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AT Max interference help?

Fooleeze

Senior Member
Joined
Jun 23, 2018
Messages
340
Location
Copley, OH
I'm still pretty new to the AT Max, and I'm learning quite a bit about it, but one of my issues is interference. So, when swinging in the front of my house I get some sort of electrical interference or something, and the thing just goes berzerk unless I take the sensitivity down to 1 or 2 bars. We've got some buried electrical, but that's all feet below the surface.

I was also recently at an older home with some overhead power lines, but they were a good 12+ feet above me, but the AT Max was going crazy again. I tried different frequencies, I tried resetting the machine, using different modes and discrimination, I just couldn't get it to go away. So I worked the back yard (where there was no interference).

Any ideas / suggestions on how to deal with the interference? Anyone have experience with this?

Thanks!
 
I ran across the same situation using my AT Pro at a local school. Bumping down the sensitivity allowed me to still hunt but it didn't get rid of all the chatter. Changing the frequency had little to no effect. I couldn't see any real source of the interference. I hit the area again using my Vaquero and it had no issues.
 
The worst interference I encounter with my AT Max (and the Ace 400 that I owned prior to it) is with invisible dog fences. My neighbor has one, and it literally makes it impossible to hunt my own back yard (or have any hope for a test garden).

I had a permission at a property built in the mid-1800s earlier this year when I still owned both detectors, and both the Ace and the Max went absolutely nuts as soon as they were turned on. Both machines were essentially rapid fire falsing across most of the VDI range even with the coil absolutely still regardless of frequency used, ground balance, reasonable sensitivity settings, or factory reset. As you described, the machines could only be settled by turning the sensitivity all the way down to 1 or 2 bars, which essentially makes the machine useless - you may as well hunt with your pinpointer. Anyway, there were some low hanging overhead power lines, but honestly, I've never had any serious EMI problems with standard power lines on the Garretts I've owned. Having had the similar experience at my own house, I asked the homeowner "Do you have an electric dog fence by any chance?" They did...I asked if it would be possible to turn it off while I hunted, and like magic, the machines where quiet as church mice instantly.

Anyway, for persistent interference at an existing home site or neighborhood location, it's worth asking about "invisible" or electric dog fences - they are a massive source of EMI for an AT Max and Ace 400 in my experience, and the interference seems to impact a radius of at least one or two lots from the source yard.
 
This makes a ton of sense. Never thought about the invisible dog fence. I'm actually going to a yard today that is close to a road, and the dog never goes close to it. Major noise in that yard every trip with my Max. I believe I will ask if they have one.
 
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