Minelab SD2000 tips, settings, questions

[axtyr]

Hi Triton09.

That is a good price. But, if you can find one already fully modded you should pay only about $800.00 or even less. The mods aren't too complicated to do yourself but if something goes wrong, and it happened to me, you can end up with a broken detector. I had problems doing mine and was lucky enough to have help from Mechanic. The mods are quite expensive if done by Woody (Victoria). I don't think Ismael does them anymore (Western Australia).

If you do decide to buy the unmodded detector and want to mod it yourself then I can help you with instructions. The ones from Ismael are good but the components he has in his instructions are older and larger than what you can purchase now.

Before you start I would suggest having the following items; 1) a multimeter, and know how to use it, 2) a router with a 12mm bit 3) a soldering iron.

The multimeter can be bought for about $10.00 so is a cheap investment. It will mostly be used to check the components that you buy are the correct value as they can vary considerably.

A lot of components I purchased online, such as resistors and capacitors, but the varistors I got from Jaycar and tested them with the multimeter so that I got the exact value required.

Regards Axtyr.

 

[PeterInSa]

$500 may be a good price, but is the Gold Monster at around $1000 better. ( but appreciate your budget constraints)

I do not have a Gold monster but they seem to find gold according to various reports. I had a 2000 when the first came out.

Peter

 

[triton09]

I'm also looking at a modded sd2100 for $675 with 3 coil's

 

[Ded Driver]

$500 may be a good price, but is the Gold Monster at around $1000 better. ( but appreciate your budget constraints)
I do not have a Gold monster but they seem to find gold according to various reports. I had a 2000 when the first came out.
Peter

2 very different machines .... VLF vs PI
The SD2000 will handle mineralised ground that the GM wont

 

[Guest]

G'day

I have an Sd2000 that has had a mono and dd switch mod done to it, but the switch has been removed from it, there are stickers each side of the plugged switch hole with one saying DD low and the other saying MONO high, on opening up the box I can see that there are several components on the circuit boards that are new as they are unpainted, and several pins where I assume that the wires from the switch would have been attached, the detector is working and on testing it will run both dd and mono coils which seem to operate as normal, my question is if the switch has been disabled the detector should be running as stock standard correct?, or could it possibly be running in either the dd or the mono mode? as I don't know what the added new components were fitted for?

I have sent this question to a couple of people who carry out the mods but have received no replies, so was wondering if anybody on here would have a circuit diagram for the mod or some idea as to what mode the detector would be running in now, thanks in advance

cheers

stayyerAU

 

[old hand]

With a DD on the detector and putting the switch in mono its using the coil like a mono but you are only using a portion of the coil :Y:

 

[IBGold]

Hi StayerAU have a look minelabmods for the circuit details for the switch for the SD2000 and a mint of other SD2000 Mod information the new components on the board would be either replacement parts or for another function as the switch uses no other components other than the switch and re routing of the coil plug to circuit board wiring any questions please ask I still have my SD2000M and would not part with it .

Regards, Ian.

G'day

I have an Sd2000 that has had a mono and dd switch mod done to it, but the switch has been removed from it, there are stickers each side of the plugged switch hole with one saying DD low and the other saying MONO high, on opening up the box I can see that there are several components on the circuit boards that are new as they are unpainted, and several pins where I assume that the wires from the switch would have been attached, the detector is working and on testing it will run both dd and mono coils which seem to operate as normal, my question is if the switch has been disabled the detector should be running as stock standard correct?, or could it possibly be running in either the dd or the mono mode? as I don't know what the added new components were fitted for?

I have sent this question to a couple of people who carry out the mods but have received no replies, so was wondering if anybody on here would have a circuit diagram for the mod or some idea as to what mode the detector would be running in now, thanks in advance

cheers

stayyerAU

 

[Guest]

With a DD on the detector and putting the switch in mono its using the coil like a mono but you are only using a portion of the coil :Y:

Gday

Thanks for the reply, yes I know what the switch does and about using the dd in a pseudo mono mode, but as its been removed I just want to know how it was wired up?

cheers

stayyerAU

 

[Guest]

Hi Ian

I have scoured the minelab mods site and have seen the gpm mods but cant find any reference to the dd to mono switch wiring, just trying to get some idea how it connects up?, also I wondered about the other new components that have been fitted, it looks like 2 of the parts are replacement crystals and another looks to be a resistor, I am starting to wonder if the guy I bought it off was messing with it himself as he told me that he bought it as is and that the previous owner bought it brand new and that as far as he knew it was as stock standard and they never had it modified which obviously is not the case as someone has been inside it.

Like I said it seems to work as normal when a dd coil is fitted and also when a mono coil is fitted, I was considering getting the depth mod done to it but initially just want to try it out first to see how it performs as is, been years since I used an Sd in the field, also want to experiment with the concentric coils as well, just trying to get a handle on what was done to it, but alas no one who does these mods wants to get back to me about it?..

cheers

stayyerAU

 

[old hand]

As you say just use it see how it goes ,if it was mine the only mod that would be done is a 4 or 6 poison frequency switch ,had it on my 2000 and it worked well regards john :Y:

 

[IBGold]

Hi StayerAU it is on that site but as I have not been on it for years I can not tell you where exactly I have all the mod information if you want to PM me with your email details I can send you the information if you have someone who can do the work I can send you the various mod information as well my SD2000M has 12position crystal switch or processor controlled timings as well as the GPM mod and various other changes but I went a bit over the top.

OK I just had a look if you go to Minelab mods click on DIY and click on Mod diagrams it will give you the various DD/Mono switch diagrams cheers.

Regards, Ian.

Hi Ian

I have scoured the minelab mods site and have seen the gpm mods but cant find any reference to the dd to mono switch wiring, just trying to get some idea how it connects up?, also I wondered about the other new components that have been fitted, it looks like 2 of the parts are replacement crystals and another looks to be a resistor, I am starting to wonder if the guy I bought it off was messing with it himself as he told me that he bought it as is and that the previous owner bought it brand new and that as far as he knew it was as stock standard and they never had it modified which obviously is not the case as someone has been inside it.

Like I said it seems to work as normal when a dd coil is fitted and also when a mono coil is fitted, I was considering getting the depth mod done to it but initially just want to try it out first to see how it performs as is, been years since I used an Sd in the field, also want to experiment with the concentric coils as well, just trying to get a handle on what was done to it, but alas no one who does these mods wants to get back to me about it?..

cheers

stayyerAU

 

[AuMan]

Hi StayyerAU,

Saw your post here and went digging in my email.
Apologies for not replying to your email sooner, Gmail had kindly filed it in my promotions folder.

So to make this thread complete, I'll also answer your mono DD switch question here.

The Mono DD switch was for DD coils, so you could opt to use the transmit half of the coil as a mono coil, thus the DD then behaves like a mono.

Most likely if the switch has been disconnected it should be running as standard, so a DD should be a DD and a mono a mono.
To verify that, the yellow receive wire should be connected to pin 2 of the coil plug.
Pins 1 & 5 linked to black,
pins 4 & 3 linked to red
The switch would have had the yellow wire to the centre terminal and then the edge terminals connected to the red(for mono) and pin 2 for DD(std mode).

For the replaced components, there were some found that would make the threshold a little smoother, but without seeing which parts, it is hard to tell.

There has been a lot of DIY information out there for a long time now for 2000 mods, so most likely someone did it themselves.

Cheers Mick

 

[IBGold]

Hi StayerAU,

There you go Mick is the man if you do want to get more done to your SD2000.

Hi there3 Mick how's it going.

Regards, Ian.

 

[AuMan]

Hi StayerAU,

There you go Mick is the man if you do want to get more done to your SD2000.

Hi there3 Mick how's it going.

Regards, Ian.

Hi Ian, good to hear from you, it's been a while since we last chatted.
Moved house last year and now living right in the heart of the triangle.
Now that I can walk out my door and test detectors in nice hot ground, I have been taking the time to go back over my mods and find new little improvements and test/prove them quickly. I have managed to get some more sensitivity and depth out of the f1a4 and 2200, the gp/gpx series quieter and starting to add manual tune as well(to detectors that only have auto) which seems much better than waiting for the auto tune to not tune out the emi! I am hoping to do some more videos soon showing all the improved mods in action.

Hope you are keeping well.

Cheers Mick

 

[gef12]

ye what Ian and Mick said ..
nice to see you guys here again .. not been on for some time ..
hope all well ..

cheers
geoff

 

[PhaseTech]

The Mono DD switch was for DD coils, so you could opt to use the transmit half of the coil as a mono coil, thus the DD then behaves like a mono.

Hey Mick, just to clarify, did this coil switch mod make the coil transmit and receive off the Tx winding only, or did it receive off both Tx and Rx windings as it does in the GP and GPX's?

I was a big fan of the Mono mode on GP's, as running a DD coil in Mono meant that I kind of got a happy compromise between sensitivity and signal sharpness, and retaining some DD characteristics such as ground handling and reduced EMI.

Look forward to your videos.

 

[AuMan]

ye what Ian and Mick said ..
nice to see you guys here again .. not been on for some time ..
hope all well ..

cheers
geoff

Hi Geoff,

All is well! It's starting to cool off a bit here so will hopefully get some more time out detecting now.
Bought a 2200 a while ago with the intention of being my guinea pig. It came with one of your Treasure Mate powered speakers which still works a treat.
Anyway took the detector out yesterday having done what I wanted to do with it and found a nice surfaced area near Tarnagulla that has had every man and his dog over it. It was well flogged! No shotgun pellets, didn't dig any rubbish. After about half hour I got a nice little signal and pulled up a whopping 0.02~0.03g speck of flypoop! I won't call it a nugget!

Hope you are well and still getting out to find a bit..

Cheers

 

[AuMan]

The Mono DD switch was for DD coils, so you could opt to use the transmit half of the coil as a mono coil, thus the DD then behaves like a mono.

Hey Mick, just to clarify, did this coil switch mod make the coil transmit and receive off the Tx winding only, or did it receive off both Tx and Rx windings as it does in the GP and GPX's?

I was a big fan of the Mono mode on GP's, as running a DD coil in Mono meant that I kind of got a happy compromise between sensitivity and signal sharpness, and retaining some DD characteristics such as ground handling and reduced EMI.

Look forward to your videos.

Hi Nenad,

On the SD the switch makes the coil receive from the Tx winding only. The sd receiver is a single channel(receiver) only. The GP(x) series have 2 receivers that receive from both tx and rx coils at the same time and then, depending on the coil switch position, the received signals are either added(mono), subtracted(cancel), or single receive channel(DD).

Cheers Mick

 

[gef12]

ye what Ian and Mick said ..
nice to see you guys here again .. not been on for some time ..
hope all well ..

cheers
geoff

Hi Geoff,

All is well! It's starting to cool off a bit here so will hopefully get some more time out detecting now.
Bought a 2200 a while ago with the intention of being my guinea pig. It came with one of your Treasure Mate powered speakers which still works a treat.
Anyway took the detector out yesterday having done what I wanted to do with it and found a nice surfaced area near Tarnagulla that has had every man and his dog over it. It was well flogged! No shotgun pellets, didn't dig any rubbish. After about half hour I got a nice little signal and pulled up a whopping 0.02~0.03g speck of flypoop! I won't call it a nugget!https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/2670/1614748558_0.03g.jpg

Hope you are well and still getting out to find a bit..

Cheers

Ye Mick .. dry season approaching here .. cant wait to get out ..
Yes there is a few of the TM about ..
was down at Tarnagulla many years ago .. there is a deep shaft there not far out of town .. near entrance was a quartz boulder ... specking that was some
colour would you believe .. so made a trip to town for a 7 lb sledge hammer ... bang bang bang couple of hours just to release it ..
The boulder probably still there and now would be a mad rush on to that spot .. lol good luck

nice to hear from you ...
cheers

 

[Adrian ss]

ye what Ian and Mick said ..
nice to see you guys here again .. not been on for some time ..
hope all well ..

cheers
geoff

Hi Geoff,

All is well! It's starting to cool off a bit here so will hopefully get some more time out detecting now.
Bought a 2200 a while ago with the intention of being my guinea pig. It came with one of your Treasure Mate powered speakers which still works a treat.
Anyway took the detector out yesterday having done what I wanted to do with it and found a nice surfaced area near Tarnagulla that has had every man and his dog over it. It was well flogged! No shotgun pellets, didn't dig any rubbish. After about half hour I got a nice little signal and pulled up a whopping 0.02~0.03g speck of flypoop! I won't call it a nugget!https://www.prospectingaustralia.com/forum/img/member-images/2670/1614748558_0.03g.jpg

Hope you are well and still getting out to find a bit..

Cheers

So there is no need for me to buy a 7000 when a 2200 can find 0.02 g.