Night Detecting Grid Light System.

NIGHT DETECTING GRID LIGHTS.

Hi fellow detectorists,
There seems to be an increasing interest in night detecting among forum members.
With hot summer days it seems a natural progression for those of us that are not too keen on feeding our potential for skin cancers to go nocturnal.
Having put in some pleasant hours night swinging this summer it soon becomes obvious why this pursuit is gaining in popularity.
The 5000 runs smooth and quiet, no flies and it’s nice and comfortable, the only down-side is the odd snake that is also out and about; not to forget a spider or two.
As others have probably discovered; covering your chosen ground thoroughly can be a bit of a problem in the dark even with a good headlight.
To minamise this problem next time out I have worked out a simple, easy to manage grid lighting system.
First up I purchased six inexpensive solar powered garden lights from Bunnings et al and charged their batteries, the types with an on-off switch are the most convenient as you can turn them off when they are fully charged; with the other type you have to remove the battery to prevent them coming on in the dark.
In practice the idea goes something like this;
Before dark choose, say a sixty by sixty metre square section that you wish to detect, along the side you which start from place four lights about fifteen metres apart, place the remaining two lights in the two opposite corners of your square.
As soon as your lights come on, remember to turn them on when you set them up it’s time to get swinging.
Starting at the corner light on the side with the four lights, swing your detector from the corner light to where your normal swing would stop then move the corner light to that position in line with the far light on that side.
It’s a simple exercise to start swinging to the next light in the line and repeat the procedure moving each of the other lights as you come to them.
On reaching the far corner light and moving it to the edge of your swing, you simply turn round and detect down the line of lights moving them across as you reach them, the single lights in the far corners are a guide to try and keep you to the boundaries of your chosen area.
If all goes according to plan in the above example you will have thoroughly covered 3,600 square metres of ground and hopefully had an enjoyable and rewarding experience in the process.
When you have finished for the night, pick up your lights and next day set them up in the sun to re-charge.
While this set-up may seem like overkill to some of the more experienced night detecting members, to me as a new chum it seems like a reasonable concept to working an area without going round in circles and potentially wasting time on dark nights.
What do other forum members think?
Cheers, Auoptimist.

Here is what I will be using, they work really well at night, the only downside to them (apart from looking like a tool ) is the loss of depth perception which takes a while to get used to but once you do you can get around pretty well.

Bloody Hell !!!
I be scared of getting shot walking through the bush looking like a BORG ............... some trigger happy Star Trek fan with a shotgun would be my greatest worry

Great Idea AUop, just like when I rake an area- I find that having a defined grid/area to detect, makes me go slow and precise in a thorough pattern -me likey likey
As for the night vision gear, I save that for when I'm out stalking 'silence of the lamb' style...

Auoptimist,

It sounds like a very good system for searching a particular spot.

Apart from the quiet though, the reason that I detect at night is that I detect spots I perhaps may not normally detect in the daylight, when I can see where I'm going. Chaos theory of random detecting !

Jig

Well what I did was buy a simple Laser Level sort of like this, from Sydney tools.....



and sit it up on a tent pole that I push into the ground etc etc and turn it on....... it draws straight lines...not just a spot, but a very very long red straight line in two directions...the one pictured here also does a vertical one as well.
Being a laser, it at night shines forever.....almost , and draws 2 lines 90 degrees to each other and even if there is grass, it still shines along the top of it as it is about 2 metres off the ground on the tent pole.
The line is very bright and is about 3 mm wide and is the same even over great distances (like all lasers of course)
They are a tool that people use putting up wallpaper etc...... I think mine was about $200 odd bucks

Too dangerous. It would cut a hole in you when you walked through the beam.

With the solar garden lights you would have to check the spot where you are placing the lights first otherwise ya might bang em in the ground on top of a nugget.

Hi ADRIAN SS,
Gosh I forgot to mention the point you raised in your post, most here would do that first up I would imagin, but thanks for the reminder.
There may well be a few more ideas come to light that could make the system work more efficiently, time will tell.
Cheers, AUoptimist.

Jigalong wrote:Too dangerous. It would cut a hole in you when you walked through the beam.

I have a few cut down shafts, but hey....its the price you pay

could be interesting trying to hammer those cheep plastic pegs into the ground repeatably in the summer.

Hi SPARROWFART,
I will be heading out for a week or more on Saturday , weather permiting I will give the night grid light system a fair work-out, as you say the plastic spikes may well be a weak point, I have some back-up mounts just in case.
Thanks for the comment.
Cheers, AUoptimist.

Reflective tape could be employed as well.
Iv always been a big fan of night time detecting, and can see why using some kind of guides would be a benefit during the night.
ATM i mostly use guides provided by nature day or night mixed with the lost sheep technique.
Returning at night to an area you found gold in during the day, many times leads you into areas you would not venture during the day due to visual dislikes. During the night this visual dislike is impaired. This has proven to be a plus over the years highlighting the fact that gold was present long before the road/track, or any other obstacle that would visually sway you from entering that area. Thumping home the old saying "Gold is where you find it".
If using a guide at night like some of those in the above posts....would you place them in areas easily seen....or areas difficult to work.?

I put them in both..... in a funny sort of way its kind of reassuring to have that beam of light there for some reason

Harb, as much as im picking up what your putting down here...i dont wonna be because iv gota venture out into it tonight.

Billy Connolly once said whilst performing...."i went on the rord man.... bu i com back...cus it got dark!!" (said in his accent)

Narrawa wrote:Harb, as much as im picking up what your putting down here...i dont wonna be because iv gota venture out into it tonight.

Billy Connolly once said whilst performing...."i went on the rord man.... bu i com back...cus it got dark!!" (said in his accent)

Stick to your 'Arnie' impersonations Narrawa!!

Hi NARRAWA & HARB,
The areas that one detects are those where indicators, what ever they may be suggests that the yellow stuff might be hiding, this in turn governs the type of country that you have to deal with, be it during daylight or at night, no drama in that.
At the end of the day (no pun intended) where you are able to set-up the griding lights for best results will depend on the trees and other obstacles in your chosen area, if you are able to see all of the lights from anywhere in the area so much the better.
As I mentioned in an earlier post, a couple of us are heading out next week; oddly enough to one of Narrawa’s old stomping grounds for ten days or so, during that trip I will certainly give the night detecting and grid lights a fair work-out.
Our plan is to work over some areas that we have had some success in the past as well as some new real estate that research has indicated as being worth a swing.
Given the detectors should run smoother and quieter at night it’s hoped we may be able to pick those whisper quiet signals that we may have missed through daylight hours.
Cheers, Auoptimist.
PS. I hope Narrawa left a few golden crumbs out there for us to practice on.

PS. I hope Narrawa left a few golden crumbs out there for us to practice on.

Narrawa leaves plenty, and not just crumbs. He'd be a fool to take it all first time round, this would render his next visits pointless if he did.
All Narrawa's old stumping grounds are noisy EMI riddled with power-lines phone-lines plants train and automobiles.

Seriously, i hope you do well and find the ones iv missed.

Hi NARRAWA,
Don't forget the electric fence, add this to the phone line and it will make detecting challenging in that part of the world.
Cheers, AUoptimist.
PS Builda said to say hi.

AUoptimist, if your going where i think your going the addition of an electric fence would certainly test your patience.
Having Builda in your camp will certainly be a plus for your trip, i wish i was able to have gotten out with him more. A true gentlemen who,s generosity is not forgotten and will always be welcome in my camp.

ps.make sure he's not carrying that silly bludy pin-pointer.

Just learn to detect with your eyes closed.

I night detect and never use any light source other than stars and moon.

Just learn to detect with your eyes closed.

I night detect and never use any light source other than stars and moon.

News flash.........detector operator found at bottom of mine shaft. Police investigators rule out foul play due to statement made on prospecting forum.

News flash.......detector operator taken by big cat. Police are still looking for his body, or cat crap to confirm big cats do exist due to foot prints found at the scene.

News flash.........man beaten to death by Narrawa for sneaking up on him while digging a hole in the dead of night. Police say Narrawa was startled by the object when he suddenly turned around and came face to face with what appeared to be alien in its appearance, and defended himself from a possible attack . The bright light on its face at point blank range did not register that of a human being, so i beat the bludy thing to a pulp with me Malleeboy pick! said Narrawa.

It's all safe if like me you detect in the dark and just use the FORCE luke, to detect and not fall over.

I've fallen twice in the daylight but never at night.

Dicko..

Hi folks,
Having headed out to the goldfields ten days ago with high expectations of trialing the gridding system using solar powered garden lights it all went pear shaped thanks to the heavy thunderstorm activity and the high levels of EMI they generated, by mid afternoon on most days it was game over.
However during the early part of most days the going was not too bad and my detecting mate pulled two nice nuggets, 3gram and 0.8 gram plus two nice small specimen pieces, no joy for myself though.
We plan to have another run at it in about three weeks time maybe by then the storm activity might have diminished allowing us to give the night detecting a go.
Cheers, AUoptimist.
PS We did run into one of NARRAWA'S detecting mates at our camp site, friendly fellow, would not leave us alone particularly at meal time, good one NARRAWA.

Good ol pie ay!!... gunna miss that bird pinching the sh!t out of our truck kitchen....crapping in Madtuna's cup....and swooping down just as your about to push a sanger inya gob.


Hill End is high country, over 900mts above sea level and in a direct line of sight to Canobolas towers approx 50kls away to the sth west. Interference is something ya need to get use to up there be it summer or winter...powerlines and phone cables run through the bush in many places up there and if your not aware of their locations it can be very frustrating at times.
Having said that, on many occasions iv worked that place thinking the world around us had ended because of how quiet the detector was running.??
Better luck next time and remember this, the nuggets you find were yours to start with...you never find ones belonging to others.

G'day Narrawa

Thanks for the video memories, some great times there, some nice gold and some good camp gatherings, Hill End is a great place, plenty of historical things to see as well.

cheers dave

Narrawa wrote:AUoptimist, if your going where i think your going the addition of an electric fence would certainly test your patience.
Having Builda in your camp will certainly be a plus for your trip, i wish i was able to have gotten out with him more. A true gentlemen who,s generosity is not forgotten and will always be welcome in my camp.

ps.make sure he's not carrying that silly bludy pin-pointer.

Hi Narrawa Its Bilda here Thanks for the kind words, I believe what goes around comes around. How is rainbow and is she having any luck with the prezzy i gave her. I sent you 2 PM before you went to WA and had no reply, must tell you I dont handle rejection very well. Been tecting with AUoptimist as you know and I am still pinging a few nuggets at the floggings mainly a 3gram and .8 gram last week. good to see you finding some gold and having a good time. Regards to you and Bo ..............Bilda

Bilda, apologies for not returning your PMs, it must have been nearing the time of my moving out.?
Rainbow has almost warn the prezzie out.
Keep at it there mate, that area will never be totally flogged out when you take into consideration coil combo's and settings you have to play with on your 5k.