VZ-400 External Battery

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kpob46
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VZ-400 External Battery

Post by kpob46 »

Hello everyone,

I have had the pleasure of working with a VZ-400 for several years now. The biggest issue I have with it is the battery. Currently, we use the power cable with battery clips and attach it to a 12V, 35Ah scooter battery. The battery itself weighs approximately 10 kg. When I have to move scan positions, I power down the scanner, disconnect the battery, disconnect the data cable, and move all the equipment to the next position. When I re-connect the battery, it takes the VZ-400 approximately 1.5 minutes to boot up before I can scan again.

Does anyone have a better setup than this? I know you can purchase the cylindrical battery that the VZ-400 mounts on top of, but even the guys from Riegl say its crap haha. I would really prefer to stay in the range of 35 Ah because that typically lasts me an entire day underground. Also, if I could keep the battery powering the scanner when I move it to another position, that would save me time when doing a survey.

Thanks guys.
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Re: VZ-400 External Battery

Post by jedfrechette »

Anton/Bauer (http://www.antonbauer.com/) makes the nicest portable battery systems I've seen.

We never ended up pulling the trigger on it so I don't have specific recommendations but when we were in the market for a VZ-1000 we were planning to setup our own power system for it using A/B components. They offer a ton of options so I'm sure you can find a setup that would work for what you need. You could stick with one big battery [1] or use a hot-swap mount [2] with multiple smaller batteries. You can also get individual mounts with various wiring configurations that, with a little fabrication, could be integrated in to a scanner/tripod mount.

The setup would certainly be a bit more $$$ than what you have now but if it improves productivity it might be worth it. Another consideration is that the A/B batteries can usually be rented both locally and on the internet.

[1] http://www.antonbauer.com/en-US/Shop/pr ... y-86750051
[2] http://www.antonbauer.com/en-US/Shop/pr ... -8075-0044
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Re: VZ-400 External Battery

Post by christopherbyrne18 »

I worked in open pit Iron ore mining for a couple of years and we had a fleet of VZ1000's.
Why are you not using the black external black battery they supply? Weighs a lot less than 10kg's and lasts a full days scanning no problem. We also had the optional cylindrical built in battery and never had any issues with them. I even found a place locally who could re-cell them with original cells for a fraction of what it would cost to send back to Riegl.
Its worth mentioning that neither are lithium ion so will need the cells changed more regularly. I mean, how often are you scanning for an entire day in mining anyway? It doesn't change that fast.....
Generally speaking you are only picking up a few scans for areas that been worked on and the VZ400 / 1000 with its range and speed can do this in minutes. Especially with the option to hard wire a GPS receiver directly to the scanner and using stop and go workflows. We never powered down either but I guess it may be different for you if your underground.
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