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Vanquish 540 With Rnb 6000 Battery Pack, Problem ?


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Hello, everyone, I am new to posting, so if I mess up, I apologize. 

I have a vanquish 540 and been using it for about 4 months, then I purchased the RNB 6000 battery pack in Feb 9 2021 for the 540 everything was working just fine until yesterday ( Sunday 03/14/21 ) while in the field hunting I hear a beep and the machine is off, I turn it back on and and it shuts back down in about 10 seconds, every time I turned the detector back on the run time would get shorter and shorter until it would not stay on.   I checked the voltage on the battery pack and it was only 2 volts, but when the detector was on it showed full charge, I replaced the battery pack with the batteries that came with the detector and the detector worked like a charm, long story short, I recharged the battery pack, then did a voltage check and it only showed 4.77 volts, and 8 hours later 4.07 volts, I would think it should be around 6 volts at fully charged ?  I just wanted to see if anyone on the forum had the RNB 6000 and if they have experienced anything like this ?     Thanks   

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I'm pretty sure the RNB pack has a voltage regulator in it, to set the output at 6 Volts. The actual battery is likely to be 3.7 Volt ( nominal ), a typical Lithium cell voltage. So the battery may be charging correctly and fully, but when you try and discharge it, via the regulator, it fails. Or the battery may be faulty, hence not charging or discharging correctly. Or the charger may be faulty, and it's indicating it's done it's job but in fact hasn't.

Presumably it's covered by some warranty/guarantee from the manufacturer or seller?

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Thanks PimentoUK, for the information, I think your right about the regulator, it might be limiting the charge input.

I tried two other cell phone chargers hoping that would be the fix, but not so,  at the time I don't see very much information and spec. on the battery pack.    I will give the dealer a call where I purchased it from and see what kind of warranty it has.     Hopefully some one that has a RNB 6000 battery pack can do a voltage check at fully charged and see what the voltage is.    I will check with the dealer and manufacturer to see what the warranty is and out put volts.     Thanks

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I think it's internally very similar to these "USB Power Bank" devices, except probably slightly tweaked to give 6 Volts instead of 5 Volts output. Many power banks actually give out 5.3 - 5.5 V , probably to allow for a bit of drop on the cable, so it's possible it's running exactly like a power bank, same electronics.

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  • 2 months later...

Pardon me as new to this forum (Just Joined) I wonder why one would need this battery Pack? The rechargeable batteries with the 540 last for Yonks as do Alkaline Batteries also. How much extra weight does this battery pack add to the weight of the 540? Not to mention the cost? I imagine it is not super cheap? How easy is it to carry a spare set of AAs in ones bag? or pocket? 2 sets of batteries would last more than one day continuous detecting, I can't see the value of this none minelab? upgrade product, not to mention problems like what is happening to your unit. 4 AAs in the machine seems a much more logical and SAFER option to me maybe I am missing some point with this? cheers anyway and good luck with geeting the problem rectified. JW Detector Down Under. 🙂

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On 6/12/2021 at 6:56 AM, JW Detector Downunder said:

Pardon me as new to this forum (Just Joined) I wonder why one would need this battery Pack? The rechargeable batteries with the 540 last for Yonks as do Alkaline Batteries also. How much extra weight does this battery pack add to the weight of the 540? Not to mention the cost? I imagine it is not super cheap? How easy is it to carry a spare set of AAs in ones bag? or pocket? 2 sets of batteries would last more than one day continuous detecting, I can't see the value of this none minelab? upgrade product, not to mention problems like what is happening to your unit. 4 AAs in the machine seems a much more logical and SAFER option to me maybe I am missing some point with this? cheers anyway and good luck with geeting the problem rectified. JW Detector Down Under. 🙂

I had the same thought when I saw this product. Honestly, RnB seems to produce products in search of problems that don't really exist. Ok, that's not technically true, but I agree with your sentiment that these RnB battery packs aren't quite as "useful" as they want you to think. However, there could still be reasonable reasons to buy this particular pack:

1. You detect a lot in 1 session. I've never used my 540 for longer than 2-3 hours in a single session, but if you were to detect 8+ hours in a single session with wireless headphones and/or the speaker on high, I can see how using high quality NiMH cells would barely get you through your day. And yes, even though swapping out AAs in the middle of a 8+ hour hunt isn't a big deal, I can see someone willing to buy this RnB pack to avoid that. I certainly understand the appeal when detecting in very muddy, rainy or dusty conditions where there's a rain cover to remove for a battery change. 

2. It's easier for you to charge things with USB-style chargers. Maybe you have these cords already in your office/car/home for your phone, tablet, camera, headphones and other numerous electronics. Instead of having to carry around a AA charger for AA NiMH cells you rarely use, you just rely on the power brick and wall warts you already have for your USB charging cords.

3. You like the idea of not having to worry about your detector's batteries for a very long time. Maybe you detect every few weeks for just an hour or two and you do this for 3-4  months in the late summer into late fall. Depending on how you use your machine, perhaps 1 full charge of this RnB pack will get you through your entire metal detecting season?

4. You're getting annoyed with the AA cells losing their connection with the Vanquish when you accidentally bump it or it falls onto its side in the grass when you start digging a target. This happens to me on occasion and I think it's b/c the battery contacts inside the battery tray aren't that well designed.

Honestly, I think the drawbacks to this pack outweigh the benefits, but that's just me. If RnB can sell them, good for them.

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  • 8 months later...

I know this is an old thread but - The RNB was the best accessory I've ever purchased for my etrac.  I could leave my etrac in my truck for months in the cold of winter.  Then pull it out on a decent day to hunt and the RNB battery was always full.  Plus it was lighter making the etrac weigh under 4lbs.  I bought the RNB for my Vanquish for the same reasons.  Plus taking the rechargeable AA batteries out to charge will soon be a pita.  Now all you have to do is leave the RNB in place and plug it in. 

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One seemingly smart solution would be for the Vanquish to have battery-charging electronics built into it. Perhaps something similar to the XP GoldMaxPower - which used a spare pin on the coil connector ( and the existing ground pin ) for charging. The charger power-pack had a trickle-charge current limited output, for a 14 hour charge. The additional electronics inside the detector were minimal .. from memory, a diode ( to prevent discharge from the connector ) a resettable fuse type device ( polyfuse ) and a resistor to limit the current a bit.
The problem with this arrangement, is it allows you to charge regular dry batteries inadvertently, which is not a good thing.

 

You are right about the tedium of removing four AA's to charge them every time. I have a Fisher F75 that I run on AA NiMH's. Thankfully, it's amazingly frugal, 30+ hours runtime is normal, so it's not neccessary to charge after every session, so I could live with the charging inconvenience.

But I did devise a scheme where I could charge the NiMH's in-situ, using the headphone socket. Trouble is, I also came up with a scheme where the detector couldn't be accidentally powered up ( the rotary switch is easily disturbed ) unless headphones were plugged into the socket. I never actually made either mod.

( a slip of thin card inserted over one of the +ve battery pips sorts out the unwanted turn-on issue ... simple )

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2 hours ago, khouse said:

I know this is an old thread but - The RNB was the best accessory I've ever purchased for my etrac.  I could leave my etrac in my truck for months in the cold of winter.  Then pull it out on a decent day to hunt and the RNB battery was always full.  Plus it was lighter making the etrac weigh under 4lbs.  I bought the RNB for my Vanquish for the same reasons.  Plus taking the rechargeable AA batteries out to charge will soon be a pita.  Now all you have to do is leave the RNB in place and plug it in. 

Or, just get some high quality LSD NiMH cells like Eneloops and put them in the alkaline battery holder/pack. Save a ton of money with comparable long-term performance (in the field and in storage) and you can always use the AA cells for other applications around the house.

Also, keeping lithium cells stored in very cold conditions is not good for their long-term health. NiMH cells? They're more tolerant of being stored in the cold.

The lithium cells do have the benefit of being lighter, though, so there is that. But then again, there are recharegable lithium AA cells on the market that work pretty well. These would give plenty of run time...probably the equivalent of a brand new 1800 Minelab pack, but the rough weight of the RnB pack. However, it wouldn't have the RnB's capacity. So I suppose there are some situations where the RnB pack is "worth" it.

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