:detecting: Bought some new batteries and got "voltage overload" :ranting:

[khouse]

To make a long story short. My wife threw away all of our old cell phone chargers and tossed my Etrac wall charger out as well. It was plugged into the wall !!!!!!! Anyway - I bought some of those Energizer Lithium batteries figuring they would last a long time? I mean they say they will last 9 times longer than an Alkaline battery..... I have even heard some are getting a ton of hunting time with them.. So I stick them in and I get this voltage overload warning and the machine shuts down. I measured the voltage and it's 14.2 volts. So I figured I would load the battery pack with a light bulb to drop the voltage. Does anyone know what the high voltage limit is on an etrac? Anyone else ran into this issue?

 

[Elton]

Not on the Etrac but a Fisher 4 battery machine had a problem Kenny..
Did not try them in my Minelabs after that. or any other detector.

 

[khouse]

Thanks Elton. I think I'll bring the voltage down in .2 volt increments until it works.

 

[Elton]

Might work. I wondered at the time if the extra voltage was how they could say longer lasting ... I was afraid of ruining my detectors .So just bought rechargers and a charger..

They caused the Fisher to buzzzzzz when turned on..( Lithium's )


In all fairness a friend uses them with o problems....... so it may just be certain batteries Kenny...

 

[khouse]

I don't think they can hurt the etrac because of the over voltage protection. I guess my next purchase will be the RNB battery. I guess I need to tumble my clad........

 

[Elton]

n/t

 

[khouse]

What better back up machine to an etrac than another etrac. Sweet!

 

[roadapple]

The best thing you can do for youself and your E-Trac is get a RNB ML-2900 battery ! All I can say is it is absolutly amazing how long a charge last for days of use and it holds a charge forever if just sitting in the closet. The RNB is the single best purchase in making a real difference to Minelab detectors. I can't say enough about how great of improvement it is over the stock battery, "like night and day". you will be HAPPY HAPPY

 

[khouse]

I needed some batteries pretty quick since my wall charger is gone. But I'll start saving clad for the RNB battery set up for sure.

 

[khouse]

Just dropped the voltage down to 13 volts and it works fine. Kind of a pain but we'll see just how long these batteries will last? Really it only took about 45 seconds with a small dc motor to do it. Makes me believe the voltage in the new batteries must had drifted up slightly because it didn't take much to drop it down quickly.

 

[shawnIN]

Have to agree. Get the RNB ML-2900 battery if you can do it. Have not hunted much since this spring, but I bought one this past spring and am still on the 1st charge. Seems like this thing runs for ever.

 

[Tenspeed]

I love my RNB battery. It lasts forever. I will really test it when I hunt 6.5 days straight in England next month.

 

[Elton]

Page 15 owners manual E-Trac.. Highlighted area

DO NOT use rechargeable Lithium ion batteries in your E-TRAC.
So maybe the non rechargeable would be the same ............DO NOT USE

 

[FordGalaxy]

Have you thought of getting another wall wart charger? They're pretty much generic, you just need to get the same voltage and amp rating.

 

[khouse]

I've been looking for one.

 

[ryanchappell]

Never throw out a transformer adapter. Just keep them in a box, if the connector fits, voltage matches, and miliamps meets or exceeds what a source needs, it should work with other devices. Have you ever tired pricing a replacement transformer power adapter for anything? They run $20-150...

 

[khouse]

My Wife threw it out. Can anyone tell me the voltage and mAh the charger is?

 

[moonshine]

the output of the charger is 15 volts, 100 milliamps.

 

[khouse]

Thanks. Does it show the center post as being the positive one? Also can you measure the diameter of the plug?

 

[ryanchappell]

the output of the charger is 15 volts, 100 milliamps.

Normally I would say it is safe to exceed the milliamps when replacing a transformer adapter on electronics, but in this case 100 milliamps is really low, and probably intentional to allow the battery to charge slowly.