battery charge time for excaliber II ? help please

[mschoondy]

Hi there I just got a brand new Excaliber II and although I very happy with what I see so far and how the detector detects coins etc its simply awesome
However after charging it for 16 to 17 hrs as indicated in the manual book that minelab gave me .............................it does not tell me when I can and how long I should charge these batteries for (when i think there empty ) and as every body has pointed out theres no light to tell us when the battery has been full charged ?
So my question is can we charge these batteries when there half empty and then top them up (like my mobile phone )or do we have to drain them first and then charge them ?
And when we do charge them up how long would it take to fully charge a empty battery ? eg 12 hrs + or are these rapid charge ?
Any information to these questions would be much appreciated
Cheers Marty

 

[slinger]

the battery has no memory you can charge whenever you want what i do is keep the battery full then i will charge after the hunt so if i hunt 8 hours ill charge it 8 hours just make sure that the battery does not get hot

 

[erikk]

Best thing to do is throw that charger in the trash and get a good one. Here is one of the ones I use along with a Sun-Ray SR-12 but I am sure there are others just as good

 

[jbow]

IIRC, the Minelab charger will begin to discharge the battery once it reaches a maximum charge. Some chargers don't do this and I may be wrong, i'm sure someone will clear it up.
What you need is a slow charger that will go to a trickle charge once the battery is fully charged. I think some were recommending the Accucel-6 http://www.hobbycity.com/hobbycity/store/uh_viewItem.asp?idProduct=7028 I think it has the capability to do it but you may have to make a holder out of a piece of wood and maybe the battery ends from a couple of cheap flashlights.

Critterhunter and Kered know more

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?21,1178409,1178409#msg-1178409


J

 

[Critterhunter]

The Minelab charger doesn't discharge the battery when it hits full charge. Well, it will a little but then it will stop. Nothing you would notice. What happens is when a nimh or nicad reaches it's peak full charge the voltage will start to drop slightly. That's how a good charger detects when the charge is complete. If it keeps trickle charging the battery it will drop say a volt or so and stay there, not drain it all the way dead, but it's never a good thing to overcharge a battery anyway.

Read the thread he linked to above. We've covered everything you'll ever want to know. After you read all that you can work for Energizer.

 

[mschoondy]

Thanks everyone for all the helpful information posted here its much appreciated at least I now know how long I should charge my detector for
Cheers Marty

 

[Gayle Houtx]

Go to Harbor Freight and get a cheap volt meter. The fully charged battery will put out 14 volts. My new battery will recharge in about 3 hours. The origional battery got burned up by charging overnite too often.........Just another learning curve. HH Gayle

 

[Critterhunter]

If you splice into the wire on your Minelab charger and hitch a volt meter up to the two leads you can watch the charge. Note the voltage and come back in an hour. Has it gone up? Then it's still charging and write that new number down. Check in another hour. Is it now lower or staying the same (not rising anymore)? Then that means the battery is fully charged.