How long should my Excal Battery Last before Replacement?

[LawrencetheMDer]

Ok, I've had my Excalibur II for over 3 yrs now and wondering how many yrs should I get out of it? Would appreciate hearing from the Old Timers whom have gone through a few Excal batteries.

 

[WaterWalker]

Years? hard to pick how long as many factors come into play such as frequency of use, recharge and storage.
I have replaced original Minelab battery packs after 3 to 8 years and a SunRay battery pack after 18 years of use - the SunRay is my PRIMARY battery.
The Minelab pack have been my reserve batter since my first Exclaibur in 1993. That being said: My point at which I replace a battery pack is when the
the detecting time on the batter falls by 1/3 of the original run time. I.e. a new pack, fully charged originally last for 15 hours...and after hundreds of
charges run time falls to 10 hours (2/3rds of 15 - a drop of 1/3 of the run time) I buy a Non-Minelab replacement battery pack. There are battery stores
and one on-line dealer that will sell you a replacement battery pack for far less than Minelab's complete battery with housing pod and last just as well.
I did run into one problem with one Non-Minelab replacement: the pack's shrink tubing was too thick and I had to remove some of it so the pack fit
into the Minelab's pod. This was due to the inside taper of the pod, a necessary feature due to molding process in manufacturing and or the tolerance
of the individual cells used to make up the battery pack of 10 cells. Any questions? Just ask...Good luck detecting and always have a spare battery.

 

[rons1947]

I bought my Excal. 2 in March of 2009,and finally had to replace it in 2015.I used the Excal. about 2 times a week.

 

[rons1947]

I mean, that I replaced the battery after 6 years.

 

[Treasure_Hunter]

How long it lasts depends directly on how well you take care of it. If you leave it on charger longer than about 16 hours you have the possibility damaging the battery, leaks into the battery pod will damage the battery too....

If taken care of it should last at least 6 years or longer..

 

[LawrencetheMDer]

Great news. I bought a battery pack w charger and turn-off feature/trickle charge 2 yrs ago (expecting original to fail after 1-2 yrs) but hate (after 3+ yrs) to replace a perfectly good battery. Based on discussion, I've decided to buy a pod and construct a back-up. I'll never be stuck alone with a dead detector on the beach again!

 

[dewcon4414]

Never had one just die. Normally you notice the amount of hours you get out there decreasing. Also, the blues had a 700 mah and the Xcal II is 1000 mah. The ones WW talked about is 1600 mah....... get the SMART charger for about $20. They come with a light, charge in about any hour, and shut off when charged.