Equinox charging?

[CarsonChris]

Do you run the equinox until the battery is completely out of charge before recharging? I don’t want to lose battery life but don’t want to run out of battery in the field.

 

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[Deep1]

It is not good to run lithium batteries all the way down.
Batteries are good for a limited amount of full charge cycles.
You will many more cycles from partial charges than full charges.
You will get longer life from batteries by charging after every use.
Unlike ni-cads, lithiums don't have a memory, so you can charge them from partial discharge without negative long term effect.

 

[Acquisitor]

Ideally lithium batteries should stay between 40 and 80 percent charge. Draining them all the way to zero or charging them to 100% kills too many cells. This is especially noticeable with cell phones which are charged every day.

Of course if you only use your detector 20-30 days a year then it wont make any real difference but if you are a frequent user then this should be taken into consideration.

 

[Iffy Signals]

I never hunted the batt dead on the deus or equinox. I come home from digging and leave it until i know im going again and then slap it on charge the night before. My hunts are usually 5-6 hours and i have no issue. Prob could get a couple hunts out of it but why bother.

 

[RobNC]

The few times I've been able to go out I usually charge it when I come home. Or like Iffy Signals said I will charge it before going the night before. No issues yet, but mine is still a baby so to speak. Not seen any real hunting yet for an extended period of time.

 

[Horst]

I was expecting around 12 hours of use from my Nox 800. Yesterday I had to learn that this is not true. But the good thing is that I tried to use a small powerbank the size of a small flashlight which I attached to the main rod using some household rubber bands. It worked real good and the power bank is now sitting in the headphone container together with the proper cable and household rubber band for back-up. I actually tried to run the battery flat to see if it will work with a power bank. It does, real easy to attach and I'm happy I tried it out. One thing I figured yesterday was that the machine ran a lot quieter when I did manual ground balance every so often(pumping the coil) instead of auto tracking. Will need to try this again to verify. By the way the Nox shuts off early enough to protect the battery.

 

[Toecutter]

Also leaving them fully charged for long periods can cause damage to the lithium batteries (will cause them to puff out)... best to store any lithiume battery around half to 3/4 charge...

 

[vferrari]

Also leaving them fully charged for long periods can cause damage to the lithium batteries (will cause them to puff out)... best to store any lithiume battery around half to 3/4 charge...

Good advice, but the Equinox charge circuit does have protection built in to prevent this type of overcharge.

 

[Toecutter]

Over charging is differnt from leaving the battery fully charged, leaving a lithium pack fully charged for a long period of time will cause the pack to swell, any device that charges lithium will have the said prevention circuit for over charge....

 

[vferrari]

Over charging is differnt from leaving the battery fully charged, leaving a lithium pack fully charged for a long period of time will cause the pack to swell, any device that charges lithium will have the said prevention circuit for over charge....

Overcharging or charging at too high a voltage will cause swelling or reduce the overall lifetime of the battery. The charge circuit will prevent that, even if you keep the charge cable plugged-in to a power source.

But yes, storing the battery fully charged for a prolonged period (weeks) can also, to a lesser extent, result in swelling and/or reduced battery lifetime. This effect is worse if you store the detector at high temps, even at the high end of the allowable storage temp of 122F. Just run the battery down about 20% or more from full if you are going to store the unit for a month or longer to prolong battery life (and don't store it fully depleted). Not something that should keep you up at night, but something to be aware of.

More importantly, note the charging temp range listed in the manual: 32 to 104F. Do not charge the battery outside of this temp range or you can cause immediate damage to the battery. Charging the battery at less than 32F will permanently damage it. So if you are charging "on the fly" while swinging the detector using a portable battery pack, avoid doing so in really cold or hot weather.

Note that you can operate the battery from 14F to 122F, just don't charge it outside the above temp range.

Storage temps are -4F to 122F.

HTH