Gold Screamer Power Pack for SD / GP GPX Machines

[DOC]

I updated the photo to show what comes in the Gold Screamer Power Pack. The system is available for either the SD/GP series of machines or the GPX. Rob has them in stock.

On the older machines, the amplification of the Gold Screamer makes all of the difference in the world.

I have this system fine tuned with great accessories.

1. The Gold Screamer Power Pack regulator has a built in Gold Screamer amplifier. For older machines the regulator steps the the power down to a safe 6.7 volts

2. The padded control box cover has been redesigned. The pouch has been raised to the top of the cover, and we have manufactured the cover with a WEB LOOP to guide the power cord through. This keeps the regulator off of the ground, and protects the short power lead from rubbing on the ground when you set your detector down. The inside of the control box cover has extra reinforcement over the feet of your detector to protect it.

3. The batteries are 7000 mAh 7.4 volt batteries that will give you 7 to 8 hours use each. They have a two year warranty from the manufacturing company. Two batteries come with the system and extra batteries are currently only $50 each. CAUTION. There are a ton of these batteries on the market and I have tested my fair share. Most are crap. The Chinese are very liberal in their labeling. They will label a battery 7400 mAh and when we test it we find it will only run a GPX5000 for around 5 hours. AND, they have NO WARRANTY. The quality varies greatly. We have had these batteries actually come apart. The front just comes unglued from the back. Also stay clear of Lithium Polymer batteries. They seem great, because they are so lite. However, the ones we test were garbage. They did not give good run time, and seemed to fail after about 10 chargings. We have had the best luck with these batteries we supply. They are robust in their design give excellent run time, and with proper care, are very reliable. I have been using mine for over 2 years.

4. The charger. This has been our greatest challenge. We have finally found what I consider is THE BEST charger on the market for this battery. This charger has a digital read out that tells you when the battery is 25, 50, 75, 100 percent charged. No more guessing. AC and DC equipped, 100v or 220V, we even provide the proper Aussie mains plug adaptor with the diagonal blades for our prospecting customers Down Under. These chargers seem to charge the batteries in about half the time as other chargers.

There is nothing that comes close to the performance this Gold Screamer Power Pack system offers.

A WORD OF ADVICE and CAUTION: I have had a few instances of late in which prospectors are out in the field and they complain that the Gold Screamer has just quit working all together. IN EVERY INSTANCE THIS WAS OPERATOR ERROR !!!!

What has happened is that the operator has not been dilligent in exercising care in sliding the battery onto the battery mounting plate on the Gold Screamer regulator. You must make sure the battery is sitting flat on the plate before you slide it forward and lock it into place. What is happening is that operators are not using caution when sliding the battery forward and are bending the contact pins of the regulator down under the battery. The battery has two female holes for the pins to go into. When the pins slide under the battery there is no contact, and hence the system dows not operate. Simple fix. Remove your battery, carefully use a small screw driver and bend the pins back in proper alignment, and carefully mount the battery so the pins enter the female connection terminals on the battery.

Pictured below is the sytem as it is currently offered. For a limited time, until we run out of stock, we are also including FREE a second economy charger. It's not a great charger, but it will allow you to keep both batteries topped off until your next outting.

Thanks! Call Rob to order your Gold Screamer Power Pack,

Doc

[NvDoug]

Hello Doc,

I bought this system from Rob along time ago and it does a great job with my 3500. I love being able to set the detector down and not be attached to it and the lighter weight is great!!! I only wish I would of payed more attention when I charged one of the batteries. I did exatly what you said. . . except is was on the charger and not the regulator.(thank God) I wonder if that created the battery not lasting long in the field as posted under the Minelab discussion forum. For the time being; Will the previous charger offered with the system back then, charge the better 7000mAh 7.4v batteries now included in the system? Is the digital charger also offered seperately? As I already have the regulator and siginal enhancer and speaker.

I want to also thank you for taking the time to always test whats available out there on the market and providing quality products to your customers. Take care... NvAuMiner/Doug

[nuggethunting]

Hey Doug,

Yes, we have the new chargers on our online store that can be purchased seperately. I like them much better than the prior 2-3 versions. This new charger shows the percentage of charge and also beeps when it's fully charged. Using the new charger I'm able to get more life from even my older 7800mah batteries that I still have from several years ago.

Thanks for the update Doc!!

Rob Allison

[NvDoug]

Hey Rob,

That sounds great!! I should of checked out your online store first. . . I appreciate the fast responce.

[pkirkll]

That new charger may very well bring life back to your old battery.... maybe????

[barry]

I must be doing something wrong, the best life I get from the batteries are 11 to 12 months and I had four crap out at 4 months. I have purchased all from Rob, probably 12 in total. There doesn't seem to be a rhyme or reason since I have used the same charger for all. Maybe I am charging them too often. I wait until the GPX 5000 signals the battery is low and at that time I replace it with a fresh one. I charge the tired one for 8 to 10 hours. Any suggestions?

[pkirkll]

I dont know much about the charging system, but 8 to 10 hrs seems like a long time to have them charging....

Does your charger tell you when they are 100% and then kick off???

If not, I would get a different charger that does... LI Ion batterries on my ebikes are persnickity....you gotta keep them in a certain voltage range or they go haywire..

Speaking of which..ebikes,,my 2500 watt mountain bike should be here soon!!!! I can ride where gas vehicles cant! ----

[nuggethunting]

Hey Guys,

A general rule of thumb I have always been told about Li-Ion Battery care is never leave them sit around long without a full charge & never run them all the way dead. I know some believe differently, but I have gotten up to 2-3 years out of some of the Li-Ion's by doing this. I still have a 5400mah battery from like 5 years ago that I rotate through my cycle of about 4-5 batteries. I'm not sure why this one still is around and lasting.

The new charger seems to make a huge difference. If you have the flat, gray li-ion charger, that don't hold the batteries ...... Well I tossed those in the trash the minute this new one came out. I think the Chinese made those for about $2 in China and they sell in the US for like $35-45. I would also wait all night for the batteries to charge on this charger.

The new charger charges my dead batteries within 2-3 hours.

Hope this helps.

[DOC]

Here's my rules of thumb.

1. Always charge and store your batteries in a cool place.

2. When you are done for the day immediately take the battery off the detector, if you are not going to detect any longer do not put a fresh battery on the detector. In other words, if you are not going to be using the detector that day take tha battery off.

3. Immediately after using a battery fully charge it. Either leave the battery on the charger until you are ready to use it the next time or store in in a cool place. When you are ready to go detecting, put the battery back on the charger and top it off.

4. If you want to kill your battery

a. Use it until it is run down and then let it sit in your truck for two weeks.

b. Use it and leave it on your detector for 2 weeks.

c. Act like it's a NiCad, and leave your detector on so you completely drain the battery and kill the cells.

d. You have two batteries and you mark them A and B. But you only use the "A" battery because your saving the "B" battery. Your A battery will be fine, your B battery will be dead. Lithium batteries love to be used. If you don't use them you lose them.

e. You have your big annual trip to the gold fields coming up. You go every year for two weeks. The last time you used your detector was 12 months ago. It's time to go again in a few days so you search and search and find your Lithium batteries you used LAST YEAR. Don't bother, they are dead.

Lithiums are tempermental, but if you will use them consistently, store them in a cool place, never let them sit without a charge, and keep them topped off you will have no issues.

Doc

[pkirkll]

DOC,

That brought back a memory from the ebike guys,,,,about storing Lithiums---they always said not to store fully charged, but to keep a "maintence charge in them" and of course that would depend on the voltage of each battery..... the reason they didnt store them fully charged was because of a phenomena where the battery would sit unplugged from the charger but the charge would still go up by itself into the overcharged range----- that is just stuff i remember reading cause everybody over there was doing crazy stuff with their batterries trying to get the MOST voltage they could get..... etc........cazy ebike cowboys...LOL

Have you heard of a maintenance charge on your RC Li Ions, Doug?

AND to be clear !!!-----I would certainly trust the way you and Rob handle your batteries.... no matter what I have read over there......

cool and dry. cool and dry

[barry]

The only thing I do differently than Doc's instructions is cool storage, my batteries are kept at room temperature, mid 70's. I'll give it a try. I have two batteries I purchased last September that from day one will only last 4 hours, I have two others purchased in December of last year that consistently last 8 hours. I cycle four batteries, same charging procedure, etc. No complaints, I figured it was just an unusual patch so no big deal. Here's a go figure, prior to nugget hunting, I detected for civil war relics for 30 plus years using detectors that used 4 9 volt batteries. The 9 volts would last a few trip and had to be replaced, it wasn't a big deal since the cost for each was not significant. When I oredered the first replacement batteries for the Gold Screamer, I thought $50. for a battery, you got to be kidding. After rethinking what I had been spending for 9 volts annually I found out $50 wasn't so bad after all and a little cheaper.

[NvDoug]

I also follow Doc's guildlines for maintaining batteries; battery rotation and immediately charging after use while never leaving them stored on the detector. But as local digger, my batteries have been stored at roon temp. I know I let them sit too long without a routine top-off charge and that is what probably did the one battery in. Live n Learn. . . I'll be more diligent with my battery care from here on out. Thanks for info Doc.

Paul, I never did a maint. charge on my RC batteries. I did keep them in a small ice-box w/blue-ice pac to cool them while at the track. We upgraded to fuel RC cars and the batteries are much smaller (they only run the servos). The battery charger I have, when plugged into a battery, analyzes them and determines the appropriate charge. I'll have to check its compatibility with the battery thats ka-put. None-the-less, I do see a new digital charger and 7400mAh battery in the near future.

[pkirkll]

Here is a simple little spot about care and charging Li Ion's''''

I had never thought of the lifetime clock of the "spare" battery starting as soon as it is manufactured.... so regardless whether you use it or not it is going to die too.

http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/helpdesk/the-care-and-feeding-of-li-ion-batteries/124

And while I have been talking a lot about ebikes--they dont really compare to the way we use MD batteries..... when we ebike we run the batteries in a HARD discharge phase and then expect them to jump right back when we charge them that evening.....

I am sure that the Minelabs do not discharge a battery as fast and as hard as we do biking......

I did notice the writer said to store batteries half full...in a cool place.

Charge them up and lets go swingin'!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I can't wait to get to Alaska on the 3rd of june!!!!!

[DOC]

I have heard of the maintenance charge. I have never done that because until we implemented the new charger, there was really no way to tell where you were in the charging cycle. You were either charging, or you were charged. Now with the new charger you know if you are 25 50 75 or 100%, However, keeping them full charged has always worked for me, so if it ain't broke I ain't going to try and fix it.

My estimates are that the GPX5000 machines probably use around .9 amps per hour. So a 7000 mAh battery is a 7 hour battery divided by .9 = 7.7 hous. If you use the speaker you probably use a little more amps per hour.

I think it is reasonable to expect that it will take at least 60% of that time to recharge.

When I say keep it in a cool place, I mean whatever is a confortable temperature in your home is probably a pretty good storage temperature. So if your house is around 75 degrees or so I think you're good.

Storing batteries in a 90 degree plus garage is no good. And if you want to burn your house down, then charge your batteries in a 95 degree garage. The batteries will heat up while charging and rise above the safe operating temperature, and probably catch on fire, so DON'T DO IT.

Doc