How long on red battery bar?

[Jason in Enid]

OK, so I'm curious what some others users have found. When I turned on my CTX today the battery indicator was showing red, so I was kinda bummed about having to break out the AA pack. I decided to let it run as long as possible. 4 hours later I finally went home with the detector still running in the red. In the past I have always put it on the charger shortly after it went red. So how long have you hunted in the red?

 

[GKMan]

Whoa, I have only had my detector run down once or twice and I can't recall how long it was, 4 hours seems awfully long though

 

[Jason in Enid]

I thought the same thing. I was expecting to have to trek back to the truck for batteries at any minute, I was shocked that the rechargeable battery lasted so long like that.

 

[NJCTXUSER]

It should be noted that it's possible your not getting as much depth penetration

 

[Jason in Enid]

It should be noted that it's possible your not getting as much depth penetration

Absolutely false! Geeze people this isn't 1970's technology. Your battery pack charges to a certain voltage (12 volts for example). The detector only needs (lets use 8v for example) . The detector has a voltage limiter so that it only uses 8 volts until the battery can no longer supply 8 volts. The battery meter in your detector is not measuring battery voltage, it's measuring usable voltage left.

 

[Larry (IL)]

Mostly correct Jason. The meter does in fact indicate the battery charge level, the CTX has no way to calculate how long the batteries will last at minimum usable voltage before shutdown because each cell will differ in capacity and discharge rate. It is very possible for a matched battery pack to last in the red for 4 hours or more before shutdown and some might not get two hours. You are right, the CTX should operate properly until a couple of minutes before shutdown when you might notice erratic, noisy operation right before it shuts off.

 

[Des D]

DEPENDING on [ how many audio notes are emitted ] ( signals in other words ) it will last 20mins or thereabouts.

It will still detect to FULL functioning right up to where it shuts down.