GPX 6000 Battery Problems? Any Help

[WesD]

Yep, you wont get a full day on these batteries. Think I got about 6 hours also, with the speaker on.

[dig4gold]

For an NZ$9000 detector it should come with two batteries. 6 hours detecting off one battery isn't good enough when out in the field. Especially when in remote areas that takes time to get in to & you want to make the most of a long day detecting.

D4G

[Nedkelly]

Yes, I don't get a full day either. I have found the battery indicator at the top of the screen is only a rough guide at best. I now swap battery's halfway through the day when I go back to the car for lunch and a break, and put it on the charger straight away because they take so bloody long to charge, otherwise if I charge at night I have to get up during the night to change battery's. Backlight always off.

[Dutchman4]

24 minutes ago, Nedkelly said:

Yes, I don't get a full day either. I have found the battery indicator at the top of the screen is only a rough guide at best. I now swap battery's halfway through the day when I go back to the car for lunch and a break, and put it on the charger straight away because they take so bloody long to charge, otherwise if I charge at night I have to get up during the night to change battery's. Backlight always off.

I do the same.  I modified the 12V DC charging cable by cutting off the battery clamps and soldering/heatshrink on a 12V car/cigarete lighter plug in adapter.  When I get back to my truck for lunch break I immediately plug the battery it in to my Jackery-300 to top off the charge during 1 hour lunch break and this way I can get a full day of detecting on one battery.

[Nedkelly]

41 minutes ago, Dutchman4 said:

I do the same.  I modified the 12V DC charging cable by cutting off the battery clamps and soldering/heatshrink on a 12V car/cigarete lighter plug in adapter.  When I get back to my truck for lunch break I immediately plug the battery it in to my Jackery-300 to top off the charge during 1 hour lunch break and this way I can get a full day of detecting on one battery.

Yea same ,end up getting a cigarette charging plug after forgetting about the detector battery hooked up to the car battery and driving off a few times. Luckily it fell between battery and firewall and no damage done. Hate to think what would've happened if the battery or lead hit the fan or the belts or dropped straight through and dragged along the road by the lead.

[Gerry in Idaho]

Billy, What did you find out about the detector battery or detector failure? If battery is dead,  it should be under warranty.  Keep me updated and sorry to hear of your issues. 

[Goldseeker5000]

I get about 4 hours on each battery. Some days I run both empty in about 6.5 hours

[billdean]

13 hours ago, Gerry in Idaho said:

Billy, What did you find out about the detector battery or detector failure? If battery is dead,  it should be under warranty.  Keep me updated and sorry to hear of your issues. 

Hey Gerry….I found a guy in Quartzsite with a 6000 and my machine power up just fine with his battery. So it was the battery. I noticed a little green corrosion on the battery itself. Phunt and Jeff helped me out with how to clean it, all though it took about 3 good cleanings to get it working again. I ended up scraping the contacts a little bit, cleaned with alcohol, and used a pencil eraser. I had stored the battery separate from the machine and some how it must of got moisture in it. I took the 6000 out yesterday for a test run and it worked great the 2 hours I was out there. 

[Gerry in Idaho]

32 minutes ago, billdean said:

Hey Gerry….I found a guy in Quartzsite with a 6000 and my machine power up just fine with his battery. So it was the battery. I noticed a little green corrosion on the battery itself. Phunt and Jeff helped me out with how to clean it, all though it took about 3 good cleanings to get it working again. I ended up scraping the contacts a little bit, cleaned with alcohol, and used a pencil eraser. I had stored the battery separate from the machine and some how it must of got moisture in it. I took the 6000 out yesterday for a test run and it worked great the 2 hours I was out there. 

Great to hear that and glad you're up and running. DP members helping others is always a great 👍 

[phrunt]

Sounds like you need a can of this handy, in fact everyone should have some floating around for times just like this.

Amazon.com: CRC CO Contact Cleaner 02016 – 14 WT OZ, Plastic Safe Electronics Cleaner, Ideal for Sensitive Electronic Equipment : Automotive

You can use it on your dirty coil connectors too, and your headphone sockets etc... a handy product for a detector owner to have.  You can also use very fine sand paper to help clean up the terminals if they get some corrosion on them.

There are plenty of brands and types on the market, be sure to use one that's plastics safe like this CRC one, some of them eat into plastics.

This stuff really works miracles, some examples for me, my phone stopped registering sim cards, too much dirt got in there detecting I guess, fix it with a spray into the sim slot.  My Canon EOS camera would get memory card problems saying the cards were not responding, a spray of this fixed it.  The list goes on and on, I've fixed so many things using this and similar sprays.

Out of interest, the people getting shorter than expected battery life from their 6000 batteries, when they first got the detector did they fully charge the battery before turning on the detector for the first time?