Who out there has made a battery pack....

[KGCREBELGOLD]

using the alkaline battery holder for the Whites XLT, adding there own Nicad battery's or even Nihm Batteries to that holder and maybe add a charging plug on the battery holder case? Sounds Like it should work....just Got to find someone smarter than me to figure up all that wiring stuff .....LOL!!

 

[bountyhunter1972]

I can do it, I build headphones, headphone amps, and external limiters. I build the charging circuit in the amps, so that you don't have to take the battery out. I would have to research it to see what it needs, but I could do it, with the circuit for recharging it.

 

[tvr]

Whites Battery Mod

Try this link.

But use NiMH batteries that are AA size. There should be a number of inexpensive smart chargers that will do the trick for charging.

Edit to add this link too:

http://www.findmall.com/read.php?31,385790,386481#msg-386481

 

[KGCREBELGOLD]

You can do it! I will even helpHonest

 

[KGCREBELGOLD]

n/t

 

[silversmith]

As was stated elsewhere, be sure you check your final voltage with a voltmeter. You may have to add an AA battery to keep the voltage in the ballpark. Lets say you have 8 AA batteries in series, 8 X 1.5 volts comes out 12V. However, 8 nicads would come out 9.6 volts because they are only 1.2 volts each. Which means you are operating your detector at a handicap. You are actually running your detector at a lower voltage that you would ordinarily change out your batteries if using standard carbons or alkys. It would be a good idea, to put fresh batteries in your detector, run some tests, then re-check your detector parameters after changing to rechargeables. I doubt if most detector manufacturers use voltage regulators in their detectors because they would use up as much current as the rest of the detector. If that be true, then going to the same many nicads as carbons (stock batteries) could well reduce your depth of detection by lowering your detectors oscillator power (P=EI),
Please, consider the above when converting to re-chargeables. In my opinion, unless you flying an RC airplane, using a cel phone, or a hand held radio where current drain is high and you have to recharge the batteries every time you use the things, it just ain't worth it. Using headphones, you can use most detectors for weeks or months on a set of batteries. A good set of 8 alchys only cost about 4 bucks, so why bother. Yea, I know, just my opinion. At least if you go for the rechargeables, please make comparisons and let us know what you find. Good luck.

 

[tvr]

From what I've read, the White's detectors that use this 8 cell battery holder regulate the voltage at a value where NiCad's or NiMh's are OK. It's not like the Minelab Excals where you need the 10 cell rechargeable pack to get the voltage back.

And my XL-pro is the most battery hungry detector I have. I have not yet picked up a spare battery holder to make into a rechargable pack. But this is the detector that makes the most sense for me to convert to rechargeables.

 

[Jeff In North Georgia]

Try this link:
http://www.hdwt.net/batterypack.html

Jeff

 

[silversmith]

Good show Jeff. This may be just what this guy needs!

 

[KGCREBELGOLD]

That is exactly what I needed .........Jeff You are The Man!!!!

 

[Rob (IL)]

I built a 9 cell pack for my MXT. Here's 2 pictures. I charged the cells out of the pack but the room is there for the charger connection.
I also built a pack that uses a thermistor so it works with the Whites charger for their NIMH pack. The normal packs are 1600mah, I used the 2500mah. Rob

 

[R-bass]

Looking at the 9 battery mod set up last night looks good. I made mine in the morning woke up drank some coffee took me about 1 hour to mod mine out very easy thanks for the free advise rcasio44

 

[R-bass]

One might make a docking station to recharge the nine battery MOD setup, just something to think about?....

 

[Jeff In North Georgia]

I have one of these chargers MAHA C777. I think they have discontinued them now but you can occasionally find one on one of the auction sites. These have adjustable charging contacts so they can be mated up to almost any battery pack:
http://www.4gdo.com/mahac777.htm

Jeff

 

[dwinev]

Rob, been looking at you battery mod. Do you have some more detail on how to do this besides the 2 phohos.? This looks like a great setup.

thanks dwinev

 

[Critterhunter]

Rechargeables do NOT lower the performance of your detector. All modern detectors that I know of use a voltage regulator to regulate the voltage to the circuit board. So long as the input voltage is above what the regulator needs (or the low battery alarm will sound) upping the voltage to it will make NO DIFFERENCE in detector performance. In other words, the input voltage could be 10V or 12V. Doesn't matter. The output voltage of the regulator will remain the same (say 9V).

1.2V per cell is the industry average for nimhs/nicads during discharge. In reality a good pack will charge to higher than that. And as for the Excal or Sovereign needing 10 cells, that's because they used ancient 1000ma cells that didn't have much run time. The extra two cells helped keep the voltage higher as they quickly drained. This also helped with voltage sag as they sat on the shelf because they'll slower lose their charge as they sit. You can run 8 2500ma or higher nimhs in a GT with no problem, so long as you charge them within a day or so of going out and they haven't sat on the shelf.

I run a 3 cell lipo in my GT to save weight. Aint nothing lighter than a lipo. They also recharge in an hour or less without harming them. Won't lose their charge sitting on the shelf either.