Excalibur Battery charging

[smkunder]

Did a search but did not find much, just wondering how often one charges the battery, I typically hunt about 3 hours, on each hunt, should I charge after each hunt or go longer? With no way to check I am assuming that one should charge each time, but am I hurting the capacity of the battery?

 

[John(Tx)]

excal battery after about 8-10 hours of use, I do have a back up battery pack just in case it loses power but hasn't so far. When I get home I wash my machine, make sure it's dry and disconnect the battery power cable before putting machine in cabinet. HH

 

[GeorgeinSC]

I have been wondering the same thing about the NIMH Battery for my Sovereign GT. Since Minelab does not see fit to put an indicator on their machines that tells one the level of charge I usually just recharge after each use. I usually go out from 4 to 7 hours of detecting and even though I have the alkaline pack I still recharge.

 

[tvr]

Is it an older Excal? If it is older and has a NiCAD battery pack then it should be run most of the way down before charging.

If it is newer (Excal II) or has had the battery pack replaced with a NiMH battery pack, then charge it when ever you want.

The NiCAD batteries develop a "memory". If they are frequently charged when already mostly charged, then the overall capacity diminishes. The MiMH batteries don't develop a memory like that.

No matter what batteries, I'd recommend a peak sensing charger rather that the Minelab stock trickle charger. Something like this one does just fine: Excalibur charger

Cheers,
tvr

 

[foiled again tab hunter]

n/t

 

[John(Tx)]

I use that charger also, will charge my depleted batteries in about 2 hours......Perfect....HH

 

[smkunder]

Thanks all, great info!