Sov.GT rechargable batterys +AA 1.2V ?

[Critterhunter]

Dug up another quote from Kered on using 8AA nimhs in his Sovereign...

I found that using just the 8 AA 2700 mah rechargables the GT worked longer than the stock battery

 

[John(Tx)]

Tried using rechargables and alkalines in the alkaline battery pod and machine would just blare, would not settle down. Finally used a rechargable battery pack from an internet site in the alkaline battery pod and it works great, these batteries come in an enclosed pack and not individual like the ones you buy at Walmart....HH

 

[deepdiger60]

Dug up another quote from Kered on using 8AA nimhs in his Sovereign...

I found that using just the 8 AA 2700 mah rechargables the GT worked longer than the stock battery

Hi Critter what i got is 8 AA Energizer,s 2650 mah rated capacity pretty close to kered .Thanks all for the help Jim

 

[elki1052]

Okay, I'm following the topic of this subject and decided to run a test, here are the results.
using the AA battery pack with new Duracell 1.5v batteries the total voltage is DC 12.78 volts.
the 12V 1000 mAh rechargeable pack of the GT fully charge (maybe not fully charge because I charge it for the total of 8hrs) 1st time ever reads DC 14.22 volts.
My guess is that there should be a regulator to controls the excess voltage to accommodate for the DC12 volts need it to operate. (I MY BE WRONG)
I know for experience on my line of work (electronics) that, lower and higher voltage will cause some components to overheat because of the lack of or excess of adequate power and will produce a false output on the calibration of such components, At the same token more power (voltage) than rated will blow the regulator the same way as the wrong polarity will blow the diode.
Just my opinion and anyone trying to test their machine with higher voltage should do it on its own risk.
Thank you!
Abel.

 

[Critterhunter]

Just charge those nimhs within a day or two of when you plan to go out and I bet they'll be fine and give long run times. I think Minelab put 10 in the rechargeable pack for two reasons. First, they are only 1000ma and so the voltage would fall quick with only 8 cells. Two, they wanted to make sure they would have good enough voltage to run the detector even if the pack has sat on the shelf for weeks or more after being charged. If you use a high capacity (say 2500ma or higher) nimh and top it off within a day or two of when you plan to hunt then it should be fine for an all day hunt I would think. As Kered says, he's even getting longer run times than the stock pack, so I would assume he's not even re-charging them before each hunt and seeing how much run time he's getting.

 

[Jacob-Denmark]

I am new to metal detecting, I have the minelab sov gt rechargeablebattery pack and it gives me about 5 hours of detection time, medium theshold and many targets, no headphones.

 

[Critterhunter]

5 hours is pretty low even without using headphones. Not sure if that's normal or not. You really do need to use headphones to get more depth and also have longer run times. I think (from memory) that the rechargeable pack is supposed to give 16 or 20 hours of run time using headphones. Look on the charger. If it says 100ma output then it should take about 10 hours to charge the 1000ma pack. The light might not go out but rather gets dim when the pack is charged. What do you mean by giving a "spinning" sound when charging. You shouldn't be hearing anything.

 

[Jacob-Denmark]

Well it Sounds a little like When you charge a car battery The Sound comes from the batteypack around the green led. The Sound is not loud (brrr)

It is a 100ma charger and the light Might dim a little when charged

Jake

 

[Rick(ND)]

Using headphone will double that time the way I understand it as normal should be around 8 to 10 hours using headphones. Some the light dim so little you may not even notice it and the noise you hear is normal when it is on the charger, I don't hear it because of my bad hearing, but my wife sure hears it and others have posted this too as the wondered on the humming noise. My packs I charge use a older Sun Ray SR 12 charger with a charging cradle so when fully charged it will go into a pulse trickle charge so it don't ruin the battery like some charger will. The factory charger that come with the GT has a circuit board built into it to prevent over charging I am told, I have taken one apart and there is a curcuit board built in.

 

[Jacob-Denmark]

Thanks gritterhunter & Rick
It was the answer i was looking for

 

[deepdiger60]

Update on the rechargable batterys i have i went out today and yesterday in a large farm after about 1 hour my GT started to HOWL!! every 45 seconds it let out a loud yelp ! even when hold ing it off the ground ,so i figured it,s the new rechargable,s either they where not fully charge or the GT does not like them ? i put in the GT,s stock blue pack and the detector worked fine all day , i have the rechargable,s on 24 hour charge now and will try it again Sunday . Jim