What battery type to use?

[creekrat]

john,switching batteries i will try that.what do you do put a dot on one battery to know which is what.....creek

[johnj45586]

A long time ago I bought some paper labels to do address labels. The smallest package had far more than I needed. So I write numbers on them, cut them out and label the batteries.
I have used several other types of batteries that claim to be as good as copper tops, none come close. So the best thing is to keep an eye on sales and rebate offers.
Happy hunting.

[pris]

Very informative post! Y'all could teach a class on batteries. They're definitely the wave of the future. I heard there was a HUGE breakthrough in cell life (for cars) that is supposed to revolutionize the battery industry.

[riki727]

Okay..veering off subject slightly...WHY does the use of headphones make your batteries last longer? I have to admit, I don't use any at all - makes me extremely nervous not to be able to hear what's going on around me.

[julieburger]

If you have an Ingles near you they put Rayovac 9V on sale every other week for $0.98. They are good batteries and the price is unbeatable.

[pris]

Hey Rikki, the speaker pulls much more juice from the batteries than a pair of headphones would.

[MinelabMan]

What Pris said, and also, you can hear the faint deep signals better.

One thing though, I don't think that the ACE has a volume control so if you get headphones, you'll need ones that have a volume control. You're welcome to use my extra pair, I think once you use them, you'll always use them.

[Jack D]

Originally Posted by riki727

Okay..veering off subject slightly...WHY does the use of headphones make your batteries last longer? I have to admit, I don't use any at all - makes me extremely nervous not to be able to hear what's going on around me.

I've been using these for years to watch TV. It keeps the wife from yelliing "TURN THAT THING DOWN". I can hear outside sounds very well with these on.....I'm using this set with my MD and they are perfect. I can hear the tree frogs, birds and squirrels just fine. The larger sets that look like ear muffs are great for blocking outside sounds.

Ear phones have tiny speakers and they are in your ear, so they don't have to be turned up much to hear them. Tiny speakers take less power to operate and less volumn means less power draw, too.

[johnj45586]

Originally Posted by riki727

Okay..veering off subject slightly...WHY does the use of headphones make your batteries last longer? I have to admit, I don't use any at all - makes me extremely nervous not to be able to hear what's going on around me.

In electrical engineering there is a rule known as Ohms law.
E=IR. Note that batteries are rated in mA-hrs (milliamp hours).
E= voltage, I= current (amps, 1 milliamp=.001 amp) and R= resistance.
If you consider 1 hour of use and the voltage of the battery is constant (let's use 6 volts for this example) you can find the different amounts of current for different values of resistance.
A speaker is generally 8 ohms (and located a pretty good distance from your ears). To make an ear/head-phone comfortable in your ear a rather large series resistor is required. For the ACE 250 that is about 2000 ohms.
So changing the formula E=IR to I=E/R you can see that with a speaker you are using approximately 6/8= .75 amps during the pulses that make the tone. If you are using a headphone you are using 6/2000 = .003 amps during the pulses.
Note that the current draw is not constant, but we will simplify the example as if it were to make the point.
If the battery were 1 amp-hour then the speaker would last 1/.75 = 1.3 hours. The headphone would last 1/.003=333 hours.
In reality with the actual circuit elements (the circuits other than the speaker and the fact that the speaker is alternating current and only used when there is a tone), if a detector operates 20 hours on the speaker it might be expected to operate 40-50 hours on the headphone.
I also do not like to isolate myself from the environment. For instance, I need to hear the trash truck or sand sifter coming! I use earphones placed loosely in the ears. Others only cover one ear with a headphone.
Hope I haven't bored you to death - but you did ask.
Happy hunting.