Spectra V3 / V3i / VX3 Forum

I think I need to call White's. The battery is only a few months old and the last two times it only recharged to around 10.1 volts. I also noticed that the red light goes out in two hours. I thought I remember it taking a bit longer to fully charge. After three hours of detecting the battery dropped down below 7 volts. I doubt it is the recharger, but is there a way to know which is bad?

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http://freewebs.com/neilinwestjersey



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/07/2012 06:51PM by Neil in West Jersey.

Not without a spare battery to test. I bet White's will get a new battery right out to you. It sounds like a bad cell in the pack to me.

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Bells and whistles are nice, but nothing will substitute for the basic understanding of the hobby.

CTX 3030, V3i, M6 W/Bigfoot coil, Cibola/modified

As Larry said, an extra battery make would make the test an easy one. hard to tell about charge time, it varies on how low the battery charge is at start. I can test mine but that doesn't help you. Time to call Whites.

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"Everyone has an opinion, but mine is free"
"You might very well think that; I couldn't possibly comment..."

Neil,

I am having the exact same problem. I am calling White's today!

1. To buy accumulators 1800...2200 mAh; NiMH. 8 pcs
2. To open the battery.
3. To get old accumulators.
4. To insert new accumulators (polarity!!!).
5. To charge.
6. Nice hunt
!



Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 03/10/2012 06:26AM by Imperio.

There might of been a chance a worker at Whites dropped it on the floor before shipping and damaged it? Call Whites.

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Detectors Used:
White's "Vision" w/Wireless Headphones -- White's XL Pro


~ Been Detecting Since '74 ~

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TC-NM
There might of been a chance a worker at Whites dropped it on the floor before shipping and damaged it? Call Whites.

What? Are you serious? Do you know how many times I have dropped my battery on my Spanish tile floor.... No you dont, but I have dropped it countless times for one reason or another. They are built practically indestructible and it is either Neils charger, a bad cell or a thermister. This is not caused by dropping.

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burlbark

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TC-NM
There might of been a chance a worker at Whites dropped it on the floor before shipping and damaged it? Call Whites.

What? Are you serious? Do you know how many times I have dropped my battery on my Spanish tile floor.... No you dont, but I have dropped it countless times for one reason or another. They are built practically indestructible and it is either Neils charger, a bad cell or a thermister. This is not caused by dropping.

Yes, it may be a thermister. My battery pack gets really, really hot when it finally decides to start charging. Then the charge only lasts 30 minutes tops.

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pulltabMiner

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burlbark

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TC-NM
There might of been a chance a worker at Whites dropped it on the floor before shipping and damaged it? Call Whites.

What? Are you serious? Do you know how many times I have dropped my battery on my Spanish tile floor.... No you dont, but I have dropped it countless times for one reason or another. They are built practically indestructible and it is either Neils charger, a bad cell or a thermister. This is not caused by dropping.

Yes, it may be a thermister. My battery pack gets really, really hot when it finally decides to start charging. Then the charge only lasts 30 minutes tops.

Discontinue use and send in immediately......

Thermoresistoris bad in General in my opinion. I have many rc cars and they all use batteries, not a ONE uses a thermo-resistor. I use my RC car battery vharger to charge all my batteries and when I get a recharge one for my white's I will use that also.

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Own- White's XLT,V3i,MXT Pro,Beach Hunter 300, coinmaster.

The charger puts out 18+ volts and can easily be checked with a voltmeter. Now in either case a bad cell or a bad thermistor if under warranty the pack will still have to be send to Whites. It's fun to speculate but most people aren't going to fix it themselves.

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"Everyone has an opinion, but mine is free"
"You might very well think that; I couldn't possibly comment..."

Odd, but it seemed to charge fully last night. I will need to take it out for a few hours and see how it holds up. What if it is an intermittent problem? What would that point to?

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http://freewebs.com/neilinwestjersey

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Neil in West Jersey
Odd, but it seemed to charge fully last night. I will need to take it out for a few hours and see how it holds up. What if it is an intermittent problem? What would that point to?

The first couple of charges could have been short cycled and you had a deep discharge condition on one of the cells. Make sure you are fully seating the battery every time when charging. It only takes spec of dirt unnoticed to cause an issue, and when I say speck I mean for all practical purposes invisible.

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Rob (IL)
The charger puts out 18+ volts and can easily be checked with a voltmeter. Now in either case a bad cell or a bad thermistor if under warranty the pack will still have to be send to Whites. It's fun to speculate but most people aren't going to fix it themselves.

I just checked my charger. With the orange sticker facing me, the outside terminals test at 18.3 volts. The left and center tests at 16.1 volts, center and right tests at 2.2 volts. I checked the battery just as it came out of the charger and outside terminals are at 11.2 volts, left and center at 11.2 volts, and center and right at 0 volts. Can anyone explain why there are two charging terminals (at different voltages) in the charger? Just curious, that's all.

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Happy hunting - Schultzie

Not much except dirty contact surfaces. ( intermittent problem)

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"Everyone has an opinion, but mine is free"
"You might very well think that; I couldn't possibly comment..."