LiPo batteries for fish finder

Has anyone experience with these sorts of LiPo batteries with a fish finder.

I have a standard8Ah motor cycle battery and am finding it is not giving me enough time on the water

http://www.deben.com/tracer-battery-packs.html

CC

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May the odds be ever in your favor..

Those batteries look pretty cool! I have a 12v 7amp battery which I put in the rear hatch. Sometimes I feel like its a bit heavy because if I leave it in there I cannot lift my Revo11 cleanly overhead (because the balance of the kayak gets skewed). A tiny battery like this (albeit pricey) would be pretty cool to have.

Chopcat.....I believe the root of the motorcycle battery problem is its not a deep cycle battery.....so every time you deplete/discharge it and then recharge it, the actual use time (in amp/hours) decreases and slowly becomes useless.
I really like the sealed gel cell battery and charge Hobie sells.....I easily get more than 22 hours use before recharging.

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Dr.SteelheadCatcher
Warrenton, OR

Yes the problem i think is battery memory
I think, if i am looking at the right one that these are sealed lead acid batteries, the same as the one that i have. Not too sure though as i cant find it on the hobie site here.

there are AGM batteries available as well which may be another alternative.

HERE is an interesting article http://www.batterystuff.com/kb/articles ... s-agm.html

Do you have any more details of the hobie one?


Cc

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May the odds be ever in your favor..

I installed the Hobie Fish finder Kit III, P/N 72020070...it has the 12 volt, 9 AH battery, charger, battery holder and wiring harness.

Suggest contacting your local Hobie dealer as there must be a separate P/N for the battery and charger.......don't pick the livewell battery as its a 6 volt model.

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Dr.SteelheadCatcher
Warrenton, OR

If your finder draws more than .45amps an hour you might want a battery larger than 9Ah, otherwise you could be drawing voltage below the 50% mark (12.2V ?) that they say shortens battery life. Depends of course on how many hours you might typically use between available charging.
http://www.kayakfishingmagazine.net/art ... ified.html

The battery article is very good/informative.
The Hobie battery I have is a Remco RM12-9 HR...as in "high rate".....these batteries are very robust and will take many recharge cycles for a long life.
Here is a link to view http://remcobattery.com/e/product/e_14.html

I measured the DC current draw of my Humminbird 768 combo fish finder....the current cycles between 0.25A to 0.33A as it changes modes.....the battery was still at 12.7 V DC and has not been recharged for 3 months as I have not used my PA14 over this winter.

I can go for more than 22 hours before recharging the Hobie/Remco battery.....since it's original design for a computer "UPS back up power supply", the demand under those conditions are severe when the power fails or a brown out condition occurs.
I am very satisfied with the Hobie/Remco battery.....Hobie picked a good quality battery to sell as part of the fish finder installation kit III.

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Dr.SteelheadCatcher
Warrenton, OR

I'm envious The specs in your 197pg manual (Does your finder fix lunch too!) suggest a .313amp draw while in my little ol 36pg manual it suggests a 1.1a draw. Mines a power hog! (I haven't verified that yet) That formula of Allens suggest that just a 7Ah battery will work well for you but my hog needs a 22Ah battery.

Joel_T....The manual is really a "beast"....but the fish finder is actually easy to use. Maybe the 0.31 amp current draw is the "average current"...if I average my two readings it's 0.29 amps...so, very close.
I love the GPS feature to mark specific points and know your track + speed as I troll.
I was lucky to catch it on sale for $200.00 when Bass Pro Shops were closing them out a couple of years back.

For the benefit of Chopcat....I went surfing on my Local Hobie Dealers web page, "Kayak Shed" and found the 12 volt battery and charger with the Hobie part numbers.
Battery http://www.kayakshed.com/hobie-kayak-ge ... 2v-battery
Charger http://www.kayakshed.com/hobie-kayak-ge ... ry-charger

Kayak Shed is a great Hobie Dealer!

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Dr.SteelheadCatcher
Warrenton, OR

Well Doc and any curious, I just checked the amp draw on my 5x HDI and while claimed at 1.1 I'm getting just under .35 to .45amp draw max so far. I don't have GPS like you but do have downscan in addition to the regular sonar. These numbers aren't from in the water yet but covered most of the variables. I'm way more optimistic at battery life, especially since I put a 14Ah battery in the back hatch. I've got the battery in the back hatch liner tray which falls through the opening if pushed on much. I'll be making that tray more rigid somehow.

Thanks for all this.

The remco batteries are used here as mobilit scooter power the larger 12-12 the one available. Which gets to 4kg weight.
I will have a search for other options for sealed gel but it may be that the larger capacity with my humminbird, may need something that might be a bit heavy in lead.

Here are some i am wading through

http://www.justcarbatteries.co.uk/index ... s.html?p=3
Cc

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May the odds be ever in your favor..

Make sure, or at least try to get the F2 type spade battery connections. Those make it easy to disconnect the battery to move for charging.

it doesn't really matter as i have in a waterproof case with a marine connector on the outside

cc

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May the odds be ever in your favor..

Drill battery. Drill battery. Drill battery.

You can buy these cheap cordless drills for well under $100. Two batteries and charger. Forget the drill. Or, cut the base off the drill and mount it in a foam block onto the inside hull bottom (what I did). Changing out a battery is a 5 second operation tops - click one out, snap another in.

The compact 12V batteries I use weigh less than 9 ounces. Each one gives me about 6 hours of FF use, with two being more than enough for a full day on the water. An 18V with the proper voltage regulator will give you about 20 hours of FF use, although it will weigh a bit more, perhaps a pound and a half.

Seriously, I wouldn't consider any other type power system for my FF after going the drill battery route. Anything else is suddenly just way too much trouble.

Guys:

I charged the REMCO 12-9HR (12V8AH/20HR) High Rate batters that I got with my Lowrance Elite-4 DSI GPS / fishfinder the night before. Went fishing for 7 hours and my battery died before I was back in. This is a typical life for this battery (6 hours?). I can't square this with the information in the rest of the thread. Perhaps I just have a lemon? Or did I do something wrong about charging it? (but it doesn't tell you when it's full).

I was going to buy a second battery to bring on the kayak with me, and can't decide whether to get the same type, or go with some other kind as people mention in some places - lithium ion, lithium ion phosphate, Absorbent Glass Mat or whatever.

My instinct is to get something different. I checked "marine batteries" on google. There are some with much longer AH ratings, but they are designed for trolling motors or other things. Then there are lithium iron phosphate batteries, but these are much more expensive. I'm not a battery expert and I'm a little concerned about getting something not suited to the task. I would normally go with what Hobie recommends, but I'm disappointed with the REMCO battery I have.

I'd appreciate any suggestions.