backslyder
New member
Ok, I'm probably opening up another can of worms here, before I count the worms, but I'm really compelled to tell you all about a new battery charger I just bought recently. It's made by La Crosse. They make a couple of models, but I bought the "4-banger" one (darn, I wish they had one that would charge 8 at a time), but it's model # is: BC-9009. I'm honestly, probably, a little pre-mature on posting all this, only because I haven't done real scientific tests on how the results I got from this charger would hold up under "real life" load conditions of using these batteries in a detector for specific lengths of time. In other words, I haven't "measured" the exact hours and/or minutes each set of batteries would hold up under real life conditions of a detector, but I will say, the results for me have been good.
The basic nuts and bolts of this charger are that you can set the charge rate at different current ratings. You can charge most batteries from as low as 200Milli amps to as high a charge as 1800 Milli amps. At 1800, the batteries are really heating up, and it could be detrimental to them, but at least you have a choice in the matter. The other nice thing, I like about this charger, is that you can set each individual battery to not only charge at whatever charge current you want, but you have 4 different types of charging you can do ( in a sense) What I mean by that is you can just "charge" them if you want to. You can "discharge them then recharge them" or, you can "test them"> which involves charging, discharging then re-charging any or all of them separately which gives you a numeric reading of the "capacity" of each individual battery. The fourth mode is what they call a "refresh mode". What that involves is that the charger will discharge, recharge, etc. back and fourth until the computer in the charger deems that any individual battery has reached it's fullest potential to hold a charge. I know we've been taught that Nickel Metal Hydride batteries don't have any memory effect, but isn't it funny that when I tested some old metal detector nMh batteries that they all read around 600 Milli amps. After I "refreshed"
them, they were able to hold almost 1000 or 1200 Milli-amps capacity. I'm also intrigued by the fact that each individual battery has it's own numeric reading on everything. At least in theory, when I found a battery that had a way lower Milli amp hour reading, I might want to replace it with one that was closer to the other three batteries and their readings. Also as a plus feature for me, is: Once they're charged, the word "Full" appears on each individual battery and the current charge drops to about 42 Milli amps which apparently is just enough to keep them "touched up" as it were, until you decide to pull them out of the charger. In other words, you couldn't hardly overcharge them this way.
I guess the bottom line here, is: We wouldn't know for sure if all these intriguing numbers translated into more battery hours until I or (someone) runs some conclusive tests on all that, but in theory, it sure looks good to me, not only in the sense that I now have a choice in the current rating of charge or (how quick I want to charge them), but I can see numerically each individual battery that I'm charging and what it's voltage and Milli amp hour rating is not only during but at the end of the charging cycle. I don't know about you, but that seems like some pretty good information to have and it sure makes it a lot more fun (for us tech freaks like me). Marc Trainor.
The basic nuts and bolts of this charger are that you can set the charge rate at different current ratings. You can charge most batteries from as low as 200Milli amps to as high a charge as 1800 Milli amps. At 1800, the batteries are really heating up, and it could be detrimental to them, but at least you have a choice in the matter. The other nice thing, I like about this charger, is that you can set each individual battery to not only charge at whatever charge current you want, but you have 4 different types of charging you can do ( in a sense) What I mean by that is you can just "charge" them if you want to. You can "discharge them then recharge them" or, you can "test them"> which involves charging, discharging then re-charging any or all of them separately which gives you a numeric reading of the "capacity" of each individual battery. The fourth mode is what they call a "refresh mode". What that involves is that the charger will discharge, recharge, etc. back and fourth until the computer in the charger deems that any individual battery has reached it's fullest potential to hold a charge. I know we've been taught that Nickel Metal Hydride batteries don't have any memory effect, but isn't it funny that when I tested some old metal detector nMh batteries that they all read around 600 Milli amps. After I "refreshed"
them, they were able to hold almost 1000 or 1200 Milli-amps capacity. I'm also intrigued by the fact that each individual battery has it's own numeric reading on everything. At least in theory, when I found a battery that had a way lower Milli amp hour reading, I might want to replace it with one that was closer to the other three batteries and their readings. Also as a plus feature for me, is: Once they're charged, the word "Full" appears on each individual battery and the current charge drops to about 42 Milli amps which apparently is just enough to keep them "touched up" as it were, until you decide to pull them out of the charger. In other words, you couldn't hardly overcharge them this way.
I guess the bottom line here, is: We wouldn't know for sure if all these intriguing numbers translated into more battery hours until I or (someone) runs some conclusive tests on all that, but in theory, it sure looks good to me, not only in the sense that I now have a choice in the current rating of charge or (how quick I want to charge them), but I can see numerically each individual battery that I'm charging and what it's voltage and Milli amp hour rating is not only during but at the end of the charging cycle. I don't know about you, but that seems like some pretty good information to have and it sure makes it a lot more fun (for us tech freaks like me). Marc Trainor.