fist time out with my sov elite poss bat prob

[roger g]

I have just brought a sov elite i went out last night for the first time with this machine . it worked brilliant i had loads of coins at a great depth on the wet sand. the only issue that i had was that the rechargable batteries were only lasting about three hours . the batteries are fine i use them in my golden mask and i can  easily get 8 hrs out of them good job i had taken 24 with me or it would have been a short night does any one the reason why or is it the way it is set up as i didnt have any litrature with the machine so im not sure could do with some help on this matter cheers roger g 

[nfl]

as a se user myself the batterys should last you well longer than 3 hours ,,did you have a backlight on ,were you using phones ?,,if the prob persists i would consider buying a new battery pack ??

[roger g]

allright NFL there's no backlight and yes I was using phones the sov elite takes 8 batteries ?

[Chef Geoff]

Hi Roger, they should last you a good 7 to 8 hours usually. Can I ask you what mHa they are and did it stop working or was it just making the low battery "bleep"?

[roger g]

hi chef Geoff they are uniross 2500 mah and yes it was an annoying sound every 30 secs or so but it never stopped ?

[Chef Geoff]

Well they should do the job easily My first step would be to make sure the contacts in the battery pod are all clean and free from any corrosion and also that the clips on the machine have a good contact. Then I guess I would check to make sure the batteries are "fully" charged ie overnight.
Have you got a rechargeable pack battery with it? and if so is that also running low as quickly?

[roger g]

hi chef the connections are very clean I have not got a battery pack I charge the batteries in my golden mask when they are charged the light goes of but like I said they last 8hrs and more in the golden mask 3 plus with the boost on all the time ?

[nfl]

as said before if prob persists ,get a new battery pack.

[Chef Geoff]

Oh I agree it should be lasting longer but I think I would want to put a voltage tester across those batteries just to make sure they are all on full power as a battery pack is only as good as the weakest one. Then i'd try a resistance test between each pair of battery terminals just to double check.
I know it's a pain but I would suggest before panicking to buy 8 alkaline batteries and see if they work any better, I know it shouldn't on paper make any difference but it does believe me.
If they work OK and they should last around 20 hours, then you can at least rule out a machine fault.

[roger g]

Cheers all for replying 

[Chef Geoff]

If the alkaline's work OK then I would consider getting a good charger, the onboard one may be doing the job but I expect it's the cheapest type going as it is with most onboard chargers. A bad charger will damage your batteries