Small rechargeable battery to run Lights & FF?

Carl

Carl

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Staff member
Given the possibility my next boat will not have electric start & therefore no starting battery, I am looking for options to powering running lights and my fish finder/gps. (spot light will be rechargeable, no power need there).
Any reccomendations on something small & rechargeable??
 
i use a small motorcycle battery...lights and starting the motor...i charge it maybe once a year, never had trouble
some guys are using the 12 14 or 18 volt drill battery packs from a cordless drill easy to recharge...you just gotta make up a system to snap it in when in use..

if i didnt have the electric start motor i would be using the cheapest ryobi drill battery i could find
 
Carl,

First calculate your power need. What's the draw on the fishfinder and how many hours of run time do you need? Then the lights, draw times hours running with them on. Simplistically, pulling numbers out of my butt, FF@ .5 amps X 8 hrs is 4 AH, add in lights, 1 amp for 2 hrs running time, for an additional 2 AH. So a 12V 6 AH battery should last the day. LED lights will draw less power but cost more. A quick ebay search and a 12AH 12V rechargeable lead acid battery is $36 delivered. Dimensions: 3.98" H X 5.96" L X 3.86" W (7.92LBS) A 8AH Battery is $23.45 delivered. Height 3.74 " X Length 5.94 " X Width 2.56 " If I overestimated draw you may even get away with a smaller battery.

Best,
Scott

 
My pleasure. That Smokercraft looks good. Will he put it in the water to run the motor and verify no leaky rivets?

Scott
 
Water test is not real feasible in that area, long drive to the nearest boat ramp.
He will hook it up to the hose to test the motor.
 
Carl,

Scott gave you some good info. I have run just navigation lights using a 12volt 7amp hour sealed lead acid battery similar to this one. It will get me thru a weekend of hunting going out early mornings using lights. I agree that you would want one about twice that capacity to run a fish finder all day long. It is always best not to draw these down to nothing before recharging, so figure in some reserve capacity.

I happen to use this same battery in other items so I always am able to have one charged and ready to go. The push on terminals work well for quick hook up and disconnect.



Edit; I just happened to be looking at an "on sale" fish locator and made note of the draw for that unit,

Current drain: ................170 ma lights off; 240 ma lights on.
 
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One of my boats has a similar set up to yours; running lights and a fish finder. I also run a GPS unit. I have used several different batteries with good success but I think my favorite was an ATV battery. It is vibration resistant, small, has lots of capacity and won't break the bank. I have also used a small lawn tractor battery and that is what I currently use on my mud motor as the cranking battery. The ATV battery lasted me five or six years.
 
How about a jet ski battery? Lawn tractor battery? I don't think there's a need to over think this. You have a fish finder with a nothing draw and running lights with a nothing draw. For duck hunting purposes you are going to do what, run the lights/fishfinder for 15 minutes from the ramp to your spot? Go to Walmart and get what's least expensive...Just get a $50 "battery tender" to keep the charge up between uses. Scott's a power plant engineer. He probably analyzes how to make a PB&J sandwich......
 
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I wouldn't recommend a starter type battery whether for a motorcycle, lawn mower or jet ski. Get one for an electric wheelchair as these are of the deep cycle type and are made for longer drains. They are also small like the aforementioned starter batteries.
 
I did the exact same thing. I don't use a motor that requires a starter on the duck boat and I got tired of using those battery operated clamp on running lights. I wired the whole boat up for running lights, 12V plug in sockets and switches to turn everything on and off. Last thing I wanted was a huge 12V marine battery. First thing I did was minimize the draw of the lights by installing LED running lights. The draw is significantly less and the possibility that these lights will blow a filament is zero. They should last forever.

Second thing I did was to but a good 5W LED spotlight so I would need a large battery to power it. It will go for multiple hours and does fine for my needs. If you are running large water and need to see at a real long distance, this light isn't for you. Light is the Stanley 5W LED spotlight.

Next thing I did was get the batttery. It is an 8AH sealed lead acid batery. I put this inside a plastic box that I got at Walmart that kids use to keep things organized in the desks at school. Painted it a good camo color and mounted it to the bench seat at the back of the boat.

I get to the landing and attach the (+) lead to the battery and I'm good to go. Just using the nav lights I have gone a whole season without charging the battery.

I wired the fish finder with a 12V cig lighter plug and plug it in when fishing. Never had a problem with the fish finder running the battery down in a day.

Here's how it looks

View attachment duck1.jpg View attachment duck2.jpg

Mark W
 
I use a 12 ah sealed lead acid battery from a solar electric fencer, even use the solar panel for charging when in the field collecting data for research projects. It was a used fencer and I just altered it to serve as an axillary 12v dc power supply.
 
What kind of charger do you use? I've seen them range from $12.00 to $50.00. Just wondering how high-tech I need to go???
 
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Carl,

My boat set up is very similar to Marks. I use a charger similar to this one because I wanted both 6 and 12 volt charging. I'll look tonight and get the brand and model of exactly what I have and pass the info on to you. I've been extremely happy over several years with the one I have.
 
Carl, I have used a jet ski battery for years to power my navigation lights and small led lights in the cockpit of my sneakbox. I only have to charge it a couple of times during the entire season and that was just to top off the charge. It also runs my bilge pump. I have a small trickle charger with that comes with quick connect fittings so you do not even have to remove the battery from the boat.
 
Carl,

The charger I use is made by Schumacker model# SEM-1562A and it is a very good charger for these small sealed batteries. This model has an automatic "float mode" to keep your battery charged without over charging if you leave it hooked up. Walmart has the charger online for under twenty bucks.


The nice thing about the sealed batteries as opposed to a wet cell battery is that they are SEALED. No worries about acid spilling anywhere.

When I get home from an outing, I just plug it in to a quick connect I have wired in and forget about it till the next weekend. Works great.
 
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