help with depthfinder

hey guys, im new to this forum but not the area. im sick of the hit and miss action from shore and have been looking at depthfinders to install and a 14′ boat our family has. my question is this, the boat i use has an one school motor that you self steer, i.e. no electronic start. for me to run a depthfinder on a boat with no orginal battery what do i hook it upto? the guy at the store i was at told me to just get one of the power packs they had available but they all looked like back-up chargers for batteries already on the boat. can anyone help me out? thanks

Welcome to IDO lookin4bigones I would plan on installing a battery box and having a 12V deep cycle to power it. Depending on which model you go with and whether you will be using it at night, it could burn through a small battery in hours. Again, welcome

big G

Welcome to IDO. I would get a portable. They weigh about six pounds with 8 (D) cell battiers in them that will probable last all season. They come with a suction cop sender that stcks to your transom.

thanks big G. the one i was looking at was a hummingbird model with gps. i really want to get in on the st. croix catfish action so 1-4 hours at night running should be about right. do they have plastic style battery boxes for aluminum boats? i dont think a metal battery box sitting on a metal bottomed boat would be a smart idea.

when i asked about the portable and if it used batteries the guy said no, that they all ran off of the same thing…. i guess i shouldnt ask the reps at fleetfarm huh?

Eagle makes a real nice portable unit, it runs on a 6 volt battery and the transduce will mount on the transom of your boat just make sure that you use the safety string on the mount because if it were to come off you might loose the whole transducer and they are not cheap. Welcome to IDA these are a great bunch of people and you will learn alot.

I used to have an eagle that was portable, it had the suckion cup transducer, but I had it hooked to a 12v battery in a plastic battery box. that way I could mount the box so it wouldn’t rattle around while driving or loading/unloading. also you can wire it yourself, get yourself some 12 gauge wire and a couple of connectors, try to make them waterproof. One lesson learned the hard way, before you get up on plane, take the transducer out of the water or make sure it is secured really well. I had mine come loose and end up in the motor. there went $65.00 really fast. also my unit ran on 8 AA batteries and lasted about 25-30 hours before I needed to change them out.

don’t be affraid to ask more questions if you need more information, also welcome aboard.

shane

Something like this one.

Battery Box

big G

well I bought a Piranha last year and run it off the same battery I use for my ice fishing locator. Made a box for the jell battery and its easy in and out for charging.Works great

I have had the Eagle fish eagle II portable for about 6 years. you can use the 8 flash batteries or 12 volt battery. I have used it either way. But I like the portability of it with the D cell batts. I use it in canada every year too. Gene

I went even cheaper than that one, I went for the generic plastic box that you have the strap that goes around it and the battery and the connections are inside $10 for it.

shane

Yeah, I couldn’t find them one’s in the catalog. This one even has a 12v outlet for charging a cell phone or computer, maybe a little excessive..

big G

i have had a humminbird 400 portable for at least 12 years that used to run on my jon boat. on step-ups to bigger boats, i have mounted the transducer on the bow trolling motor to use as an extra unit, while the console depth finder runs off a transom transducer.
one thing i did on the river jon was mount the transducer solid to a 1×2 board that i could swing up out of the water when i was on the move.
this link shows a similar humminbird with a suction cup.
http://www.cabelas.com/cabelas/en/templates/links/link.jsp?id=0045696018986a&type=product&cmCat=SEARCH&returnPage=search-results1.jsp&No=36&Ntt=humminbird&noImage=0&Ntk=Products&QueryText=humminbird&Ntx=matchall&N=4887&Nty=1

Lookin4:

I have an older graph, I believe its Hummbingbird and has the suction cup mount. I’ve upgraded over the years and now it just sits. I could sell it but wouldn’t get much so if you’re interested, we could meet at Gander or Sportsmans someday and I’ll give it to you and then if we need parts, we can go inside and make sure you have them. I don’t want to give you a piece of junk (don’t think I am fyi).

You can decide when you see it if you want it or to buy new. This is a portable unit that runs on the big square batteries. If you decide to put in a 12V system, you could also run power to this unit.

PM me if you’d like to see this portable bird I have.

Eric