fish finder battery

am looking for the best battery for my lowrance elite 4 hdi fish finder would appreciate some ideas

The trend is to take advantage of the new breed of lightweight lithium XXX batteries.

Here are a few threads:

http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=10029.0

http://www.northwestkayakanglers.com/index.php?topic=12898.0

I have the Lowrance Elite 4 HDI and i went with the Anker 20000mah battery in a dry box.  Works great.  You can find the battery at Amazon here.
http://www.amazon.com/20000mAh-Aluminum-Portable-Multi-Voltage-Technology/dp/B005NGLTZQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427004162&sr=8-1&keywords=anker+20000

Here is mine in the dry box

Pretty sweet. Have you tested how long that will last? 

Pretty sweet. Have you tested how long that will last?

I haven't ran it till it died yet.  I ran it a couple of weeks ago for about 4 hrs and it was down to about 80%. 

I'm convinced you don't have to break the piggy bank to buy a battery that will make your fish finder work for a couple of hours. Just go to your local Wal-Mart and buy a brick battery. Now if you've been saving your pennies you can step up to one with a longer Amp Hour rating that will let you go longer (a weekend perhaps) without recharging. Or you can go lighter with Lithium Technology or both.

A lot also depends on your technical ability and resources to fab something together, i.e. sealed in a custom dry box, soldering & splicing etc. I like to keep it simple and convenient, sealed up and water tight to prevent corrosion, and keep your connections clean and inspect them regularly (and use dialectric grease). Do not use crimp connectors, butt splices, or wire nuts unless they are sealed in a box or bag. Solder your wires and use shrink tubing to seal them up and use marine goop. Use sealing (waterproof) quick connectors to your battery.

Back to your question about batteries- check out the Lithium LiFeP04 batteries that are being used for motorcycles and ATV's. I am currently using a Shorai/Phantom 36Ah but that is way overkill. But I am using it since I have it. Using and adapting a cordless drill battery & charger is another way to go that can get you in cheap probably from a second hand store. That Anker looks like a great option, but I'm not sure how "marine duty" grade it will fare in the long run.

One thing to remember is when you are sizing a battery by Amp Hours (Ah) don't be fooled into thinking a 7Ah battery (7000mAh)  will let you use your fish finder for 7 hours before recharge. Battery voltage will drop to a point in which your fish finder will stop working and that's not ZERO volts so you are only using part of your batteries capacity. That's harder on a battery anyway to discharge them so low (much below 12V) anyway.

I haven't ran it till it died yet.  I ran it a couple of weeks ago for about 4 hrs and it was down to about 80%.

That's a sweet set up and the price isn't too high. I may have to pick one up for myself. I like that it tells you how much battery life you have left. The light weight also makes it nice. I'm convinced. I'm going to do some shopping right now, haha.

thanks for all the good advice. that should get me on my way I just can't wait to start marking fish and finding hidden structure.

I'm convinced you don't have to break the piggy bank to buy a battery that will make your fish finder work for a couple of hours. Just go to your local Wal-Mart and buy a brick battery. Now if you've been saving your pennies you can step up to one with a longer Amp Hour rating that will let you go longer (a weekend perhaps) without recharging. Or you can go lighter with Lithium Technology or both.

A lot also depends on your technical ability and resources to fab something together, i.e. sealed in a custom dry box, soldering & splicing etc. I like to keep it simple and convenient, sealed up and water tight to prevent corrosion, and keep your connections clean and inspect them regularly (and use dialectric grease). Do not use crimp connectors, butt splices, or wire nuts unless they are sealed in a box or bag. Solder your wires and use shrink tubing to seal them up and use marine goop. Use sealing (waterproof) quick connectors to your battery.

Back to your question about batteries- check out the Lithium LiFeP04 batteries that are being used for motorcycles and ATV's. I am currently using a Shorai/Phantom 36Ah but that is way overkill. But I am using it since I have it. Using and adapting a cordless drill battery & charger is another way to go that can get you in cheap probably from a second hand store. That Anker looks like a great option, but I'm not sure how "marine duty" grade it will fare in the long run.

One thing to remember is when you are sizing a battery by Amp Hours (Ah) don't be fooled into thinking a 7Ah battery (7000mAh)  will let you use your fish finder for 7 hours before recharge. Battery voltage will drop to a point in which your fish finder will stop working and that's not ZERO volts so you are only using part of your batteries capacity. That's harder on a battery anyway to discharge them so low (much below 12V) anyway.

I read you saying this in a lot of threads and here's the bit: I can get several of the little12v 10amp external batteries for the cost of one LiPo battery, and the total lifespan of my several will outlast the one.  Just my thoughts on it.

A LiIon battery is not sensitive to charge or discharge.  It seem to me that you may be confusing LiIon with NiMH.  A NiMH battery does have a memory and a NiMH battery's lifespan is greatly reduced by drawing it down to full discharge.  That's why LiIon replaced NiMH technology.

I do think the LiPo batteries are the next wave in battery technology and I think they'll be great when the market increases and the prices drop.  I'm just not an early adopter...

I'm inclined toward a Lithium battery for many reasons, but, I want to be sure that I understand capacity correctly, specifically, what a mAh rating really means. The short story is that I *think* that the amp hour rating is dependent on operating voltage and that Watt hrs is what directly relates to how long we can power a given device with a battery.

Let's assume that we have a battery (Batt1) that operates at 12V and is rated at 10 Ah. Total battery power = 12V * 10 Ah = 120 Watt Hrs.

The second battery is rated for 3V and 10 Ah. Total battery power = 3V * 10 Ah = 30 Watt Hrs.

So even though we have two batteries with the same Ah rating, one has 4X the power of the other.

That takes me to the Anker 20000 mAh Lithium battery. Given that the minimum operating voltage is 5V, I assume that's what is used for calculating the mAh, and if so, total battery power is 5V * 20 Ah = 100 Watt Hrs. And, through the wonders of basic math, 100 Watt hrs / 12V = 8.3 Ah (8300 mAh at 12V)...assuming perfect efficiency boosting power from 5V to 12V.

Is that close enough to a correct understanding of the relationship between voltage, amh hours and watt hrs to assess battery performance?

Thanks!
Dave

My SLA works fine, I think I hurt my brain trying to read all that. If and when my brick stops working I'll buy another brick. I can go 2-3 days out of PC on one charge.

Your fish finder is rated for amperage draw per hour.  Why worry about wattage if the battery's not being used to run light bulbs?

(I'm not being a butt)

I'm inclined toward a Lithium battery for many reasons, but, I want to be sure that I understand capacity correctly, specifically, what a mAh rating really means. The short story is that I *think* that the amp hour rating is dependent on operating voltage and that Watt hrs is what directly relates to how long we can power a given device with a battery.

Let's assume that we have a battery (Batt1) that operates at 12V and is rated at 10 Ah. Total battery power = 12V * 10 Ah = 120 Watt Hrs.

The second battery is rated for 3V and 10 Ah. Total battery power = 3V * 10 Ah = 30 Watt Hrs.

So even though we have two batteries with the same Ah rating, one has 4X the power of the other.

That takes me to the Anker 20000 mAh Lithium battery. Given that the minimum operating voltage is 5V, I assume that's what is used for calculating the mAh, and if so, total battery power is 5V * 20 Ah = 100 Watt Hrs. And, through the wonders of basic math, 100 Watt hrs / 12V = 8.3 Ah (8300 mAh at 12V)...assuming perfect efficiency boosting power from 5V to 12V.

Is that close enough to a correct understanding of the relationship between voltage, amh hours and watt hrs to assess battery performance?

Thanks!
Dave

Yup, nailed it.

Your fish finder is rated for amperage draw per hour.  Why worry about wattage if the battery's not being used to run light bulbs?

(I'm not being a butt)

Because converting to watt-hours normalizes different voltage/current ratings so that everything is on a level playing field and you can compare them easily.

My SLA works fine, I think I hurt my brain trying to read all that. If and when my brick stops working I'll buy another brick. I can go 2-3 days out of PC on one charge.

When taking into account energy density, reliability, durability, price, and ease of use, SLA batteries are still king in my book, which is why I still use one.