Batteries for battery backukp pack suggestion

[earthmansurfer]

Hey guys, I bought some regular batteries as a backup to my rechargeable pack. The problem with using rechargeables to backup your main rechargeable battery pack is that they lose their charge pretty quickly. That is why regular alkaline are so good - they can sit for years.

Well, enter the Sanyo Eneloop (and a few others). It's one of those new combo rechargeable batteries that will both hold 85% of the charge for over a year and then it very slowly goes down from there. You can buy 8 of them for around 20 bucks in the 2000 MaH range (with 1500 charging cycles, including partially), and for quite a bit more ($50) you can buy a 2500 MaH version (with 500 charging cycles, including partially). You can top it off every couple of months or so just to keep in near full. It's a great way to save the environment and money on batteries. They come pre-charged btw.

Curious - Anyone know how many MaH the AA rechargeables are that come with the V3 pack? I wonder how many hours we'd get with the 2000 MaH Sanyo's.

Good Hunting,
EMS

 

[Rob (IL)]

The Whites pack is 1800 Mah. I made a rechargeable pack with 2500 mah batteries but not for a backup but as the primary pack. The Eneloop would be a good choice for backup in a rechargeable BUT the alkaline would be the first choice. I've hunted some VERY long days and never needed to go to my backup( always charge before hunt) hence, no need to use rechargeable backups. Since I don't really need the backup, I'm not incurring alkaline cost.I do carry the backup in my pouch. ROB

oops, I don't use TX Boost.

 

[Rob (IL)]

Hey I do have a question. Where can I buy those carriers or cases to carry my extra batteries for my WHP? ROB

 

[Cedar-Acres]

I am also into RC airplanes. The batteries used in that hobby are Lithium-Polymer (LiPo). There are packs made to replace standard 8 cell NiCad and NiMh packs. The LiPo's are a bit more expensive and require special chargers, but they have an extremely long shelf life, on the order of years. They also have very high charge density, so will run the detector for a long time. Not sure how long yet, need to see what it comes with and how large a LiPo will fit in it. When I get my V3i I will be looking into fitting it with one of those LiPo packs.

 

[earthmansurfer]

So Rob, if the standard pack is 1600 MaH and we get around 8 hours or so of use, a 2500 MaH pack will ge us close to 12 or so. Is that what you find?

 

[Rob (IL)]

Do they come in AA size? All is cool but after about 8 hours of use from a regular pack, longer seems a waste. Really you can only hunt so long. Any trouble with the LiPo packs with shipping or carrying on a plane?

Earthmansurfer, it runs longer but I never checked how long. I built a 9 cell pack for the heck of it. Again no need for it, just wanted to do it. It charges to about 12.4V and had 2500Mah cells. Again the standard packs are more than adequate, REALLY.ROB

 

[Cedar-Acres]

The LiPo's have a nominal cell voltage of 3.7V and are not directly interchangeable with other chemistry's. I was planning on using a 3 cell pack with a nominal voltage of 11.1v. They come in many physical sizes and shapes. I would find the largest one that would fit the spare case and wire it into the case. The charge capacity depends on the size, so larger is longer. The discharge curve is very flat and falls off at the end, it's not a good idea to discharge them too deeply to prevent damage to them so having more capacity than necessary is a good thing. Larger capacity also translates into longer usable life as they degrade over use/time. They also have to be charged differently from NiCd/NiMh. The first part of the cycle is constant current like NiCd/NiMh, but once they reach the voltage threshold the charger switches to constant voltage until the charge current falls off. If not charged this way they will overheat and burn violently - such is the nature of Lithium. Because of this they are considered a hazardous material for shipping.

My goal in using LiPo is to take advantage of the long shelf life for the spare pack, but from what is being said it looks like that won't be an issue. Just use the stock NiMh pack with Alkaline for back up and I should be fine. Thanks to all for saving me some battery money before I even have my detector ordered!

 

[earthmansurfer]

You know Rob, you are right. I don't need more than the 8 or so hours my rechargeable's last. My back is really sore from swinging and digging yesterday for 6 hours. For me, a good hunt is 3 or 4 hours. I ordered 2 X 8 pack of Duracell Plus batteries for 14 Euro. One pack I'll carry around as an emergency backup, just in case. 7 Euro for a backup pack of batteries is great and the good till date is 2015. I'm set.

 

[cadman_us]

I bought some digimax NI-MH 2850 mAh batteries, they seem to be a little longer than the standard AA, they are hard to put in the battery pack. I haven't run them long enought to see how long they will last.

Joe

 

[nw1886]

I purchased a set of high quality AA's 2700 mAh with a equally quality charger. Glad I did but just don't use the setup because I have never ran through the power from my rechargeables and just use a small/2 battery rechargeable AA charger for my headphones. (The big set gets used with all my other electronics and appreciate it there though.)

 

[Rob (IL)]

We only use Li-Ion batteries in the TDI models because the circuitry requires them. On the next TD design, we will probably revert back to NiMH. Li-Ion has been a huge problem due to shipping regulations.

- [size=large]Carl[/size]

 

[Rob (IL)]

Looks like will have an optional pack 2200 Mah for $70 very soon.

 

[Rob (IL)]

The White's NiMH packs are built with "industrial" rated batteries instead of consumer types. According to our battery rep, consumer batteries tend to have rather "optimistic" mA-hr ratings, while the industrial batteries are more realistic. Our new NiMH pack will use 2200mAhr batteries which are the highest capacity I could get in AA industrial, even though there are consumer versions that claim up to 3000mAhr. Carl

 

[earthmansurfer]

That is great news Rob and something to consider. It will fix that "Oops I forgot to recharge my battery pack" and help to do back to back hunts on one charge. (Happened to me yesterday, so I waited 1 hour to charge some and then it started to rain. )

 

[Rob (IL)]

All you had to do was put in the alkaline pack. Rob

 

[earthmansurfer]

All you had to do was put in the alkaline pack. Rob

Rob, I can operate a V3i fairly well. That automatically qualifies me to know to put in an alkaline pack! Or does it? My first set was too low in V to work and the new set will be here Monday. EMS

 

[Rob (IL)]

Sorry, I didn't know you had to order the alkaline batteries. I keep spares. Rob