Transformers And Batteries For 6000 And 7000

[sturt]

Hi all. I use a GPZ 7000 at the moment. I will be looking at the new 6000 early in the new year. I spoke to a supplier today asking if the mains charger for the 7000 is compatible with battery for the 6000. WAS TOLD NO, as the 7000 mains power transformer supplied is 18 volt not 12 volt.

Looking at both systems firstly the 7000 series.   Tansformer   input 240 volt- 0.7 amp    output  output 18 volt- 1.67 amp

                                                                                  Goes to BC 10 cradle   input 11-30 volt  23w max   output  8.4 volt- 2 amp AND  5 volt- 0.67 amp

                                                                                  The battery states 7.2 volt  total capacity 72Wh

 

Now the GPX 6000                                                 Transformer  input 240 volt- .5 amp Max   output  12 volt- 10 amp

                                                                                 Trans plugs directly into battery   input 12 volt- 1.0 amp?  output 7.2 volt- 42Wh

What this tells me is Minelab have produced a new detector which uses the same voltage to run as the 7000 but the charging components are not compatible between the models. Should be.

The new 6000 uses a reduced capacity battery (weight issue?)which  does not last the full day, then you need a spare which you cant charge with mains power until the original is fully charged in about 5/6 hours. After a big day in the field I cant stay awake to swap the batteries so I need another transformer as well?

I am told by the Dealer though you could use the two car power leads as they are connected to a 12 volt car battery. Cheers sturt

[strick]

Choices:

1. Wake up and change battery on supplied main charger 

2. Use supplied 12 v battery jumpers to charge spare at your leisure. 

Strick 

[PimentoUK]

Disclaimer: I don't use either of these machines. But I do understand electronics.

I think the 18 Volt '7000' charger is capable of charging the '6000' battery, as it has enough current capability, it just puts out too many volts. So if you fitted some dropper electronics to lose 5 or 6 volts, you would have a solution.
How are your electrical skillz ?
The simplest way is to fit six silicon power diodes in series, these will drop about 0.75 Volts each, hence 5 volts or so in total. It's not really critical, as the nominal '12 Volts' for charging the '6000' battery can be a vehicle battery, which may be 12 V, but could be 13.5V if it's fresh off charge.
Suitable diodes would be the 3 amp parts 1N5400/1N5401, which are plenty chunky enough to get rid of the modest heat that will be generated ( it could be 1 Watt each ).
A quick look on UK eBay gave these, for example:

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/261860439805

Mechanically, it would be best if you fix them down, so the wire legs aren't strained. I would homebrew a simple circuit board from plain copper-clad PCB material or VeroBoard / Perfboard. Either have all six in series, or two groups of three, one in the +ve lead, one in the -ve lead. How you arrange the plugs and sockets is where I'm unsure. Do they have commonly available plugs etc? One way is to have a socket that fits onto the '7000' charger output, goes to the diodes, then to the '6000' charging plug.

 

However .... this all works if that 18 Volts is regulated. It may not be so: after all the charging dock accepts a wide range of inputs, so if the 18V varied from 15V to 21 V depending on applied load, everything would be fine for the '7000' charger. But it's not appropriate for my suggested diode solution.

[sturt]

2 hours ago, strick said:

Choices:

1. Wake up and change battery on supplied main charger 

2. Use supplied 12 v battery jumpers to charge spare at your leisure. 

Strick 

So, I buy a $250.00 battery and sit it next to my bed? Or I could lift the bonnet of my vehicle outside and connect the alligator clips and hope my $260.00 spare battery and vehicle are still there in the morning. This is just joking of course but I do think the 6000 should be a lot better in design and strength, cheers sturt🙂

[Steve Herschbach]

5 hours ago, sturt said:

The new 6000 uses a reduced capacity battery (weight issue?)which  does not last the full day, then you need a spare

The battery lasts a solid 8 hours if you use headphones, less if using external speaker. Enough for most people, but I do exceed 8 hour days at times, and so I do have a spare battery. My solution is simply to charge both each night. There are many ways one might do that, depending on the length of the trip and available camp facilities. The simple route is a pair of 12V clips hooked to vehicle battery, one as supplied with the detector, and a second purchased set, part# 67-90204 (same as GPZ 7000, Gold Monster, etc). You would of course not want to do this multiple nights in a row without running the vehicle or keeping the battery topped off with a solar panel, or some other method.

[phrunt]

I know it was all about weight with the 6000 and if it had a heavier longer lasting battery it would be edging even closer to the GPX 5000 weight so at release they wanted it to be as light as possible, however do you think it would be possible over time that they would just release a long life battery for it as an optional extra, obviously it will be heavier but the marketing side of the weight advantage would have done it's work by then anyway and the many users will have told their friends how light it feels so having accessories that add weight wouldn't matter as much as the advantages they bring.

My detecting days are usually 8 to 10 hours, normally longer in summer when the days are far longer and I would be a speaker user if I had one that worked so I'm at that point where 1 battery is not enough but a slightly bigger battery would be.

[schoolofhardNox]

3 hours ago, Steve Herschbach said:

The battery lasts a solid 8 hours if you use headphones, less if using external speaker. Enough for most people, but I do exceed 8 hour days at times, and so I do have a spare battery. My solution is simply to charge both each night. There are many ways one might do that, depending on the length of the trip and available camp facilities. The simple route is a pair of 12V clips hooked to vehicle battery, one as supplied with the detector, and a second purchased set, part# 67-90204 (same as GPZ 7000, Gold Monster, etc). You would of course not want to do this multiple nights in a row without running the vehicle or keeping the battery topped off with a solar panel, or some other method.

I can't see the battery being an issue at all. We've always bought 2 batteries if you wanted more that 8 hours detecting time. I've done it for every Minelab I owned, until the equinox would not allow it. I even have a spare for the 5000. Considering how short the battery life is on the AQ, 8 hours on one battery seems like an eternity😄

[Jonathan Porter]

I just use the 12V lead off my GPZ battery charger (or you can also use the 12V lead for the SDC Lithium battery) to charge my GPX6000 battery when out bush rather than use the supplied alligator clip 12V charging lead. The other way to do it is to replace the alligator clips with an Anderson plug, most caravan people run an Anderson plug to provide current to the DCtoDC chargers on their rigs. 

JP

[Steve Herschbach]

I use various cigarette style chargers while in the road, but our cars, or at least the one I have now, do not have “live” 12V accessory plugs unless the car is running, or key in accessory position. My last rig I hardwired in my own always on receptacle. I’m a bit paranoid about it, as I did use the accessory key once, but other things in the vehicle come on, boosting the draw, and I accidentally ran a battery dead. In a bad place, and only got lucky finding a person who could give me a jump. I got an emergency jump kit for that reason. But current car if I want up charge overnight, I’d need to add that always on receptacle, so until then, it’s clip to the battery. Or use a separate charging option. Whatever, lots of ways to go, sure not anything new for me. The worst actually for me was the SDC 2300 and finding a 12V C cell charger that would charge four cells at once - an uncommon item.

Even if the battery ran 16 hours I’d have another. It’s not running time for me, but that I refuse to not have a backup, just in case.

[PimentoUK]

The obvious cheap alternative to using the 18 volt '7000' charger is to repurpose a redundant laptop power supply. They ARE regulated, have plenty of current capacity, and you may have one lying unused; they can be obtained free from family/colleagues, cheap from flea markets/car boot sales etc. They are typically 14V to 18V, use the dropper diode circuit to get them down to 12V or so.