NiMH battery pack

[hollywood13185]

Hey guys just wonderin how much more battery life I'd get out of a NiMH battery pack? Whats the difference in the 1500, 1600, and 1800 mAH? Do they just charge through the headphone jack? My Safari seems to like the juice. Would it be worth the $90 to get one?
Thanks,
Josh

 

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[Brett]

It should charge out of the detector just like the Explorers and E-Trac if I'm not mistaken... there is a little jack on the battery pack.

$90 is going to give you about 12.5% more run time with a 1800mAh pack vs. the 1600mAh pack. Not worth it in my opinion.

Take the $90 and buy some 2450mAh Energizer NiMH's and put them in the standard battery pack... You can get an 8 pack for $20 with free shipping!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002DUQCM/?tag=treasurenet01-20

Get yourself two sets of 8 AND a 15 minute battery charger for less than $90.

Here's the charger:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0000DIIAS/?tag=treasurenet01-20

Obviously it would take 30 minutes to charge all 8 batteries... or get the overnight charger and save $15:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BLI0DW/?tag=treasurenet01-20

I have some really old energizers just like shown here that I've used in my ACE250 and now my Explorer SE Pro and E-Trac, and they last all day easy. I always like to charge them up again though just in case I'm planning another all day hunt the next day. You never know!

HH!

 

[Brett]

All that said, if you are not getting enough run time out of Energizer ALKALINES... then you will be disappointed even with the Energizer NiMH's. You've just gotta be cool with charging every night.. it's not a bad routine.

 

[hollywood13185]

Thanks for the tip Brett. Ill probably get those. 15 minutes to charge is nothin, I can wait that long to detect, I think

 

[Brett]

No problem. I'll add that if you slow charge them overnight, they will have a little more capacity in them, vs. fast charging in 15 minutes (which will put about 70% or so in them)

 

[hollywood13185]

Ya Ill probly get the overnight charger and get the 15 minute charger for just backup when Im out, incase I need a quick jolt of juice. Thanks again Brett.

 

[Brett]

You're very welcome, just let us know what kind of run time you get. HH!

 

[steve from ohio]

Get the Duracell 2650 MAH NIMH rechargeable batteries.

Lasts about 8 hours on a full charge and recharges in 4 hours.

They can be found on E-bay for about a buck each and also at Best Buy ----4 for $10 when on sale.

So far I have been very happy with those batteries and so have a few friends.

 

[Brett]

Those sound good too Steve, although I would not generally recommend buying batteries off of eBay. You might get lucky though, and not get some second tier cells.

 

[Monty]

Been discussing that very subject for several days over on a pure Minelab forum. Seems the consensus is that Sanyo Eneloop batteries are the preferred ones. They are claimed to keep most of their charge over long period of time and last about 12 hours in a Minelab machine. I ordered 8 from Amazon and will give them a try. I had some e Energizers that wouldn't hold a charge when being stored and only lasted about 4 hours before they dropped dead suddenly. Just wanted to update you on a subject I have been studying as of late. Monty

 

[Brett]

I just bought 16 AA 2650mAh Duracell rechargeables today for a great price:
http://www.amazon.com/Duracell-Rech...t-Package/dp/B001F0RCFU/?tag=treasurenet01-20 ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1236391486&sr=8-6
$25 with free shipping!

 

[Ray in CA]

I bought 8 Radio Shack 2100mah & 2 chargers for $40. I'm really pleased with the battery life and it only takes half hour to charge. Sure beats having to buy AA batteries all the time.

Ray

 

[Monty]

The Enloop batts are all they say they are. Don't seem to loose much if any power if not being used like the Energizers I had. However the new Energizers are different than the ones I bought a year ago. Looks like they may have wised up? Let me know how they work for you. Monty

 

[LilloEsquilo]

Get the Duracell 2650 MAH NIMH rechargeable batteries.

Lasts about 8 hours on a full charge and recharges in 4 hours.

They can be found on E-bay for about a buck each and also at Best Buy ----4 for $10 when on sale.

So far I have been very happy with those batteries and so have a few friends.

Are you serious about only 8 hours on a full charge? The Minelab Nimh batteries get a lot more than that. It's hard to believe I would have thought they would have gotten MORE life.

Also it would be a pain in the rear to have to pull 8 AAs out of the alkaline holder and recharge them every night, then stick them back into the holder again, being sure to line them all up properly, to use them. I thought of getting AAs and doing that, until I realized it was more of a pain than it was worth, and that was even assuming I got more life out of them than the Minelab rechargables. If I get less time, it's a no-brainer for me.

 

[Brett]

Also it would be a pain in the rear to have to pull 8 AAs out of the alkaline holder and recharge them every night, then stick them back into the holder again, being sure to line them all up properly, to use them. I thought of getting AAs and doing that, until I realized it was more of a pain than it was worth, and that was even assuming I got more life out of them than the Minelab rechargables. If I get less time, it's a no-brainer for me.

Come on now. Taking the batteries out and putting them back in is NOT that difficult.

That said, I have thought of making a little charger holder / adapter for the AA battery pack. I would be really simple out of a couple pieces of wood and some springy battery contacts.

You should get more run time out of these higher capacity cells than the 1600mAh cells that are in the rechargeable pack. Someone can do a study some day I suppose.

 

[Yellow Hammer]

This is the battery set up I use in my SD2200v2. I would use nothing but this. This new Coiltek Battery system is taking detectorist by storm. This new system is less than 15 ounces making it the lightest Minelab SD/GP/GPX battery system on the market. The unit can mounted to the side of any Minelab metal detector with the use of the short power cord (sold separately). The SD/GP series unit has a three position regulator toggle switch that allows you to choose between two operating voltages (6.7 or 7.3 volts). You can now run your Minelab SD at a higher operating voltage that allows you to get better stability, better sensitivity to smaller gold and more depth. Since the GP series have a built in regulator, it's best to run this system at 6.7 volts, but running the 7.3 volts will not harm the metal detector. Check and see if they make this for your detector.

 

[Brett]

What is that, a lithium camcorder battery pack on there? Does it detach? Recharging times??

I don't think this is made for the Explorer, E-Trac or Safari but I could see some advantage there if it was lithium. An overnight charge pretty much gets an all day hunt for the E-Trac though with just NiMH batteries. Reducing the weight would be nice... It could be about half the weight of the NiMH pack with lithium I suppose... just a guess.

 

[W6PEA]

Good info.