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HOW TO SAVE A BUNDLE ON BATTERIES IF YOU DON"T ALREADY KNOW THIS..

U

Uncle Willy

New member
Keep forgetting to post this. If you don't have one pick up a cheap battery tester at Radio Shack or wherever. When the battery indicator on your tector indicates low or nearly dead batteries it is false most of the time. Usually only one battery is weak and the rest are still good so if you toss them all you are needlessly throwing good money in the garbage. Just one weak battery will cause your tector to indicate that they are all shot. This can get mighty expensive. I always test my batteries when I remove them to change to new ones when I'm not using my rechargeables. Today I changed the batteries in my 1500 because the indicator was down to one bar. When I tested them only one battery was weak and the rest were at nearly full charge. If not for testing I would have thrown seven perfectly good batteries away. How many good ones have you thrown away?

Bill
 
n/t
 
Nice thank you, I just noticed this the other day also. I was testing some batteries and wondered about the ones in my detector and tested them, and sure enough one was bad while the others where good. Never thought about it otherwise though. thanks again.
 
Better way to use rechargables? Besides mixing new with older is not the best idea as can lead to acid leaks in batteries and not pretty.
 
The seven batteries left were at nearly full charge and no chance or reason to leak. I've done this for years and never had a leaky battery.

Bill
 
Yeah it can get a little spendy throwing all those good batteries away. When using alkalines I've saved a ton on batteries by testing and saving the good ones I pull out of my tector

Bill
 
Hey I like that idea...a voltage tester would work also i guess eh?
 
I guess I'm sort of the odd man out here. It is false economy to replace one or two weak cells with new ones mixed with the old (rechargeables included). I think we're all in agreement with that one.

On the other hand, if there was a finite way to measure the remaining life in a dry cell, perhaps saving all of the better ones, and pairing them up as it were to cells of like quality (charge), you just might be able to save yourself a few pennies. However, measuring just the voltage with a DVM or VOM doesn't put enough load on the battery to tell you if that particular cell is up to snuff or not. If you have a methodology to place the cell in question briefly under load at about 10% of its AH rating, perhaps you could get closer, but not by much. The bottom line here is, about all it does is make you warm and fuzzy, but save little in the long run.

As for rechargeable cells, they have a lower full charge voltage than an alkaline, so from a charge voltage level standpoint, they deliver less operating life. If you're willing to put up with the recharging hassle, great. However, if you do a lifetime cost analysis, about the only battery which rivals an alkaline is a Lithium Ion battery. The real advantage to rechargeables (versus alkaline cells) is their current delivering capability; a need few detectors have.

Someone is bound to bring up the environmental aspects, but the truth is, tossed rechargeables have much more impact than modern alkaline cells.

One thing is for sure; it is a debate which will rage on, and that's the only moot point!

Alan
 
Thanks for a great tip. I did get a set of rechargeable batteries with my GTI-2500, but they did not hold a charge very long. I buy the regular batteries now and I will definitely get a battery tester.
 
I'm not into all the technical jargon. All I know is that it has always worked for me. None of the batteries in a detector maintain an equal charge with the rest of the batteries because they perform different functions. If one doesn't use earphones the speaker battery takes the biggest hit I put the seven good batteries back into my 1500 plus a new one to replace the one dead one. The battery indicator now shows four bars and the detector works like a charm as it has always done.

Bill
 
If you have a Costco near you and belong to it or know someone who does you can get a pack of 48 alkalines for $10.99 or about 23 cents apiece.

Bill
 
just used a standard multi meter today and it worked a treat, thanks for the tip
 
I've been using a battery checker for years. Works fine for me to only change the weak one. And the battery checker does not need batteries to work!
 
Alan Applegate said:
I guess I'm sort of the odd man out here. It is false economy to replace one or two weak cells with new ones mixed with the old (rechargeables included). I think we're all in agreement with that one.

On the other hand, if there was a finite way to measure the remaining life in a dry cell, perhaps saving all of the better ones, and pairing them up as it were to cells of like quality (charge), you just might be able to save yourself a few pennies. However, measuring just the voltage with a DVM or VOM doesn't put enough load on the battery to tell you if that particular cell is up to snuff or not. If you have a methodology to place the cell in question briefly under load at about 10% of its AH rating, perhaps you could get closer, but not by much. The bottom line here is, about all it does is make you warm and fuzzy, but save little in the long run.

As for rechargeable cells, they have a lower full charge voltage than an alkaline, so from a charge voltage level standpoint, they deliver less operating life. If you're willing to put up with the recharging hassle, great. However, if you do a lifetime cost analysis, about the only battery which rivals an alkaline is a Lithium Ion battery. The real advantage to rechargeables (versus alkaline cells) is their current delivering capability; a need few detectors have.

Someone is bound to bring up the environmental aspects, but the truth is, tossed rechargeables have much more impact than modern alkaline cells.

One thing is for sure; it is a debate which will rage on, and that's the only moot point!

Alan
Click to expand...

Rechargeables have longer sustained voltage than alkaline. Alkaline have a higher start but once under load drop significantly faster and well below a rechargeable. Ever tried regular batteries in a camera? What last longer? Case closed
 
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