lets talk batteries

What does a battery level do to the performance of a detector. To me it seems that the type or quantity of batteries also reflects on how the detector performs. 9 volt batteries seem to give a little better punch but falls off quicker. I am obsessed with my battery level. If it drops a couple of bars, i replace it.... What are your thoughts ?

Tom Obsessed in SC

Many of the machines now days supposedly ensure consistant power to the coil. Other factors is your settings and the amount of trash you are in. I can tell you a new over charged battery will make a machine chatter for about a week before the battery settles down. Depth however does seem to change on some machines using rechargables..... the DFX comes to mind. Half charge and i could tell i was loosing depth. Keeping the pick higher seems .... i say seems, to work so on my Xcals i changed out the 1000 mah batteries for the 1600s. Most anyone using AAs will tell you they have more confidence in the power using them than rechargables.

Dew

I would feel it may vary from unit to unit depending on their electrical setup...Always remember reading an article by a prominent detectorist and his last words were if enroute to a promising area put in a new set of batteries...Confidence surely may be gained by doing so but from I understand most units regulate the amount of power being used and may or may not be a help...

Hi Tom,,,,I know for a fact my metal detectors performance gets degraded/worse as the batteries are getting weaker....The first sign is the audio starts to get weaker and I will loose the ground surface chatter....Even though the machines battery indicator is displaying a lot of life left in the batteries..... Metal detectors have built in voltage regulators that regulate the voltage so it must be the drop in the amperage delivered to the circuitry that causes this performance issue....An alkaline 9 volt battery will quickly drop down to 8.4 to 8.8 volts in short order....A machine that runs on 4 AA batteries (6 volts) probably has a 5 volt regulator in it so the circuitry is designed to run on 5 volts (not all)....If your machine takes two battery packs then one of them might run the audio circuitry and the other one might run the transmit & receive circuitry....Another possibility is that they are combining the two battery packs that are now delivering 6 volts at a much higher amp hour rate,so in turn you get longer battery life or more detecting time ....As an interesting side note and enforcing my point is,,a Fisher 1236 takes two 9 volt batteries, but will run fine with just one installed.....By doing this we only dropped our battery amp hour rate available to the detector, so in turn the detector will not have as much running time as it would with two installed.....JJ

Love a machine that uses 9v batteries, Cz6a and the new to me Shadow x5 which uses 1 9V battery and get 25 hours ( really like 20 hrs) on one 9v how cool is that?, always use Duracell 9v and i don't use rechargeable battery's just don't trust them.

Energizer batteries are the best. The old company I worked for (over 200,000 employees worldwide) did extensive testing on this subject. Just thought I would throw this out there.

Why did they test them, and how did they test them?

Nice post JJ , over my head but since the 9 volt is just a series of AAAA batteries (9 volt battery hack) does it really matter 9-volt vs. AA or did I just answer my own ? SFSTM & HH



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/26/2015 04:51PM by rapidroy7.

Been using Ray-O Vacs for years. They are cheaper and I cannot tell the difference between them and the higher priced batteries. I hate to jinx myself but I have never had a bad one.
I use the 9v and the AA's. I buy the big packs at Ace Hardware.

Hi rapidroy7,,,,yeah it matters a great deal as far as amp hours is concerned, actually they rate them in milliamp hours....Six AA batteries equals 9 volts but is rated at a heck of a lot more amp hours... So 6 AA's would last many times longer than a 9 volt battery and would deliver a lot longer and greater voltage at a more consistent amp hour rate....I definitively prefer AA batteries, besides they are cheaper than 9 volt batteries in my neck of the woods....JJ

Hi Ozzie,,,,You are 101% correct I use them (the ray's) or True Value,Radio Shack batteries....So far one brand has not proven to be superior over the other for me....I go through batteries like I go through doors,because I hunt every day sometimes 10 hours a day....I have tried the copper tops and have had them swell up on me....I guess it comes down to personal preference and what you have faith in...JJ


Edit: I changed my cooper tops to copper tops..LoL..



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 01/25/2015 08:28PM by jimmyjiver.

Dew, guess I'm not most anyone because I can tell you that with my AT Pros there is zero difference between rechargeable and alkaline batteries and there s a significant cost saving with rechargeables.

Once they have been purchased, the electricity cost is only 3-4 cents per battery. Plus in AA size they can be used in so many other applications.

Today's LSD rechargeables are not the impractical rechargeables of the 20th century that many still base their impressions on.

Plus, if you are obsessed with keeping your charge level up like Tom is (and I am to a lesser degree), it costs practically nothing to replace them a little earlier than necessary.

I use HITECH 9V Lithium-Ion rechargeables in the Tenergy TN346 6-bay charger. Great for all my pinpointers and the CZ-21. Still use the POWEREX AA NiMH rechargeables in the CTX.

I have had very good luck with Rayovac's, use them about 99% of the time. I prefer using AA's over 9 volt batteries unless the detector only uses one 9 volt such as many of the Tesoro's. I for some reason never cared for the idea of a detector using 2 nine volt (or more) batteries.

Heres you a battery thats being going for 175 years...

The real Energizer!!

[www.youtube.com]

Keith

tmanly Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> What does a battery level do to the performance of
> a detector. To me it seems that the type or
> quantity of batteries also reflects on how the
> detector performs. 9 volt batteries seem to give a
> little better punch but falls off quicker. I am
> obsessed with my battery level. If it drops a
> couple of bars, i replace it.... What are your
> thoughts ?
>
> Tom Obsessed in SC


dear tom obsessed!
you must have deep pockets! ehe! he! he!
voltage regulator should "negate" having to do that!
i'm just sayin'

(h.h.!)
j.t.

If you've never tried Walgreens alkaline batteries you are missing the boat. Best non brand battery I've ever used. They last a long time and are cheap especially when on sale.