New batteries in the beacon, please

Printable View

Show 40 post(s) from this thread on one page

09-15-2007, 10:14 PM
Hacksaw

Well, it was a GREAT afternoon of doing Nerf Ball avalanche transceiver practices today....

Avalanche season isn't too far off.......:biggrin:
09-15-2007, 10:24 PM
P_McPoser

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hacksaw

Well, it was a GREAT afternoon of doing Nerf Ball avalanche transceiver practices today....

Avalanche season isn't too far off.......:biggrin:

Or non-avalanche season?
10-20-2007, 06:43 AM
Alpine Dreams

Just a reminder.
10-20-2007, 12:25 PM
hutash

And an reminder to not use rechargeable batteries
11-14-2007, 04:21 PM
BLOOD SWEAT STEEL

87654321
01-29-2008, 06:22 PM
Shaggy

Bump, because I suspect many people here have already put 200 hours on their beacons this season.

It's a bad season to be out there with a half-firing beeper, so change those batteries people.
01-29-2008, 06:23 PM
rideit

And don't buy batteries at the Dollar Store!
01-29-2008, 06:33 PM
tsondaboy

I ve also found that the Tracker cant take the new generation high-power alkaline like the Panasonic Oxyride and Duracell PowerPix.

It works fine in transmit mode, but it mess up the search mode. I was doing a search and was getting 55 m reading even if the other beacon was placed next to the tracker.
11-26-2008, 03:25 PM
Art Shirk

Bump dawg
11-26-2008, 03:49 PM
Moss-Back

I was just thinking about this thread yesterday...

This one, and "A Dozen More Turns". That one needs a bump too.

Watch your step out there, folks.
Please.

.
12-24-2008, 12:20 PM
El Chupacabra

Bump. It's time.
12-24-2008, 12:39 PM
Franz

Quote:

Originally Posted by Hacksaw

If you want to check out Nerfball transceiver practice check out this thread:

http://www.telemarktalk.com/phpBB/viewtopic.php?t=23614

Cheers,
Halsted

im tottally doing this this summer and also hollowing out enough room for a beer can in there and then having competitions to see who can find the beer.
Thanks!
03-10-2009, 12:20 AM
TeleAl

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cirquerider

You will get an alarm when the batteries are below 20%. you should be able to operate 20 hours in transmit and 2 hours in receive as i recall at 20%. I change out anytime its below 50% at startup. In normal mode, it can transmit for a long time. A lot of people change out at 70 or 80 percent, but there is really no good reason to do so.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ripzalot

how quickly does a beacon eat batteries in search mode? i always change out when it gets below 70% and rotate the old batteries to my mp3 player or something.. i keep thinking i might need that extra 30% searching someday.

btw, is the extra cost of lithium batteries justified?

Well, I had some 20% batteries in my beacon (b/c I left it on all night),
and before I changed them, I figured I should perform an experiment.

So, I got another beacon, and I turned it on.
Then I took my 20% beacon, put it in search mode, placed it 5m away, left it.
45 minutes later, I shut it off b/c it was annoying me. It still had 11%.
Energizer alkaline batteries in BCA Tracker.

Anyone else with data, post it up.
03-10-2009, 01:08 AM
Red Peekay

Quote:

Originally Posted by hutash

Does my stud detector even need batteries?

Was that stud or dud detector?????:D:D
03-10-2009, 01:11 AM
grapedrink

Quote:

Originally Posted by hutash

And an reminder to not use rechargeable batteries

why not?
03-10-2009, 01:36 AM
Ripzalot

Quote:

Originally Posted by TeleAl

Well, I had some 20% batteries in my beacon (b/c I left it on all night),
and before I changed them, I figured I should perform an experiment.

So, I got another beacon, and I turned it on.
Then I took my 20% beacon, put it in search mode, placed it 5m away, left it.
45 minutes later, I shut it off b/c it was annoying me. It still had 11%.
Energizer alkaline batteries in BCA Tracker.

Anyone else with data, post it up.

that is an excellent experiment! now i don't feel so bad going out last weekend with only 26%. but i'm going to change anyways.

Quote:

Originally Posted by grapedrink

why not?

because the battery level indicator on your beacon won't give an accurate reading with rechargeables. it may say 50%, but it may actually be closer to 5%.
03-10-2009, 05:22 AM
Scottish_Skier

Quote:

that is an excellent experiment! now i don't feel so bad going out last weekend with only 26%. but i'm going to change anyways.

Most batterys have a very non-linear discharge....
So the output voltage stays flat-ish for most (90%) of the battery life. Then towards the end of its life, the chemical process stops releasing electrons - and the voltage tends to plummet.

The non linear discharge makes accurate measurement of expected battery life very difficult. And a good reason to always change batteries when you get down to even 50%. Especially since avy beasons go out in the cold - which further degrades performance.
03-10-2009, 07:54 AM
grapedrink

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ripzalot

that is an excellent experiment! now i don't feel so bad going out last weekend with only 26%. but i'm going to change anyways.

because the battery level indicator on your beacon won't give an accurate reading with rechargeables. it may say 50%, but it may actually be closer to 5%.

i've never experienced anything like that, why would this happen with rechargeables and not alkalines?
03-10-2009, 09:31 AM
Ripzalot

Quote:

Originally Posted by grapedrink

i've never experienced anything like that, why would this happen with rechargeables and not alkalines?

i think it has something to do with differing discharge rates, as scottish_skier posted, but i'm not an electrical engineer. :redface:

FYI, per BCA: “Batteries: Three AAA/LR03 alkaline batteries. Do not use rechargeable, lithium, Oxyride or any other non-alkaline battery.”
http://tetongravity.com/forums/showthread.php?t=69591

And this one is an interesting read:
http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/s...ad.php?t=70152
03-10-2009, 11:30 AM
Scottish_Skier

yup - ripz is correct...
All batteries have a constant output voltage for 90% of their life time.
Then the output voltage decays rapidly during the last 10% or its life cycle.
This non-linear effect is even more pronounced in rechargables.
So while it might look like your battery has '20%' left it could be just on the verge of dieing, and you actually only have a few hours left

Battery life meters are notoriously inaccurate (they measure voltage, which on the output of a battery doesnt change much during its normal working life)
03-10-2009, 12:04 PM
grapedrink

interesting, thanks for the info
03-10-2009, 03:29 PM
TeleAl

I've got another 11% left in those batteries.
I will have to test out the non-linear theory under 10%.
And, I will do it outside, in the cold.

Then I won't have to listen to it.

The more data, the better. Don't waste your old batteries, record some data.
03-10-2009, 04:23 PM
Scottish_Skier

Quote:

I've got another 11% left in those batteries.
I will have to test out the non-linear theory under 10%.
And, I will do it outside, in the cold.
Then I won't have to listen to it.
The more data, the better. Don't waste your old batteries, record some dat

Look forward to the results!

http://www.tetongravity.com/forums/a...1&d=1236723763

To estimate remaining 'battery life' your beacon simply measures the voltage across the battery and does some maths - however the measured voltage doesnt vary much until its nearly dead... so the % 'battery life' figure your beacon quotes is probably highly inaccurate. Same thing happens on an IPOD - ever had it suddenly die when you thought there was plenty charge left ?
10-24-2009, 09:08 AM
laseranimal

bump for the early season crew

be safe out there all!!
10-24-2009, 10:22 AM
durangotang

It's all good. I got rechargables:fm:

Show 40 post(s) from this thread on one page