Woody Battery/Amplified Speaker System

G'day People,

After doing some research into a new battery system for my GP3500 and leaning towards the Coiltek regulated system, I came across this setup and was wondering if anyone has any opinions on it?

Cheers.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Solar-Charger-M-L-SD-GP-2-battery-boosted-speaker-/260658205318?pt=AU_Gadgets&hash=item3cb0709286

hi , i have used a woody battery setup for my sd2200d now,for about a year and all is good , i only got the battery and charger, not the whole package that you are looking at on ebay, but if your going out bush or what ever (outback) it looks like a great setup with solar panel , cheers redcaveman

Thanks for the reply redcaveman.

The setup looks to give a wires free battery setup and the fact {so it says anyway} the cells are Jap made caught my attention.

The speaker doesn't seem to have a volume control so I presume you use the volume on the detector itself to control that function which doesn't really jack me that much.

I wonder if you could still use a control box cover because of the way it's mounted on the side?.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cqZef5-b2Kg

I got one a few weeks ago after getting so frustrated i bit my curly cord that hard i chipped a tooth and destroyed the cord.
I hate wires getting caught up in the scrub.
I love it, its light, charges fast, gets rid of the curly cords, The speaker could be better quality, but it still works ok.
I guess it could be replaced with any mp3 player speaker etc.
I didnt get the solar set up just the one with 2 batteries, and 240 charger, and 12 volt charger.
Dont make the mistake i did and use the wrong 2.5 mm jack/ plug theres obviously a mono and stereo plug i presume. If i use the wrong one the noise is barely audible.
The batteries havent run flat on me yet after 6 or 7 hours, and the speaker needs its own 2xAA batteries to power it up. they seem to last quite a while, I only replaced mine after about 4 solid days, and they were still going strong.
I highly recommend this for any area with thick bush.
I dont like headphones either, so the speaker set up works well for me.
I have a custom control box cover with a zip on the outside to put the battery in, and the speaker is mounted via velcro the the forearm support facing up towards me.
Its so good to get that brick of a battery off my back, It makes such a difference. This should be a standard feature on any detector...
Best money i have spent in this hobby yet...

Find out first if the battry system is regulated.
I had one of these battery systems from woody and there was no answer from woody when asked in regards to the battery being regulated, so I got rid of it. I didn't want to take the chance with my detector and the unregulated battery.
Hope this helps.

Sorry for the silly question, but isnt the voltage regulated in the detector? Do these need regulating?

maka wrote:Sorry for the silly question, but isnt the voltage regulated in the detector? Do these need regulating?

Minelab detectors are designed with a certain power supply, if you want to take a chance and put a higher voltage than the detector was designed to cope with, thats your choice. The F970 Li-ion batterys are produced with 4 safety devices fitted, thats why the Coiltek system uses the original prongs as the power outlet so none of these devices are bypassed so make sure that any system you buy is compliant with how the battery was designed to function, they can explode or catch fire if abused or shorted and i dont like your chances of getting a warrantee or insurance claim if the battery has been tampered with. mallee00 and the mutt

Cynic Master wrote:G'day People,

After doing some research into a new battery system for my GP3500 and leaning towards the Coiltek regulated system, I came across this setup and was wondering if anyone has any opinions on it?

Cheers.

http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Solar-Charger-M-L-SD-GP-2-battery-boosted-speaker-/260658205318?pt=AU_Gadgets&hash=item3cb0709286

I bought Link Technologies system of ebay a couple of years ago and use it on my GP Extreme, it hasn't let me down. I bought the whole package charger, 2 batteries, Solar charger and the 1.8 meter power cable to run battery in backpack. I even phoned Link Technologies because I thought there was a problem with the charger and they sent me a brand new one no charge, turned out the charger was fine and I rang them to send the replacement back but they said no probs keep it.

what's your opinion of the solar charger Queenslander?

Cheers fellas, appreciate the replies.

I have the Coiltek system and I can easily recommend that. You have a switch to set it for a GP or SD and on a full battery and one that I had used for several hours the output when measured with a multimeter was 6.75 which I was really happy with. You can get extra batteries and chargers off ebay cheap as well, But, because it is regulated I trust the Coiltek unit to do its job well. The only pain with the unit is I was told to leave the detector on and use the on/off switch on the battery pack instead. Something about the battery's memory?? Someone on the site would know why.

Cynic Master wrote:what's your opinion of the solar charger Queenslander?

Cheers fellas, appreciate the replies.

I hook one battery up to the solar charger and leave it on the tail gate of the car, and then head off to swing the coil for a few hours, when I get back for a feed and break I just change the batteries over hook everything backup and then head out for more detecting, the solar panel is a trickle charger and in the last 2 years this system hasn't let me down and is still going strong.

Thanks Queenslander.

One thing i recommend is throwing the speaker away before you even open the packaging and get a better one. The one i have has feed back, bad audio, and distortion. But other than the speaker i love it...