Art (NWOH)
New member
n/t
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Help! The Ni-Cd in my 2a is still working good after 4.5 years ! What am I doing wrong????
- Thread starter Art (NWOH)
- Start date
If you have one of the good batteries and you discharge and recharge the battery correctly you should and I say should be okay. Discharge the battery down to the point where the detector starts to false continuously (who cares if you happen to be in the middle of a good hunt) then charge it for the proper number of hours on the charger plugged into a stable power source (harder to find these days without a UPS)and you should, once again should be okay.
If not, don't worry Minelab will sell you another battery pack without any simple features that would make the battery system more reliable and user friendly and they'll give a good, full retail price on it too! Now you can always lug a second battery pack around with you wherever you go just in case, just a minor inconvenience because the manufacturer won't get into the 21st century with it's power systems. This is old, old technology that could be improved by stepping up to equally cheap, just plain old technology.
Aren't you fortunate to have one of the better batteries. A recent purchaser of a Minelab Excal on this forum had to rebuild his battery pack before he could use his brand new detector. I guess Minelab feels that a do it yourself component to their detectors will make it a more inclusive experience for it's customers.
Tongue Firmly in Cheek,
BDA
If not, don't worry Minelab will sell you another battery pack without any simple features that would make the battery system more reliable and user friendly and they'll give a good, full retail price on it too! Now you can always lug a second battery pack around with you wherever you go just in case, just a minor inconvenience because the manufacturer won't get into the 21st century with it's power systems. This is old, old technology that could be improved by stepping up to equally cheap, just plain old technology.
Aren't you fortunate to have one of the better batteries. A recent purchaser of a Minelab Excal on this forum had to rebuild his battery pack before he could use his brand new detector. I guess Minelab feels that a do it yourself component to their detectors will make it a more inclusive experience for it's customers.
Tongue Firmly in Cheek,
BDA
Art (NWOH)
New member
You can get a bad pack.
I bought a new craftsman drill a little while back, and one of the cells in one of the packs don't charge up and hold the charge right. Can tell because there will be a sudden drop in speed prematurely. This is a warning sign. Continuing to run the drill will reverse charge this cell and really wreck the pack . Should have taken it back to Sears, but seems to work good enough when freshly charged.
Very nice when all the cells are evenly matched, but they are not tested to ensure this. Then over time they change and become unmatched anyway. You could probably see the same thing happen with Ni-Mh batteries.
HH
I bought a new craftsman drill a little while back, and one of the cells in one of the packs don't charge up and hold the charge right. Can tell because there will be a sudden drop in speed prematurely. This is a warning sign. Continuing to run the drill will reverse charge this cell and really wreck the pack . Should have taken it back to Sears, but seems to work good enough when freshly charged.
Very nice when all the cells are evenly matched, but they are not tested to ensure this. Then over time they change and become unmatched anyway. You could probably see the same thing happen with Ni-Mh batteries.
HH
Art,
I have a couple of the original XSs I sold back in 1996 in my area and they too still have the factory nicad packs in them yet.I think they are getting a little weak as they tell me they only last about 6 hours now instead of the 8 hours. Maybe one of the reasons is they have a extra pack and carry them with them in the Sun Ray hip mount bag so when the low battery signal comes on they switch batteries and recharge the other one when they get home. I know of one guy with the Excalibur he got from me in 2000 and he still uses his original nicad pack yet too as it works good and has a alkaline pack for a backup when his pod goes dead.
I use the Sun Ray Super charger myself or the Sun Ray Q12 charger so I don't over charge my batteries.
Now with the new Elites and the GT Minelab is using the Nickle Hydrides, but those you cant leave sit for a long period of time as they lose a charge from sitting.
Like anything they just got to be taken care of in order to last.
Rick
I have a couple of the original XSs I sold back in 1996 in my area and they too still have the factory nicad packs in them yet.I think they are getting a little weak as they tell me they only last about 6 hours now instead of the 8 hours. Maybe one of the reasons is they have a extra pack and carry them with them in the Sun Ray hip mount bag so when the low battery signal comes on they switch batteries and recharge the other one when they get home. I know of one guy with the Excalibur he got from me in 2000 and he still uses his original nicad pack yet too as it works good and has a alkaline pack for a backup when his pod goes dead.
I use the Sun Ray Super charger myself or the Sun Ray Q12 charger so I don't over charge my batteries.
Now with the new Elites and the GT Minelab is using the Nickle Hydrides, but those you cant leave sit for a long period of time as they lose a charge from sitting.
Like anything they just got to be taken care of in order to last.
Rick
Art (NWOH)
New member
Hi Rick.
Just finished draining the nicad. Been sitting unused since 2 July. It's on the charger now.
I keep a charging record for the 2a and GT both. If it has been between 1 and 2 months since the last charge, I will full cycle them.
Drain to 9V, and do a full charge.
I drain them at a rate of 100ma. Have reasons for this that I won't get into right now. The ni-cd took a little over 3 hrs to drain. That would have been about six hrs hunting time after sitting that long.
The GT pack gets the same treatment. Don't really have to, but it sure don't hurt to take extra care of them like they were ni-cd's.
HH
Just finished draining the nicad. Been sitting unused since 2 July. It's on the charger now.
I keep a charging record for the 2a and GT both. If it has been between 1 and 2 months since the last charge, I will full cycle them.
Drain to 9V, and do a full charge.
I drain them at a rate of 100ma. Have reasons for this that I won't get into right now. The ni-cd took a little over 3 hrs to drain. That would have been about six hrs hunting time after sitting that long.
The GT pack gets the same treatment. Don't really have to, but it sure don't hurt to take extra care of them like they were ni-cd's.
HH
goldnugget
Member
Had a saleman take one of our old battery packs and he hooked up a regular 9 volt batttery backwards to the cell and it took out the memory and the battery was good again.
Like a reverse charge on the cells that was bad.. I' still try this on my old Soverign X 2 _ Pro battery pack
Like a reverse charge on the cells that was bad.. I' still try this on my old Soverign X 2 _ Pro battery pack
Art (NWOH)
New member
Best not to hurt them in the first place.
Have tried beating the bad packs in my old electric drill. Used a high current load.......large bit to really work them hard.
They seem to come back to life, but nothing like they were in new condition. Results are only temporary.
HH
Have tried beating the bad packs in my old electric drill. Used a high current load.......large bit to really work them hard.
They seem to come back to life, but nothing like they were in new condition. Results are only temporary.
HH