GPX4500 Dead Battery

I recharged my battery last night and this morning it shows a green light but wont power on the detector.

Does anyone have any suggestions as to how I might get it to work again before i hit it with a hammer?

I have checked the cable and it is fine

Have also checked the detector with another battery and it is fine

When I test the output with a multimeter it shows that the battery has only 0.5v of charge

Not the charger?

Hadn't thought of the charger as it was showing the green light but i will try and charge the battery off the 12 volt

thanks for the idea

If I recall correctly, I had a lead with an intermittant fault.
Sometimes when using the machine it would make the shut down noise and show the battery as flat when it wasn't.

I remember I had to go back to the vehicle and plug it into the 12vt charger which would reset the battery. My lead was the problem even when all testing showed it was fine, the fault was intermittant.

Madtuna
Thanks again for the suggestion to try the 12 volt charger .. The battery is now working . The 12 volt must have done some type of reset to the battery

Im one happy detectorist :lol: :lol: now that I dont have to fork out $400 for as new battery :lol:

Good to hear :Y: It was a long while ago when I had the problem as I haven't used the standard Minelab battery for a bazillion years

If your battery ever does turn its toes up, consider getting it repacked or an after market battery like the Batpak which is the later version of the lucky Lark system.

Thanks Martina
I will look into an aftermarket battery

Now the battery is working I'm going to have to find something else to hit with the hammer :lol:

Martina?
Listen fella...what I choose to wear and call myself in the privacy of my own home is my business Quit peeping through my windows!

Not your thumb. :Y:

Martina?
Bob obviously working from the office..

Sorry Madtuna

BLOODY AUTO CORRECT

Yes. I am trying to type on the phone at my office.
After a few beers

I figured it was auto correct....and I've been called worse

madtuna said:

Martina?
Listen fella...what I choose to wear and call myself in the privacy of my own home is my business Quit peeping through my windows!

Click to expand...

Yeah lol,youve got him dressing up as a ex female tennis champ that bats for the wrong team lol.

I've said it before & I'll say it again............ You are one funny bugger Martina.

Rob.

Coiltek at Maryborough can referb batteries :Y:

I'm guessing that somehow it was totally discharged. A charger would then see it as a high impedance, with high voltage and nill current draw, so think it was fully charged. Just needed some A.h input, then the charger would recognise its state. The question then would be - how did it fully discharge?

stick it in the freezer for few hrs that can work

BigWave said:

I'm guessing that somehow it was totally discharged. A charger would then see it as a high impedance, with high voltage and nill current draw, so think it was fully charged. Just needed some A.h input, then the charger would recognise its state. The question then would be - how did it fully discharge?

Click to expand...

The battery was about 3/4 charged when I accidently knocked the 4500 off a 13 foot drop and the battery cable was ripped out of the plug at the detector end
I dont think that it could have shorted out as the white cable had no exposed wires. They broke off well into the outer sheaf

The battery has been working fine since. Taking a charge no problem but the audio started to play up. Thinking it was the cable, I cut the plugs off and re soldered them but the problem only got worse.

Last week the audio stopped completely. I checked the cable and detector with another battery and it worked fine. So the problem was in the battery. I did not want to spend $400 on a new one So................

I decided to open the case as the battey was out of warranty anyway.

Below is what I found


Note the small black mark to the left of the TP102 in the middle of the picture.

On turning the board over

Not a happy Bob

As the battery was still taking a charge with the burnt out circut board I figured that it was the inbuilt amplifier that had fried so with nothing to loose, I cut the red and black wires comming from the coil and cut the green and yellow wires going to the headphone plug and connected them together as shown below.



I took it out for a field test and presto :lol: :lol: The audio now works as good as new :lol: :lol:

Lucky I did not decide to hit it with the hammer

You were lucky it could have detonated !

Seriously did it make any difference to the audio volume? I mean that's what's the amplifier is there for isn't it ?