Fish finder set up

[tirebob]

I ended pulling the plug and ordered the Lowrance Elite 4 Chirp fish finder/chartplotter at the link here...

http://www.thefishinhole.com/index.cfm?action=product&se=29003

As this is going to be used in a 14ft aluminum tinny, I also ordered the following 12v 5amp battery...

http://www.thefishinhole.com/index.cfm?action=product&se=26262

On Lowrances website, they say this will use a 3 amp automotive fuse, so should I just assume I should run an inline 3 amp fuse (obviously shouldn't just direct wire right to the battery)? Also, does anyone have any experience with a battery like that one? How much time should I expect out of a charge with regular use?

[Kingfisher]

If your just running your finder off of that battery it should last you for a long time. Maybe even a week or two of steady use. It really depends on how much it is on. Also if your running an electric off the same battery that will eat up the battery time in short order.

As for the in line fuse you can just get an in line fuse holder from Crappy Tire automotive section,and splice it in to your + line. Then put whatever fuse you want in there. They say 3 Amp so stick with what they say.

http://lestoilesroses.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/02/types-of-fuses-fuse-box-car-bussmann-fuse-holders.jpg

[brobinson]

I used a 3 amp inline fuse from the source, the cylinder type fuses. Mounted it in a 14ft misty river, havnt had a chance to try it out yet.

[cube]

I ended pulling the plug and ordered the Lowrance Elite 4 Chirp fish finder/chartplotter at the link here...

http://www.thefishinhole.com/index.cfm?action=product&se=29003

As this is going to be used in a 14ft aluminum tinny, I also ordered the following 12v 5amp battery...

http://www.thefishinhole.com/index.cfm?action=product&se=26262

On Lowrances website, they say this will use a 3 amp automotive fuse, so should I just assume I should run an inline 3 amp fuse (obviously shouldn't just direct wire right to the battery)? Also, does anyone have any experience with a battery like that one? How much time should I expect out of a charge with regular use?

All my Lowrance finders came with the inline fuse and holder so I would imagine yours does as well.

Given the specs say a 1.1 amp draw you should get about 4.5 hrs with a full charge in the summer. About half that in the winter.

I would get a larger battery ie 9 amp battery or even a couple. I ussually carry 2 9 amp batteries so I can run all day with out worry. If you have the room in your boat a small deep cycle would give you lots of power.

Have fun with your new toy

[EZM]

If your just running your finder off of that battery it should last you for a long time. Maybe even a week or two of steady use.

I agree with Cube ..... there is no way you are going to get "a week or two" of "steady use" out of a 5ah battery. No way. I'd also say maybe a half day of fishing .... again, depending on the how much it draws.

My portable fish finder, which should draw at a similar rate to the op's unit - with a small portable 9Ah battery last me 6-8 hours. His battery is a 5Ah.

The inline fuse you mentioned, however, is exactly what I'd recommend as well - easy to install and is relatively water tight.

[tirebob]

Thanks for the info on the battery... I am going to change the to the 9 amp version for sure. I might look into a bigger one for when we are out on the water all day but I like the idea of smaller and more portable for shorter durations... Any more recommendations?

[EZM]

Battery World has an outstanding selection of the small lead acid rechargeable batteries in stock with Ah (amp hour) ranges anywhere from 5Ah up to 35Ah ..... and many of them come in different configurations (tall/skinny or shorter/wider).

A really good 18-24Ah should be around $50 or so if memory serves me correctly.

For a fish finder I think if you find a small milk crate - you can tote your battery, wires, transducer, and fish finder all neatly in one crate and take it down to the lake with you each morning pretty easily.

[cube]

Battery World has an outstanding selection of the small lead acid rechargeable batteries in stock with Ah (amp hour) ranges anywhere from 5Ah up to 35Ah ..... and many of them come in different configurations (tall/skinny or shorter/wider).

A really good 18-24Ah should be around $50 or so if memory serves me correctly.

For a fish finder I think if you find a small milk crate - you can tote your battery, wires, transducer, and fish finder all neatly in one crate and take it down to the lake with you each morning pretty easily.

When you have the money you could also get
http://www.basspro.com/Lowrance-Universal-Portable-Pack-for-4-or-5-Portable-Fishfinders/product/1210161213/

It will hold one or two batteries (up to 9 amp I believe). Makes it very easy to carry down to the boat or when your out ice fishing.

When you get the battery make sure you get the charger for it, if you don't have one already that is.

Good Luck to you.

[tirebob]

Battery World has an outstanding selection of the small lead acid rechargeable batteries in stock with Ah (amp hour) ranges anywhere from 5Ah up to 35Ah ..... and many of them come in different configurations (tall/skinny or shorter/wider).

A really good 18-24Ah should be around $50 or so if memory serves me correctly.

For a fish finder I think if you find a small milk crate - you can tote your battery, wires, transducer, and fish finder all neatly in one crate and take it down to the lake with you each morning pretty easily.That sounds pretty great actually... Dumb question, but do I have to worry about the battery getting wet while in use if it starts raining etc? If so, would a rubbermade type box be a good idea?

[tirebob]

When you get a a charger, get a good quality one designed for Sealed Lead Acid (if going for the sealed lead acid batteries).

Often the chargers are junk and will damage your battery within a few charges or a season of use.

And always charge your battery as soon as you get home after use to get the most capacity / lifetime out of it.

You also need to verify that the max charge rate does not exceed the charge rate of the battery otherwise you'll damage it.

In the off season, top it off every 1-2 months.

I ended up switching my order from the 5a to the 8a battery, and the charger I ordered for it is from the same manufacturer as the battery and is rated for 8 amp...

http://www.thefishinhole.com/index.cfm?action=product&se=26391

http://www.thefishinhole.com/index.cfm?action=product&se=26261

I actually have a proper, professional grade battery charger I inherited from my father from his automotive business that I would use at home, but it is a big roll around unit, so I ordered this charger for when we are away fishing and staying in a cabin or the like and I don't want to haul around my monster charger...

Seem adequate?

[cube]

I ended up switching my order from the 5a to the 8a battery, and the charger I ordered for it is from the same manufacturer as the battery and is rated for 8 amp...

http://www.thefishinhole.com/index.cfm?action=product&se=26391

http://www.thefishinhole.com/index.cfm?action=product&se=26261

I actually have a proper, professional grade battery charger I inherited from my father from his automotive business that I would use at home, but it is a big roll around unit, so I ordered this charger for when we are away fishing and staying in a cabin or the like and I don't want to haul around my monster charger...

Seem adequate?

I have that very same charger and it works fine. Do not use the large automotive one as most put out too much juice.

When you get the battery put the date of purchase on it. Eventually you will have a few of them kicking around (most look the same now a days) and it's nice to know which are the new ones and which are the older ones that don't have max juice any more but are still fine for backup work.

[tirebob]

I have that very same charger and it works fine. Do not use the large automotive one as most put out too much juice.

When you get the battery put the date of purchase on it. Eventually you will have a few of them kicking around (most look the same now a days) and it's nice to know which are the new ones and which are the older ones that don't have max juice any more but are still fine for backup work.

The automotive one I have is actually pretty elaborate and has multiple settings for the amount of juice with output in both 6v and 12v power levels. In the low, trickle charge like setting, would that still be too aggressive for a battery like this?

[cube]

The automotive one I have is actually pretty elaborate and has multiple settings for the amount of juice with output in both 6v and 12v power levels. In the low, trickle charge like setting, would that still be too aggressive for a battery like this?

I would think so.

Most automotive chargers I have seen only go down to 2 amps while the one your purchasing goes down to 500 mA, so you'd be less likely to over charge it.

[EZM]

That sounds pretty great actually... Dumb question, but do I have to worry about the battery getting wet while in use if it starts raining etc? If so, would a rubbermade type box be a good idea?

I have my battery in the soft case (as cube suggested). The case gets wet but the battery doesn't get direct rain on it.

I think just keeping it out of the pounding or direct rain is a good idea.

If you are using a rubbermaid, make sure it is not air tight as some batteries can produce gasses - not sure if this is a big deal or not with these types - but I'd just take the added precaution myself. This isn't a bad idea actually - just drill holes in the sides of it or something for ventilation and to get the wire leads out that go to the fish finder.You also don't want it to get too hot in there - so I would leave the lid off if it's not raining.

If you use a milk crate or something for now ( I'd just cover it with a towel or something if it was pounding rain. You want to have the battery off the floor of your tinner and someone insulated (like the bottom of the milk crate separates the floor/sides of the boat from touching any part of the battery directly.

It also keeps it out of a puddle of water - should one form, in the bottom of the boat - electricity and water don't mix very well.

If you just take these reasonable precautions - you should be cool and have nothing to worry about.

[tirebob]

I would think so.

Most automotive chargers I have seen only go down to 2 amps while the one your purchasing goes down to 500 mA, so you'd be less likely to over charge it.Thanks for the insight! Meltdown would not be desirable! lol

[tirebob]

I have my battery in the soft case (as cube suggested). The case gets wet but the battery doesn't get direct rain on it.

I think just keeping it out of the pounding or direct rain is a good idea.

If you are using a rubbermaid, make sure it is not air tight as some batteries can produce gasses - not sure if this is a big deal or not with these types - but I'd just take the added precaution myself. This isn't a bad idea actually - just drill holes in the sides of it or something for ventilation and to get the wire leads out that go to the fish finder.You also don't want it to get too hot in there - so I would leave the lid off if it's not raining.

If you use a milk crate or something for now ( I'd just cover it with a towel or something if it was pounding rain. You want to have the battery off the floor of your tinner and someone insulated (like the bottom of the milk crate separates the floor/sides of the boat from touching any part of the battery directly.

It also keeps it out of a puddle of water - should one form, in the bottom of the boat - electricity and water don't mix very well.

If you just take these reasonable precautions - you should be cool and have nothing to worry about.Good call on the holes... I think that would give me a bit of the best of both worlds...

[cube]

That charger is one of the cheaper ones. Just charge until full and remove, don't leave it on trickle charge for any length of time on those chargers.

The size is good for a day. I have a 9Ah UB that I got on Amazon, which lasts a day of ice fishing in the cold with the HDS Gen 2. One tip to make your battery last longer is to reduce the brightness of your display. Brightness on the LCD is the no.1 current sap.

Automotive charges are fine provided:

1. They're for Sealed Lead Acid Batteries (it should say in the manual).

2. They can handle that number of Ah or smaller. I.E. If it says SLA's >25Ah, then that won't work, SLA's greater than 5Ah and that's okay.

Generally, the higher end car chargers are built considerably better than the
lower end walwart chargers like you've got.

With the UB1280, it should have printed on the side a cyclic rate current, that would be your maximum charging current that it's safe to charge the battery at without damage.

Most SLA's are C/3 for the charge rate. 8Ah / 3 = 2.6A if your battery doesn't have it marked on.

SLA's are charged slower than regular lead acid batteries because, and it's important not to exceed that rate. But the good news is with the correct charger, you can charge your battery in 3 hours.

Finally, some of the automotive charges may charge faster than that initially and drop off towards the end, that's generally okay provided it doesn't exceed C/1.5 for any length of time, and certainly not near the end of the charge.

I use an automotive charger on mine, and find it the best for longevity and I take it off once charged too, just top it up every month. Long term trickle charging in general when a battery isn't used is more damaging to the battery than topping off every 1-2 months.

Pretty sure the one small one he is getting is the same as the one I have. When it reaches full charge it stops charging (light goes from red to green and no further charge happens) and I believe it has 2 or 3 steps to it as well.

[tirebob]

I ordered everything online from the fishinhole.com so when it comes in I will check all these things out. Are setting these Lowrances up a pretty straight forward manner or am I going to be back on here like a noob again? Lol!

Pretty excited about this! I have fished plenty over my life but this is my first time using electronics believe it or not. I like the idea of mining down the info that seems available to one with this technology and seeing what differences it will make for me!

[cube]

I ordered everything online from the fishinhole.com so when it comes in I will check all these things out. Are setting these Lowrances up a pretty straight forward manner or am I going to be back on here like a noob again? Lol!



Given yours is a CHIRP model I not sure how much info is out there for Lowrance setups. There is plenty for their regular sonar (see example below) but I really don't know about the CHIRP.

eg this is how I setup my HDS
https://vimeo.com/15426536

Perhaps someone has done this for The Lowarnce CHIRP already or perhaps the CHIRP set up is the same.

For what it's worth I put voltage overly on my screen so I can tell the state of my battery.

Good luck with the new toy.

[tirebob]

Okay... I was right... Total newb questions galore!!!

First let me say I am impressed with the Fishin Hole and this order. I placed it Thursday evening, Friday morning I phoned and changed my order slightly (battery upgrade), Friday night I got a shipping confirmation and tracking number, and today the postman was at the door! Not bad... Give them a try if you need anything! The deal was cheaper than I was able to find at Basspro locally or at any of the other places that sell the same product...

Now I am not ever confident in anything electrical. More just that I don't want to melt down any new electronics.

First thing is the power wire included did come with an inline fuse. Am I to assume that the inline fuse simply gets attached to the positive wire and the negative wire just gets hooked up directly to the power source (ie battery)? The little marette's included look like they need to be crimped and not twisted. Is it good to use these or is it a simple matter of twist and tape? My thought is the tape will seal the connection from water better but I am no electric or electronic guy. Also, the yellow wire (N/C?)... Any ideas? Treat it like a ground or just tape it off?

Also, on the power line there are two separate main lines. One is the power line itself and the other is listed as a data cable. I do not need the data cables for this model FF/CP so is it safe to simply tape it off and leave it?

Now the battery itself and the plug in charger do not have any kind of charge level indicator. For the intitial charge should I leave it connected for a couple hours? Overnight? I really have no way to tell...

Lastly, to turn on and do some initial setup on the Elite 4 Chirp itself, is it safe to connect the charger to the power wire via the alligator clips (with the fuse on the positive line) and fire up the unit or would that be completely stupid?

Once this is all ready to go, do most guys just rig up the power wire from the battery with alligator clips?

Thanks for any help guys. I just want to do it right the first time... I am going to have a lot more questions when it comes to installing the transducer but I figure I will tackle this one piece at a time... The instructions are pretty feeble. Or I guess it is probably just me! lol

http://i.imgur.com/Q9mZg2x.jpg
http://i.imgur.com/RM4M9xk.jpg

[tirebob]

Bump! Okay... I know I am impatient... So anxious! Haha :snapoutofit:

[EZM]

Yes on the attach the in line fuse to the positive.

It looks like the battery itself accepts the plug in spade connectors. So what I would suggest it taking your positive and negative and putting on a spade connector there - it's far more secure compare to an alligator clip bouncing down a lake.

The yellow is likely and accessory line - so you don't need it.

The other 4 conductors are NMEA conductors (2 in/2 out) - you don't need those either.

[Walleyedude]

The yellow wire is an accessory "wake up" connection that is used to turn other devices like a sonar hub, LSS1 box, etc... on and off. You don't need it. Tape it off so it doesn't make contact with anything and cause a short. Same goes for the other data cables, they're part of the old NMEA 0183 network system and you don't need them either.

Like EZM said, get some spade connectors and use those, it's a much better connection that won't rattle loose and you won't lose voltage across the connections.

If you haven't already, just connect everything - charger, battery and sonar, and you should be able to use it right away while the battery is charging. I don't think you'll have much luck connecting directly to the charger only.

[cube]

First thing is the power wire included did come with an inline fuse. Am I to assume that the inline fuse simply gets attached to the positive wire and the negative wire just gets hooked up directly to the power source (ie battery)? YESThe little marette's included look like they need to be crimped and not twisted. Is it good to use these or is it a simple matter of twist and tape? You could get your self better connectors or solder them. My thought is the tape will seal the connection from water better but I am no electric or electronic guy. I would use shrink tubing here is stead of tape, you might even want to put on liquid tape before the shrink tubing Also, the yellow wire (N/C?)... Any ideas? The yellow wire is to turn other lowrance stuff on and off from one location, ie if you were to have a separate structure scan module you would combine the two yellows together and they would both come on when you turned your elite on. Treat it like a ground or just tape it off? Tape it off

Also, on the power line there are two separate main lines. One is the power line itself and the other is listed as a data cable. I do not need the data cables for this model FF/CP so is it safe to simply tape it off and leave it? Yes

Now the battery itself and the plug in charger do not have any kind of charge level indicator. For the intitial charge should I leave it connected for a couple hours? Overnight? I really have no way to tell... Are you sure there is no little light on the underside of the charger. Mone has a very small 2mm light that goes red, orange, Green. Stop when it's green. If it does not have a charge indicator get a different charger.

Lastly, to turn on and do some initial setup on the Elite 4 Chirp itself, is it safe to connect the charger to the power wire via the alligator clips (with the fuse on the positive line) and fire up the unit or would that be completely stupid? I have just used the battery for this then recharged the battery but should work in theory
Once this is all ready to go, do most guys just rig up the power wire from the battery with alligator clips? Like EZM says get some female spade connectors. I like the ones that are covered to make accidental shorts less likely while your putzing around by the battery

Thanks for any help guys. I just want to do it right the first time... I am going to have a lot more questions when it comes to installing the transducer but I figure I will tackle this one piece at a time... I would look at a clamp on holder for your boat instead of a permanent one, That way you could use it ice fishing as well. Perhaps something like this. http://www.cabelas.com/product/Portable-Transducer-Bracket/699847.utso or this http://www.titelok.com/category-s/1821.htm The instructions are pretty feeble. Or I guess it is probably just me! lol



.

[tirebob]

Awesome answers guys... Thanks! That transducer mounting bracket is definitely how I am going to go... That also give me the ability to use my gear on a friends boat if we are heading out for a day...