Mc Battery, Short Life... Solutions?

[steveg]

Hi all.

I know I haven't posted much since receiving my MC; my apologies.  I have been so swamped with building D2 shafts, that I've literally been able to carve out hunting time only TWICE since receiving it -- and now have a sum-total of only 10 hours on the unit.  So, I NEED MORE HUNT TIME!

But, I must say, as much as I like my Manticore thus far, I do NOT like the battery life.  I hunted the unit in all-terrain high conductors, which is of course the highest battery-drain mode.  BUT, with that said, about 6 1/2 hours, and my battery went from "full charge" to dead/machine shutdown.  This will NOT work for me.

SO -- I'm looking to explore whether or not there's a relatively small portable charger, that I can hook up to the unit, that will charge the battery at about the same rate as the battery drains.  In other words, if I had a portable charger that could charge fast enough, so that IT is what is being "drained" as opposed to the MC battery itself, this would be a solution.  That way, when the charger dies, I'd then have the full MC battery capacity to use.  From this perspective, what I'm hoping to see is a charger that I can hook up, and for at least 4 hours, will maintain a full charge on the MC, WHILE HUNTING, and then when it dies, would leave me with the 6 1/2 hours of MC battery charge available.  That would give 10 1/2 hours run time, and should be enough for me abuot 98 percent of the time.

Anyone have any thoughts?  I expect it would be EASY to hook up a charger that would charge SLOWER than the MC battery is draining while in use, but that might still leave me with a dead MC battery, and a charger that still has capacity available but can't get it to the MC quickly enough.  I want one that will charge FASTER than the MC drains, so that it's the CHARGER that dies, after MAINTAINING 100% charge on the MC up until it dies...

Thoughts?

Steve

[Yatahaze323]

6.5 hours seems very short for run time even running just AT-HC mode.  The manual states the following:

"Going detecting with a fully charged battery is recommended. Typical battery runtime is approximately 10 hours.
NOTE: All-Terrain High Conductors is a high‑powered Search Mode that will reduce battery runtime by approximately one hour."

With that I'd say you should be able to get a minimum of 8-9 hours running just AT-HC mode.

But if you want a battery to charge while you hunt the manual also mentions: Charge your detector with a good‑quality USB charger that has a minimum charging capacity of 2 A @ 5 V.

So get a battery that outputs at least that amount.

Also do you have the screen set to max brightness all the time? If so set it to auto adjust the brightness

Are you using the vibration, button back light, flash light(maybe its turned on by accident)? Turn them all off to save battery

 

[Hunterjunk]

Ouch Steve !  , hope you don't have a dud battery .  Battery life seems pretty good with mine . Have done 6 hours with a ton of battery life left ? Will be doing an all weekend hunt this weekend so will time my battery life . Taking a powerpack and a Nox for backup .

[UT Dave]

@BigSkyGuy has a thread on adding a powerbank to his:

- Dave

 

[steveg]

Thanks for the replies.

I do NOT have vibrate, or flashlight, on.  I MAY have screen backlighting set to max (never checked, so should be at default), and may have button backlighting on (again, never checked, should be at default).  BUT, I charged it all night on a quality Anker powerport smart charger, until the light went steady green, and started hunting about 11 AM.  Battery was dead at 5:30 PM, and had drained to "one bar" at least an hour or two before that...

The GOOD news, I guess, is that a battery change is not difficult; I saw a video on it, and it's not hard.  Anyone know offhand the replacement battery type?  I'm not home, or would check the manual.  Might be smart for me to buy a good, high-quality one in ANY case, and expect that it's at least possible that I have a dud.

Thanks for the info, on the charger, Yatahaze.  My only question is, while those are proper "specs," WILL such a charger be able to charge faster than the MC battery wants to drain, so that it essentially keeps the MC battery at "full charge" until it runs out of juice?

Hunterjunk -- YES, if you could keep an eye on your run time, before the battery dies, that would be great, as I'd then have a better idea as to what I may be dealing with here.  But, it sounds like you are definitely doing better than I am...

Steve

[steveg]

1 minute ago, UT Dave said:

@BigSkyGuy has a thread on adding a powerbank to his:

- Dave

 

THANKS, Dave!

I did see that, but was hoping to do something smaller/less "obtrusive" if possible.  But I would be curious to know how that pack is working for him, in terms of "being capable of charging the MC battery faster than it wants to drain, or not."

Steve

[steveg]

One other thing, I saw where F350Platinum noted in one post that you may wish to get a charger with "Power Delivery," and I don't know what that means, versus just a regular portable charger.  Anyone familiar with this?  (Calling F350, LOL).

Steve

[UT Dave]

Power Delivery basically means it is meant to do what you want it to do 😁.  I'm not certain one of these will keep up with the Manticore, but PD is the only kind that has a chance I think.

This is the one I have.  

Amazon.com: Anker PowerCore+ 26800mAh PD 45W with 60W PD Charger, Power Delivery Portable Charger Bundle for USB C MacBook Air/Pro/Dell XPS, iPad Pro, iPhone 14/13/12 Series, and More : Cell Phones & Accessories

- Dave

 

[UT Dave]

I use it with my cameras for shooting star lapses and on the cameras at least, it behaves as you wish - the power bank runs down, then the onboard battery.

I am not sure, but want to say the connected device needs to be Power Delivery "smart" to work that way though.

- Dave

[steveg]

Dave, good info, thanks.  That's much bigger than I'd hope; what about this one...

Anker 321 Power Bank (PowerCore 5K), 5,200mAh Portable Charger, Compatible with iPhone 13 and 12 Series, Samsung, Google Pixel, LG, and More (amazon.com)

I know it's MUCH lower capacity (1/4), if it works the same way, AND gets me about 4 hours, I'm good.

Another question though, is "what" within the description of the one you linked (the 325 model) shows it to be "power delivery," as opposed to another portable charger?  I thought that's what portable chargers DID -- deliver power.  No?  There's something "special" about a "power delivery" portable charger?

Steve