snippifish Posted August 3, 2019 Share Posted August 3, 2019 Hi folks, so I've ordered myself a TDI SL and spent a few hrs on line trying to find anyone that ships the RnB innovations 14.4v battery to Australia which proved to be an impossible task. So I went on to try and find the highest capacity longest lasting AA batteries for the dry pack and came across the Kentli 1.5v 3000mWh rechargable lithium polimer batteries. I have to say it looks like a brilliant idea but some of the reviews I seen aren't all that great. Now being aware that a lot of reviews are probably BS of one kind or another I have to ask who here has heard of or tried these? The idea of getting a constant 12v in the machine is appealing. Would be good to see some of you electrical gurus out there put them to the test? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Herschbach Posted August 3, 2019 Share Posted August 3, 2019 Honestly never heard of them so Googled.... are these what you are talking about? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim in Idaho Posted August 3, 2019 Share Posted August 3, 2019 To my knowledge RNB does not make a 4-cell li-ion pack for the TDI SL. They DO make a 3-cell. The only builder of 4-cell packs is Reidman, and I haven't found his sales online lately. I did hear he was booked-up temporarily, however. He would NOT ship overseas, however, in any case. The best way to get a 4-cell pack is to make one, or find somebody local to make one for you. I just built one for my own use. Cost about $50. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snippifish Posted August 3, 2019 Author Share Posted August 3, 2019 On 8/3/2019 at 9:12 AM, Steve Herschbach said: Honestly never heard of them so Googled.... are these what you are talking about? Apsolutely that's the ones.. apparently they are actually a bit over 3v each but regulate to only give 1.5v Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snippifish Posted August 3, 2019 Author Share Posted August 3, 2019 7 hours ago, Jim in Idaho said: To my knowledge RNB does not make a 4-cell li-ion pack for the TDI SL. They DO make a 3-cell. The only builder of 4-cell packs is Reidman, and I haven't found his sales online lately. I did hear he was booked-up temporarily, however. He would NOT ship overseas, however, in any case. The best way to get a 4-cell pack is to make one, or find somebody local to make one for you. I just built one for my own use. Cost about $50 Yes reidman was the first guy I tried but as you say he can't ship them here. there is a RnB importer in Australia but apparently he didn't sell enough to make it worth while so won't do it either. Do you have a link to a good detailed video on how to make this battery and charger? I have zero electrical know how and wouldn't want to fry the poor detector Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim in Idaho Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 I don't know of any videos that are specific to the SL. There are quite a few videos on making up the packs. It's just a matter of getting it all to fit into the Whites pack. You have to basically gut the Whites pack. Tale out all the plastic that holds the 8 AA batteries in place, along with all the wiring, excepting the contacts at the end. The batteries will fit in pairs along the sides, leaving room in the middle for a Tenergy controller, which is long and narrow. The Li-ion cells you want are the Panasonic, or other quality brand of 18650 3400 mah, or as much as you can find. The cells can be glued in with hotmelt glue. The cells are tool thick to use the stock cover. You have to ditch it,. and use a piece of thin vinyl or plastic as a cover. The just wire it up as the instructions with the controller say. Not really complicated, but having soldering experience is a big help, and some electronics understanding. For a charger I use a buck converter that will run off anything from 8-64 volts, and has controllable output of both voltage and current. You can find them on Ebay. I generally only charge mine to 16v., and I don't charge at a higher rate than 1 amp. I often use a wall wart as the power supply for the buck converter, but using that, I can only charge at a .5amp rate. Jim Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim in Idaho Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 Here's a link to the buck converter I use as a charger:DROK buck converter Here's a link to the battery management controller:Tenergy battery management controller Battery Junction also has the batteries Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steve Herschbach Posted August 4, 2019 Share Posted August 4, 2019 This old thread may help a little... and this new thread on TDI Beachunter may add a little info... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snippifish Posted August 4, 2019 Author Share Posted August 4, 2019 Thanks for that Jim, this is something I might undertake but not before all other options are exhausted ? Actually I'm going to try the Kentli batteries and see if they work as they should I think I'd be happy with that Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
snippifish Posted August 5, 2019 Author Share Posted August 5, 2019 On 8/4/2019 at 12:36 AM, Jim in Idaho said: To my knowledge RNB does not make a 4-cell li-ion pack for the TDI SL. They DO make a 3-cell. The only builder of 4-cell packs is Reidman, and I haven't found his sales online lately. I did hear he was booked-up temporarily, however. He would NOT ship overseas, however, in any case. The best way to get a 4-cell pack is to make one, or find somebody local to make one for you. I just built one for my own use. Cost about $50. https://www.seriousdetecting.com/product/rnb-innovations-td-6200-li-ion-14-4v-battery-for-whites-tdi-metal-detectors/ This is the one I was looking at.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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