Instruction Manual
Quick Start Set the Front Control Panel switches to the following positions. Press and release the On/Off switch on the Rear Control Panel (p. 26). Raise the coil off the ground and Press the Auto Tune (p. 32) button to reduce electrical interference. The tuning process takes approximately 60 seconds. Do not move the coil or pass metal objects near the coil until you hear 3 beeps. Turn the Threshold (p. 33) control clockwise until a hum is audible through the headphones.
2 Contents Quick Start Front Panel Functions 4 Introducing the GPX 5000 and GPX 4800 Rear Panel Functions 3 50 51 52 54 56 57 59 60 62 63 64 65 66 67 68 69 70 72 74 76 LCD Backlight Battery Test / Viewing the battery voltage. Volume Limit / Setting the maximum volume of all sounds. Ground Balance Type Ground Balance Procedure for Specific Special / Soil/Timings. Manual Tune / Reducing electrical interference. Changing Search Modes / Via the LCD. Motion / Adjusting sweep speed.
Introducing the and The GPX Series utilise Minelab’s proven 'Dual Voltage Technology' (DVT). This ensures an accurate Ground Balance to provide maximum sensitivity and depth in all ground types. Timings stability prior to SETA Dynamic Noise Compensation The GPX 5000 offers a total of eight Timing options, the GPX 4800 offers six; each incorporating the all-new SETA technology. Smart Electronic Timing Alignment (SETA) ensures the detector is precisely aligned for each individual Timing option.
6 List of Parts 7 Armrest (2 sections) Armrest Straps Velcro Tabs 11" Coil Lower Shaft Battery Harness Upper Shaft Bungy Cord Clamp (Bow Knuckle) with Bolt and Wingnut Control Box Bungy Cord Lithium-ion Battery Armrest Cover Lower Shaft Washers Power Cable Vehicle Charger Adaptor Armrest Wingnuts Lower Shaft Wingnut Handle (with Quick-Trak Button) Mains Charger Adaptor Armrest Bolts Lower Shaft Bolt Headphones Instruction Manual & Warranty Card
8 Assembly 9 Attaching the Coil to the Lower Shaft: 1 Plug the two rubber washers into the holes on either side of the lower shaft. 2 Ensure that the spring loaded pin of the lower shaft is pointing downwards. Slide the lower shaft into the bracket on top of the coil. 3 Insert the bolt through the lower shaft and the bracket on top of the coil. Fasten with the nut provided; being careful not to damage the thread of the nut by over-tightening.
10 Assembly Continued... 11 Attaching the Armrest Straps to the Armrest: 1 Press both strap studs onto the armrest studs. 2 Push the armrest straps through the slots in the armrest cover and then slide the cover over the armrest. Connecting the Control Box to the Upper Shaft: 1 Place the detector on a flat surface, with the handle facing upwards. 2 Position the armrest on top of the control box. Note: If the Quick-Trak cable becomes loose try securing it onto the shaft with electrical tape.
12 Assembly Continued... 13 Connecting the Battery Pack: Caution: Never re-wire your headphones so that they are similar to the external speaker as the high audio level may damage your hearing. 1 Place the battery into the battery harness pouch. 2 Connect the headphones and the power cable to the appropriate sockets in the battery. Note: After market accessory boosters may not operate in conjunction with this built in amplifier.
14 Assembly Continued... 15 Attaching the Bungy Cord: 1 Create a loop in the bungy cord. 2 Undo the plastic wingnut and remove the bolt from the clamp. 3 Push the bolt back through the clamp and loop to secure the bungy cord to the shaft. 4 Fasten the screw with the wingnut. Fitting the Battery Harness: 5 Clip the bungy cord onto one of the harness shoulder strap rings. 1 Thread your arms through the harness, so the battery pack sits on your back.
16 Adjusting the Detector for Comfortable Detecting Note: For comfortable, long term detecting, it is important you take the time to adjust the detector correctly. Holding the Detector: Thread your arm through the armrest and strap. Grasp the handle of the detector and rest your forearm in the armrest. Adjusting the Position of the Handle: Your elbow should sit just above the back of the armrest allowing you to comfortably grip the handle. Slide the handle into position.
18 Charging the Battery 19 To prevent damage to the battery, do not start the vehicle's engine while the battery is connected. Make sure your vehicle's battery is in good condition before using it to charge the GPX Series battery. The aluminium battery case contains the 7.4V Lithiumion (Li-ion) battery pack and an internal charging circuit. Supplied with the GPX 5000 and GPX 4800 is a mains charger adaptor and a 12V vehicle charger adaptor.
20 Battery LED Patterns Taking Care of your Battery 21 The Lithium-ion battery is specifically designed for the GPX Series. Routine Brief cycling red-orange-green: Occurs when the charger is turned on Solid orange: First phase of charge Orange with green blink: Last phase of charge Solid green: Battery is charged The Lithium-ion battery is not compatible with non-GPX Series detectors.
22 Detecting Basics Note: The GPX Series are ‘motion’ detectors. This means the coil must be moving over the target, or the target moving over the coil, in order for the detector to ‘see’ it. The GPX Series detectors will perform at their best when the coil is kept close and parallel to the ground at all times. This will increase the detection depth and target response to small objects.
24 Front Control Panel Rear Control Panel 25 Auto Tune (p. 32) automatically scans a range of frequency channels to help reduce electrical interference. LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) Displays all the menu functions and settings. Now with backlight (p. 50). Threshold (p. 33) is the background sound produced by the detector. This control increases and decreases the level of the Threshold. Function Select (p. 48) scrolls up or down through the list of functions. Search Mode (p.
26 Turning the Detector On The On/Off switch is located on the Rear Control Panel. To turn the Detector On or Off: 1 Press the On/Off switch down and release. 2 A welcome screen will appear with the GPX Series model number of your detector. It is best to only turn the detector on when outdoors and away from sources of electrical interference such as power lines, transmitters, electric fences and phone towers. These sources may cause the detector to perform erratically, eliciting numerous false signals.
28 Search Mode 29 GPX 5000 GPX 5000 Range GPX 4800 Range GPX 5000 GPX 4800 General, Deep, Custom (Patch, Hi-Mineral, Hi-Trash, Pinpoint) General, Deep, Hi-Mineral The GPX 4800 has three Search Mode switch positions: Deep, General and Hi-Mineral. The GPX 5000 has three Search Mode switch positions: Deep, General and Custom. Custom Mode is an open position which allows for the selection of one of the four additional Search Modes (p. 60), via the rear panel and LCD menu.
30 Search Mode Continued... GPX 5000 Tune Reducing electrical interference. Custom (GPX 5000) The detector may be affected by electrical interference from thunderstorms and other climatic conditions, powerlines, radio transmitters, electrical equipment or other detectors operating close by (See Glossary, p. 89, for more information on interference). This interference causes the Threshold to become erratic. The Custom Search Mode provides a choice of four additional search modes (p.
32 Auto Tune Threshold Adjusting the background audio level. To Perform an Automatic Tune: 1 Hold the detector at waist height, with the coil vertical, and slowly rotate through a half-circle. Make sure there are no large targets or obvious electrical interference sources close by. 2 Face the direction of the most interference and hold the coil steady. If you have difficulty holding the detector very still for 60 seconds, you can place the detector on the ground with the coil vertical.
34 Threshold Continued... Soil/Timings Optimising the detector for different soil and target types. GPX 5000 Range GPX 4800 Range Factory Preset When the Threshold is too high a faint signal is masked and only the peak of the loud signal is audible above the Threshold. Audio Range that you are able to hear Faint signal masked Loud signal just audible Normal Normal gives you the best performance on a wide range of soil conditions, and it will provide the best depth on a wide variety of target sizes.
36 Coil/Rx Changing the transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) fields of a Double D coil. GPX 5000 Range GPX 4800 Range Cancel, Mono, Double D Cancel, Mono, Double D The Coil/Rx control changes the search pattern and sensitivity of the coil. This improves the versatility and characteristics of GP Series and Commander Double D coils. This is achieved by altering the pattern of transmit (Tx) and receive (Rx) fields of the coil, and how the control box interprets the response.
38 Ground Balance Compensating for ground mineralisation. GPX 5000 Range GPX 4800 Range Tracking, Fixed Tracking, Fixed Most ground contains not only sand but also many different chemicals, minerals and salts. These extra materials are referred to as ground mineralisation. If not compensated for, this ground mineralisation may produce erratic sounds known as ‘ground noise’.
40 Ground Balance Procedure for Tracking For Ground Balance type General. 1 Find a clear area of ground without any targets. 2 Change the Ground Balance switch to Fixed. 3 Whilst keeping the coil parallel to the ground, practise raising and lowering the coil between 25mm and 100mm (1” and 4”) over the ground. Try to lower the coil as close to the ground as possible without touching it.
42 Ground Balance Procedure for Fixed For Ground Balance type General. 1 Find a clear area of ground without any targets. 2 Change the Ground Balance switch to Fixed. 3 Whilst keeping the coil parallel to the ground, practise raising and lowering the coil between 25mm and 100mm (1” and 4”) over the ground. Try to lower the coil as close to the ground as possible without touching it. 4 While moving the coil press and hold the Quick-Trak button.
44 Restoring Factory Presets 45 The GPX Series are provided with a Factory Preset selection of menu settings, suitable for first-time users. To restore Factory Preset settings for the current Search Mode: Until you become more familiar with your detector, it can simply be operated using the Factory Presets and the Front Control Panel. GPX 5000 Note: If you wish to reset a Custom Search Mode ensure it is selected in the menu before shutting down the detector. 1 Turn the detector off.
46 Factory Presets 47 GPX 4800 Main Menu (Universal Functions) Function Backlight Battery Test Volume Limit GPX 5000 Main Menu (Universal Functions) Range Factory Preset Off, 1–8 2 0–8.0V, +8.
48 Function Select Control Scrolling through functions. Title Indicates what type of function you are viewing (universal or mode dependant). Functions There are two types of functions, universal functions (under the Main Menu heading) and mode specific functions (under the Search Mode heading). Setting Control Adjusting settings. Navigation Arrows Indicate which way the menu can scroll. Function Setting New Value Icon Indicates the value for this function has been changed from the Factory Preset.
50 LCD Backlight 51 Off, 1–8 Off, 1–8 2 In low lighting conditions the LCD can be backlit. You can select how long the backlight stays on for once activated. Between settings one and six the time-out period is in increments of 10 seconds. The Battery Test screen allows you to view the current voltage of the battery. This screen can be viewed at any time. When the battery is low a series of alarm signal pulses are given at one minute intervals.
52 Volume Limit Setting the maximum volume of all sounds. GPX 5000 Range GPX 4800 Range Factory Preset 53 1–20 1–20 12 Volume Limit sets the maximum level of sound emitted by the detector when a target is detected. If the Volume Limit is set to maximum all target signals will be heard, and will sound proportional to the target size and depth.
54 Ground Balance Type GPX 5000 Range GPX 4800 Range Factory Preset 55 General, Specific, Off General, Off General General (Ground Balance) Off This is the best Ground Balance Type for use in over 90% of goldfield soils and uses the conventional automatic Tracking as found on the previous Minelab models. In Tracking, General Ground Balance (GB) samples variations in the ground mineralisation and sets a continuously changing average of the Ground Balance level.
56 Ground Balance Procedure for Specific Special Soil/Timings GPX 5000 Range GPX 4800 Range Factory Preset When moving to a new area the first Specific Ground Balance must be done with the Ground Balance switch — not the Quick-Track button. 1 Find a clear area of ground without any targets. 2 Select GB Type Specific in the Menu. 3 Change Ground Balance switch to Fixed. 4 Hold the coil 300–450mm (12"–18") above the ground. 5 Change the Ground Balance switch to Tracking.
58 Special Continued... GPX 5000 Range GPX 4800 Range Factory Preset Manual Tune Reducing electrical interference. Sens Smooth, Fine Gold, Sens Extra, Salt/Gold, Sharp, Coin/Relic Sens Extra, Sharp, Coin/Relic, Salt-Coarse Fine Gold (GPX 5000), Sens Extra (GPX 4800) GPX 5000 Range GPX 4800 Range Factory Preset Sharp Note: Sharp will normally work best with DD coils. Manual Tuning through the full range is time consuming.
60 Changing Search Modes ( Via the LCD. GPX 5000 Range GPX 4800 Range Factory Preset ) 61 Patch, Hi-Mineral, Hi-Trash, Pinpoint Not Available Patch Editing Personal Search Modes The Search Mode switch, on the Front Control Panel, provides access to a number of detecting modes that you can use in different circumstances. Deep and General are two of the positions on the Search Mode switch, and the third position is Custom. Custom allows you to select one of the four Custom Search Modes from the LCD menu.
62 Motion Adjusting the sweep speed. GPX 5000 Range GPX 4800 Range Factory Preset Very Slow, Slow, Medium, Fast Very Slow, Slow, Medium, Slow Rx Gain Adjusting the sensitivity of the detector. GPX 5000 Range GPX 4800 Range Factory Preset The speed at which you sweep the coil has an effect on target response time and Ground Balance adjustment. Matching your preferred coil sweep speed with the corresponding Motion setting can reduce noise and improve target signal responses.
64 Audio Type Changing the audio response of target signals. GPX 5000 Range GPX 4800 Range Factory Preset Quiet, Normal, Deep, Boost Quiet, Normal, Deep Normal The Audio Type function allows you to change the way that the detector interprets a signal and how that signal is produced as an audio response. Quiet This setting gives the most reduction of both ground noise and interference. The signal response is slightly quieter compared to the other Audio Types.
66 Stabilizer GPX 5000 Range GPX 4800 Range Factory Preset Signal Peak Adjusting the pitch variation of target signals. GPX 5000 Range GPX 4800 Range Factory Preset 1–20 1–10 10 (GPX 5000), 5 (GPX 4800) The Stabilizer function controls the point at which faint variations in the Threshold begin to be heard. These faint variations can either be ambient noise or faint target signals. As you increase the Stabilizer control faint signals will become louder but the noise level will also increase.
68 Target Volume GPX 5000 Range GPX 4800 Range Factory Preset Response Inverting the pitch of the target signal. GPX 5000 Range GPX 4800 Range Factory Preset 1–20 1–20 8 Target Volume Normally, a large/deep target has a fallingthen-rising tonal response and a small/ shallow target has a rising-then-falling tonal response. Most targets tend to be small, so you can become accustomed to hearing that small/shallow target tonal response.
70 Tracking Speed Keeping up with changing ground. GPX 5000 Range GPX 4800 Range Factory Preset 71 Slow, Medium, Fast Slow, Medium, Fast Medium Tracking Ground Balance is the preferred setting when searching in highly variable mineralisation. Tracking Ground Balance automatically measures the ground mineralisation and adjusts the Ground Balance as necessary, to maintain stability and detection depth. The speed of the Tracking can be changed to suit the degree of variable mineralisation.
72 Iron Reject GPX 5000 Range GPX 4800 Range Factory Preset 73 Off (All Metal), 1–10 Off (All Metal), 1–10 Off (All Metal) The GPX Series are capable of rejecting many ferrous (iron) targets while still detecting non-ferrous targets. While detecting in littered sites, much of the shallow iron rubbish may be ignored with a high probability that valuable targets will not be missed.
74 Iron Reject Rejecting ferrous targets. GPX 5000 Range GPX 4800 Range Factory Preset 75 Off (All Metal), 1–10 Off (All Metal), 1–10 Off (All Metal) Not all targets are clearly ferrous or non-ferrous. A lot of targets could be described as 'maybe' ferrous. Which of the 'maybe' targets that the detector identifies as being ferrous is controlled by the Iron Reject level. The low numbers use more caution and will identify most 'maybe' targets as non-ferrous.
76 Custom Name ( ) Changing your Custom Search Mode name. 1 1 Select Custom on the Search Mode switch (located on the Front Control Panel). 2 Scroll down the menu and a Search Mode will be highlighted, e.g. Patch. Caution: Pinpointing a target should be done with Fixed Ground Balance. 3 Scroll to the bottom of the menu until you see Custom Name. 3 If a target is heard, first confirm it by setting an accurate Ground Balance away from the target.
78 Pinpointing Continued... Recovering the Target 1 Clear the area of loose surface material and check that the target signal is still there. If it is not, the target should be amongst the moved surface material. To pinpoint a detected target sweep the general area with the coil taking note of where the strongest signal is received. Tip: If detecting on loose dirt or gravel you can actually draw the lines using your shoe or pick.
80 Recovering the Target Continued... Detecting Tips 6 If the target signal disappears from the hole sweep the coil over the loose dirt and pinpoint its exact position. Follow these hints and techniques to help you to utilise the power of your GPX Series detector, to ensure that every trip is a success. 7 Take a handful of the dirt and pass it over the coil. The GPX Series detectors are very sensitive and recovering a small target from loose, dry soil takes skill and patience.
82 Detecting Tips Continued... Large Deep Targets Big gold or large relics at depth produce a much different response to the smaller shallower pieces. The signal is often quite broad, and there is very little pitch variance. False Signals – Do not try to eliminate what might appear to be a faint, isolated ground noise by balancing the detector over the target; you may be ‘balancing out’ the target response from a deeply buried metallic target.
84 Commander Coils Continued... 18” Round Double D A serious coil for the serious operator. The 18” Double D punches deep through heavy mineralisation, while running smooth to allow you to hear those mellow, deep nugget responses. 8” Round Monoloop The most sensitive of the Commander series, the 8” round provides the best depth on sub-gram nuggets in light to moderately mineralised soils.
86 Choosing the Right Coil for the Job Continued... Small, Shallow Nugget Large, Deep Nugget Highly Mineralised Less Mineralised Open Ground Heavy Scrub Troubleshooting Iron Disc.
88 Glossary 89 Control Box False Signals Hot Rock Monoloop Coils This encloses the electronic circuitry of the detector. The control box generates the Tx (transmit) signals sent by the coil and processes the Rx (receive) signals detected by the coil. All functions are located on the front and rear panels of the control box. These sound similar to target signals but are caused by other factors.
90 Glossary Continued... Taking Care of Your Detector (Taking Care of your Battery, p. 21) Salt Mineralisation Threshold Salt content in the ground causes a negative (–) response rather than the positive (+) response of laterite soils. The continuous audible level of sound emitted by the detector is referred to as the Threshold. Threshold can be set anywhere between silent and loud; but a soft audible level is normally suggested.
92 User Preferences 93 GPX 4800 Main Menu (Universal Functions) Function Backlight Battery Test Volume Limit GB Type Range GPX 5000 Main Menu (Universal Functions) My Preferred Function Off, 1–8 Backlight 0–8.0V, +8.
94 Technical Specifications Detector Transmission Pulse Induction Technology Multi Period Sensing (MPS), Dual Voltage Technology (DVT), and Smart Electronic Timing Alignment (SETA) Coil 11” Round Audio Output 6.35mm (¼”) headphone/speaker socket. Headphones supplied. Liquid Crystal Display (LCD) 64 x 128 pixels, transflective with white backlight. Length Extended: 1300mm (51.2”) Collapsed: 1100mm (43.3”) Weight, including 11” Coil (Excluding Battery and Accessories) 2.4kg (5.
Service and Repair Form Today’s Date Detector / Model Serial Number Purchased From Purchase Date World’s Best Metal Detection Technologies Part(s) Sent From our origins in 1985, Minelab have specialised in advanced electronic technologies. Our competitive advantage was created almost immediately with a highly competent and innovative Research and Development team, inspired by the genius of Mr Bruce Candy.
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