Battery caution.

[silversmith]

Many will think this is overkill, but it happened to me the other day. I got in a Geiger counter with a brand spanking new, still in shrink wrapper, battery. I opened it up and tried out the counter. It worked Ok but after a while I just couldn't help but think "You'd think this thing would be louder.....!" Opening it back up I tested the *NEW* battery with my Fluke DMM. Would you believe 8.1 volt with no load. That battery had to be old,old stock. A new Coppertop made the counter start chirping like canary! This even more so applies to your metal detector where many of us go far afield on detecting trips. Yes, probably rare, but if you're like me, these rare things seem to bite me on the behind on a regular basis. I got a large pack of 1.5 volt batteries from Costco (their in house jobbies) that were weak in the box. Sure their guaranty is bitchin, but when you're a long off, you really don't want to wind up on a wasted trip. Radio Shack and others usually have small, cheap Digital Voltmeters. A small investment, that could save you a lot of time.

My old Big Bud takes 2, 9 volters so I just scotch over the contacts and throw a couple in my detector bag for spares. The Lobo takes takes 8 AA's, they are hard to short, so I just COUNT out 8, and put 'em in a "Zip Lock" and toss 'em in the detector bag. Now years ago I had a Judge 2. It used 12, AA batts and I remember getting up at Bass Lake one time, needing spares but finding only 11 in the bag. Who knows where the number 12 battery went being loose in the bag.

Thanks for reading, I put this on here hoping some one will benefit and be "sharp sticked" enough to post their experiences benefiting me and others.

 

[Nauti]

That's happened to me too.To keep your tector working at peak performance you need good batteries.Not overkill....just good common sense.

 

[sqwaby]

Switched out a 9v from my Vaquero one day, not thinking I put the old one in my pocket which had some change in it. All the sudden my leg is hot, very hot. Reached in my pocket and could not even hold the battery it was so hot, it shorted out with the change I was carrying. Won't make that mistake twice.

 

[ThTx]

I keep an extra set of batteries (for each detector) in the truck and an extra set in each of the detector cases (that's 2 spare sets for each detector). Although I usually check my batteries before I go, I have had a few buddies who appreciated my battery store. I haven't run out of batteries yet. Knock on wood!!

A

 

[BarberBill]

Had my Tesoro SSumax go beserk after a few minutes one day, changed the battery, it worked for a few more minutes then went beserk again. I was figuring a trip to the factory, but when I tested the (new/unused) replacement it turned out to be a goner just like the first. The third battery took care of the problem and the machine had been fine since.
BB