What am I doing wrong?

[Bobbie]

Got a new Excal this summer and love it. I also bought a spare battery pod. I usually do 3 hour hunts and a battery only lasts a total of 7 hours before the death squeal starts. I do not charge between hunts only when the battery dies. I charged the batteries the full 14 hours when they were brand new and then do 12 hour charges after. The book says I should get 10 hours. What am I doing wrong?

 

[Art (NWOH)]

You are doing it right.

Would guess that you have a weak cell or two in the pack.

It is always possible that the charger is on the "weak" side or that the detector is pulling more current than expected for some reason. Difficult ro rig up a meter to verify what is happening.

The charger should put out about 18 volts with no load.....only a meter connected.

The battery pack should measure around 14 volts after a full charge.

These are "no load" measurements and will not tell you what the battery packs are doing under actual operating conditions.

Your detector should work until the voltage gets down to less than 10.5 volts.

HH

 

[Rick(ND)]

All rechargeable battery's lose a little charge from sitting, so it depends on how often you use the Excalibur in those 7 hours of battery time. If it takes 2 weeks to use up the 7 hours of time this may be normal, if 2 days it should last longer. I think when the book says 10 hours would be a fresh charged battery and you are out detecting it should last 10 hours.
Other than that like Art says you are doing everything correct.