Excal charging question

[stitchlips]

I just picked up an excal. It has a rechargeable battery pack that plugs into the wall. How do you know when it's done charging?

 

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[salaloid]

Check your manual. The battery pack for my Explorer SE needs to be 18 hours to be fully charged.

 

[Keppy]

The manual says to charge it for 16 to 17 hrs. for first charge . How i do it is always have a DoubleAA battery pack with me and use the rechargeables untill they are to weak to use ...Then put in the doubleAA ..Alkaline pack in and use it and then when i get home charge the rechargeables over night

 

[stitchlips]

That doesn't really help me. it's done in 18 hours isn't an answer. Not trying to be rude just trying to figure out a way to tell other than a time span if it is fully charged.

Can you put a volt meter to it and tell?

 

[oldbill]

I don't think a voult meter reaDING AT CHARGING WILL DO YOU ANY GOOD. bILL

 

[Dixie Digger]

i use mine about 9 hrs and then just plug it in overnight,about 20 hrs.mine has never ran down.

 

[Keppy]

That doesn't really help me. it's done in 18 hours isn't an answer. Not trying to be rude just trying to figure out a way to tell other than a time span if it is fully charged.

Can you put a volt meter to it and tell?

Overnight...Overnight When you are asleep ..overnight 8 to 10 hr's...Overnight If you want the exact Minutes i don't think any one can tell you just do what we do overnight............

 

[stitchlips]

Overnight...Overnight When you are asleep ..overnight 8 to 10 hr's...Overnight If you want the exact Minutes i don't think any one can tell you just do what we do overnight............
[/quote]

I guess I should have phrased my question differently. I don't want to know how long it takes. I want to be able to tell if it's fully charged.

Can they be overcharged? I know some rechargeable batteries when over charged can get hot and cause fires.

 

[JP]

Some of the techno guys that used to post on here said that the rechargeable battery pack has to have x-amount of volts. They also said a $10 meter from Harbor Freights would do the job in measuring the voltage. That would be the only way to tell it's more or less fully charged.

I'm sorry that I don't remember the amount of volts but if you look up on past posts on the Minelab forum or the beach and water forum they have written about it a few times. I will try to look and if I find it I will post a link.

I wish that the charger for the battery pack of the Excalibur had a light or something on it to let you know it is fully charged, but that's my opinion.

Good luck.

 

[Keppy]

Ya if they would put a light on the charger it would be nice .I don't know why they don't...==Jim_K==

 

[stitchlips]

Some of the techno guys that used to post on here said that the rechargeable battery pack has to have x-amount of volts. They also said a $10 meter from Harbor Freights would do the job in measuring the voltage. That would be the only way to tell it's more or less fully charged.

I'm sorry that I don't remember the amount of volts but if you look up on past posts on the Minelab forum or the beach and water forum they have written about it a few times. I will try to look and if I find it I will post a link.

I wish that the charger for the battery pack of the Excalibur had a light or something on it to let you know it is fully charged, but that's my opinion.

Good luck.

You would think this day in age a little light that changes from green to red would be nice! Hey maybe I will make one and market it to everyone!

If it is the same as 8 double a batteries then it should be 12 volts. Mine is showing just over that after charging for quite a long time.

 

[Brett]

Those chargers that they sell are cheap as dirt and get the job done, that's why they don't make one with a light that goes from red to green... they wanna maximize their profits. Same reason they don't give us 2700mAh NiMH batteries instead of the 1600mAh batteries that come with the Explorer and E-Trac. 1600mAh is good enough for an all day hunt... why give us more than we need for free? Well, I certainly wouldn't mind a little extra capacity, but I'm not paying $80 for another 200mAh of capacity.

The charger just trickle charges the batteries, which is why it's OK to leave it plugged in past the time required to charge the batteries. The batteries will become warm as they charge and heat up towards the end of the charge cycle, usually after they get to about 70% charged.

I design battery chargers as part of my job, but I still just plug in the pack overnight just like the manual says... it's good enough for an all day hunt the next day.

If you really want to measure the voltage, it should be about 11.5 to 12V (or higher) if they are charged, vs. 7.2 to 8.8V discharged.

 

[Brett]

Harbor Freight has a decent cheapo voltmeter for sale right now... $1.99! I got some coupons in my email for them. Typically I see these go on sale all the time for $2.99.. .but good grief, $2?
http://www.harborfreightusa.com/usa/itemdisplay/displayItem.do?itemid=98025

I've checked the accuracy of these meters to a calibrated Fluke meter and they're decent, but might be off by one or two tenths of a volt at the end of the range. You can open the meter and tweak the only potentiometer inside to adjust the gain and put the numbers where you want them... i.e. calibrate your new $2 meter to make it even more accurate.

 

[stitchlips]

Those chargers that they sell are cheap as dirt and get the job done, that's why they don't make one with a light that goes from red to green... they wanna maximize their profits. Same reason they don't give us 2700mAh NiMH batteries instead of the 1600mAh batteries that come with the Explorer and E-Trac. 1600mAh is good enough for an all day hunt... why give us more than we need for free? Well, I certainly wouldn't mind a little extra capacity, but I'm not paying $80 for another 200mAh of capacity.

The charger just trickle charges the batteries, which is why it's OK to leave it plugged in past the time required to charge the batteries. The batteries will become warm as they charge and heat up towards the end of the charge cycle, usually after they get to about 70% charged.

I design battery chargers as part of my job, but I still just plug in the pack overnight just like the manual says... it's good enough for an all day hunt the next day.

If you really want to measure the voltage, it should be about 11.5 to 12V (or higher) if they are charged, vs. 7.2 to 8.8V discharged.

Awesome thanks!