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Sov XS Nicad charging

A

Anonymous

Guest
Recently aquired a sov XS and fumbled through some of the mods (Thanks Dan) ,now i`m looking for proper discharge and charge info.
i have a minelab 60ma ac charger and stock nicad plug in pack
Thanks for any help, Darren
 
Run the pack down in the detector until it starts going nuts.
Recharge 12-14 hours.
HH
 
First of all not the Dan he is speaking of...My Sov XS2A pro manual reads 10-12 hrs for recharge. Technically when the batteries run down you will get a sharp Pip every 15-30 seconds and you will know its time to recharge..One you hear the Pip you will never forget it and feel Sov XS and my unit are baically the same unit..
 
Or to just reset the whole thing, leave it on overnight to run it down and then plug it in for ~11 hours.
Seems like you could run a 12v lantern bulb to empty out the charge if you feel iffy about leaving the whole thing on.
 
The cells are not all equal, and some will go dead before others. When this happens, the cells that are still working will push current through the dead cells and charge them backwards. This damages the cells, and your nicad pack will soon go to crap.
This reverse charging also will damage ni-mh cells too.
If your pack is in good shape, you can figure run time this way......
The Sov runs on about 50 ma. Divide the mah (milliamp hour) rating of the pack by 50.
On my 2a, this would be 700/50, or 14 hours.
HH
 
Have to agree with Art, but certainly a better explanation than I could give. Leave the machine on during a time when your near it and when it starts to Pip its telling you it getting low and actually has some juice left in it so no problem. Leaving it on all night...may Pip at 4AM and by the time you check it in the AM may be run down all the way.Careul prudent use of the battery will give long life...
 
The Sovereign the first time out you will wonder what you got yourself into, but stick with it as it is a great detector once you learn it.
On the battery issue I feel if you still have the original battery that come with it it is at least 8 years old as the XS was replaced in 1998 with the XS 2. I would just pick up one of the SunRay Nickle Hydride packs which will last longer anyway, this way just used the stock one untill you get the low battery alert than switch the battery and charge the stock one for around 14 hours when you get home. Now with the nickle hydride pack of SunRays has more Mha so it will last longer, but also will take longer to charge on the stock charger, I beleive a good 24 hours to charge that one with the stock charger.
I used to hipmount my XS when I had it with the SunRay leather hipmount bag and found this bag was excellent as it has a pouch for the extra battery so changing the battery when i got the low battery alert took less than a minnute to do as I had the extra battery with me.
Rick
 
I have the Excalibur and the Manual suggest that occasionally you should run the batteries flat. I've had my unit about 6 months now. I just left one battery on overnight. It acted up before going dead. I let it run until it ran out completely. Then charged it for 24 hours while I used the other battery I have. When this one starts to act up I will run it out completely. I think doing this will insure that the batteries do not hold a memory for the point that they start acting up but aren't completely dead. When your battey starts acting crazy and you change it, then recharge it, it probably still has some juice in it and this can become the memory point. So running the battery flat out occasionally makes sense to me. Any thoughts from more experienced users will be appreciated.
My next move will be to buy a battery pack with the NiMH batteries. They do not hold memory and can be charged at any point. If you only used it for a short time but want to make sure they last for a long day you have planned you can charge them anytime.
HH Mike
 
Mike,
I think the detector will shut down before the battery is completly dead or it could cause a battery problem. Now if you run a light bulb on it you could run it completly dead and have a problem with the battery, so running it in the detector may be OK, but I wouldnt run a light or anything else that could cause it to go completly dead.
Rick
 
It really don't matter if the battery sets up a memory point at a level where it don't work anymore anyway.
I know that the book for my 2a says to leave it on and run them down, but I really don't like the idea. Unlike my White's which is electronicaly switched, the Sov/Excal is manually switched, and I feel that it will continue to pull current as long as it can.
It's just too dangerous to risk reverse charging the cells.
HH
 
Take it out in the field( make sure you have your alkaline pack) run it till it starts to PIP and then charge to instructions in your manual. Rick has the right idea about running it dead with a light as indeed it may fully discharge and according to the manual damage the battery...Sunray NIMH pack is far superior and get almost double the time without any fear of it building up a memory should you decide to top it off so might be a good investment if you choose...
 
I already let one battery run until the hum was gone and I charged it for about 24 hours. My other battery went dead today. I left it on in my workroom and withing an hour there was no more hum so It's now recharging. I only have my Excalibur since September and this is the first time I'm doing this. I'll let you know if my battery life is at the low end or high end when I use the unit. The manual says 10 to 15 hours of life. I'll keep close track of this battery and Post the results. I would like to get that Sun Ray NiHM battery but it's not cheap. I figure with two batteries that are just over six months old I can hold off on a replacement. It's not to much trouble to carry the extra battery when I'm out ( I always do ).
HH Mike
 
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