How to save money on AA batteries!

[lordofthecoils]

An interesting point; "detector performance drops off as battery strength falls"!

I wonder if others have also noticed this?

I often wondered the same about rechargeable batteries, aa are 1.5v and the rechargeable aa are 1.2v
Could that mean a drop in performance?

1000% i get my best finds when the batterys are fresh .........ray

[sinclairuser]

i agree with blackadder on this(as stated in another thread).
just buy a couple of packs of eneloops, they pay for themselves in no time, for 9v batteries, true 9v rechargables are available, buying cheap batteries and throwing them away is a false economy, and bad for the environment.

[alloverover]

Would anyone really risk an expensive detector by squashing a battery or heating one up on a radiator just to gain a few hours extra use?

Yes, it wouldnt damage your machine and will save ££££s

my personal opinion is that after four hours batterys could be loseing the edge for you....

Could be Ray, a lot of people think Tesoro's perform better on small silver when the batteries have lost a bit of charge though mate

buying cheap batteries and throwing them away is a false economy, and bad for the environment.

What batterys are good for the environment pales into insignificance when your detecting on green waste sinclairuser

[Ten pence!]

Personally I'd not risk a a tampered battery leaking - or worse inside my detector.

If saving money was the main concern then I'd console myself with the following, the amount of scrap lead I find out in the fields easily pays for the best alkaline and NIMH batteries available.

And it's a myth that detectors work better with fresh batteries, it's inconceivable that a relatively sophisticated piece of electronic equipment like a metal detector is not fitted with a voltage regulator to ensure stable performance. I've never been able to see any performance improvement with any detector I've ever owned by simply replacing used but serviceable batteries with fresh ones.

[Resurgam]

I think nipping the middle of a battery to squeeze more more life from it was a Russian windup; do they have April the first japes over there? I remember The Goons producing a record and it stated on it that the quality could be improved by lightly rubbing it with sandpaper!

[lordofthecoils]

.

And it's a myth that detectors work better with fresh batteries, it's inconceivable that a relatively sophisticated piece of electronic equipment like a metal detector is not fitted with a voltage regulator to ensure stable performance. I've never been able to see any performance improvement with any detector I've ever owned by simply replacing used but serviceable batteries with fresh ones.[/quote]

every one has thier own opinion on battery performance , i used to use the explorer with on board charging similar to many of the top flight metal detectors now and never noticed performance drop with them . i am pecifically talking about AA 's and each detector is probably different in battery related performance, lets not give our own opinions as sacresanct as unless youve used every type of detector for a long time your only giving your opinion ,

heres a quote from a long time detectorist and dealer

I get a lot of questions that are related to batteries. All Bounty Hunter metal detectors currently sold require two 9 volt ALKALINE batteries. That doesn't mean that any 9 volt battery will work, it clearly means that 9 volt ALKALINE batteries are required. The key word here is ALKALINE. Bad batteries will cause many strange and unexplainable things to happen. Your detector could let off one long continuous tone, beep wildly for no apparent reason, fail to detect a coin right in front of it, the volume level could drop noticeably ...and so on down the line. Many times this happens before the low battery indicator shows a low battery.

The low battery indicator is a nice feature, but unfortunately it is not that all-fired accurate. It does a good job of telling you that your batteries are low when you first turn it on after about ten seconds of use, but when they wear down in the field, I never trust it. If ANY of the above things happens to me, I change the batteries. When one of my detectors "locks up" and acts weird, I try the "on and off" trick and if that
doesn't clear it, I change the batteries. If the batteries are low, the power drain from turning it on and off five or six times will accentuate the problem even more.



.

[alloverover]

I think nipping the middle of a battery to squeeze more more life from it was a Russian windup; do they have April the first japes over there? I remember The Goons producing a record and it stated on it that the quality could be improved by lightly rubbing it with sandpaper!

Its no joke, ive done it many a time and got many months more usage on TV remotes and the like, its a worthwhile tip to remember and could well help if you cant get to a shop and dont have any spares.
You dont have to take it on board but it may be useful to somebody

[Resurgam]