- Details
- Written by Ismael Jones
- Category: Latest
- Published: 04 February 2009
- Hits: 7389
This detector is my personal detector I purchased before my 3500. Over Xmas I took it, a 2000GPM the 2200 and my 3500 out for a 10 day trip to the Leonora area. My son used the 2200 and I used the 3500. We also did some testing and found that overall the 2200 was the better detector of the 3 target wise. I hear you asking Why then do I want to sell it? Simple I am confident that I can make the 3500 perform just as well with some new mods I have planned and the abilty to run in cancel mode became invaluable on the trip due to the presence of storms and the like that left the 2000 & 2200 very hard to use. On the trip I found that the noise issues I commented on previously in posts on the forum were due to a faulty coil and not the detector. It ran on par with the 3500 mostly but the 3500 was a little more stable overall. I am open to reasonable offers on the 2200 which comes with:
Standard ML 11" DD Coil & Shafts
7.3V coiltek regulator, Vehicle Charger and 12V Battery
12V 6V Minelab Vehicle charger and 6V battery
Nugget Finder external Audio Enhancer
Standard Backpack
Will include the 2200 18" ML Mono coil for $150 extra
Following are detailed explantions of the mods performed and their functions.
SD2200 Modifications
Power Panel
Starting from the top is a rotary switch for selecting frequencies the same as the 2000/2100 except it uses the inbuilt VCO to select frequencies. There are 6 frequencies on this detector and are:
1 Lowest frequency (1.1Mhz) This would give a good response to larger targets
2 Same as the standard 2000 (2.0Mhz) I used this for comparison testing
3 Standard 2200 Frequency
4 6 Higher frequencies for more sensitivity on smaller targets.
Next down is an extra switch to turn the detector on and off as these detectors can lock up when trying a combination switch as in the 2000/2100. The extra frequencies really give the 2200 an edge especially when going up in frequency. I have seen deeper results from faster frequencies which is the opposite to the 2000 and the gain is considerable.
All other switches are the same until the one near the boost switch. This addidtion selects different timings inbuilt into the detector but are not selectable by the user. I'd imagine that ML was already preparing for the mode select featured in the GP series (sensitive, normal and salt). They do not work that way but each setting has it's own ability to detect different target sizes and change the detecting parameters. The settings do improve performance. These are as follows:
1. Switch towards power plug Less sensitivity than standard but quieter.
2. The middle setting is normal or standard timings Sensitive but noiser.
3. Switch towards bottom Again less sensitive but a lot quieter.
The next switch (near the ML Logo) selects another mod that increases sensitivity and can null out some hot rocks and being more sensitive and deeper on small gold. This mod controls the speed that the MCU runs at. The benefits other than above are that the detector will tune and balance 30% faster.
Most of these mods require the user to test to obtain the best settings for differing ground and areas. This is really exactly the same as with all modded detectors and experimentation is recommended.
Coil Panel
The only mod on this side is the Gain control. This acts similar to the GPM on the 2000 with the only difference there is only one control that works on all channels which makes it more simple to use and the gain is significant. The major difference with this gain and the GPM is the amount of turn gives a lot more sensitive and therefore needs very little adjustment. By this I mean a turn of 1/8 can increase sensitivity a lot so care needs to be taken when using this otherwise you can increase gain to the point of the machine being hard to GB and noisier than usual. The way to set this is exactly the same as the GPM. With the knob fully counter-clockwise balance and tune the detector as normal then using a target of around 4gms or more test over it whilst adjusting the knob clockwise in very small steps until you feel you have the best response. After you are satisfied you may need to rebalance the detector.There are 2 other mods I can perform to this but as yet have decided not to, they are a socket for a tracking button on the handgrip like the 3500 and a manual tune also like the 3500. All detectors from the 2200 up can have these mods.
As with all the mods we perform you always have the ability to return the detector to standard.