V3i for 700?

[Trooper Bri]

Hey there. I think Tall1 (Jon) hunts here in town too. For turkey IIRC. Deer are getting frisky too. 4 spotted on the ride into work this week grazing.

Whites says it's fine above 8 volts. But it's a head scratcher to me when they design a detector to run on 12 volts, then only give it that potential with 8 alkalines. They should have made that case/pack design for 10 cells and figured out a blocked alkaline pack. Nobody in their right mind would use alkalines in it regularly. It draws too much current.

 

[giant056]

Here's a 9 cell that I put together back in May 2010, it's about the only one that I use, I've had to replace 2 cells in it so far, one last year and one this year.

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[Trooper Bri]

That is slick giant. Nice job squeezing #9 in there. Maybe I'll try that when the snow is flying.

 

[giant056]

That is slick giant. Nice job squeezing #9 in there. Maybe I'll try that when the snow is flying.

I've been thinking about putting together a newer one with better batteries, I'll research to find out which one is the best and use them. I have the original battery pack that I got when I first started using the nimh battery pack in my MXT and it's no good anymore and won't even charge up.

 

[Trooper Bri]

The original packs are 1800mAh I believe. These Tenergy cells are 2600mAh. It holds the voltage longer, but to squeeze that kind of capacity into a cell, you have to be on your game or cells punk out faster. The one I have that was under 11 volts off the charger probably has a bad cell. I ran it for 5 or 6 hours Sunday, and was down to lower 9's. Or it's just tired.
Only quick way I can think to have 10 cells is to drill a hole in the battery cover, add an 1/8" headphone jack to the battery pack on the end where that hole is, then wire it in series and solder 2 rechargables with an 1/8" plug to the pack with a length of wire so you can velcro it to the top of the box. More stuff to think about during the winter.

Got my goodies from White's today. The detector stand for the DFX and other models fits the Spectra. Why the heck doesn't it come with it? :dontknow: And who makes a good cover for this case? The one on mine is weird.

 

[Trooper Bri]

I poked around a bit this morning while getting my oil changed Giant. It looks like the Sanyo Eneloop XX or Pro (black labels) are the best out there. Rated for 2500mAh. Same with the Panasonic Pro cells, but the Panasonics don't have as many charge cycles.
Wound up ordering 8 of the Panasonic for $40 today as the Sanyo cells seem to be pretty much unavailable. There is a pro reviewer on Amazon who claims the AmazonBasics black label cells are actually repackaged Sanyo black labels. You can get 8 of them for $20. Maybe I'll try them next time I order something, as I want to replace the other Tenergy pack.

 

[giant056]

I recently replaced the old Tenergy rechargeables and my original nimh pack that I got when I was still using the MXT with EBL's. They are 2800ma, they're really working fantastic since I've recharged each one of them a few times, they're way better than the Tenergy's ever were (they were the 2600ma like in your picture).

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[Trooper Bri]

I didn't find any good reviews on the Tenergy cells Giant. Sure, they're cheap, but that's about it. Lack of consistency between cells makes for bad battery packs with shorter lives. Kind of like rowers in a boat. Ideally you'd like to be able to buy 8 cells matched for charge times, discharge rates, internal resistance, etc.
The Panasonics have a few charges on them now, and same deal, better than the Tenergy ones they replaced for sure. I'll have 8 of the AmazonBasic ones tomorrow to replace the T's in the other pack.

A friend of mine has a small stockpile of Energizer advanced lithium AA's, and I bagged 8 off of him a few weeks ago. It was nice to run the detector at full voltage for a few trips, and they held up very well. They're less weight compared to an alkaline or rechargable too. The pack was noticeably lighter. Pulled the cells with plenty of life in them, and using them for the Garrett now.

Edit:
Got the AmazonBasics today and they're on the charger right now. Like the Panasonics I bought, they're made in Japan. So they may be rebranded Sanyos. Very good for $20. Those Tenergy cells are from China.