Smart charger for minelab Excalibur

[edge1255]

Wasn't happy with the standard charger Minelab supplied with the excal, since there is no indication that the battery is charged, or even charging. Minelab says to plug it in and leave it for 17 hrs for the initial charging but there's absolutely no indication of anything going on. Seems a bit hit or miss, and there's always the problem of overcharging. A quick scan of fleabay showed a couple of intelligent chargers specifically for the excal, costing about £35. Nothing ventured, and all that so a quick purchase and about 1 week later it arrived. It has a two flat pin arrangement so a travel adapter is required, but these can be picked up for about a couple of quid. Plugged it in and the led shows red, meaning charging is taking place. When fully charged the led turns green and the unit switches to a trickle charge, keeping the battery charged and healthy, so no overcharging worries. It is also rated for a mains input of anything from 110v to 240v, so can be used anywhere mains power is available in the world. Overall very pleased with the unit and definitely would recommend it if you have an excal. Can't see why Minelab didn't think to supply something like this in the first place.

P.S. I would put a photo up but I cannot access picresizer just at the moment. Will add a photo when their website is back up.

[Fusion]

"Wasn't happy with the standard charger. Minelab says to plug it in and leave it ..... and there's always the problem of overcharging."

It's a basic trickle-charger, there isn't any real problem with overcharging, that's one of the good points about it, you can leave it on all week if you want. Long-term, it's probably better for the battery life if you limit how often you over-charge it.
And when you charge slowly, the battery gives no useful indication that it's fully-charged, so that's why there is no 'charged' light.
But if you charge NiMH ( or NiCad ) batteries reasonably hard, say 2 hours or less, there are distinct changes that occur when the battery peaks. The voltage has a particular change, the temperature rises quickly, ( and for industrial batteries, the gas pressure inside the cell goes up noticeably) and it's possible to measure this, and drop down to a trickle-charge.

"Can't see why Minelab didn't think to supply something like this in the first place."
It's expensive, compared to a basic trickle-charger. And the Excal is pricey enough, without fancy chargers.

[edge1255]

I was more interested to see if the battery was actually charging, I would hate to set off for a day's detecting only to discover the plug wasn't in properly and the battery is flat....that was the reason I bought the spare AA pack, just in case. A basic led on the charger would give peace of mind. As to the cost, when I purchased my excal a couple of weeks ago, it came with 4 chargers! I'll bet that those 4 chargers cost a lot more than one intelligent one! This is something I've always found with Minelab, they make a great detector, then don't bother to finish it off, like with the battery pack, as I mentioned in another post, they don't come with a protective cap to prevent shorting out against a metal object or getting debris packed in the holes. I've contacted them about 3 times for a bit of technical data, but so far they haven't bothered to even let me know that they received my communications. I'm hoping I don't have to rely on them should a problem occur with my excal in the first year. Reading about their service on the web has a mix of people saying their service is either brilliant, or atrocious. Fingers crossed, as I really like the excal and think it is a brilliant machine. Its definitely overpriced, considering its old technology, with no display, but I like to compare the excalibur and, say, the new equinox as the same as the old argument between vinyl and digital music. On paper digital wins hands down, but vinyl feels real!

[Fusion]

"Its definitely overpriced, considering its old technology"
That's WHY it's overpriced. If it were completely re-designed with more modern parts, there would be one quarter of the bits in it, the electronics would fit in a box the size of a couple of cigarette-packets, and it would run off two 18650-size lithium cells.

I suspect the lack of competition has allowed them to keep on manufacturing it unchanged for so long. It's main rival would probably be Fisher CZ-20 / 21, which is also very expensive to make, circuit-boards full of parts, some becoming obsolete and thus pricey, lots of labour-intensive adjustments to set the thing up properly, the list goes on.

[edge1255]

Definitely agree with you on that one, Fusion. I actually was split between the excal and the cz21, but went with the excal due to the DD coil. If Minelab was going to update the excal I would like to see a straight shaft, better charger, better knobs to be easier to turn with thick, wet gloves and a coloured led visible from the end of the control to show state of the battery. Something like green to go, amber to let you know there's about an hour of detecting left and red to recharge now. I wouldn't like to see a digital screen as I must admit I like the idea that I'm using the processor between my ears rather than the one in the detector! (although the older I get the more I'm looking for a firmware update!)
Any changes you would like to see in a new excal, anyone?