Minelab SDC2300 information and questions

Yup every time i go out i find some gold with the SDC 2300.

Although im having an issue with the speaker right now, every time its been in the sun for about an hour it starts distort and then lose volume so im stuck with just the headphones until it gets fixed.
Minelab reckon theres nothing wrong with it,so still talking with minelab to sort it out.

nuggetino said:

Well I'd been on the detector connector listing for over a month now and minelab still haven't found someone to partner me up with. I offered 3 grand for the SDC to be matched with someone wanting a GPX5000 for 5 grand. It looks like not too many people snapping up new 5000's either or I was way down the bottom of the list LOL

Click to expand...

Do you have one yet?

Forgive my shonky memory, but someone on here suggested I put an add on gumtree and try to partner up that way... It worked! I have my SDC now

Hi LC,

I noticed your comment about the heat and speaker distortion and loss of volume. I had exactly the same thing happen to me yesterday. I was out in the hot sun for a while with the SDC laying on its side on the creek bedrock when it started to make sounds like a cat being strangled and then it lost pretty much all volume. I had no idea what was going on. but in the end turned it off, submerged the unit in the cool creek water, turned it back on and the problem had gone away. Wasn't sure if it was muck under the skid plate (washed out when submerged) or the heat. I'll let you know if it happens again.

Fantastic work Redfin! Looks like Buzz Lightyear's SDC -So well thought out.

Yeah its been sent back to Minelab for the second time now.
This time i sent video to Minelab showing the distortion after it heats up in the sun.

Its a pain having to wear the big black headphones in the heat,would rather use the speaker in the heat.
The distortion on mine sounds like an angry raspy mosquito then after a bit longer it starts dropping in volume until you cant hear anything anymore.

So hopefully Minelab fix it this time or give me a replacement.
Hate being without it though,losing out on gold while its gone lol.

Yeah mate I remember that. Glad you got yourself a good deal on the SDC I withdrew my ad from gumtree and am no longer on the detector connector list since the wait gave me plenty of time to think things over. Sticking with the 4500.

Great idea sending the video. I hope that it gets fixed this time! When you get it back I'd appreciate it if you could let me know how it turns out - what ML reckon etc.

Can we have a link to the vid please mate.
I'm sure all SDC owners would like to know and hear what went on.

I'm not sure what's worse' Angry mozzie or a stranled cat? At least it ends in silence, that's still got to be better than the Hiccups.
I'm not sure how the SPK is mounted but my guess is it has a water proof lining between the outside housing and SPK its self, so once this area heats up it creates a pressure pocket between the two' forcing pressure on the SPK we all know what happens if you stop a SPK from moving whilst it going don't we?
So" I'd say I tiny pin hole through the plastic SPK cone from the inside would stop a pressure pocket from happening....

That's my guess.

[video=480,360]http://youtu.be/zIsIRG8hwYo[/video]
[video=480,360]http://youtu.be/qWuD4EVUn58[/video]
[video=480,360]http://youtu.be/3h3kWjyiDp4[/video]

But like i said its been sent back to ML so hopefully they can sort it out.
If they cant or dont sort it out what would be my next step?

If it was second hand i would just put up with it and find a work around but its brand new.

Well the unit is sealed water proof so... It's possible the entire unit is building up pressure inside from the heat so maybe once it starts playing up' opening the Batt door may release the pressure? The pressure could be pushing on the speaker from the inside.

You goto admit Australia tests any equipment to the extream.

Oh was it you? lol Yeah I had no word from the connector service either

Well you still have a top unit there anyway

HHmmm, strange hey, everything appears to be reacting ok, just the volume. It may be just the speaker?

Yeah sounds like a crook speaker. Pretty sure the Service boys will sort it for you.

Yeah it still finds gold so I'm thinking speaker pressure like zuke said or bad solder.
A set-up like yours though would sort that out with speaker on the grip.

Maybe ML should have done a fold out speaker like the camcorders with the foldout screen.

Great job Redfin. It looks professional and I'm sure it works well. I think everybody has been ripped off with this machine. It's perhaps a knee-jerk reaction from Minelab after the introduction of the Garrett ATX. There's so much wrong with this machine that it should have never made it to market before sorting it out. I just bought a set of Sun Ray headphones with the adapter. Not because I wanted to but because the machine is simply not up to scratch.

The speaker system is poor and the headphones worse. The armrest is lousy. If it gets into an environment with EMI or something else that upsets it there are limited adjustments to sort it out.

It let us down badly in Hawaii so I wanted to see it work here in Australia. We took it to a playground during the week to try it out. Sandra started on one side with the SDC and I started on the other with the ATX. Firstly it cranked up the same way it did in Hawaii, chattering away. However the ATX was doing the same so I figured we were too close together even though we'd worked this playground before using the Whites GMT and the ATX.

I turned mine off because I really just wanted to see if we could get the SDC working. It didn't change anything, it just continued to chatter. She had started it on setting 4 (the green bit) so she went through the settings and ended up improving it with one of the salt settings, I'm not sure which one. It was still chattering but quiet enough to be usable.

I went back and turned on the ATX as it had no effect on the SDC. I simply reduced the sensitivity on the ATX to cut out the effect the SDC had on it. Well come to think of it the initial chatter on the ATX might have been from another source because I forgot to do a frequency scan. The point is it took me no more than a few seconds to set up the ATX to run smooth and quiet. I still had the option of a frequency scan, adjustments to the discrimination, tracking, ground balance, volume and more if needed.

The person swinging the SDC is just too restricted in options to tune the machine for pleasant operation. It's just as well it can find small gold or this machine would quickly find it's way to the scrap pile.

I think you've done a great job of modifying it but you shouldn't have to.

Setting 4 is probably way to high MB, start off on Normal 2 or even as low as 1, adjust threshold to the 3rd LED, hold the detector up a little and do the noise cancel (repeat if still erratic, repeat 2 or 3 times until it settles down) then do a ground balance. The machine should now sound a bit like a mosquito which is correct operation. The threshold will waver slightly which is quite normal but it should not be obviously erratic.

When detecting listen for the slightest repeatable change in the the threshold sound and swing slowly over the ground.

If this setup doesn't work there is probably something wrong with the machine.

Only issue I've had with mine so far is 1 pin came out of the armrest, Minelab sent me a new pin the day I called them, wit arrived 2 days later and I installed it myself to save sending the unit off.

1 time detecting it sounded like a siren, took 3 noise cancels to settle it down and it was fine.

Thanks Heatho,
We have a test bed in the bush where we buried a variety of metal objects that we found in the goldfields. No gold but several pieces of lead, brass shells, steel, aluminium and even a drink can at depths varying from 50 to 600mm. It's been in the ground for about 8 months so should be good to go.
I've not tried multiple scans so will give that a go. Hopefully with the new adjustable headphones she won't throw it aside after a short while. I need some time with the ATX in testing as well. So far most gold has been found with the DD coil but several people have told me that I'll do much better with a mono. I have two mono coils that I've not used much because I'm not sure when to run which one.

The mono's are probably best away from any civilisation, the DD will reject a lot of EMI and run smoother in built up areas like city beaches and the like.

Hope the testing goes well. Having to do multiple scans are rare but sometimes needed.