Whites Tdi Pro Oz Replacement Battery

[ozziii]

I was also looking at adjustable step down power modules/regulator, input power up to about 30v or similar with an output of between around 2-20v or similar, just depends on the module. They are small as well & could probably fit with 4x 18650 batteries in a modified battery case & adjust to put out 14-15v. Like the one that was available in the USA but couldn't be sent over here, had a little circuit board in it.

 

[lewy]

so jus tried one of these i have had in the car for a while http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/Smart-St...087d05&pid=100338&rk=3&rkt=13&sd=252035225368
it has a switch between 12 ,16,19 volts,works the tdi on 12v,switch to 16v it shuts itself down.seems the tdi may be telling it it is over voltage.Tested my genuine battery pack with one hours detecting on it at 16 volts.

 

[Davent]

Lewy, went for a swing at the place you told me about, interesting place, lots of old diggings, found a little speccie, but had to leave, nearly got heatstroke.

 

[Magilla]

I have been considering getting a spare battery pack for my Pro Oz but the $320 asking price seems a bit steep. It would appear that the standard battery pack is just 8 connected 18650 Li-ion batteries held together with some shrink wrap. I can get 8 Panasonic NCR 18650B cells (apparently the best available) for about $80 or Blazar Protected Panasonic NCR 18650B cells for about $130. I have no idea whether the protected cells are required but even if they are it is hard to see how they come up with the $320 price tag. Does anybody know if I am missing something?

 

[Davent]

Ive been looking into it myself, And I think there is some circuit board that acts as a safty, no doubt you have seen the fires that have come from the hoverboard things that blow up when they are being over charged, the circuit board is supposed to stop that.

 

[Davent]

For magilla

 

[ozziii]

Protected cells are meant to be better & safer, think the protection is against over charging & discharging, can't remember what exactly though. My old man has a fair few of them, we use them in torches/flashlights for hunting & mounting on rifles, torches with a spot beam over 500 metres, love em.
My old man gets his Batteries (& torches) from Solarforce Flashlights, they have Panasonic cells which are said to be the best available & the highest true Mah rating available. They do cost a bit but quality is very good, never had any problems with any Li-ion cells from Solarforce. They have some good deals on their website, they also have a FB & Ebay site, good company to deal with.
http://www.solarforceflashlight-sales.com/index.php

 

[nesral]

There is an easy DIY battery pack for the TDI-Pro on kimbucktwo forum.

 

[Magilla]

Ive been looking into it myself, And I think there is some circuit board that acts as a safty, no doubt you have seen the fires that have come from the hoverboard things that blow up when they are being over charged, the circuit board is supposed to stop that.

I might wait til my battery packs it in and then pull it apart to see if there is a circuit board in there. The protected batteries have a small circuit board on their base to prevent over charging and overheating I think.

 

[Magilla]

Protected cells are meant to be better & safer, think the protection is against over charging & discharging, can't remember what exactly though. My old man has a fair few of them, we use them in torches/flashlights for hunting & mounting on rifles, torches with a spot beam over 500 metres, love em.
My old man gets his Batteries (& torches) from Solarforce Flashlights, they have Panasonic cells which are said to be the best available & the highest true Mah rating available. They do cost a bit but quality is very good, never had any problems with any Li-ion cells from Solarforce. They have some good deals on their website, they also have a FB & Ebay site, good company to deal with.
http://www.solarforceflashlight-sales.com/index.php

Thanks mate, I will have to find a techie that is up on this stuff.

 

[Magilla]

There is an easy DIY battery pack for the TDI-Pro on kimbucktwo forum.

Thanks mate, is that the one put up by Ivanll? It is the only one I could find but it is not very clear on what is involved, seems to be just 4 basic batteries in a holder with a plug connected.

 

[Goldpick]

Pity these weren't still being made by Razorback:

http://z7.invisionfree.com/whitesgoldmaster/ar/t409.htm

 

[Reg]

A simple and cheap battery pack for the TDI or even the SL can be purchased from the US for less than $40 USD plus shipping which is less than $30 USD. This is for a 4 cell TDI or a 3 cell SL setup. You will have to add your own connection. Also, make sure to buy a li ion charger if you don't have one. If you have the original factory charger for the TDI then you will only need to use the proper connector on the battery pack which is a 2.5 x 5.5 size

The company says they use authentic Panasonic 3400mah Li Ion batteries or Samsung 3200 mah types.

Here is a link to what I am talking about.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/14-8-volts-...775794?hash=item33ad5b5432:g:unYAAOSwgyxWVzRo

Now, this is for a 4 pack of cells but the TDI usually has an 8 pack of cells. So, will the detector run fine on this 4 pack? Yep it works quite well and makes the detector a little lighter. Now, don't expect the 4 pack to last as long as the factory 8 pack but it won't be that far behind. The factory pack is a 4400mah and the pack I linked to is a 3400mah.

So, if you buy two packs and carry one for a spare, you will be able to run far longer on the pair (using one at a time) than you can on the original factory battery and still be way cheaper and lighter. I am guessing you should be able to get 4 to 5 hours run time out of each 4 pack.

Make sure to get the polarity right on the connector. If you don't, you will let the smoke out of some parts and that won't be cheap to fix. Remember, the center connection is positive (+).

Reg

P.S. I have already used 4 packs in my TDI that I built up from old batteries. Now, I need to simply add a connector to one of the above mentioned packs and give it a try. That will occur shortly.

One more thing, the original TDI was patterned off the GS 5 built by Eric Foster. He used a 3400mah NiMh battery setup in his GS 5. So, we should be able to get very close to the same run time as Eric did on his GS 5 if we use one of the Panasonic 4 packs.

 

[Reg]

Now, for the SL you can mount a 3 pack inside one of the factory battery tray housings. You will have to cut away some plastic and not use the bottom slide in flat but is works fine. It is tight and I slide a thin piece of ABS sheet (.010) under the battery housing for protection and insulation.

My plan is to mount a 2.1 x 5.5 connector to the front of the control box and connect this connector to the pc board using the two extra battery tie points located on the motherboard. This way I can charge the battery and never take the pack out.

I may use a 2.5 x 5.5 connector which will make it the same as the TDI battery. Now, if I decide to use a TDI 4 pack on my SL or SPP, I will simply mount a removable battery housing to the bottom of the control box and then use the control box housing connector to connect the battery to the pc board. This way I can use a regular 4 pack on my SL also.

My under the control box battery housing will be mounted such that all mounting setup will not interfere with the original factory battery tray. It will also be built such that it will be easy to change batteries.

Reg

 

[Magilla]

Thanks for the post's Reg, much appreciated. I did a bit of research and found a link that also suggested going with a four pack at 14.4V so I ordered some quality cells (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/291618253608?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT) plus a couple of 4 cell holders (http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/391238998043?_trksid=p2057872.m2749.l2649&ssPageName=STRK:MEBIDX:IT), they should be here in a couple of days. I already have a quality charger (Nitecore D4) and I can get the connectors from the local Jacar store. I will upgrade the wiring on the box but apart from that I can't see a problem. It should work out to about $55 for the 4 cell pack and that is with better cells than the Whites pack. It is hard to see where the $320 price comes from.

 

[Davent]

let us know how it pans out Magilla!

 

[Davent]

coulod you wire two of those packs together do you reckon, they would fit inside the housing?
other wise I think a 4 pack will only run my machine for a half day or so.

PS, thanks for adding the links.

 

[Magilla]

Two packs would be too thick to fit in the detector, the standard pack is a pretty tight fit as it is and it is just the batteries without the box. As Reg said, you can make two 4 cell packs up and use them one at a time and get a longer run time than using an 8 pack. About $100 for two 4 cell packs is a lot cheaper than the Whites battery pack. I will let you know how it goes.

 

[Davent]

You da man!
Reckon I will go with this to.
Thanks mate.

 

[Magilla]

My battery holders finally arrived from China, took 3 weeks which is not too bad considering the cost was less then $3 each delivered. I fed some heat shrink tube over both the wires right back to the terminals for some added protection then covered both wires with another tube to keep them together. I then soldered the power plug to the end and put another piece of tube over the wires and plug.



I loaded it with my new 18650 Li-ion batteries and checked the voltage, it showed just over 16v. Happy that all was well I installed it into my TDI PRO OZ. It was a tight fit and with the compartment closed the battery box can not move. I turned the detector on and all was normal, I ran it for about 20 minutes and checked the battery to see if anything was heating up but all appeared good.

I will only be using this as a spare, my original battery should last many years but I didn't want to be 500kms from anywhere and have no back up. I would expect it to last more than half the original battery run time due to the higher rated batteries.

Doing it this way does mean you have to self regulate the batteries so you will need a Li-ion charger that will prevent over charging and you will have to remove the batteries as soon as they start to weaken so as not to let the voltage drop below 3.75v. Allowing the batteries to discharge too low apparently destroys the batteries and also poses a fire threat when trying to recharge. The detector has a low battery warning light that comes on when the batteries drop too low so that shouldn't be a problem.

Just a warning about buying 18650 Li-ion batteries. There are a lot of fake batteries on the market, many are recycled from old laptop batteries and are fitted with a new cover and a 50 cent protection circuit, others are just smaller batteries with some flour or other filler to bring the weight of the battery up. Some of the fakes are rated as high as 10000mah even though the highest produced at the moment is about 3500mah. Do not buy anything with "fire" in the name.The batteries I bought cost me $12 each and are genuine, the link is in a previous post. If you are not in a hurry you can get genuine batteries from here
http://www.gearbest.com/18650-li^^ion-batteries-_gear/
quite a bit cheaper. They carry a huge range and have regular sales, you just have to make sure the capacity is suitable. You can read the reviews to work out what will work.