SWAPPING OLD BATTERYS

[sovereign-fan]

hi. i have an spare minelab rechargeable battery pack first picture. if my sovereign rechargeable battery pack third picture through time of use no longer holds its charge, will i be able to swap the batterys over to save buying a new pack.
thanks guys..........

 

[rbholt80]

as long as the voltage and type of batterys are the same I dont see why it wouldn't work. Sound like something I would do to save money.
Just make sure the charger for the type of battery is correct.

 

[sovereign-fan]

do you think both battery packs are ni-mh batterys not two Different types.
i have the charger for the sovereign pack only. if the 2 battery types are the same all should be ok?????
there's no sticker on the white batterys like there is on the green one's telling you what's what.

 

[thebeatmachine]

The Minelab says: NiMH . Thats a Nickel-metal-hydride Battery. It's rated at 12 Volts and 1200 Mah.
The other one says: Nickel-cadium. or NICAD. It's rated 12 Volts at 700 mah. So don't eat it.

I would change them over if you are sure your charger can charge both kinds of batteries. A slow charge and check for overheating.

 

[rbholt80]

Well I would say dont try unless you know that they are the same type. You may be able to find out the type by searching the net and using the numbers off the ones you are not shure of. or give me the number and ill look and see if i can track down the maker and what type they are. If you charge cads with a nimh charger you will kill them in a short time.
the mil-amp rating only tells you how long the bat. can run at a given voltage under the specified load. that's why a larger # is better cause it runs longer but the amp rating doesn't affect chargers the charger doesn't care about that. As long as the voltage and chemical make up are the same the charger will do fine.

I will guess here and say that a 700 mil-amp bat is probably not a nimh but I could be wrong. Some very old nimh may have had a very low mil-amp hour rating.

 

[sovereign-fan]

this is the charger i use for the white batterys.

 

[thebeatmachine]

This is a Nicad charger.
The Battery for the minelab says "NiMH" on the sticker. so I wouldn't inrterchange them. It may Leak or explode. Plus the polaritiy may be wired differenty in the battery cell holder. Buy new stuff when it comes to batteries.

 

[doindadiggin]

Hi guys another solution is to have the pack cycled properly and you can restore the pack back to about 90% of its capacity i am still using 10year old packs in my sovereign.terry in oz

 

[rbholt80]

I would buy new bats and use them. If you want you can order from digikey or other companies the nimh that have tabs so you can solder a pack together your self. No matter how you go you will have to spend a little $ . Just remember to use the correct charger for the bats. Good luck to you.

 

[grumpyolman]

Get a high quality universal charger like the Maha. It analyzes the battery, discharges it properly, and recharges it and then keeps it on trickle...while you are off hunting. It'll work on Nicad, NiMH, lithium, etc. It's about a $75 charger but if you use batteries, it'll pay for itself the first time you think your NiCads are toast and it restores them to almost new capacity. At the end of the charge cycle it tells you how many Mah you have put in. Google rechargeable batterys HAM radio. Those fellas have been using rechargeables for years and are right on top of the best way to do it. So are the RC car/aircraft folks...Jim

 

[pistolpete]

I would like to substitute the alkalines in my Sea Hunter to a rechargeable nimh pak. I believe the nimh batteries are the same dimensions as the AA(, but they are only rated at 1.2 volts each instead of 1.5 volts. Will the nimh batteries be ok to use at 9.6 volts total instead of 12 volts total? What do you guys think of around 1600 mah? Thanx for any help