2 part battery question

[moonshine]

1. Concerning rechargeable batteries. My detector takes 4 C cell batteries. A total of 6 volts. I see at all the stores they only sell Energizer rechargeables. (green/silver) But they are only 1.2 volts! 4 of these would only give me 4.8 volts. I dont understand this. I have been using some Rayovac rechargeable alkalines for some time now (they are 1.5 volts) but they are starting to show their age. Actually its ok because after about 3 hours i am pooped anyhow and thats about all these batteries will give me. I dont want to use regular non-rechargeables. I have looked all over for 1.5 volt C cell rechargeables. I guess i might have to look on-line. Im really suprised I cant find any in the stores. I have yet to check a large toy store though.

Anyhow i am concerned that the 1.2 volt batteries arent strong enough, any thoughts?

2. Do you think you lose some depth as your battery strength goes down?

 

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[galaxy51]

My White's works fine with 4 rechargeable 1.2 volt C cell batteries. I think it will operate down to pretty close to 3 volts, although the depth and ID suffer a little accuracy at that point.
I did not notice any loss of depth even when the batteries got low enough to effect the meter.

 

[privet12]

The 1.2 volt batteries are nichel cadmium types and if they are 1.5 volt per cell they will be some other type. There are several types of rechargeable batteries out there now.

 

[Mirage]

The common 1.2 V rechargeables are Nickel Metal Hydride (NiMH). The voltage of the cell is dictated by the battery chemistry. Lithium Ion cells are 4.2 Volts. The 1.2 Volts is usually close enough to the 1.5 V that they can be interchanged. Also the 1.2 Volts is more the "nominal" or average. They get to about 1.3 V fully charged. As for using the NiMH in your detector....depends on the detector. Using my White's DFX or Minelab Exp II normally both run on NiMH batteries with no loss of depth or performance until the low battery indicator comes on.

Bob

 

[moonshine]

thank you for the information people.

the sticking point to me is this, when my 1.5 volt batteries get real low the detector starts getting goofy and the battery "ok" meter drops way down.

when i test these batteries, they read 1.28 volts or so.

maybe i just dont understand batteries as much as i thought. maybe its the milliamps i should be concerned with, and not the voltage?

i do appreciate the comments, thank you.