Tutorial for Detectorists: How To Make Any Land Metal Detector's Headphone Operation Wireless, page 5
Affix a Wireless Module Enclosed in a Protective Box to a Non-Wireless Metal Detector
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NOTE: Do not glue the connecting cable inside the stopper! If you do that, you will not be able to plug the micro USB jack into the transmitter's socket.
To plug the jack in, you first have to slide the stopper on the cable a short distance away from the box. Once the cable is connected to the transmitter, you slide the stopper back onto the jack and tuck the stopper into the eyelet with a help of a small screwdriver.
Since there is not much space between the stopper's "skirt" and the transmitter, the stopper will not go all the way in. To make it possible, trim a few millimeters off the rim as shown on a picture below.
After you connect the cable to the transmitter, slide the trimmed stopper over the jack towards an eyelet, and tuck the stopper into the eyelet with a small screwdriver, the stopper will seal the eyelet very well on the inside as shown on a picture below.
Even though there will be a small gap between the box and the stopper on the outside, it is not critical because the enclosure is sealed inside. And the stopper will prevent dirt from getting in, and provide adequate water-resistant performance.
By setting the micro USB jack in the stopper, you will also prevent the micro USB socket from gradually getting damaged by the cable's probable movements which may occur even when the cable is plugged in at both ends. The stopper will keep the jack in one fixed position despite the cable's movements.
Finally close the box by clipping its cover in. The cover closes tight, no problem. I ran a quick test with the box (it was empty) to see if it would open upon a drop to the floor from a 3-feet height. It did not. To lift the cover up, you can use one of four slots available on the box's corners under the cover.
After you close the box, plug the 1/4-inch jack into the detector's phone socket, and your setup of the enclosed wireless transmitter is completed. If you did everything right, your setup should look like the setup shown on a picture below: neither the enclosure nor the cable is in the way of a line of sight where the detectorist's forearm would be.
As for the Configuration-2 setup on the Teknetics G2+, the connecting cable between the control box and the wireless transmitter is conveniently far away from the handle, and therefore my hand will not get accidentally entangled by the cable.
A picture below shows two different configurations of the enclosed wireless-transmitter setups on the non-wireless metal detectors that now can be operated with the universal wireless-headphones systems.
The last step you may want to do is to paint the junction box with the Black Matte Finish Spray Paint to make the enclosure less noticeable on your metal detector. After you dismount the junction box, apply the first layer of paint and let it dry. Then repeat this procedure as many times as you wish. The thicker the black paint on the box, the less visible the gray lines will be when the box gets scratched in the field. (in case you care about aesthetics :) This is what the painted enclosures look like:
When I used my Fisher F75+ metal detector with the "Config. 1" setup in real conditions for the first time, I did enjoy the wireless headphone operation as if I was using a wireless metal detector (I have used one for seven years). My girlfriend using her Teknetics T2+ machine with the same setup could not be happier either!
The attached enclosure did not add any noticeable weight to the detector and did not cause any discomfort. In fact, after I turned the transmitter and the wireless headphones on, closed the box, and started metal detecting, I forgot about the box until I had to open it and turn the transmitter off. At that moment I knew that I could fully enjoy many hours of treasure hunting without being tied to my metal detector! So can you!
Happy going wireless and treasure hunting!
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Author Info
Sergei UpstateNY is the founder, designer, content writer, photographer and editor of MetalDetectingWorld.com. His main specialization is field testing of metal detectors and accessories provided by manufacturers in exchange for detailed test reports and articles published on this website. His extensive experience spans coin cache hunting, coin cluster hunting, coin shooting and relic hunting. Occupation: potato digger in farm fields.
