Fisher Impulse AQ detector update

[Steve]

I will agree with you on the TDI box... it should have had its own box and not the BH 300 box but that doesn't take away from its performance.. not everyone has the condensation issues... I have been borrowing my friends TDI beach hunter and its one of the smoothest PI's I have ever run and its very deep... I can't show you as I don't use a video or camera for that matter because my spots are private and I want to keep them that way Rick...

And you are correct each new detector can have issues... my problem is how so many talked this AQ up before the kinks were removed... its been a huge turn off for me....

Let them work on it for a year or two and maybe then parachute it down into the water..

Joe would you parachute out of a plane for us in your dry suit and AQ?

Open up the upper section of the box and put 10 or so absorbing packs. I'm running 16v and no condensation since. I just taped them in a daisy chain

 

[lytle78]

The urge to modify and optimize detectors for the users particular “job to be done” is one of the fun things about this hobby and the Beach detecting crowd is in the forefront.

good thing that the AQ has detachable battery, headphones and coil. I guess OBN will doubtless set up a cottage industry cranking out clever mods - could be a good sideline.

Look at the ML GPX series - whole bunches of add-ones and mods not to mention coils. Coils might be a challenge for the AQ because of the tight requirements for low noise and short minimum pulse delay.

Speaking of pulse delay - there is no electronic barrier to extremely short pulse delays. Industrial units checking clothing for broken needle bits operate at a couple of microsec. In the “wild” ground signal and salt signal make going much below 6msec or so very difficult - probably why no production PI has ever done it - yet.

 

[lytle78]

To get back briefly to the minimum pulse delay in salt water, I just found this which Alexandre, the designer, posted on some forum.

“ The IMPULSE AQ has many other advantages that competitors do not have. It was once said in the forums that it was impossible to descend below 10µs of pulse delay on the sand saturated with sea water. This figure is of course to be taken lightly, because It is not difficult to design a PI with a short pulse delay but it is difficult to design it with a strong coil current!

The IMPULSE AQ has a powerful coil current and it is now placed at 7µs of pulse delay, which gives it a increased sensitivity on all types of jewellery sizes.

There has been a lot of work at this level to decrease the influence of the conductivity of the salt, maintain a very high stability and a small pulse delay.

For all these years of research, the IMPULSE AQ has been a tremendous development platform for my future technologies, already completed for the gold nuggets market.”

 

[OBN]

While all you guys wait for this overpriced PI guys
I really hope if you guys buy one... if they come out you aren't disappointed because right now I don't see it as being deeper than anything else on the market today...

No setting around waiting here....Ring Daddy 21..Sunrise hunt..

Come on "AQ"

 

[beachrumbum]

The AQ design and the TDI design are very different. About the only thing that they have in common is that they are both two-channel PI detectors.

Carl Moreland is Chief Engineer at FTP and is responsible for electronic engineering across all product lines. Like many of FTP’s key employees, he works remotely a good deal of the time from his home in Oregon.

As far as AQ running at 7 microseconds in salt water, Carl reported using a prototype in running salt water in Oregon at minimum pulse delay without difficulty. It is correct that as water depth increases, A Pi will “see” a larger “target” from the salt water, and adjustments would have to be made to controls to cope. These include recovery speed (ATS), sensitivity as well as pulse delay. Fortunately these are all adjustable on the AQ.

You will note that the blue “set point” dot on the Pulse delay control is at 8 microseconds. This is the initial set up recommendation. 7 msc is quite usable in many but certainly not all conditions.

I’m on the gulf of Florida and can tell you hunting a saltwater bay and hunting the gulf with a pulse is two entirely different scenarios. There can be a high mineral content on the gulf depending on temperature and tide swing. The wave bombardment on the gulf makes running a pulse smoothly in the water a bit tricky. I have been out where the machine carries a stable threshold with no waver, but as soon as the tides change the machine started a “threashold breathing” I am skeptical that 7us can be run here in the gulf. Send me one instead of sending them to the desert so a real beach hunter can try it out and report.

 

[Surf Master]

Rick

Do you have a release date yet ? , Im saving up all my Felix pennies , i figure ill have enough by 2025 PS OBN -you don't need a AQ , at 21 gold already this year , your already well armed

 

[lytle78]

Here’s what the chief engineer at Fisher posted lately.

“ But I have no doubt that the Impulse will make it out the door. Don't ask me when, I really don't know.”

I can hardly say anything more concrete than that. Not February - after that - who knows - or as Baldemar and Cesar on the taco truck in FTP’s parking lot in El Paso (usually my best sources for inside info) say... quien sabe?

 

[Cfmct]

Dew, I can tell you with most certainty that 7us in the water will be out of the question. No pi I have ever run has been particularly quiet in the water except for the sand shark. The tdi can be quieted down by running a higher us. It will work at 10 but one has to have coil control and be meticulous about it. There is a ramping threshold on most machines running less than 20 or so is as waves pass over the coil.

No way could I run with a pulse delay of 7uS let alone 10uS up here in the Connecticut waters just way too noisy...

The Sand Sharks pulse delay is 22.6 I wouldn't even bring it into this conversation...

I can run with a very smooth threshold on the TDI Beach Hunter at 13uS... I like it there nice and smooth...

If I ever get off my butt and get the battery pack fixed on the Barracuda I have... I can try 10uS on it...

Dew might be able to get away with 7uS who knows... if he can't he will be one sad puppy

 

[Cfmct]

Open up the upper section of the box and put 10 or so absorbing packs. I'm running 16v and no condensation since. I just taped them in a daisy chain

I recommended that to a couple guys.. it makes sense Steve When I had my DF I added a couple extra...

 

[Cfmct]

Here’s what the chief engineer at Fisher posted lately.

“ But I have no doubt that the Impulse will make it out the door. Don't ask me when, I really don't know.”

I can hardly say anything more concrete than that. Not February - after that - who knows - or as Baldemar and Cesar on the taco truck in FTP’s parking lot in El Paso (usually my best sources for inside info) say... quien sabe?

You know Rick a post like this is causing anxiety to rise up in Joe and Dew... next they won't be able to sleep

 

[lytle78]

Alexandre (the designer) - in an email to me - answered a question I had a while back about usable minimum pulse delay in wading depth salt water this way....

“I have reduced noise by 90% with a new electronic system (he is referring to the issued for production version) and I have reduced variations due to seawater conductivity.

A variation in conductivity due to salt at 15µs of pulse delay on a FOSTER (the TDI is of course is an Eric Foster design) is equivalent to a variation at 8 µs on the IMPULSE AQ in terms of stability and salt conductivity compensation.”

 

[beachrumbum]

Alexandre (the designer) - in an email to me - answered a question I had a while back about usable minimum pulse delay in wading depth salt water this way....

“I have reduced noise by 90% with a new electronic system (he is referring to the issued for production version) and I have reduced variations due to seawater conductivity.

A variation in conductivity due to salt at 15µs of pulse delay on a FOSTER (the TDI is of course is an Eric Foster design) is equivalent to a variation at 8 µs on the IMPULSE AQ in terms of stability and salt conductivity compensation.”

Just because the guy says it, does not make it true ( although it may be) where was this tested? Speculation is what will kill this project. People don’t want to speculate, they want either real results or scientific evidence. Again, put the machine in my hands and I will know and share the TRUTH. How a machine handles in the water will make or break it as far as I am concerned. Any machine can hunt the dry and lots can hunt the wet with no problem.

 

[lytle78]

Let me get this straight...you wrote...

“ put the machine in my hands and I will know and share the TRUTH”

So if you tell us that the results are so and so - it’s TRUTH.

If “the guy” - who is the man who designed the thing - writes it in an email to me it isn’t “TRUTH” - only something which falls into the category of “ Just because the guy says it, does not make it true ( although it may be)”

As far as “where was this tested” the answer is France - that is where Alexandre Tartar the designer (“the guy” as you call him) and Denis (LE.JAG) the chief development tester live.

This is not speculation - this is an assertion by the designer - so if you doubt it, you are basically saying he may be lying - or isn’t capable of correctly assessing his design’s performance compared to an Eric Foster design. Note, Alexandre has at least one of every Eric Foster designed PI machine as well as TDI, TDI SL and TDIBH.

Tough audience!

 

[beachrumbum]

Let me get this straight...you wrote...

“ put the machine in my hands and I will know and share the TRUTH”

So if you tell us that the results are so and so - it’s TRUTH.

If “the guy” - who is the man who designed the thing - writes it in an email to me it isn’t “TRUTH” - only something which falls into the category of “ Just because the guy says it, does not make it true ( although it may be)”

As far as “where was this tested” the answer is France - that is where Alexandre Tartar the designer (“the guy” as you call him) and Denis (LE.JAG) the chief development tester live.

This is not speculation - this is an assertion by the designer - so if you doubt it, you are basically saying he may be lying.

Tough audience!

I think you misunderstood me. I’m not saying anyone is lying. To imply I am calling anyone a liar is a stretch and a spot on my character, more so I am implying there could be a misunderstanding or some overlooked aspect to the functions of the machine in varying conditions. However Alexander does have more reason to want to sell the product than myself. Sometimes designers find it hard to see the flaws of the products they design purely because of the personal investment. I am more so saying that perhaps the conditions it was tested in make a huge difference. France is not Florida. One does not know on what facts the designer is basing his statement on. Ps. Please don’t become terry, like with the sand shark!

 

[lytle78]

Thanks for the clarification - I like Terry - he bought me lunch last year - but I’m no SandShark fan!

I am pretty sure what Alexandre says about the AQ is solid data. Of course I have the advantage of having studied and followed the project for more than three years and have corresponded extensively with the design team. Not tooting my own horn, its just the situation.

Again, your clarification is most welcome and I hope soon you will have the opportunity to try it for yourself.

 

[KOB]

The funniest thing I read was basically " I know this sucker will make it out the door. But when ...Don't ask me , I really don't know ".

This , coming from the chief engineer of all people. Hahaha...you guys are SOL ! Hahaha...

 

[Cfmct]

The funniest thing I read was basically " I know this sucker will make it out the door. But when ...Don't ask me , I really don't know ".

This , coming from the chief engineer of all people. Hahaha...you guys are SOL ! Hahaha...

Not me... I haven't drank the koolaid

 

[Bklein]

It would be cool if Carl’s next book was “The Story of the Impulse AQ”.
Being an engineer I’d love to read about the testing of the machine and the difficulties leading up to (hopeful) production.

 

[lytle78]

Carl is not a writer - he’s a talented developer and engineer.

I would write it but FTP would hate me and I like that they don’t hate me!

 

[KOB]

It would be cool if Carl’s next book was “The Story of the Impulse AQ”.
Being an engineer I’d love to read about the testing of the machine and the difficulties leading up to (hopeful) production.

Wonder what genre it would fall under : Sci-fi ?
Mystery ? Or Horror ?