Minelab Sovereign GT battery questions

[brimster]

Minelab Sovereign GT Battery Questions

Been all over all the forums and can't find an answer...

I think the rechargeable battery pack for my Minelab Sovereign GT is shot and I might have to rebuild/replace.

Two questions:

1. Rebuild: how does the case open? Any gotchas?
2. Replace: the ML rechargeable pack is only rated at 1000 mAh. Modern AA rechargeables are rated at nearly 3X that figure. Wouldn't I be better off buying the alkaline pack and installing modern NiMh batteries?

Thanks in advance for your wisdom.

[Vito]

Hello brimster,
welcome aboard. lol

The minelab detectors are still different than whites. In a whites you will have some detecting time while you use 8 NiMH cells instead of alkaline (1.5V each) in the standard battery pack.

For minelab detectors this is NOT. If you start with 9.6V (8 x 1.2V) then the first target or a higher adjusted threshold will cause the detector falsing like crazy (low bat).

So for minelab's a pack with 10 x 1.2V is a must have. (still use this in the mxt also )

Depending on this information (learning by doing) I decided to assemble a battery holder for 10 AAA sized into the standard battery pack.

Battery Pack Modification

Sorry, I didn't make a vid nor pics from the Sovereign GT package.

The reason for doing this on the minelab was, one of the rechargeables right in the middle of the package died. I had built in a new cell but after some more loading cycles another cell died depending on the poor quality of the minelab loader.. >{ 8/

The best solution to me was a holder where I can pull out the rechargeables and load them in a more sophisticated, computerized loader. Works like a charm.

Good Luck