Sov GT Battery

[SurfPro]

Greetings fellow pirates,

I have 2 Sov's, one for me, and one for the wife. I charged them both to full on Friday 6/27. I used mine on the following Saturday, the wife decided to go with the Dual Field. We'll probably go out tomorrow (Sunday). My question is, do I need to re-charge my wife's Sov? It was charged to full, but it has sat unused for a week. I should ask about mine while I'm at it. I used it last week, for about 5 hours. Would you stick it back on? I'm trying to avoid over charging the darn things, but I wouldn't want to run out of suds out there either. I think the manuel says 15hrs of use per each full charge. I"m wondering if anyone knows how long these batteries hold onto the charge if they sit around for a little while?

Thanks,
SP

 

[Rob in (Ca)]

It's my understanding that all NiHM Battery systems have memory, so you can not over charge the battery, also you don't need to drain before charging and so on.

unlike the older charging systems, but it's best to have the Alkaline pack in the car as a back up

HH

 

[BeachBat]

I"m wondering if anyone knows how long these batteries hold onto the charge if they sit around for a little while?

A very long time!! 3 months in the winter when I was too busy to detect - so I decided that I would drain what is left of the battery to do a proper full recharge, turned it on indoors, found a place where it would 'chirp' away to simulate use...... 20 very long hours later and the thing was still working,,, gave up.

Both of those machines are going to be fine...........

 

[SurfPro]

Thanks for the info. Happy Hunting!

 

[Rick(ND)]

The Wifes I would say will be fine if it was fully charged a week ago, yours being it has 5 hours on it I would put it on the charger if you are going to be out all day, but if for 3 or 4 hours it will be OK. I would say about 5 hours charge should be enough.
If mine sits for several weeks without use i will touch it up a bit if I am going to be out for a full day of 6 hours or more. If sitting all winter I will recharge it again every 6-8 weeks.

 

[w6pea]

Interesting post.
Thanks guys

 

[Buried Crap NJ]

I have left batteries for several weeks after 6 hrs use and still had plenty of juices in them. My practice has been to buy another pack either rechargeable or Alkaline pack! Over 12 hrs with the same charge I carry the back up pack if I am going to be miles away from my truck. I like to use batteries to there point that they tell you enough. Then switch them on the fly! These days one gold ring pays for a new battery so next time just get one. steve

 

[SurfPro]

I hunted the weekend before last for approx 5 hrs. Went out yesterday and put in 4 more without a charge in between and she worked perfectly. I should add that I found a nice men's silver bracelet 25 feet from my exit point. Normally at the end of the hunt I quite the last little bit, no more. It hit just as I was about to turn her off.

 

[Critterhunter]

Look on the wall "charger" and I think it says 50 milliamps for the output. I think the Sovereign draws roughly 50 milliamps too, so you can figure that you need it charging at least as long as the machine was used in order to top things off. The stock GT rechargeable pack is 1000ma, so that means you should get about 20 hours of use before the pack goes dead. You'll get less run time than that if the pack has sat on the shelf for weeks after being charged.

 

[JimmyCT]

Thanks critter for the tech info

Look on the wall "charger" and I think it says 50 milliamps for the output. I think the Sovereign draws roughly 50 milliamps too, so you can figure that you need it charging at least as long as the machine was used in order to top things off. The stock GT rechargeable pack is 1000ma, so that means you should get about 20 hours of use before the pack goes dead. You'll get less run time than that if the pack has sat on the shelf for weeks after being charged.