Need Minelab CTX 3030 Li Ion Battery pack

[Tesorodeoro]

This platform has been out for quite a while now. And the battery issue has also been public also. But anyone can stick 7.2 volts to the back of their CTX and see what happens. I don't have a CTX personally. But I'm rather sure if it was that simple, surely it would have been done by now. BTW, eventually $150 will be small change.

I’m familiar with land surveying instruments. Surveyors can be the cheapest bunch of professionals that will practically do anything to keep from having to spend another $30k- $40k for replacement when that battery is the only problem. Same goes for $5k data collectors.

We just need a land surveyor with an old 3030!

Trimble likes to discontinue the internal batteries that are in reality common cells that just have a special Trimble part number stamped on them.

That community is pretty close and they all share their fixes.

 

[JosephElectronTek]

I’m familiar with land surveying instruments. Surveyors can be the cheapest bunch of professionals that will practically do anything to keep from having to spend another $30k- $40k for replacement when that battery is the only problem. Same goes for $5k data collectors.

We just need a land surveyor with an old 3030!

Trimble likes to discontinue the internal batteries that are in reality common cells that just have a special Trimble part number stamped on them.

That community is pretty close and they all share their fixes.

I'm still trying to get a hold of that alkaline pack for the CTX. I have a suspicion that it won't have a restrictive BMS pcb inside to get in the way of hacking some li-ion cells into the case or some retrofit or something to bypass the Minelab charger.

 

[JosephElectronTek]

If the CTX has a cmos type battery inside the mainboard, something like a CR2032, to maintain a low power standby, then the CTX might expect some data from any power source whether from a li-ion pack or the alkaline battery pack.

 

[JosephElectronTek]

OK folks, to all those of interest in truly hacking the CTX platform for a generic li-ion pack, of whatever battery capacity beyond what is already available, here is my finding, I don't know if this is legal or whatever, I don't know if I/we won't get in legal trouble, but here is a good possibility and best chance to succeed. I would need a group of start up investors interested in this: https://www.batteryspace.com/Smart-...-SmBus-V1.1-support-for-14.8V-6.4Ah/10Ah.aspx

 

[JosephElectronTek]

If not enough interest in the complex reverse engineering effort as the market may be to small for this to pay for itself, a simpler system can be that an external pack with a few led lights on the pack itself to indicate charge level. Would be uglier than the elegance of communicating the battery's condition directly to the CTX screen. But cheaper.

 

[JosephElectronTek]

Last post on this matter. Found out that the CTX AND it's battery platform is fully protected, requires expensive software just to access the status with a computer. (Texas Instruments programming suite WITH keys) Requires software keys. I'm out.......

 

[JosephElectronTek]

I’m familiar with land surveying instruments. Surveyors can be the cheapest bunch of professionals that will practically do anything to keep from having to spend another $30k- $40k for replacement when that battery is the only problem. Same goes for $5k data collectors.

We just need a land surveyor with an old 3030!

Trimble likes to discontinue the internal batteries that are in reality common cells that just have a special Trimble part number stamped on them.

That community is pretty close and they all share their fixes.

For your info I learned the dirty secret today that I'm sure more than a few modern high end battery powered equipment share in common: encrypted data communication protocols used in smart BMS systems, requiring licenses but not available to the public. Even the aging bq20Z75-V160 series has not been successfully hacked. It's only gotten much harder to hack newer chips. Gone are the days........

 

[JosephElectronTek]

SandscoopDan's old battery photos

 

[Tesorodeoro]

SandscoopDan's old battery photos

There is A Lot more going on there than just charge controlling.

 

[JosephElectronTek]

There is A Lot more going on there than just charge controlling.

You got that right!

 

[Sandscoopdan]

I'm still trying to get a hold of that alkaline pack for the CTX. I have a suspicion that it won't have a restrictive BMS pcb inside to get in the way of hacking some li-ion cells into the case or some retrofit or something to bypass the Minelab charger.

I’m gonna bring you one after work today. OK I need. I’m still trying to figure out what type AA Li Ion batteries I need that I can buy to put into those alkaline battery packs and I’ll buy a rapid charger that somewhere so that’s a little rapid charger. Oh yeah, it was in that book but shit shoot just not sure what
Kind of batteries to buy of the AA lithium ion type for the alkaline battery pack. I’ll bring that over to you and then today and I’m gonna show you my set up too man cause as I get ready for to launch this big ass website and social media thing so I got a lot of stuff ready for it. I’m still taking a class. I haven’t used WordPress in a long time but it changed a lot but it’s gonna be a fun project man. I’ll show you what I’m working on later this afternoon.