Beating the "Blue Brick" drum again

The only advantage of the LiFe batteries over LiPo is they are a safer battery composition.  Honestly though, unless you chuck your battery across your garage floor then try to charge it you won't have any problems with it and the Anker one is in the metal case so it may take more then that to get them to go nuclear.   I use LiPo batteries all the time with my RC planes and have never had one blow up... yet (knock on wood).  I have had some pretty bad crashes too. 
For half the price of that LiFe battery you can get the Anker and it's a higher amp/hr battery and comes with the charger and an output cable.  If you are going to upgrade from a SLA then I think a LiPo is the way to go.  Just don't go and throw it off of a building then try and charge it.     Just my  $.02

For half the price of that LiFe battery you can get the Anker and it's a higher amp/hr battery and comes with the charger and an output cable.

The problem is that you can't really use the mAh / Ah ratings declared by so many of these products to determine how long they will run our electronics.  For one there is no Dept of Weights & Measures type agency that tests and confirms their stamped specs.   Then compare the Anker rated at 20,000 mAh or 20 amp hours to a much larger lithium automotive battery.   Take the Anker apart and you will find roughly 70% of it's mass is actual battery with the rest being space to accommodate it's electronics, connectors, display....   Now look at one of the lithium automotive batteries out there.  One I just looked at is roughly 6+ the physical size of the Anker, 90% of it's mass is actual battery, can provide 500+ Cold Cranking Amps yet is rated at only 15,000 or 15 amp hours.   That is 5 amp hours less than the Anker.   
 
A 7 watt, 12 volt bulb draws roughly .75 amps or that of many fish finders / GPS units.   Hook up one of those bulbs to the Anker and another to the lithium automotive battery.   
Should we expect the Anker to be the winner here as far as how long it will provide the needed voltage for our electronics ?

It would be great if we had a standardized Real World test that would give us a rough idea how the different battery options we have actually compare to each other.     I could put together and would be happy to send the above mentioned bulb attached with the needed connector for those who have a DMM and would then post their results.   We would just need to come up with the cut off voltage where we decided the battery has tapped out.   
I have several "Blue Bricks", new 4 and 7 Ah SLA's on hand and just ordered a lithium motorcycle battery I am looking forward totesting   

Thanks CV.  I was just going to ask if somebody could explain that a bit more.  It doesn't make sense that my 7.5ah SLA and 20ah lithium anker both have the same duration.  And that stupid 10ah lithium battery I tried (earlier in this thread) lasted only 5 hours.  Frustrating there's no available metrics you can use to make purchasing decisions. 

Anyhoo...the female DC out on this anker is a weird size.


(the one labeled "multi-voltage port")

The standard 5.5x2.1mm plug on the LED connectors we've been using is too large.
 
I tried this converter:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EA482ZW/ref=oh_aui_detailpage_o00_s01?ie=UTF8&psc=1

but as it turns out the 3.5mm x 1.35mm is too small.  dangit!  Does anyone know what size this stinkin thing is?

Typical car battery manufacturers use a draw of 3.5 amps to calculate their amp hours.  I'm not sure what Anker uses or if all battery manufacturers are supposed to use the same numbers. 

As far as the size difference in car batteries compared to these is that a car battery is made to provide a large amount of amps to be able to turn over an engine where as the small batteries are made to provide a much smaller current, usually around 3 amps max.

I do agree that a real world test would be nice to have so that we have some concrete data and not just some paper calculations that someone says are true.

As far as a cut off voltage I would say something less then 9 volts since most fish finders will run all the way down to 9 volts.

I think I will stick with my SLA. At least till y'all figure the new teck shiza out

Rory, sorry I don't have a set of calipers to measure the plug for you.  When I needed to find a right angle plug for my battery INSAYN took my battery to our local goodwill and just went through the plugs till he found one that fit.  $2 later I had the connector that I needed and just spliced in the fuse assembly then the cables to the fish finder.

Rory, sorry I don't have a set of calipers to measure the plug for you.  When I needed to find a right angle plug for my battery INSAYN took my battery to our local goodwill and just went through the plugs till he found one that fit.  $2 later I had the connector that I needed and just spliced in the fuse assembly then the cables to the fish finder.

Heh...I thought maybe there was some standard-ish plug size that anker was using.  The lack of standards in all this I find really frustrating!  I guess I am learning alot though.

To add to my bitterness, took the kayak out today and found out the transducer isn't working.  I can hear the pings and everything, just no data on the screen.  Seriously got the bumminbird blues.

Rory, sorry I don't have a set of calipers to measure the plug for you.  When I needed to find a right angle plug for my battery INSAYN took my battery to our local goodwill and just went through the plugs till he found one that fit.  $2 later I had the connector that I needed and just spliced in the fuse assembly then the cables to the fish finder.

Heh...I thought maybe there was some standard-ish plug size that anker was using.  The lack of standards in all this I find really frustrating!  I guess I am learning alot though.

To add to my bitterness, took the kayak out today and found out the transducer isn't working.  I can hear the pings and everything, just no data on the screen.  Seriously got the bumminbird blues.

Welcome to the age of competitors parts ain't fitting what I'm selling, bummingbird Blues suck but at least you know early in the season.... Time for a Lowrence 

As an electrician / bench tech,  the comparison between the "David vs Goliath" batteries was not really so much my asking questions for myself.  More to give a visual idea of how using the declared amp hour rating may not be the best approach when deciding what battery to buy.
Granted I have learned more about batteries from this forum and researching what to buy for myself than any electrical engineering courses I have taken.  With all of the changing cell technologies,  it seems like a science of it's own. 

The problem with the 9 volt cut off is several of the different lithium XXX battery options out there do not provide a 9 volt output option.  With their min 12 volt outputs,  their PCB's shut them down  when getting close to 10 volts.  Also the Eagle and Lowrance models I have spec to need a minimum of 10 volts.     

The problem with the 9 volt cut off is several of the different lithium XXX battery options out there do not provide a 9 volt output option.  With their min 12 volt outputs,  their PCB's shut them down  when getting close to 10 volts.  Also the Eagle and Lowrance models I have spec to need a minimum of 10 volts.   

10 volts sounds good.  I have the 20 amp hour Anker to test if you want to put together a test design I can run it on mine.  PM me your thoughts if you want to do some testing.

I want one of these new Aluminum batteries

http://gizmodo.com/this-super-stable-aluminum-battery-can-charge-a-phone-i-1696150476?rev=1428398088383&utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_facebook&utm_source=gizmodo_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

I want one of these new Aluminum batteries

http://gizmodo.com/this-super-stable-aluminum-battery-can-charge-a-phone-i-1696150476?rev=1428398088383&utm_campaign=socialflow_gizmodo_facebook&utm_source=gizmodo_facebook&utm_medium=socialflow

At 2 volts your going to need a lot linked together.

Got out this evening for a test run with the Anker and Dragonfly 6.  The battery started with 93%, and after 4 hours it had drawn down to 63%.  The display was set to max brightness, and being the first time I had it out I did a lot of playing around with it switching screens, changing settings, etc.   I am quite pleased with how the Dragonfly performs. 





Sorry about the dirty screen.  Need to pick up a screen cover.  The base bracket is temporary.  Seems all I had to make the connection to the Mighty Mount was a Universal Mounting Plate.  The Ram Ball I ordered arrived while I was out testing. 

Pretty sweet setup!

I now have big screen envy   That does look like a nice set up.


hdpwipmonkey,  send me an address via PM and I will send you a couple bulbs and connectors.    I have spent the last couple evenings testing a few batteries already.   Been using a 7 watt bulb which at 12 volts  looks to actually be around  .584 amps draw
A new Lithium "Jump Start" battery that states to be rated at 14000mAh,  shut off around 10.2 volts just short of 6 hours.    A 9800mAh "Black Box with USB output" lithium I just tested shut down right at 10 volts after 2.5 hours.      Both started at roughly 12.4 volts just coming off their chargers.   

In the past I was running a couple of CUDA 350's which state to draw 170 ma lights off and .250 mA with them on.  I have an Mark-4 HDI on the way which I think states to draw upward of .750 mA  Sure hoping it will prove to be a good bit less.

I am hoping demonick will get involved as he did a bit of testing early on with the first Blue Brick batteries and came up with some good info.