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Minelab Sovereign GT Battery Questions
- Thread starter brimster
- Start date
Factory rechargeable packs have 10 cells to get the 12 volts needed for the Sovereign, the alkaline pack has only 8 batteries in it to get the 12 volts needed. Alkaline are 1.5 volts each while rechargeable are only 1.2 volts each is why I will not use them. Some say it will work as they use them in their Sovereigns, but I only use what was it was designed for on my Sovereign as if Minelab thought it would work with only 9.6 volts don't you think they would have used 8 rechargeable instead of the 10 it uses? It would take some weight off too with less batteries.
The battery pack on the alkaline slide open and this is also true with the rechargeable, but there is glue or silicon holding it together so it will have to be worked a bit to get it apart. The batteries they use are not the AA batteries as these are shorter and fatter that they use. There is also a circuit board built into the rechargeable pack too and all the batteries are soldered together.
Rick
The battery pack on the alkaline slide open and this is also true with the rechargeable, but there is glue or silicon holding it together so it will have to be worked a bit to get it apart. The batteries they use are not the AA batteries as these are shorter and fatter that they use. There is also a circuit board built into the rechargeable pack too and all the batteries are soldered together.
Rick
Since were talking batteries, minelab says use 1.5 volt alkaline batteries..... Lithium ion batteries are 1.5 volt and last much longer.... However they have an initial spike of 1.7 v when activated.....I cant find any info about alkaline startup voltage, so am guessing they dont do this...
Can this voltage spike harm our detectors???/
I think till I have more info, I will play it safe and just use regular alkaline batteries as a backup source..... The minelab recharge pack lasts a long time...
Can this voltage spike harm our detectors???/
I think till I have more info, I will play it safe and just use regular alkaline batteries as a backup source..... The minelab recharge pack lasts a long time...
Critterhunter
New member
You'll be PERFECTLY FINE using 8 rechargeable nimhs in the regular battery holder so long as you get 2500ma or higher capacity and they haven't sat on the shelf for weeks. Give them a quick top off charge a day or so before hunting and you're good to go. I wouldn't rebuild the rechargeable pack. The charger for that thing is primative anyway. Buy yourself some good 2500ma or higher AAs and a charger for them and you're all set.
The reason why Minelab put 10 cells in the rechargeable pack is because those are primative 1000ma Sub A or C cells. Meaning, they don't have much capacity and so will soon drop in voltage below the voltage cutoff for the voltage regulator inside the Sovereign. So to compensate for the low capacity of those cells they put 10 in there to keep the voltage higher as they drain. Modern Nimhs will actually charge to a higher voltage than 1.2v per cell. 1.2 volt is the industry standard that they are judged by. In other words, an averaged voltage per cell count during the drain cycle.
If Minelab wouldn't have used twenty year old technology in terms of heavy Sub A or C low capacity cells they would probably have only put 8 in there instead of 10. Why they would use such a heavy outdated low capacity cell is beyond me. Probably found a stock pile of them in a warehouse somewhere that have been sitting around for years and got them dirt cheap.
What people fail to understand is that the Sovereign (and just about every other detector on the planet these days) uses a voltage regulator to stabilize the circuit board voltage. It's probably a 9v regulator in there. What that means is that it doesn't matter how high the input voltage is to the regulator. It's still only going to output 9V to the circuit board....PERIOD....End of story. What that also means is that using better batteries won't do a darn thing for the detector's performance. So long as the input voltage is above the cutoff off point for the regulator all is well.
I've used those Energizer Lithium non-rechargeable batteries in my GT. They are VERY light. They are more expensive than regular batteries but you'll get about 2 to 3 times longer run times out of them.
I myself am running a 3 cell lipo battery in my GT to really save weight. I installed a plug inside the regular battery holder to plug into it and the lipo will sit inside the holder, yet I can still use regular AAs in the holder if I want. I just move the little plug out of the way into the circuit board area of the holder if I want to go back to AAs.
The reason why Minelab put 10 cells in the rechargeable pack is because those are primative 1000ma Sub A or C cells. Meaning, they don't have much capacity and so will soon drop in voltage below the voltage cutoff for the voltage regulator inside the Sovereign. So to compensate for the low capacity of those cells they put 10 in there to keep the voltage higher as they drain. Modern Nimhs will actually charge to a higher voltage than 1.2v per cell. 1.2 volt is the industry standard that they are judged by. In other words, an averaged voltage per cell count during the drain cycle.
If Minelab wouldn't have used twenty year old technology in terms of heavy Sub A or C low capacity cells they would probably have only put 8 in there instead of 10. Why they would use such a heavy outdated low capacity cell is beyond me. Probably found a stock pile of them in a warehouse somewhere that have been sitting around for years and got them dirt cheap.
What people fail to understand is that the Sovereign (and just about every other detector on the planet these days) uses a voltage regulator to stabilize the circuit board voltage. It's probably a 9v regulator in there. What that means is that it doesn't matter how high the input voltage is to the regulator. It's still only going to output 9V to the circuit board....PERIOD....End of story. What that also means is that using better batteries won't do a darn thing for the detector's performance. So long as the input voltage is above the cutoff off point for the regulator all is well.
I've used those Energizer Lithium non-rechargeable batteries in my GT. They are VERY light. They are more expensive than regular batteries but you'll get about 2 to 3 times longer run times out of them.
I myself am running a 3 cell lipo battery in my GT to really save weight. I installed a plug inside the regular battery holder to plug into it and the lipo will sit inside the holder, yet I can still use regular AAs in the holder if I want. I just move the little plug out of the way into the circuit board area of the holder if I want to go back to AAs.
Critterhunter said:
lipo batteries are only about 3.6v each x3 = 10.8v, do you get much hunt time out of that? i bought a second hand excalibur who's batteries are pretty useless and as i haven't really bothered taking it into the water so much yet, i have been using it with a small 12v motorbike lead acid battery, chest mounted with the excal control tube. it's a 4Ahr battery and gives me many, many hours between charges.
i have been looking into building my own lithium battery for it and have just found a reasonably cheap option on ebay.. a 12v 4cell LiFePo4 battery 4Ahr battery made by ballistic performance components, lifepo4 cells are only 3-3.2v each so its much more within the voltage range that I'm comfortable putting in my excal, because 4x lipo cells = 14.8v and that may cause damage.
the battery i have just ordered is about half the size of the lead acid that i am using at the moment and much lighter. i just need to build a small waterproof case for it when i get it and I'll be all set for the water.
cheers
Critterhunter
New member
Lipos are 4.2V per cell when fully charged and should only be drained no lower than 3V per cell. Luckily the GT's low battery alarm will kick in well before that. From memory I think it kicks in at 10.2 or 10.5V. A fully charged 3 cell series lipo pack is 12.6V. One of the advantages of lipos is that they hold their voltage high over the entire discharge. What that means is even if it's a lower capacity pack it will have longer run times than a nimh or nicad with a higher capacity (to a certain extent) because the voltage falls quicker on the nimh/nicad. I am running a 750ma 3 cell series lipo in my GT but Kered I believe is running a 1450ma lipo in his. You just have to measure your battery holder to see if the pack will fit. They list the pack sizes on Hobby King/City's site.
For the cheapest prices on lipos, LifePo, or lithium cells check out Hobby City or Hobby King (they changed their name to one or the other (forget which) a while back). They also sell a lot of chargers for a heck of a good price. Check out the Accucel 6. It will charge a bunch of battery types and is a favorite among the RC crowd. Hobby City (or King?) is very popular among the RC electric plane crowd for batteries and chargers because you just can't beat their prices. They also sell nimhs and several other cell types. Even orders shipped from overseas get here in about a week from my experience, though they now have a US warehouse.
For the cheapest prices on lipos, LifePo, or lithium cells check out Hobby City or Hobby King (they changed their name to one or the other (forget which) a while back). They also sell a lot of chargers for a heck of a good price. Check out the Accucel 6. It will charge a bunch of battery types and is a favorite among the RC crowd. Hobby City (or King?) is very popular among the RC electric plane crowd for batteries and chargers because you just can't beat their prices. They also sell nimhs and several other cell types. Even orders shipped from overseas get here in about a week from my experience, though they now have a US warehouse.
Critterhunter
New member
Do a search for "lipo" or Kered in the mods forum because he posted pics and info on doing his. He ran it in a GT as well as an older Sovereign. There is also info in this forum (the Sovereign forum) from both of us on it. Search for "lipo", accucel 6, etc.
Hey all,
Well, I'm using some 3-cell, 1350 mAh LiPo's, and I have to say, I'm impressed. I have over 13 hours of hunting in this week, and just checked the voltage on the battery I have been using all week; it shows 11.5 volts. I was going to use this one battery until I got the low battery alarm and then test the voltage, but I'm not used to going this long without having to charge or change them. I will still probably run them down to the alarm at least once to see how long that takes though.
I made an alligator clip tail for the processor side of the battery clip, and use a battery connector on the battery end, and just rubber band the battery in the battery pack slot for now because I wasn't sure I wanted to go with LiPo's. But now.... well, I'm likely to put two of these in parallel in order to maintain the same voltage and double the mAh's - that will give me 2700 mAh's - so I can hunt in the woods all weekend without need of recharging. By holding the battery inside the box where the battery pack goes, I have plenty of room to have two of these in parallel.
Even in parallel, I can take off the connecting wires and charge each 3-cell pack by itself, so as not to take any chances on the cells not being balanced as they charge. I'm not worried about dirt in the machine because I don't use this at the beach right now, and I made a stand for the GT so the box is up off the ground if I do set it down. But even at that, it won't take too much to devise a protective outer for the batteries. I can only fit one 3-cell pack into the original Minelab AA box, but 2 will fit inside the cut out area where the original battery pack goes.
I will have to get a pigtail to put the two packs in parallel with each other, then I will take some photos and get them posted.
Well, I'm using some 3-cell, 1350 mAh LiPo's, and I have to say, I'm impressed. I have over 13 hours of hunting in this week, and just checked the voltage on the battery I have been using all week; it shows 11.5 volts. I was going to use this one battery until I got the low battery alarm and then test the voltage, but I'm not used to going this long without having to charge or change them. I will still probably run them down to the alarm at least once to see how long that takes though.
I made an alligator clip tail for the processor side of the battery clip, and use a battery connector on the battery end, and just rubber band the battery in the battery pack slot for now because I wasn't sure I wanted to go with LiPo's. But now.... well, I'm likely to put two of these in parallel in order to maintain the same voltage and double the mAh's - that will give me 2700 mAh's - so I can hunt in the woods all weekend without need of recharging. By holding the battery inside the box where the battery pack goes, I have plenty of room to have two of these in parallel.
Even in parallel, I can take off the connecting wires and charge each 3-cell pack by itself, so as not to take any chances on the cells not being balanced as they charge. I'm not worried about dirt in the machine because I don't use this at the beach right now, and I made a stand for the GT so the box is up off the ground if I do set it down. But even at that, it won't take too much to devise a protective outer for the batteries. I can only fit one 3-cell pack into the original Minelab AA box, but 2 will fit inside the cut out area where the original battery pack goes.
I will have to get a pigtail to put the two packs in parallel with each other, then I will take some photos and get them posted.
Critterhunter
New member
Great job! Even with one 1450ma pack you are using I bet you'll get at least about 30 to 40 hours of run time out of it. The stock pack is 1000ma but lipos hold their voltage high to the end so they'll give longer run times than a higher capacity nimh or nicad pack. Since I think the stock pack is raited at I think 20 hours, I'd say at least 30 to 40 for a 1450ma 3 cell lipo. I wouldn't mess with running two in parallel. Just keep your second pack in your pocket or something in case you need to switch. Just make sure there are no keys or anything metal in that pocket. Shorting a lipo for even a split few seconds can make it go nuclear.
The weight savings of running a lipo is roughly half the weight or more of 8AAs, and a lot lighter than the rechargeable pack that's for sure.
What charger are you using? Most lipo chargers these days have a balance port that the Molex (white plug) on the pack plugs into so each cell can be charged and monitored in perfect balance. This is a MUST HAVE because the old chargers without a balance port often caused fires by over charging a cell.
The LVC (low voltage cutoff) battery alarm on the Sovereign is I think either 10.2 or 10.5V, so you shouldn't have any worries about draining the pack below the 3V per cell (9V total for a 3 cell series pack) that could ruin the pack.
Another great thing about lipos is they don't self drain sitting on the shelf, so a few months from now the pack is still ready to go, where as nimhs or nicads will often need a new fresh charge before using. That's probably also why Minelab used 10 cells in the rechargeable pack, as they wanted the pack to still have high enough voltage to work even if it's sat for weeks or months at a time. That's why 8AA nimhs should work fine in the regular holder so long as they are topped off within a few days of intended use. That and the fact that Minelab uses lowly 1000ma cells in the thing, so they needed the two extra batteries to keep the voltage from sagging too fast with that low of a run time capacity.
The weight savings of running a lipo is roughly half the weight or more of 8AAs, and a lot lighter than the rechargeable pack that's for sure.
What charger are you using? Most lipo chargers these days have a balance port that the Molex (white plug) on the pack plugs into so each cell can be charged and monitored in perfect balance. This is a MUST HAVE because the old chargers without a balance port often caused fires by over charging a cell.
The LVC (low voltage cutoff) battery alarm on the Sovereign is I think either 10.2 or 10.5V, so you shouldn't have any worries about draining the pack below the 3V per cell (9V total for a 3 cell series pack) that could ruin the pack.
Another great thing about lipos is they don't self drain sitting on the shelf, so a few months from now the pack is still ready to go, where as nimhs or nicads will often need a new fresh charge before using. That's probably also why Minelab used 10 cells in the rechargeable pack, as they wanted the pack to still have high enough voltage to work even if it's sat for weeks or months at a time. That's why 8AA nimhs should work fine in the regular holder so long as they are topped off within a few days of intended use. That and the fact that Minelab uses lowly 1000ma cells in the thing, so they needed the two extra batteries to keep the voltage from sagging too fast with that low of a run time capacity.
Critterhunter
New member
Meant to say that the reason I wouldn't run them in parallel is that then when one pack hits the LVC battery alarm you'll know that you're half way through your two packs. Kind'a like a gas gauge to judge how much more hunt time you have. Don't keep the extra pack in a hot car. If you do bring it along either keep it in a pocket or throw it in the shade nearby. Lipos can bloat if they exposed to really high tempertures. My friend I build and fly electric RC planes with kept a box full of about 10 lipos in his car on a hot day and every one of them plumped up like a balloon from that.
Critterhunter
New member
akille68 said:
Here's a pic...Notice the pack of smokes for scale. These are 500ma packs, but I've since used a 750ma Rhino lipo 3 cell that is only slightly larger than these 500ma packs and still gives longer run times than the stock 1000ma rechargeable due to lipos holding their voltage high to the very end, while nimhs/nicads drop constantly like normal AAs do too.
As you can see, lipos are much smaller and also A TON lighter than 8AAs or of course than the stock rechargeable pack. One of these lipos goes right inside my normal AA holder. I just grinded down the raised plastic battery holder ribs at the bottom of the holder so the lipo will sit flat. I can still use 8AAs in it if I want. I wired a little battery plug to the two wires that go to the battery leads (pop off the lid to find those on the side of the holder). Then melted a little access route for the plug to go from that little chamber where the wires are to the battery area. If I want to run regular 8AAs again I can just stick the little plug out of the way into that wire area chamber on the side. In the rechargeable pack this area is where a little charging circuit is, so there is plenty of space to hide the plug over there out of the way.
If you are thinking of going lipo then search this forum for "lipo" or "accucel 6" to find threads with details on that. Covered it all in numerous threads so don't want to re-hash it.