jbclimber Posted April 2, 2003 Share Posted April 2, 2003 Hi group. FYI, I tested my Rino 120 with 4 types of batteries, to check how long they would last. My test was un-scientific. I left the radio/GPS on, and had the Rino in the same location for each of the tests. The Rino was indoors and had intermittent satellite reception. Results: battery battery life hrs:mins (unit turned off) lithium energizer E2 22:35 nimh energizer 1850mah 4:45 nimh powerizer 2000mah 9:45 Rayovac alkaline 15:15 Note that the lithium batteries are also the lightest and best performing in cold weather. Quote Link to comment
+Cadence Posted April 2, 2003 Share Posted April 2, 2003 Nice test. Makes you wonder what makes the Lithium E2 last one and a half times that of a regular alkaline. Couple of questions... Was WAAS enabled? Any activity on the radio channel used? Were the Powerex 2000's used multiple times, or is that a first charge out of the box? Again, nice test, thanks! OT Quote Link to comment
spyder40 Posted April 2, 2003 Share Posted April 2, 2003 jbclimber I did essentially the same test yesterday/today with new Powerex 2000mah batteries. First cycle for the batteries out of a Maha 401 on slow charge did 13+ hours. Started at 12:45 yesterday and it was still running this morning at 1:35. Turned on the backlight and it went from one bar to none but continued working. Watched it for awhile then went back to bed. Got up at 4:44 and it was off. Trying the same thing again today with another new set of Powerex 2000's, same charger, same radio, only this time with channel scanning turned on. Been running since 8:00 this morning and still only one bar gone. Total time so far is 8 hours. Have noticed one odd thing, went inside and lost sats, went back out and couldn't get a lock. Turned off channel scanning and got lousy accuracy. Powered the Rino off/on and accuracy was back to great (teens). Not sure if this really means anything but... Quote Link to comment
jbclimber Posted April 2, 2003 Author Share Posted April 2, 2003 Yes, WAAS was enabled, but the GPS did not have WAAS accuracy. No radio activity and I did not transmit. The nimh batteries were cycled just one time prior. I assume that if you have radio traffic and transmit, the times will be significantly reduced. Lithium batteries are advertised as having a higher capacity than alkaline, but of course are more pricey. - John Quote Link to comment
+Uplink Posted April 2, 2003 Share Posted April 2, 2003 I have heard that NiMH batteries do not reach their full capacity until they have been cycled a few times, so out of the box is probably not the best time for a test. Quote Link to comment
+Cadence Posted April 3, 2003 Share Posted April 3, 2003 Thank you for the response JB, and thanks again for testing. OT Quote Link to comment
spyder40 Posted April 3, 2003 Share Posted April 3, 2003 Finished my second test of new Powerex 2000's after their first charge in my Rino 120. Same 120 as earlier test, GPS on, WAAS on, radio on, channel scanning on most of the time, pick up of conversations during scanning but no transmitting, and use of the backlight in the evening. Ended up dying not long after the low battery warning (30 minutes?) which was 9:30 for a total time of 13 1/2 hours. I've got a second unit which I might test to see how close the two units are. Plan on doing some geocaching tomorrow/this weekend if the rain stays away. I'll try to keep an eye on the time for a real world test. Have another ten new Powerex 2000's so it will be after first charge again. I've numbered my cells and created a spreadsheet to track them, it will be interesting to try this all over again after 5-6 cycles on the batteries. Didn't have a problem with channel scanning and accuracy other than the one time. In the evening I was at my son's soccer practice (pretty open area other than one story schools to the east and west of me) and had solid 7' accuracy. Wondering if the earlier anomaly was due to being inside for about 4 hours without a signal. Quote Link to comment
spyder40 Posted April 3, 2003 Share Posted April 3, 2003 Just received this on the Yahoo Rino group: I once measured the current that my Rino 110 draws under various conditions. I used a bench power supply set at 4.5 volts. Here is what I observed: Radio on, gps on, 115 mA Radio on, gps off, 80 mA Radio off, gps off, 40 mA Radio off, gps on, 75 mA Radio on, gps off, transmit on FRS, 340 mA Radio on, gps off, transmit on GMRS, 360 mA Radio on, gps on, transmit on FRS, 350 mA Radio on, gps on, transmit on GMRS, 370 mA These numbers might give some idea of how long one might expect batteries to last. But certain battery types hold up better under heavy current draw than others. Lithium, NiCd, and NiMH perform better than alkalines. It is interesting to note that the current draw is essentially the same when transmitting on both FRS and GMRS. This seems consistent with field observations of signal strength. Bob Quote Link to comment
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