Portable Sonar/Flasher mod

[SamSteele]

I thought I would share a quick, cheap addition I made to my ice sonar unit. I have a Helix 5 PT with a Dakota Lithium 10 aH battery where the battery last me multiple days. I was hoping to do some filming of the sonar with my GoPro but the internal batteries don’t last really long in cold weather and external battery packs are clunky to use if hole hopping.

I went on Amazon and picked up a waterproof 12vDC to USB unit for $12. It was at my door in 2 days and took about 10 min to wire up. Now I have two USB ports to charge my GoPro and my phone, or even power an LED light in the tent with.

Thought I would share.




SS


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[HuyFishin]

i love the mod! great idea!

[jegermiester]

What a great hack!! Thanks for sharing.
How have you got your GoPro attached/anchored to the Humminbird unit??

[HuyFishin]

Originally Posted by jegermiester

What a great hack!! Thanks for sharing.
How have you got your GoPro attached/anchored to the Humminbird unit??

i'm also curious about this haha

[SamSteele]

Glad it was helpful for some folks.

With respect to how I mounted my GoPro, I’ll try to use pics to show it.


The Humminbird shuttle I have has a threaded base, presumably for a transducer arm like Marcum uses. The bird uses a float instead, so this is available for other uses.



I used the Railblaza Swing Arm R-Lock and removed the star base on it. It’s a simple Allen headed machine screw. I then replaced it with a machine screw that fit the threads on the Bird base.


I used the new machine screw to bolt the Railblaza arm to the base directly.


Then I used the Railblaza Camera Mount R-Lock to mount my GoPro. I point it this way and use voice commands to take pictures of myself with a fish.


Or this way if I want to record the flasher/sonar.


I can also drop a rod holder in there if I wanted too.


Or add a second sonar/camera/LED light/whatever.

As my signature says, I pro staff for Railblaza so I have been fortunate to play around with a bunch of their stuff. They are becoming more widely distributed here in Canada. Locally you can find their stuff at Barry Jay’s.

Hope that helps. If you have questions about anything here, PM me.

SS


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[jegermiester]

Hey there SamSteele,

Many thanks for going through the effort of posting those very descriptive pictures for the Railblaza attachment point and mounting configuration....much appreciated!!

And thanks for the re-direct as to where to find this product in AB.

The Jegermiester

[SamSteele]

If you use the voice activated commands on the GoPro you can get a hands free fish selfie, limiting the time the fish is out of the water.


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[Off in the Bushes]

I would wire in a resistor as the GoPro charge voltage is 5V and the battery voltage is 12v

[SamSteele]

Originally Posted by Off in the Bushes

I would wire in a resistor as the GoPro charge voltage is 5V and the battery voltage is 12v

The unit I installed has the resistor built in. No need for anything else.


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[Off in the Bushes]

Originally Posted by SamSteele

The unit I installed has the resistor built in. No need for anything else.


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You got an Amazon link to that? Need that for record my under water camera

[SamSteele]

Originally Posted by Off in the Bushes

You got an Amazon link to that? Need that for record my under water camera

PM’d you.


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[English Setter]

USB ports are 5V. Plug the camera into any USB


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