Excal Battery Pod Rebuild with NIMH Batteries

[VaBeachRon]

These are the photos of my Excal battery pod rebuild.

This is the empty alkaline pod. It is the same as the factory sealed nicad pod.
[attachment 33210 emptypod.jpg]

This is the original nicad pod and what it looks like after the blue plastic is removed and the clip and thermal breaker have been removed for reinstallation.
[attachment 33214 pods.jpg]

After taking off the blue plastic, this is the nicad battery pack showing the battery clip and the thermal circuit breaker that opens the charge if the batteries overheat so they don't explode
[attachment 33211 excalbattery.jpg]

This is the new NIMH battery pod installed. You can see the battery clip & thermal breaker.
[attachment 33212 newnimhpod.jpg]

As you can see, the new NIMH pack charges up to 13.46 volts. The old nicads were 12v @ 700mha. The new NIMH batteries are 12v @ 1000mha. Lots of more hunt time.
[attachment 33213 nimhvolts.jpg]

The new NIMH pod gets charged with the Battery Tender Jr. Won't overcharge at all. LED goes from Red-Orange-Yellow to full charge at Green. You can leave it hooked up for days with no overcharge or damage and NIMH's have no memory. Batteries Plus will make you a new pack using your old parts for $37.95 plus tax.
[attachment 33215 tenderjr.jpg]

 

[bdahunter]

Thanks for showing the rest of us the way to improve on a good thing.

Cheers Mate,

BDA

 

[Tony]

Ron,

Thanks for the great post.

Are you using the original Minelab recharge adapter plug on the end of the new recharger in order to charge the new NiMh pack ?

Thanks again,
Tony.

 

[protech]

Can I just contact them through their website? Or are you getting this done locally? I have a new pod I have only charged maybe twice and the damn battery will no longer charge. Unless it is my charger. That charger you use where do you get that one? Right now so I am not down, I use standard batteries in my older pod. Prob get maybe 10hrs out of a set of batteries. Any info, thanks in advance.

John

 

[VaBeachRon]

they have to spot-weld the battery cells together. The charger is a Battery Tender Jr, sold at most, if not all, harley Davidson stores. Also, the local Va Beach Batteries Plus store sells them. GREAT charger for all of your 12v batteries. I own 4 of them. Also, if they build you one tell them to NOT white plastic shrink wrap the pack as it makes it too tight & it won't slide into the pod. Just have them glue the cells together as is.

 

[VaBeachRon]

n/t

 

[VaBeachRon]

n/t

 

[protech]

Well back to repairing the excal. As you can see mine is quite a bit older. Shaft started cracking and finally broke. I cut the end off, redrilled the hole & I use the steel spring clips instead of the cheap plastic ones. Anyone have any ideas to stop the the coroded contact problem? I have tried anti-corosion grease, doesn't really work, or I don't use it often enough. Hey Ron, any good aftermarket parts suppliers for excal? I am still using excal old fashioned way, no straight shaft. Thinking about getting a straight shaft to balance it out. As it is my upper arm shaft is quite wore out and is real loose. So I am looking for another option, otherwise I am just going to buy the another upper shaft. As far as the battery pack goes, you just take your batt pack to batteries plus to have them do the work? I can't mail it to your local store?
Thanks again

john

oh yeah, good luck out there!!

 

[brobox]

From what I can see in the ads the Battery Tender comes with clips or bolt on connectors. How are you adapting it for plug in use for the Excal.

Thanks for all of your contribution!

Chuck in Cape Coral

 

[Jim Pa]

Through the years I have gotten my White's XLT rechargeable battery renewed twice at batteries plus.It takes 8 double A batteries.My last rebuild was a couple of months ago.I dropped it off and picked it up.Total cost:$20+tax====White's charge for a new one:$49

 

[VaBeachRon]

This is what the Battery Tender Junior looks like with the big alligator clips.
[attachment 33313 batterytenderjunior.jpg]

I have around 8 old AC transformers that have the same type plug that is used on the Excal charger cable. I cut off one of the cables and soldered a big set of metal connectors to the cables and marked one as the positive lead. I use the regular Excal charger plug connector, my home made wire plug and just clip it to the pod.
[attachment 33314 chargerhookup.jpg]

 

[bigun]

Hi vabeach ron mate i like your battery job but what gets me is why go to all that trouble for only 1000mah batts when 4600mah bats are available muuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuch longer run times .terry in oz

 

[VaBeachRon]

n/t