Actual battery requirements for FF and lights
 

Hey all, I've been toting around a 9ah battery for a few years now and just kept using it because it's "what I had" for my FF and lights for night fishing.

I'm certain it is way overkill and was wondering if anyone can give me some insight on how small of a battery I "could" run based on actual amp draw and your experiences.

I have a basic Lowrance Elite 4x Color FF and when I go night fishing/hooping I have two small 2-LED lamps on the Bow/Stern of my yak.

I don't exactly know what amperage draw each thing is but it can't be much right? Not enough to need to lug around a 9ah battery?

Thanks for any help. I keep getting fatter so I need to lighten the yak to compensate.

How long are you normally on the water for? My 10amp normally lasts me 11 hours on my elite 5 but that uses power for gps as well

At night it's about 5-7hrs if I'm hooping. 8-12 if I'm WSB fishing

Daytime is usually 7-10

So just for shats and giggles... I looked up the specs on an Elite 4x and it draws 200mah. That's not much at all. I also looked up the lights that I have installed and they draw 20mah.

So... doing the math, that's only drawing .24Ah

So my battery should last 37.5 hours!

I love Google.

So I guess I can downsize to something like a 3Ah battery and be totally covered for a 10hr excursion in the dark. Yes?

But hey maybe a noob will find this thread someday and need this info before he springs for that 100Ah deep cycle to run his FF! LOL

Try this online battery life calculator and use the 50% discharge number for a ballpark time (50% is the lowest you should discharge your battery and is also when it drops below 12v).

The 4 series are great power savers, I have done multiple days on my 4.6 ah battery. I would bet the new 4 HDI series will draw a significant amount more.

Thanks for the input guys! That was fun.

Very useful for once i get a ff.

Simple rule.....

Always OVERestimate what you will need.


Always underestimate what you have.



Translated......

Do you want to have "just enough" juice? How about when you change FF add a light..etc?

What about the possibility of lower battery performance (capacity) over time..... forgetting or not having enough time to fully charge...



Is that 1 or 2 pounds and the extra cost of buying a new battery really worth it?

Very good point Stinky. And I most likely wouldn't ditch my old battery for a smaller one JUST for weight, but the positive terminal is getting loose on my 9ah and it's got a crack in it that worries me. Not leaking yet, but not sure how much longer that crack will remain that way... so considering a smaller one on the purchace.

Your point is so valid though and will teach me to not just get a 3ah. But every lb does count to me. I'm a weight weenie. So maybe something in between. 6ah? LOL