explorer detectors and batteries.....

[mastereagle22]

I have wanted to go to Vegas for the last 15 years and my detector gets to go before I do!

Why can't we all just get along? My detector is bigger than yours or my finds are better than yours really gets OLD!!!

Face it all metal detectors are NOT created equally. Never judge a mans detector until you have swung a mile with it.

Or something like that.

 

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[FredCobol]

This thread appears to be going in several directions. I'm not sure whether we are talking rechargables or alkalines or both, but here is my input.

I have an Explorer SE. Last weekend I ran the rechargable NiMH battery all the way down until there was just a sliver of a bar left on the charge indicator. After a while it started making the "Overload" sound sparadically. At that point it was obvious that the battery was too low.

From my experience in flying electric R/C airplanes and helicopters, NiMH and NICAD battery packs have a limited lifetime. After a while they cannot hold a full charge and the voltage will drop very quickly once you reach a certain point. Also, as the temperature of the pack rises as you are using it, the voltage may drop. Turn it off and the temperature drops and the pack works again for a while until the temperature goes up again.

Also, the life of a rechargable pack can be cut short by "short-cycling". That is recharging when the pack is not fully discharged, leading to "cell memory". For R/C batteries we use smart chargers which can fully discharge a pack before it is recharged. A smart charger also allows you to recondition batteries by taking them through a series of charges and discharges. The charger also measures the amount of charge put into the pack during the charge cycle and the amount of charge taken out of the pack during the discharge cycle so you can see if the pack is still good.

I have considered using the smart charger on my Minelab pack because it can charge the pack much quicker (about 1 hour) as opposed to the 18 hours that the trickle charger that came with it takes. However it looks like the Minelab battery pack has some circuitry built into the pack that may interfere and the manual states that if you use a different charger you void the warranty. Batteries can also catch fire if you do not charge them correctly.

Oh well, that's my 2¢ worth. Please forgive my rambling.

 

[mastereagle22]

I think that may be the main problem with my rechargable batteries. I bought my machine used so I don't know what the previous owner did with the pack. I run it all the way down now and charge it back up but I think the pack may be bad anyway. With that being said my machine does it with both types of batteries.

I really should buy a new battery pack but right now I don't have the $100 or so to do that.

 

[Michigan Badger]

I thought NiMH's weren't supposed to develop a memory?

Can one put rechargeables into that alkaline pack? I was always wondering about that with my GT.

 

[Iron Patch]

I thought NiMH's weren't supposed to develop a memory?

Can one put rechargeables into that alkaline pack? I was always wondering about that with my GT.

Make sure the voltage is correct.

 

[FredCobol]

I thought NiMH's weren't supposed to develop a memory?

Can one put rechargeables into that alkaline pack? I was always wondering about that with my GT.

You are correct. NiMH should not develop memory but NICADS do.

You can use rechargables in your alkaline pack, just make sure you us the appropriate charger. The new Duracell NiMH rechargables claim to have a capacity of 2650 mAh. That beats the Minelab 1600 mAh and at a fraction of the price. I'm not sure what their lifespan is.

 

[Iron Patch]

This thread appears to be going in several directions. I'm not sure whether we are talking rechargables or alkalines or both, but here is my input.

I have an Explorer SE. Last weekend I ran the rechargable NiMH battery all the way down until there was just a sliver of a bar left on the charge indicator. After a while it started making the "Overload" sound sparadically. At that point it was obvious that the battery was too low.

From my experience in flying electric R/C airplanes and helicopters, NiMH and NICAD battery packs have a limited lifetime. After a while they cannot hold a full charge and the voltage will drop very quickly once you reach a certain point. Also, as the temperature of the pack rises as you are using it, the voltage may drop. Turn it off and the temperature drops and the pack works again for a while until the temperature goes up again.

Also, the life of a rechargable pack can be cut short by "short-cycling". That is recharging when the pack is not fully discharged, leading to "cell memory". For R/C batteries we use smart chargers which can fully discharge a pack before it is recharged. A smart charger also allows you to recondition batteries by taking them through a series of charges and discharges. The charger also measures the amount of charge put into the pack during the charge cycle and the amount of charge taken out of the pack during the discharge cycle so you can see if the pack is still good.

I have considered using the smart charger on my Minelab pack because it can charge the pack much quicker (about 1 hour) as opposed to the 18 hours that the trickle charger that came with it takes. However it looks like the Minelab battery pack has some circuitry built into the pack that may interfere and the manual states that if you use a different charger you void the warranty. Batteries can also catch fire if you do not charge them correctly.

Oh well, that's my 2¢ worth. Please forgive my rambling.

When reading my posts take into account either quality alks. or a good working charger pack. In either case the detector should either work 100% or turn off. If it wasn't for the low battery sound I would run it every time until it turned off never having seen a bit of difference in performance. Being erratic at half power shouldn't happen and I don't care if 5 people post in the next 5 minutes they have the same problem. That would just be 5 more Explorers that aren't as good as they should be. All my own opinion of course.

 

[FredCobol]

I thought NiMH's weren't supposed to develop a memory?

Can one put rechargeables into that alkaline pack? I was always wondering about that with my GT.

Make sure the voltage is correct.

Do you know if the GT pack says 12V or 9.6V like the Explorer pack?

 

[Iron Patch]

I thought NiMH's weren't supposed to develop a memory?

Can one put rechargeables into that alkaline pack? I was always wondering about that with my GT.

Make sure the voltage is correct.

Do you know if the GT pack says 12V or 9.6V like the Explorer pack?

12 volt NiMH Rechargeable

 

[mastereagle22]

Man have you ever tried talking to a rock or tree

 

[EDDE]

so then it seems iron patch is a minelab tech,perhaps he can help you guys out

So do you actually use an Explorer or is this something you've decided to chime in on and have no idea?

nope just ringing the bell

 

[Ocean7]

Iron Patch said:
" Then you and the others have defective units. A detector that has problems at half power? That makes sense to you? I don't think you're crazy but I'll bet you $1,000 an Explorer does not work that way when it's a 100%."


yeah agree IP - I think that's totally bogus. Had my EX II for 4 years now and it does not act this way at all at half power. If your battery pack is bad or charger is bad - then yes I can see this happening. It certainly doesn't happen using Energizer batteries. So maybe they had a batch of bad battery packs?

 

[Iron Patch]

Iron Patch said:
" Then you and the others have defective units. A detector that has problems at half power? That makes sense to you? I don't think you're crazy but I'll bet you $1,000 an Explorer does not work that way when it's a 100%."


yeah agree IP - I think that's totally bogus. Had my EX II for 4 years now and it does not act this way at all at half power. If your battery pack is bad or charger is bad - then yes I can see this happening. It certainly doesn't happen using Energizer batteries. So maybe they had a batch of bad battery packs?

I have no idea. That's the obvious answer and I have had it happen myself. Think I read this problem is happening with alks. so it may be a bad board that is somehow creating a problem when at half power.

Funny I wrote Minelab recently simply requesting a quote for a housing change and they suggested a possible bad board, like right out of the blue. To me that suggests there may be a wider spread problem with their circuit boards than we realize. Pure speculation on my part but regardless of that it should run fine at 1/2 battery strength.

 

[Ocean7]

well I use Energizers all the time and that problem does not happen with them on my machine. My first battery pack went south and I got a different setup for rechargeables using non-minelab batteries with a custom charger and a standard
alk. battery pack.

 

[Iron Patch]

I've had very bad luck with the pack, then two types of AA rechargeables. This year I ran alks. but it sure add$ up.

 

[Ocean7]

well I got this charger:
MAHA MH-C777PlusII Smart Battery Charger for NiMH & Li-ion Batteries
http://www.thomas-distributing.com/mh-c777plus.htm


which works pretty well and NIMH RECHARGEABLE AA BATTERIES - which works pretty well.

Somebody from our ole ex-fav. site Shillmall posted this place.

 

[mastereagle22]

Iron Patch said:
" Then you and the others have defective units. A detector that has problems at half power? That makes sense to you? I don't think you're crazy but I'll bet you $1,000 an Explorer does not work that way when it's a 100%."


yeah agree IP - I think that's totally bogus. Had my EX II for 4 years now and it does not act this way at all at half power. If your battery pack is bad or charger is bad - then yes I can see this happening. It certainly doesn't happen using Energizer batteries. So maybe they had a batch of bad battery packs?

I have no idea. That's the obvious answer and I have had it happen myself. Think I read this problem is happening with alks. so it may be a bad board that is somehow creating a problem when at half power.

Funny I wrote Minelab recently simply requesting a quote for a housing change and they suggested a possible bad board, like right out of the blue. To me that suggests there may be a wider spread problem with their circuit boards than we realize. Pure speculation on my part but regardless of that it should run fine at 1/2 battery strength.

Well will you look at that? I think I suggested this earlier in the post and was dismissed out of hand. Anyone seen a circuit board inside on of these machines? Do you know how SMALL the SMDs on these are? Do you know how many SMDs a company spits out in a day? Do you know how many of those are QA checked? I have been saying all along that My unit is defective. Never argued any other way. My machine did the same with the 1800 MAH pack and with Energizers and it was slightly worse with Duracells for some reason. When I pulled the pack and checked voltage I got a reading of between 10.8 and 11.2 volts. That should be more than enough to run the machine. As I have said before and I will say it again, never tell a man what his machine will and won't do until you have swung it for a while.

Anyway, I am not trying to be snotty about it I just think there are a TON of variables that affect battery performance that no one has addressed or brought up in this thread. So I am now done with this thread. I have added all I think I can that is of benefit and have nothing left to say except:

Good luck, happy hunting and I love Minelab even though my machine is a messed up piece of excrement right now.

 

[Ocean7]

One other thing, and I learned this the hard way it seems. DO NOT DROP your detector. It seems to mess them up a little maybe.

yeah well you dropped your machine. it's a computer and not meant to be dropped.
That could be the difference in having this problem or not having it. who knows

 

[Iron Patch]

Iron Patch said:
" Then you and the others have defective units. A detector that has problems at half power? That makes sense to you? I don't think you're crazy but I'll bet you $1,000 an Explorer does not work that way when it's a 100%."


yeah agree IP - I think that's totally bogus. Had my EX II for 4 years now and it does not act this way at all at half power. If your battery pack is bad or charger is bad - then yes I can see this happening. It certainly doesn't happen using Energizer batteries. So maybe they had a batch of bad battery packs?

I have no idea. That's the obvious answer and I have had it happen myself. Think I read this problem is happening with alks. so it may be a bad board that is somehow creating a problem when at half power.

Funny I wrote Minelab recently simply requesting a quote for a housing change and they suggested a possible bad board, like right out of the blue. To me that suggests there may be a wider spread problem with their circuit boards than we realize. Pure speculation on my part but regardless of that it should run fine at 1/2 battery strength.

Well will you look at that? I think I suggested this earlier in the post and was dismissed out of hand. Anyone seen a circuit board inside on of these machines? Do you know how SMALL the SMDs on these are? Do you know how many SMDs a company spits out in a day? Do you know how many of those are QA checked? I have been saying all along that My unit is defective. Never argued any other way. My machine did the same with the 1800 MAH pack and with Energizers and it was slightly worse with Duracells for some reason. When I pulled the pack and checked voltage I got a reading of between 10.8 and 11.2 volts. That should be more than enough to run the machine. As I have said before and I will say it again, never tell a man what his machine will and won't do until you have swung it for a while.

Anyway, I am not trying to be snotty about it I just think there are a TON of variables that affect battery performance that no one has addressed or brought up in this thread. So I am now done with this thread. I have added all I think I can that is of benefit and have nothing left to say except:

Good luck, happy hunting and I love Minelab even though my machine is a messed up piece of excrement right now.

Not sure why you think every post is addressed to you.

....and "never tell a man what his machine will and won't do until you have swung it for a while."? Not sure what that means when this is all about detectors that are admittedly having issues.

 

[teverly]

The only person who admits my detector is having problems is you..and since you seem to know how every minelab ever made is supposed to act then i am done talking.
My machine has no other problems and works perfectly.16 hrs from a set of batteries is good enough for me.