Battery Questions

[ccacher1]

I searched around on the forum and found many of the answers to my questions but still have a couple more about rigging up my fish finder and live well pump. I have a SLA 12v 9ah battery and am hoping to use just this battery to power both a Lowrance Elite-4x FF as well as a tsunami 500gph pump. The reason for me wanting to use one battery is because I have a smaller kayak and can't have the added weight if possible. The questions I have are...

1.) Is anyone else running a single battery this size or smaller for both?
2.) Can you just use an adjustable aerator head on the live well pump to decrease the water flow from a 12v battery or would I actually need to run a timer switch?
3.) If I do use a timer switch for the live well pump would this drastically increase my battery life?
4.) If a 12v 9ah battery simply isn't enough to run both for 6ish hours even with a timer switch, would a 12v 10ah battery be enough?

Thanks in advance for any tips/advice.

[ful-rac]

Simple, run 2 batteries, 12v main for your Fishfinder and a 6v for your bait tank. No timers, resistors, step down transformers, variable adjustable voltage adjuster thingamjiggys, aircraft parts...you get the picture keep it simple.

[ful-rac]

If your worried about weight look into lifepo4 batteres or lithium ion, or nickel metal hydride batteries.

[ccacher1]

Originally Posted by ful-rac

Simple, run 2 batteries, 12v main for your Fishfinder and a 6v for your bait tank. No timers, resistors, step down transformers, variable adjustable voltage adjuster thingamjiggys, aircraft parts...you get the picture keep it simple.

Ya, I bought a 12v and a 6v but am nervous about being too close to my kayak weight capacity so was looking for another option. Might have to use both I guess though.

[ccacher1]

Originally Posted by ful-rac

If your worried about weight look into lifepo4 batteres or lithium ion, or nickel metal hydride batteries.

Hmm, alright will take a look at those. Thanks.

[ful-rac]

I your close to your kayak weight capacity....do yourself and your family a favor and buy a bigger kayak...looks like you need to go visit the Iceman today.

[jorluivil]

Originally Posted by ccacher1

I searched around on the forum and found many of the answers to my questions but still have a couple more about rigging up my fish finder and live well pump. I have a SLA 12v 9ah battery and am hoping to use just this battery to power both a Lowrance Elite-4x FF as well as a tsunami 500gph pump. The reason for me wanting to use one battery is because I have a smaller kayak and can't have the added weight if possible. The questions I have are...

1.) Is anyone else running a single battery this size or smaller for both?

No, and I wouldn't recommend it.

2.) Can you just use an adjustable aerator head on the live well pump to decrease the water flow from a 12v battery or would I actually need to run a timer switch?

I don't know of any internal way of switching it but if you run a 6volt battery you will be reducing the gph. If you plan on running one battery for both things I would definitely get a timer but I wouldn't recommend one battery for both units.

3.) If I do use a timer switch for the live well pump would this drastically increase my battery life?

Yes, but again, you still run the risk of draining your battery.


4.) If a 12v 9ah battery simply isn't enough to run both for 6ish hours even with a timer switch, would a 12v 10ah battery be enough?

Its all a matter of $$$. If you plan on fishing a lot don't be cheap, get yourself something that will last like the LiFePO4 for your sonar/gps, at about $175 its not cheap but its definitely worth the money.

For your bait tank get a 6v/12a, this will last way more than 6hrs, just don't run it dry or you'll kill it. Last year during the Islander Mothership trip I ran my 6v/12a bait tank battery from 6am until 8pm, its was still fairly new but that will give you an idea as to how long they usually run.

Thanks in advance for any tips/advice.

If you plan on fishing at least 2-3 times a month don't be cheap with these types of things, get something that will last the day and will still be working months from now.

[ccacher1]

Thanks jorloivil. Great advice.

[ccacher1]

I've read those Bioenno batteries are really good, only problem is I can't find the 12v 9ah Bioenno anywhere because they are backordered.

[Witty1]

I'm running a 12V 12ah LiPo... weighs 3lbs.
and have a 12V 4ah LiPo as a backup weighs less than a lb.

I purchased both of these from ebay.
If you go with LiPo off of Ebay, buy from sellers in the states. NOT CHINA

the 12V 12ah one I got from a company in San Franscisco and the 4ah from Irvine.

[ccacher1]

Originally Posted by Witty1

I'm running a 12V 9ah LiPo... weighs 3lbs.
and have a 12V 4ah LiPo as a backup weighs less than a lb.

I purchased both of these from ebay.
If you go with LiPo off of Ebay, buy from sellers in the states. NOT CHINA

the 12V 9ah one I got from a company in San Franscisco and the 4ah from Irvine.

Ya, I think I'm going to have to look to eBay because the Bioenno 12v 9ah is backordered. I'm looking at a 12v 10ah made in the US by Bamboo...

[FISH11]

I run a Lowrance 4 fish finder and my live well bucket with a 300gph pump on 1 12v 10ah battery. I installed a timer from Kayak fishing supplies. It's just a mojo timer that is for use on decoys. It's programable and I set it for 15 seconds on and 20 seconds off. It just keeps cycling through that and the voltage when fully charge starts at 12.7v and after 10 or 11 hours it still has 11.8v. Works great and the timer is inside my battery box. It's small and hardly uses any space and does not weigh anything. It does not require another battery and battery box witch would weigh more and also need re-charging. The timer cost like $35. Hope this helps. Good luck. Tight Lines

[ccacher1]

Thanks for the responses. I went ahead and bought a 12v 10ah lifpo4 that I'll just run my fish finder with. Will probably just use the 6v SLA I have for the bait pump until I can justify spending another $100 on a 6v lifpo4 battery.