spiral served shields in the searchcoil cable. The colors of non-shield conductors have varied.

Inside the box there will be either four or five wires to the searchcoil connector. The color of wires used has varied over time.

So far you haven't even said where the broken wires are-- at the searchcoil, at the searchcoil cable connector, at the searchcoil connector inside the box, or at the PC board inside the box. For anyone to be able to help you, you'll need to provide detailed and accurate information.

If you are in the USA, the best way to get it fixed is probably to have it repaired by the factory in El Paso.

--Dave J.

[Hodad]

Dave, Thanks for the reply. The wires are pulled out of the plug that connects to the detector box. I looked at another coil plug and it has 5 wires but mine only has 2. I trimmed back the insulation for 1 1/2 inches and there are only 2 (two) wires, orange & green. I can't imagine how it worked with only 2 wires. It should be a simple fix but I suppose I'll have to send it to Texas.

Over the history of the Fisher Research Lab Gold Bug II (introduced 1995) there have been at least three different searchcoil cable and wiring arrangements. They're supposed to all be compatible, but experienced users may have noticed minor differences.

All arrangements have had at least four searchcoil wires/connections, two to the transmitter and two to the receiver. Of those, at least one will be a shield, and I believe that all arrangements have had two and only two spiral served shields in the searchcoil cable. The colors of non-shield conductors have varied.

Inside the box there will be either four or five wires to the searchcoil connector. The color of wires used has varied over time.

So far you haven't even said where the broken wires are-- at the searchcoil, at the searchcoil cable connector, at the searchcoil connector inside the box, or at the PC board inside the box. For anyone to be able to help you, you'll need to provide detailed and accurate information.

If you are in the USA, the best way to get it fixed is probably to have it repaired by the factory in El Paso.

--Dave J.

[Dave J.]

Wild guess: you bought this used and have never actually seen it work?

--Dave J.

[Hodad]

Hi again, Dave;
That was a logical guess but no, I bought it new and it worked great for 2 1/2 years until I stumbled and pulled the wires out. It doesn't make sense to me either.
--Hodad

[Dave J.]

Hodad, I don't know if I can help you or not, but I'm the last guy who can offer you hope because I'm the guy who originally designed the damn thing! I do not know what you are seeing in front of you but until you explain it clearly I have other work to attend to.

--Dave J.

[mahavir]

Hi friends,
I made PI detector but they are not better sensitive for gold and they don't have good deep range so plz now I want to mak new gold detector which have sensitive and good deep rang so plz help me..
Thanks,

[Davor]

Hodad, you can take a few pictures and post them here. When taking pictures tick the flower symbol (macro) to see details.

[Davor]

sAdar praNAm, mahAvir

You guess right about the technology to find small gold. IB at higher frequencies will do just fine. Just as Goldbug does. However, you can't expect much depth

In case you are searching areas with lots of iron ore, just try to make your PI better, as PI-s are somewhat better in such conditions.

[mahavir]

Thanks devor,
If you know about anyother detector then reply of their name,
I want to make new detector,
Thanks..

[Hodad]

Dave J.;
Thanks for responding. I'll send it to Texas and see if they can fix it. If not I'll get a new coil.
--Hodad

[Davor]

Thanks devor,
If you know about anyother detector then reply of their name,
I want to make new detector,
Thanks..

I'm not into seeking small gold, but coins and small artefacts, hence I'm happy with my IGSL. What kind of terrains you have there?

[Davor]

I'm the guy who originally designed the damn thing!

It dawned on me that Gold Bug is one of the few rigs using LF rather than more common VLF in it's operation, and that many have emphasized stability problems. So the best person to ask about construction of such high frequency rigs is the very author of such a rig.

Dave, could you please share some of the advantages, quirks and pitfalls.

If I got it right GB2 uses 71kHz? Various time standard/navigation transmitters use rounded frequencies, so I guess 71 is to avoid whatever burns kilowatts at 70. AFAIK the atmosphere is some 20dB quieter in LF than VLF.

I guess some DIY high frequency rig would gain a lot of followers.

[Dave J.]

Designing for LF is basically the same as designing for VLF. Distributed capacitance in the searchcoil and cable is more of a problem, but it's not a showstopper. As you point out, there are a lot of high powered navaid and military communications transmitters so you have to pick a frequency that's not camped on top of one.

--Dave J.

[Davor]

OK, so if I keep coil impedances low, preferably in balanced configuration and differential, and frequency adjustable - it is a walk in the park? I just may do that.

What can I expect regarding detection/discrimination of ferrous materials at LF? Iron-like objects are supposed to creep into the non-ferrous quadrant there. Am I going to run into PI-like discrimination la la land, or is it going to perform just as civilised as the next decent VLF?

I know, too many questions...