Rechargeable Batterys

[Anonymous]

I am wondering what is best for a battery. My wife has poor heath, so my time detecting is some times short, so if I am only out 1 or 2 hours at a time, should I recharge the battery, or wait till I have used it till it is like half way or more down, before rechargeing? They say they are good for 1000 charges, but is that full charges or do even part charges count on the total? Want it to last as long as possible and hold up. Thank you.
HH CPrunty

 

[Anonymous]

That is a rough figure and have seen anywhere from 1000 to 2000. I have never had to replace the batteries because they went bad but then I may have been lucky. I would not charge them unless they need it or if I was going to be for an extended period of time. I always keep the standary pack full of fresh batteries as just in case. There is a voltage regulator so the idea that you have to have "fresh strong batteries" for good depth is not correct in my opinion. As long as the batteries have the necessary voltage and current you should do just fine. I keep an eye on the battery indicator and charge them based on that.
HH, Cody

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks Cody. The reason I asked is because I did have a rechargeable go bad. The one that came on my old Whits's Eagle Spectrum. Of course it wasn't NIMH, and I don't remember, how long it worked before it went bad. Not even sure what year I bought the detedtor, it was my first one. It was before they came out with a smaller one, it is heavy, still works good though.
HH, CPrunty

 

[Anonymous]

I got to checking Cody, and I believe the White's was either a 1993 or 94, and all they had then was ni-cads. So I don't think they were the Batterys of today.

 

[Anonymous]

I know a little bit about the subject because I used to design battery chargers for NiCad and Lead Acid batteries.
To get the best life out of a NiCad battery, one needs to completely discharge them before recharging them. Some battery chargers have the mode where they go through a sequence of completely discharging the battery before recharging. As I recall, the chargers for the White XLT (that I used to have) had that feature.
Some people mistakenly refer to this behavior as "memory". They call it that because the batter seems to "remember how much discharge is expected" and then only provide that much before they "run out of poop". The battery people prefer to use the term "depression".
As a point of interest, Lead Acid batteries have just the opposite problem. They do not like to be left in a discharged state as they form large sulfate crystals and then you can not get them to take a charge without going through a special procedure of using very high voltage (with current limiting) chargers until they begain to take a charge.
HH,
Glenn

 

[Anonymous]

Sometimes I only get out for a hour or so too and may do this for a week or 2. I think it is best to run them down a bit before recharging, I will go untill I feel I have over 5 hours on them, or the gauge is less then 1/4 of the way or even if i know I will be out for 5-8 hours then i will recharge before I go. I still carry the extra pack in my car too and have rechargeable nickle hydrides in it too and will switch them when i take the one I am going to recharge. If you have the alkilines pack just keep it with you in your car just incase you do run the main one dead, other wise just used them intill you have 5-8 hours or less than 1/4 on the gauge.
Even though the new ones are not suppose to build up a memory, I feel they do if you charge them only with a hour or 2 on them between charges.
Rick

 

[Anonymous]

Best thing to do...do not charge them until completely used up...if you are worried take the extra battery pack with AA batteries in case they run out before your done!