Newbie Help...Rigging My Kayak
 

Alright ladies and gents. I'm ready for rigging now and need some input from you fellow vets. I'd like to start off by replacing the batteries that came with the kayak. The seller did state that they might not old a charge so rather than go and buy what I need to charge them I'd like to start fresh. What do you recommend? Although cost is not a major factor I don't want to go overboard on cost.

These are the two batteries that came with the yak. Both are Power Patrol batteries, both are 12v with one being a 3.3ah and the other a 9hr. What does the HR mean?

These are the two batteries that came with the yak. Both are Power Patrol batteries, both are 12v with one being a 3.3ah and the other a 9hr. What does the HR mean?[/QUOTE]


go over to orvac in Fullerton ca they have them foe 25 dollars each.
3.3 and the 9 is the amount of run time they have on a full charge. the 3.3 will not last as long as the 9 will. but some of the ff and pumps don't always pull a lot of amps per hr. i wold test out the ones you have first to see if you can save some money.

Even with a "fresh" battery, you're still going to need a charger after a couple of times out on the water. So, spend the dollars on a suitable charger for SLA batteries and charge each of them. Then turn on the FF and baittank and see how many hours you can get out of them. Hopefully, you can put off any battery purchases for later and go buy some other stuff you're going to need.

When I was searching for a battery source a few months ago, someone in this forum turned me on to this company. http://www.batterymart.com/p-12v-7ah...d-battery.html

The price was unbeatable and it was delivered in a few days. I use the 7ah battery to power my fish finder. There is plenty of juice to last a couple trips. It could also power some running lights if you plan to go out at night.

I am curious as to why you use a 12v battery for your bait tank. Most yakfishers who I know use a 6v battery for this. The pump runs slower but still fast enough and the battery lasts much longer.

If you are going to use both voltages, you should get a charger that can handle both voltages. Pep Boys and Harbor Freight tools are both good sources. Make sure that you get a charger that has indicator lights which show what is going on. I mistakenly bought one once that did not have any indicator lights leaving me to guess if the thing was charging and when the charging was complete.

Bob

Your pump and Fishfinder will have a usage rating in ma (milliamps) which are 1000th of an amp. My FF is 475ma, which means I can run it for 2+ hours on 1 amp (draw will vary if you are using the backlight). So a 12v 7ah (a more common and less expensive battery configuration) will run my FF 14+ hours.

If you are using a 500gph bait pump you either need to use a 6v battery, use a control to limit the voltage to the pump, or restrict the water flow into the tank. Too much water flow into the tank can kill the bait just like too little.

I think the HR is supposed to be ah like on the 3.3ah battery. Sometimes the translation from Chinese to English can suffer.