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Goldscan 4 battery pack
- Thread starter beau61
- Start date
I was hoping someone else would jump in here but since no one did, I will offer a suggestion. I use a simple 4 pack of Panasonic Li Ion 3400ma batteries connected in series. They are light enough and small enough, you can mount them under the rear housing. That is what I did. Add another connector through the housing and connect it properly to be able to connect the battery to the unit. Make sure to get the polarity correct.
I use a TDI now but use the same battery setup on my TDI.
Reg
I use a TDI now but use the same battery setup on my TDI.
Reg
Eric Foster
New member
The original style battery pack for the Goldscan 4 is still available from www.strikalite.co.uk but it is expensive and heavy compared to more modern battery types. Look under 'speciality batteries'.
I was interested to read of the 18650 Lithium batteries as I was not aware of the availability of these. Just shows what a difference five years away makes. They are just what I wanted as I have a couple of Vallon P.I. mine detectors that run happily off 3.7V and consume about 350mA. Normally the detectors run off 3 D size alkaline cells, but they are big and heavy. I came across 3.7V and up to 9900mAh 18560 single cells on ebay so they look to be the way to go. By the the way the Vallon mine detectors (VMH3CS) make super beach detectors for coins and rings. Even a 0.3gm nugget is detectable.
Eric.
I was interested to read of the 18650 Lithium batteries as I was not aware of the availability of these. Just shows what a difference five years away makes. They are just what I wanted as I have a couple of Vallon P.I. mine detectors that run happily off 3.7V and consume about 350mA. Normally the detectors run off 3 D size alkaline cells, but they are big and heavy. I came across 3.7V and up to 9900mAh 18560 single cells on ebay so they look to be the way to go. By the the way the Vallon mine detectors (VMH3CS) make super beach detectors for coins and rings. Even a 0.3gm nugget is detectable.
Eric.
Eric,
Be careful when buying Lithium batteries on ebay...try not to purchase the off-brand Chinese units...go with quality Japanese name brands, if you can.
The Chinese Li battery mfgs are notorious for drastically over-inflating their amp-hour ratings.
It's not uncommon to measure a mere third of their stamped rating.
(I'm pretty sure they just make it up...)
mike
Be careful when buying Lithium batteries on ebay...try not to purchase the off-brand Chinese units...go with quality Japanese name brands, if you can.
The Chinese Li battery mfgs are notorious for drastically over-inflating their amp-hour ratings.
It's not uncommon to measure a mere third of their stamped rating.
(I'm pretty sure they just make it up...)
mike
Eric Foster
New member
Thanks Mike, Yes I noticed that many are from China, so I will avoid them.
Some brands advertise that they have a protection pcb in the battery. Is this the type to go for?
I have enough room in the Vallon detector to house a couple of Lithium cells in parallel to get a reasonable operating time. Ten hours would be ample.
Eric.
Some brands advertise that they have a protection pcb in the battery. Is this the type to go for?
I have enough room in the Vallon detector to house a couple of Lithium cells in parallel to get a reasonable operating time. Ten hours would be ample.
Eric.
Hi Eric,
The best batteries I have found are Panasonic Li Ion with 3400mah per battery being the maximum and even then you need a tail wind to get that much current. At 350mah you might be able to use a single battery but it would be close. Two batteries would be much better.
Protected batteries are the best if no detector internal protection is built in. Li Ion types absolutely do not like being run down to 2. 5v and will most likely fail permanently. They have little to no run time when they reach 3v, so that is a safe shut down voltage. The built in shutdown on protected cells or packs is typically 2.75v (per cell).
Reg
The best batteries I have found are Panasonic Li Ion with 3400mah per battery being the maximum and even then you need a tail wind to get that much current. At 350mah you might be able to use a single battery but it would be close. Two batteries would be much better.
Protected batteries are the best if no detector internal protection is built in. Li Ion types absolutely do not like being run down to 2. 5v and will most likely fail permanently. They have little to no run time when they reach 3v, so that is a safe shut down voltage. The built in shutdown on protected cells or packs is typically 2.75v (per cell).
Reg
Eric Foster
New member
Hi Reg,
I took a spare TDi battery pack apart, as these are made of 18650 cells. It had 4800mAh on the pack of 8 cells, so that must be 2400mAh the for each cell, as they are paired. I have paralleled two together to give 4800mAh which theoretically gives just over 13 hours on the Vallon VMH3CS detector. I am assuming the cells that Whites use are of good quality. They have one circuit board built into the pack but that is for 14.4V. I discarded that.
The Vallon detector derives all it's voltages from an onboard converter; even the supply for the bipolar TX. Performance on coins and rings is outstanding, as I will report later. As the batteries run down the current draw from the converter goes up and none of the voltage rails change. The detector automatically shuts down at 3.0V and gives a constant tone.
My next problem is charging the battery. So far I have used my bench supply set to 4.1V which I gather is a safe way of charging, but not necessarily to a full capacity. I'd like a fast charger, but it must be safe.
Eric.
I took a spare TDi battery pack apart, as these are made of 18650 cells. It had 4800mAh on the pack of 8 cells, so that must be 2400mAh the for each cell, as they are paired. I have paralleled two together to give 4800mAh which theoretically gives just over 13 hours on the Vallon VMH3CS detector. I am assuming the cells that Whites use are of good quality. They have one circuit board built into the pack but that is for 14.4V. I discarded that.
The Vallon detector derives all it's voltages from an onboard converter; even the supply for the bipolar TX. Performance on coins and rings is outstanding, as I will report later. As the batteries run down the current draw from the converter goes up and none of the voltage rails change. The detector automatically shuts down at 3.0V and gives a constant tone.
My next problem is charging the battery. So far I have used my bench supply set to 4.1V which I gather is a safe way of charging, but not necessarily to a full capacity. I'd like a fast charger, but it must be safe.
Eric.
Eric Foster
New member
Hi Tony,
The ones coming on to the market are not cheap and not tested. I have rebuilt a couple of broken ones, one of which is in a case of my own design. They work fine now and I am doing testing on the local beach. That was one that I had in my 'coming back' picture.
Eric.
The ones coming on to the market are not cheap and not tested. I have rebuilt a couple of broken ones, one of which is in a case of my own design. They work fine now and I am doing testing on the local beach. That was one that I had in my 'coming back' picture.
Eric.