SD2000 idea

[dom44]

I am interested in building the SD2000 metal detector and i am sure so are many other people on this forum, i think from what i read some are doing so at this moment. With varying degrees of success the problem as I see it is the complexity of the pc Board and being all surface mounted components makes it a very scary project as it would only take one small mistake to render the project useless and very difficult to find and repair the error.
What I am proposing and I am not sure if it will work or if there is enough interest by our more advanced and capable contributors, but how about breaking the project up into individual circuit boards on a main mother board with power supply this would allow different contributors to build test and submit each section as a group project, and would also allow for upgrading modifying any given section as a board at a time.
Example if someone comes up for a better front end receiver amp board would be simple to unplug it and replace with the new board, or if someone wants to design a microprocessor logic board just unplug the logic board and replace it. I am not bad with electronics have been doing it as a hobby for a long time now but I’m not fully technical as I know there are problems with noise and crossover talk and the such but the old s100 computers worked with a mother board and plug in boards so I think it could work what do you think?

[mario]

A complete redesign of the SD2000s layout is no easy task. Like you mention, most of the components are surface mounts. I have been experimenting with my unit and have had difficulties getting it to work correctly after simple component upgrades.

My advice on the matter; for starters, build a working unit, which will be a daunting task considering that new builders will not have a reference model. From my experiments, I see a very small success rate since builders need a working knowledge of the unit before building it. Only after building a working model should you attempt to create a more modular redesign, which will be a counter productive project because better time can be spent experiment/improving your working unit.

[dom44]

I must say i Have started playing arround with the circuit and they say that it has been tested but i think only on a simulator, there are still errors in the circuit one i have noticed is in the power supply circuit, the LED will not flash with the compareator the way it is drawn but i am sure there are others as well, but will be fun to play arround with it.

[Micheal]

the SD 2000 is a cheap detector with no ground balance although it has good depth ...I think it is better to buy one ,they sell for around $800 is it worth trying to make one?
The one to make guys is the SD2200 it has ground balance and is a bit more reliable on different mineralised grounds...

just my thoughts

[gef12]

the SD 2000 is a cheap detector with no ground balance although it has good depth ...I think it is better to buy one ,they sell for around $800 is it worth trying to make one?
The one to make guys is the SD2200 it has ground balance and is a bit more reliable on different mineralised grounds...

just my thoughts

Hummm the SD2000 does have Ground Balance and I dont know about being cheap either .. I think in its hay day it was $1000 over

[Mechanic]

Hummm the SD2000 does have Ground Balance and I dont know about being cheap either .. I think in its hay day it was $1000 over

Thats right, it does have GB! As far as I can tell there are no errors on the sd2000 schematic and if you built it provided you do not make any mistakes when copying the schematic and LAY THE BOARD OUT CORRECTLY, it should work just fine.

The flash of the LED for low battery is very slow, once a minute at the start and faster as the battery dies more.

I don't know how we would build a 2200, no schematic, no source code for the micro or eeprom.

Cheers Mick

[ghaj]

the SD 2000 is a cheap detector with no ground balance although it has good depth ...I think it is better to buy one ,they sell for around $800 is it worth trying to make one?
The one to make guys is the SD2200 it has ground balance and is a bit more reliable on different mineralised grounds...

just my thoughts

SD2000 is obsolete and is no more in production!

[dom44]

To me its not a matter of just buying a detector sure i could do that easy, this is my hobby and its a learning curve, so just buying a new minelab appart from being rediculously expensive would teach me nothing about how electronics works or metal detectors. any way this is a tech forum for people who are into building them and learning how they work, once we know maybe we can even find ways to do it better.
and by the way i have built the power supply section.

[mikebg]

METAL DETECTOR COMPOSED OF FRU?

Metal detector composed of FuRUs


FRU means "Field Replaceable Unit":

"A Field Replaceable Unit or FRU is a circuit board, part or assembly that can be quickly and easily removed from a personal computer or other piece of electronic equipment, and replaced by the user or a technician without having to send the entire product or system to a repair facility. FRUs allow a technician lacking in-depth product knowledge to fault isolate and replace faulty components." This explanation is given in
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Field_Replaceable_Unit

For example, the sensing head (search coil) of a metal detector appears as a FRU when it is connected by a connector or with screw terminals.

However we can replace a sensing head in the field not only because it is faulty. Often we need other model sensing head more sensitive to wanted targets or more suitable for different soil conditions.

Let we change the abbreviation FRU with FuRU having description "Functional Replaceable Unit".
For easy future improvements of a project, we can design the metal detector composed of functional replaceable units. We should avoid motherboard and lot of connectors for our design because they reduce reliability and need more place. Unlike sensing head, replaceable in the field, we will replace our FuRUs in home using soldering iron. This is not dificult because FuRUs for metal detector have only several leads.

Attached figure illustrates an idea of FuRU designed metal detector for aesy improvements and upgrading. Note that search head with its front end box and cables form a real FRU because has connector (can be replaced in the field). All other modules are not FRU if they need soldering iron for replacing.

[Vortxrex]

Arduino (PIC) use a stack-able low profile expansion boards called "shields" They use a Dual inline set of standardized connectors. You could do something similar & it would take up a lot less space than the 90 degree 'PC Motherboard" type set-ups because the stack one on top of the other. Dave Frank

[mario]

Arduino (PIC) use a stack-able low profile expansion boards called "shields" They use a Dual inline set of standardized connectors. You could do something similar & it would take up a lot less space than the 90 degree 'PC Motherboard" type set-ups because the stack one on top of the other. Dave Frank

Hi, Arduino is not PIC!

And I still don't see the point of having a modular design for this model (or any metal detector for that matter). The SD2000 board does have plenty of components, but the unit, as a whole, contains far less complex than circuitry found in other equipment. This unit is not mission critical equipment that demands 24/7 operation like a dedicated RAID 3 station. It's a metal detector! To create a modular design for this or any other unit is over kill.

Also, to those undermining the capabilities of this model, take this under consideration: the SD2000 was introduced in 1995 and people are still finding gold with it.

For depth, not even White's V3 or even Minelabs own Explorer II will come close. At $800, the SD2200 is a bargain considering that people are paying $1200-$1600 for the SD2100, which is marginally an improvement.

Yes, Minelab does produce some expensive *** equipment, but those detectors sure hold their value.

[WM6]

H

The SD2000 board does have plenty of components, but the unit, as a whole, contains far less complex than circuitry found in other equipment. T

.

Problem is component list with equivalent or replacement components to special factory marked components (semiconductor). Without such list no one can count on building success.