DIY battery pack???

Anyone ever considered making up their own litium ion battery system for their GPX?
I have seen ones you can buy that leave you unconnected and able to put your machine down and walk away.
I know you can buy set ups online but why couldn't you do it yourself?
What battery can you use? I have a memory of a video camera battery being used.
It would be a great DIY project.......anyone out there have all the answers?

Hi Atrix, I'm working on this very project at the moment actually.I'm a bit busy right now to get into the meat-and-potatoes of how this is done on the cheap.

artrix wrote:Anyone ever considered making up their own litium ion battery system for their GPX?
I have seen ones you can buy that leave you unconnected and able to put your machine down and walk away.
I know you can buy set ups online but why couldn't you do it yourself?
What battery can you use? I have a memory of a video camera battery being used.
It would be a great DIY project.......anyone out there have all the answers?

Hi artrix , I purchased a extra battery with my GPX and your right their not cheap at $400+ a unit.

Maybe on the weekend will undo a few screws and investigate and see what actually minelab have used, I'm going to stick my neck out and say it must be a off the shelf lithium ion battery of some description.

"lithium ion battery" people carry on as if their expensive as "GOLD" lol, or is this just a justification for minelabs products retail prices that the shops are flogging them for. I forgot the price of Lead has gone up OOPS error there is no lead in a Lithium-ion battery LOL

All the connectors are off the shelf items no military spec connectors on the minelab which one would think minelab would of incorporated into the detectors to combat the harsh Australian climate LOL.

Some trivial information on - Lithium-ion battery

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium-ion_battery

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lithium_battery

http://shop.ebay.com.au/i.html?_trkparms=65%253A12%257C66%253A2%257C39%253A1%257C72%253A2386&rt=nc&_nkw=lithium%20ion%20battery&_nkwusc=lithium%20ion%20batterys&_rusck=1&_sop=12&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14.l1513&_pgn=2



" Construction - The three primary functional components of a lithium-ion battery are the anode, cathode, and electrolyte. The anode of a conventional lithium-ion cell is made from carbon, the cathode is a metal oxide, and the electrolyte is a lithium salt in an organic solvent.[9]

The most commercially popular anode material is graphite. The cathode is generally one of three materials: a layered oxide (such as lithium cobalt oxide), a polyanion (such as lithium iron phosphate), or a spinel (such as lithium manganese oxide).[10]

The electrolyte is typically a mixture of organic carbonates such as ethylene carbonate or diethyl carbonate containing complexes of lithium ions.[11] These non-aqueous electrolytes generally use non-coordinating anion salts such as lithium hexafluorophosphate (LiPF6), lithium hexafluoroarsenate monohydrate (LiAsF6), lithium perchlorate (LiClO4), lithium tetrafluoroborate (LiBF4), and lithium triflate (LiCF3SO3).

Depending on materials choices, the voltage, capacity, life, and safety of a lithium-ion battery can change dramatically. Recently, novel architectures using nanotechnology have been employed to improve performance

Pure lithium is very reactive. It reacts vigorously with water to form lithium hydroxide and hydrogen gas is liberated. Thus a non-aqueous electrolyte is typically used, and a sealed container rigidly excludes water from the battery pack.

Lithium ion batteries are more expensive than NICAD batteries but they operate over a wide temperature range and are rechargeable. They have high energy density. They are fragile and so need a protective circuit to limit peak voltages. They are smaller and lighter than NICADs. They possess long recharge times "


cheers

I seem to recall on Ishmaels site that he is using "Lithium Polymer" batteries ( can't even find his site now, anyone have a link?)

regards
Mark

grumblebum wrote:I seem to recall on Ishmaels site that he is using "Lithium Polymer" batteries ( can't even find his site now, anyone have a link?)

regards
Mark

Hi grumblebum , do a search ebay Aust site from memory there is a smallish power pack and speaker unit that is velcro taped to the side of the control box alleviating the necessity to use the harness and enabling one to lay down the metal detector totally on the ground freeing ones whole body to be able to dig for the NUGGETS.

One has to admit a very compact unit but you still need the body harnes&bungee strap to support the long hours of swinging a metal detector weight out in the fields.

Again the idea is there which can be implemented to the DIY guys again the price ? his charging one has to question LOL

cheers

Hi artrix,

You could try a personal message to wheelie23.

I know he has made a couple of battery units that attach to the side of his detector and they work a treat..Does not have a built in booster like the 4500 onward batteries and they take a little longer to charge than the Minelab batteries. Last about 7 hrs before needing recharging. Unsure of cost but nowhere near as expensive as original battery. He may even read this post and respond.

Cheers spinna

thanx spinna.......will give him a try

the video batteries are for sale on ebay, $290 for 2 batteries and speaker,look under prospecting, I use these on 2x 45's,light, start out charge 8.2+ , they last all day, I'll probably buy another set and put the 2 new minelab batteries on ebay, phill

What do you guys think would be a reasonable price for a battery pack like what's being talked about here? Would anyone be interested in a constructing a kit that required basic soldering skills?

This maybe worth a mention it might not, but had some trouble with the batt on the 4000 a couple of years ago.
It kept tripping out and the only way to reset it out bush was with the 12v lead, plug it in and all was well till it tripped out again, back to the car and so on.
Sent the detector off to ML and it came back with the same problem, long story short, it was fixed in the end, but was not a fault of the battery.

I would assume the 4500 and the 5000 batt have this protection, if a fault has developed in the electrical side, be it batt or detector, the trip feature acts like a circuit breaker cutting the power and saving your equipment.

Do aftermarket batteries offer the same trip feature or protection as the ML ones do??

Ps. checkout youtube for Li-Ion or Li-pol batt fires.

grumblebum wrote:I seem to recall on Ishmaels site that he is using "Lithium Polymer" batteries ( can't even find his site now, anyone have a link?)

regards
Mark

Hi mate, Ismael no longer makes them unfortunately. I was lucky enough to get one before he stopped and it's brilliant!

A small battery unit with a sender, velcros to the detector and an even smaller reciever unit with built in amp clips on your harness.
No connection to the detector save for the bungy cord.

I think the price was under $300 at the time

Don't know if this will interest anyone
but this site here in the states has an interesting battery alternative.
It may be a source for further info on a battery setup as well.
I have ordered from them in the past and Bill, who I gather
is an electrical engineer of some sort, is legit. He also seemed
responsive to answering questions, if you want to email him.

http://www.billandlindaprospecting.com/forsale1.html

fwiw,

Flak

Hi All

Interresting, especially the split ferrite core. Has anybody here tried it before? Anything to reduce EMI will be too great!!!!!

Flak

The battery system for the GPX series looks very light (weight) but it is not a "cordless" one as you still have to connect it to the machine and speaker/earphones.

Best

Kudu

The battery easily fits one of those control box covers with the little pockets in it.
We had a thread going on over here talking about using bluetooth or
some other cordless solution with it, it all looks possible.

As a solution for a battery with an amp, it looks good.
I personally like the idea of the ML self-shutoff if there is a problem with the batt.
That to me is worth the extra weight of the battery and case and I don't mind
(too much), being attached to the detector.

All the best,

Flak

talk to wheelie23 i used one of his setups when my battery got sent to minelab . my 4500 worked great and he is working on bluetooth headphones . this would be a great package cheers buck

grumblebum (Wed Dec 15, 2010 9:00 am) wrote:I seem to recall on Ishmaels site that he is using "Lithium Polymer" batteries ( can't even find his site now, anyone have a link?)

regards
Mark

Ishmaels wireless setup

http://www.minelabmods.com/joomla/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=140&Itemid=42

As mt has pointed out Ishmael is not producing any detector stuff anymore.

Hi made a simple wireless battery pack for my 4500 ,
Got a battery charger from dc shop in Melb off the web about $24
Battery of the web $30 7.4v 7800ma
1 foot of 5 core trailer wire from auto shop
audio socket jaycar $2
1watt CB ( thanks Mechanics for input) $4 from 14 elements on line
5pin plug of web $8
speaker for toys are us $14
wire the plug up and drill hole in battery charger and connected a cb inside charger to power and fitted a mono audio socket.
The speaker has a amplifier in it and runs of a a battery very loud can turn off when not in use .
can still use the charger to charge the battery as it was intended via its own lead and power input on top of charger not shown.

Went this way so can have multiple batteries and only have to slip them in the charger and off you go so can have batteries back at camp charging while out. Only mod might do is have the unit mounted 90 degrees up so battery fits in vertical.
All up about $80

In the Minelab manual, it states to have the battery as far away from the coil as possible, Hence on your back! Wouldn't mounting a battery on the control box have an undesired effect on RX gain?

Cheers~Chris.

someday wrote:In the Minelab manual, it states to have the battery as far away from the coil as possible, Hence on your back! Wouldn't mounting a battery on the control box have an undesired effect on RX gain?

Cheers~Chris.

Thanks Someday for that , have to admit have not read the manual in that detail , so have taken onboard your feedback and am now working on a back mounted battery . Picture is of an early prototype will keep updates as I go.

Oddly enough, i went to JCar today to get some bits for the "battery project".

Got the plugs, the shrink tubes, some wires. But no lithium batteries, selection was less than poor. They had 2 pre-made 7.2v 3300 and 3600 mAh batts. At thouse prices and sizes i can do better by ordering online. So going to have to wait.

Another thing, my "professionaly made" lithium battery stopped working. Last trip it was occasionaly cutting out for a split-second. I thought it was audio contact problems, and this trip when it cut off again i un-plugged the machine and moved the wires a bit. Immediately a puff of smoke got out along with burning chems smell. I ripped it off the detector and threw it as fast, and as far as i could. Lithium batts known to explode. It is so fortunate that i unplugged it first!

I checked on it later, and it was cold and well, not on fire, so i took it home. I gutted it, and the problem was in the plug. Too much exposed wires after the soldering, and when the wire twisted they touched. Terrible worksmanship.

Who wants to know the maker of this battery?

A Rather predictable "guess who"

Got a question for "speaker users" :

Why not mount the speaker facing towards yourself? is it too loud?

this speaker is just a plug in one so you can just turn it towards yourself if you want , had no real reason why mounted that way just looked neater cheers

Justdigging

Thanks, i was wondering myself if that speaker pivots, could not be sure from the pics.
Cheers!

Flakmagnet wrote:Don't know if this will interest anyone
but this site here in the states has an interesting battery alternative.
It may be a source for further info on a battery setup as well.
I have ordered from them in the past and Bill, who I gather
is an electrical engineer of some sort, is legit. He also seemed
responsive to answering questions, if you want to email him.

http://www.billandlindaprospecting.com/forsale1.html

fwiw,

Flak

Hello All,

Just thought I would add to this post. I have been using Bill's battery and booster set up for a couple months now. Works perfectly. I purchased the system for an upcoming trip in the Alaska bush. Will be in for 2 weeks with no way to charge a battery. I purchased the 5000 mah batteries (8 of them) A battery will typically last for 8-9 hours using the goldstalker 12 x 18 mono coil. If I remember correctly the price for the booster and 2 batteries/chargers was $275 USD, additional batteries were $35 each. The entire setup fits in a cover I bought from Eureka Worx http://www.eurekaworx.com/ I asked them to sew a pouch into the bottom of the cover to hold the battery. The booster fits in the side pouch. If I use the external speaker and not the headphones I can detect without being attached to the machine. Slick setup. Plus I got the entire setup with the additional batteries for less than the price of one ML battery. And the 8 batteries weigh about the same as one ML battery as well. To me it is the perfect solution for my trip. I could not have afforded that many ML batteries or packed all of the weight of 8 ML batteries.

Take care

I regually send copies of our prospecting club newsletter (BPC) to bill and linda so i have sent them a link to this post and as he cannot respond as a guest he may join as a member like ddmk6 did to make a post or if he is reading this and doesn't have time to join then he can send his response to me and i will post it. Rwork

Ps. My 45 has been noisy for a few outings and suddenly is running quite again and i am now finding little bits again. I happened to move the battery and heard it rattle about the same noise as if a 5cent was loose in it.
I took off both ends and looked but cannot see anything loose and it doesnt rattle now. ????

I didn't mention that I am using Bill's battery setup on a GPX5000. I will also add that Bill is very helpful and answers emails very quickly. Unless of course he's MIA out prospecting for a few days. Can't really fault a guy for that now can we

One of my Prospecting mates recently bought a lithium setup for his GP Extreme.
First couple of trips and things seemed to be going well,until the last time out. His first battery never wanted to fully re-charge and then he had a weird smell before the battery stopped working altogether.
It was under warranty,and is being replaced,but the dealer is replacing it sight unseen so it may indicate an ongoing problem with these small units.
The second problem was if you prefer to use headphones rather than a speaker. The socket that recieves the headphone jack is not as secure as the ones Minelab use on the GPX batteries.
It keeps unplugging if your headphone lead isnt stretched out.

Hi guys (& girls),
I use the coiltek Li-Ion battery pack for my SD. I couldn't talk higher of it as it works perfectly. Camcorder batteries are cheap on fleebay, so even when they stuff up, like 1 of mine just did, $35 for a Japanese cell (not Chinese) 8000mAh is cheap enough. I did try going cordless, ie velcroing the pack on the side of the detector for a while, and although it was great and convenient and troublefree etc, I went back to putting the batteries in my bumbag as 800 odd mgs mightn't sound heavy, but after swinging the detector for a few hours, it felt more like 10 Kg. So my point is that yes it's great to go cordless, sometimes it also good (lighter) to go back to the old ways...

http://www.minelabmods.com/joomla/