Excal AA Battery Pod Cage

[bigscoop]

Another rechargeable down the drain...another hunt ended....so....I need to find out where I can get just the Excal, "AA battery pod cage"? Anyone got a source? Thanks!

 

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[cdv1]

They are on Flea Bay but I'm sure some dealers have them. What do you mean another rechargeable down the drain? Dead, won't take a charge? .... I have whats needed to put in the pod, just got done ordering it when my battery went dead on me.... guess I jumped the gun cause it works and I now have a spare battery and I need another pod to put it in! I'm thinking the AA pod and remove the AA stuff and put my battery in there unless someone has a spare dead battery pod laying around they want to sell...

Cliff

 

[bigscoop]

They are on Flea Bay but I'm sure some dealers have them. What do you mean another rechargeable down the drain? Dead, won't take a charge? .... I have whats needed to put in the pod, just got done ordering it when my battery went dead on me.... guess I jumped the gun cause it works and I now have a spare battery and I need another pod to put it in! I'm thinking the AA pod and remove the AA stuff and put my battery in there unless someone has a spare dead battery pod laying around they want to sell...

Cliff

I found them on Ebay just a bit ago. Personally, I'm done with the rechargeable batteries. These days I can buy "a lot" of quality AA batteries for the cost of just one rechargeable pack. I just bought 2 AA battery cages for the Excal pod for $8.00 - much smaller and a lot cheaper then an extra Excal pod and I can change out the loaded cages in no time. No more charging, or forgetting to charge, or unexpected/untimely & costly battery failures, etc. I just prefer to AA's over the rechargeable packs so I'm making the changeover.

 

[seeker41]

how are you loosing these? breaking them? what are you calling a "cage", the pod that the pack is in?

chuck.

 

[dewcon4414]

I think the AA pods are made of a thinner plastic, but they do work for our purposes... but id still put a rechargable in it. BS..... why cant you just remove the old pack and replace it with one of these: RCPacks.com - MINELAB EXCALIBUR

 

[bigscoop]

"The cage"....the actual AA battery holder inside the pod.
"The pods"....the AA cages will fit inside the rechargeable pod (according to my measurements) so this is what I'm going to do.

I'm making the switch back to AA's because I never had a single battery issue when I was using them. Replacements are cheap, reliable, and readily at hand just about anywhere. Not that I travel much anymore, but I do plan to again, so with batteries I don't have to concern myself with a recharging source, just install fresh batteries when required. (we use to camp in remote locations for several days at a time and planning to do more of it again). Storms come, storms go - fresh batteries will always insure hunting time on the beach even in the event of extended power losses. Also, one drop of water across those rechargeable leads and it's, "instant toast". I just don't see any advantage to the rechargeable batteries. Never really did.

 

[sandnut]

RCPacks.com - MINELAB EXCALIBUR

 

[bigscoop]

I know you guys love your rechargeables, but here's a copy of my reply to a PM regarding my reasons for going to back to AA batteries:

I don't really have "a lot" of battery issues....just more then I ever had with plan old AA's. Never had a problem with the "cheaper" AA's, the worst that ever happened was they drained then it was a simple matter of putting in new batteries...problem solved, and in a hurry. Today guys are carrying around extra $$$ battery packs/pods, they have the expense of chargers, both home and portable, I think it's just something that everyone has too easily bought into. I go to Dollar General, buy 24 AA Alkaline batteries for $5 and they are good batteries. I get around 13 - 15 hrs of continuous hunting from 8 of them so $10 nets me 48 batteries or 80hrs or more of hunting time. Compare the cost of the extra pod and rechargeable battery pack, plus the cost of the rechargeable battery packs every time you have to replace one, plus the cost/time of charging, etc. With just $40 I can buy myself 200 AA's, or about 350 hrs of uninterrupted hunting time. Batteries go dead I just change them, takes 5 minutes. That rechargeable pack goes dead, or worse yet, dies, then what are your options? You either have an expensive backup charged and ready or you have to stop for a recharge, or possibly even drop some $$$ for a new battery pack. In my experience rechargeable battery packs are a bad deal when you're comparing them to a simple, fairly cheap AA application. As long as I have fresh batteries the only thing that can prevent my continued cost efficient hunting is a machine failure of some type.... "KIS"....keep it simple.

 

[S.S.Tupperware]

Too bad they don't sell replacement packs for my Flir B 20... Dammit man.

 

[COTTON]

That's all I been using for the last 4 years .(AA)

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

I use both, I have NimH rechargeable that lasts about 15-17 hours and I also have 2 spare AA battery pods, as BS says you always have a chage that way, I buy the AA 36 pack when on sale.....

 

[nutsdad]

Nice posts I'm going to buy the AA as a back up.

 

[general]

I'm seriously thinking about Big Scoop's post. I have an alkaline pod as a backup but I have some difficulty with the tiny allan screws. Too small for my old fingers. A new design for the excal 2 charging system and battery cable would be good. I've had the battery cable replaced already and I just don't like way the prongs and gasket are designed.