[WayneD]

I have read some posts about people using 14.4V cordless drill batteries for their sounder. How well do they work? How long do they last and are they very waterproof incase of a rollover? I am looking at all my options and I am trying to decide whether to buy a 14.4v cordless drill with two batteries and charger for $45 or to go the 8 AA batteries option which will cost a bit more.

I have purchased a second hand Navman 4150sx and it can run off 10.5V to 16V.

Your thoughts

 

[kingfisher111]

Hi WayneD, I have a cheap battery drill with 2 battery`s. I think its about 18v. Paid around $100 for it and as far as the batterys goes its a hunk of junk! Battery goes flat quickly in use and even fully charged one goes flat extra fast when not in use. I run a Navman 4430 and power it with a 7ah 12v battery. I have only recharged it once, and feel a 3.5ah would be tons for just running a fishfinder. I plan to also power a light and perhaps a live bait pump as well. 7ah only cost $30 and you just charge it off a regular car charger. Hope this helps. Steve.

 

[PeterJ]

Go the 12v 7ah , seal it in a box with grommets for the wires to pass through.

 

[Jake]

Steve,
If thats the same battery I have, I was advised (by Jaycar) against charging it with the car charger, as it may overcharge it (?). So I bought the little charger at Jaycar just for it.
Cheers,
Jake

 

[Dodge]

Steve,
If thats the same battery I have, I was advised (by Jaycar) against charging it with the car charger, as it may overcharge it (?). So I bought the little charger at Jaycar just for it.
Cheers,
Jake

Jake

I had also heard that, but I asked the Battery World bloke when buying my 7a and he said OK to use the car battery charger.

I've also read that with gel batteries it's better to just use trickle charge if it has that setting on charger.

Since installing my battery, I saw 2 posts here that read well, and when this battery is ready to replace I will go back to AA recharge batteries for my power with 4-5 hrs for sounder alone.

 

[WayneD]

I already have a 7AH sealed battery from my stink boat that I can use just trying to cut down on weight and space and thought these other options might be better but maybe I will go with the bigger battery.

 

[Sunhobie]

I prefer the 12v, 3AH sealed lead-acid, available from any battery specialist. Much lighter than the 7AH and plenty of power to run a sounder for as long as you can sit in a kayak! Mine seems to get about 10 hrs running a Navman 4430. The special charger is worth the dough because it automatically switches to trickle once fully charged.

 

[kingfisher111]

Quite right to point that out Jake, you don`t want to cook your battery, no matter how cheap they are. I should have pointed out that my regular car charger was the automatic trickledown type. Steve.

 

[RedPhoenix]

Unfortunately, due to the change in ownership of this web site and the lack of response by the owners to my requests to remove my email address from all administrative-level notifications and functionality, I have decided to remove my posts on AKFF. Thank you for the great times, the fantastic learning experiences and the many many fish. If you are desperate for the old content of this particular post, it is available below base64 encoded and bzip2 compressed.

Red.

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