Silvers and Indians and then my Etrac DIED! NOOOOOOOO!!!!!

[Bucknut]

Yesterday started out great! I went to local park during my lunch break and found a 1920 merc. Its always a satisfying feeling to find a silver during my lunch.

Then last night I went to an old park in an old town. I thought I would use my 5 inch coil in the trashy area and see if I could pull out something old. After I started swinging I noticed that the road on the other side of the park was all torn up. Sweet! my first tear out! I get over there and start swinging between the road and sidewalk but was not finding anything. Came up to a house on the corner with a nice yard and decided to knock to see if I could detect the yard...the lady said yes! I put on my stock coil and start going over her yard...an hour later I have in my pocket 10 wheats, 2 silver rosies and 1 indian (1905). I came across a 12-35 signal (indian signal), cut and flipped over the plug, and I noticed that there was no sound coming from my head phones. Weird?! I look at the Etrac and notice that the back light is off (it was getting dark and I had it on). I figured I hit the power button or something accidently so I hit it to power it back up and NOTHING! I had 4 full bars earlier on my RNB Lithium Ion Battery pack...this is a $125 battery! Frustrated that nothing was able to revive it, I went to the car and got my deus. I finished recovering that indian whiched turned out to be an 1881.

After that I could not continue detecting that yard. I was so bummed and worried about my Etrac I decided to just leave. When I got home I took my etrac apart and all of the wiring seemed fine. I decided to charge up the battery thinking maybe it was dead. Installed it back in the etrac this morning and nothing! At this point I was resolute with sending it in to Minelab for repairs and also learning the deus better over the next couple weeks. My buddy mentioned to me that I should try another battery so I loaded up the AA sled with 8 batteries and BAM! It fired up!

So the problem is my RNB Lithium Ion battery pack! I have had it for over a year and a half with no issues at all. It lasts about 25-30 hours of detecting. It is (was) a great tool! Has anyone else had issues with it? I am VERY relieved it is not the Etrac itself that is the problem BUT I am very disappointed with this development with this battery pack!

Well maybe this weekend I will go back and finish up that yard and continue to hit some of the 1800's homes around there. The pair of mercs were from another lunch hunt last week.





Thanks for looking and letting me vent!

[Tony Two-Cent]

I have had my RNB Lithium battery for about a year and I haven't had any problems with it. I do know that when they run out of charge they go from full bars to completely dead almost instantly. They do not go dead gradually.

Did you try charging it again? The charger has a light on it that goes from red to green when the battery is charged. Does yours show a green light?

I hope you get it resolved. I love my RNB battery!

p.s. Congrats on the great finds!

[Bucknut]

I have had my RNB Lithium battery for about a year and I haven't had any problems with it. I do know that when they run out of charge they go from full bars to completely dead almost instantly. They do not go dead gradually.

Did you try charging it again? The charger has a light on it that goes from red to green when the battery is charged. Does yours show a green light?

I hope you get it resolved. I love my RNB battery!

p.s. Congrats on the great finds!

I have noticed that when my RNB starts to lose power it takes about 2-3 hours to go from 4 bars to zero. I did recharge it this morning until I got the green light. So it is fully charged. But when I put it in my Etrac it will not boot up.

[freemindstuck]

I have noticed that when my RNB starts to lose power it takes about 2-3 hours to go from 4 bars to zero. I did recharge it this morning until I got the green light. So it is fully charged. But when I put it in my Etrac it will not boot up.

I don't know how long their warranty is. But if it's out of warranty you could probably pry it apart and repair it. Lithium ion batteries from hobby sites are not really that expensive. I really like my RNB. It is over two years old with no signs of problems yet.

[Bucknut]

I don't know how long their warranty is. But if it's out of warranty you could probably pry it apart and repair it. Lithium ion batteries from hobby sites are not really that expensive. I really like my RNB. It is over two years old with no signs of problems yet.

I might try that out. I bought mine used off of eBay...it was supposedly brand new basically and it looked like it was unused. The original minelab rechargeable battery I got is long gone...won't hold a charge at all.

I just bought 16 AA Panasonic Eneloop rechargables. I already have some of these and they seem to work very well...recharge fast, no memory, and last about 15 to 20 hours. The cost was just under $40 so this might be a decent alternative to the RNB Lithium option. We will see.

[BTV Digger]

Hi Bucknut. Your issue is actually a fairly common problem with many types of lithium ion batteries used in a variety of electronic devices (cell phones, electric lawn mowers, and some metal detectors!). Their lifespans are often listed at several years, but unfortunately some go belly up in just a year or so while other may last 4 or 5. You run the charge down to near zero, then it just dies and never comes back - can't hold a charge. You recharge it and the LED shows green/charged, but it really isn't. I have a small yard and use one of the higher end electric lawnmowers to cut my grass. The model I use takes a large 24V LI battery. Great little mower, but unfortunately I've had three over the years. First one lasted 4 yrs, but it's replacement bit the dust in just 2. Now running with #3. You can do a quick online search and find many websites describing your problem, and some ideas to prolong battery life. In my experience the life cycle is very random, and with the LI batteries, when they die, they die suddenly. Hope you find a cost-effective replacement and get back to that house!

John

[Digger_O'Dell]

So sorry to hear about the dead battery. Have you checked with a meter to see if you have the correct voltage? In the past I have had issues with battery packs having contacts get bent or dirty enough to lose the connection.

One good solution as mentioned above are the rechargeable batteries. I'm also now running the Eneloops in my machine and I love them. The new ones at standard capacity claim something like 2100 recharges which is amazing! The higher capacity batteries have significantly lower life span, but that's to be expected due to their intended use in high draining applications.

One suggestion is if you do go with the rechargeables, spend the extra $50-60 or so and get a really good charger with analyzer and conditioning capabilities. Condition the batteries before first use and they will last much longer and have increased (and equal) capacity. Here's the one I bought: http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...ilpage_o04_s00

[wisconsin digger]

I am going on 3 years and my pack does not hold as good a charge but still is performing. Great hunt none the less and glad it wasn't more serious then the battery pack. WD