Hi Geo,
I think this is a good idea to check if the chamber detects ions.
According to Mineoro, there are gold love-ions that are in the air 2 meters above where gold is buried.
Mineoro theory is that the gold love-ions make tiny sparks when they neutralize in the air, and these sparks in the air will send an electronic signal through the air to the chamber to cause some sparks in the chamber.
Then the sparks in the chamber sends a signal to the oscillator, which results in beeps when gold love-ions are near to the locator.
When, we look at the construction of a Mineoro chamber, we see it has a pulsed voltage sent to one side, and the other side is coupled to the input of the oscillator with a very small capacitive coupling.
This tells us that whatever signal that comes from this chamber is very small, high frequency, like a spark.
It also tells us that if the chamber actually causes beeps, then a small capacitance could transfer the signal to the oscillator stage.
In order to properly test whether this chamber does anything, you cannot use a simple switch, because the capacitance in the switch contacts might allow some of the signal to pass even when the switch is turned off.
Furthermore, the chamber might send a signal to the oscillator if the wires are completely disconnected from the circuit, just from the capacitance through the air, and to the conductors in the circuit board.
So how do we test?
Here is how I would test it:
1. First test the locator with the chamber connected as normal to see if it will beep at some known targets, and mark the distance you can find detection.
2. Open the locator and un-solder the three wire connections for the chamber, then short all three of them together.
Wrap some tape around the wires so they will stay shorted together.
3. Put aluminum foil over the shorted wires... Make certain the foil covers all of the back side of the chamber and all shorted wires for a shield.
This will serve to stop any stray gold love-ions from entering the back of the chamber and causing sparks inside the chamber.
4. Put another piece of aluminum foil on the outside of the chamber where it is seen at the front of the box.
This will serve to shield the front side from gold love-ions entering the chamber and causing sparks.
5. Now turn on the locator and check to see if there is any change in the beeping that you tested before, when the chamber was connected as normal.
You could solder some small connectors on the ends of the chamber wires, and solder 3 short wires with matching connectors on the circuit board to make it easy to disconnect the wires from the chamber.
Then you can disconnect the chamber and reconnect it easily when you want to make more tests.
Of course, you will remove these connectors when you are done testing, and return the locator to the owner.
The extra trouble to short the wires together and to shield the chamber will produce a test that can convince me whether the gold love-ion theory is true or not.
Best Wishes,
J_P