Helix 7 Lithium shuttle hack & question

I finally got out with my Helix 7 mounted onto the Marcum Lithium shuttle this weekend

Hack – I wrapped the handle with self-healing tape. This is a fantastic improvement over the bare plastic handle. Much more grip!

Question – after being fully charged, the shuttle will read 100% battery, but the Helix readout will say 83-86%. Anyone have any idea as to what/why the discrepancy is??

thanks
Scott

The discrepancy could be in the two different battery meters. Say the battery reads 13v at full charge, meter 1 says anything over 12.8 is 100%, so is says 100%. The other says any voltage over 13.5 is 100%. This meter will read lower than 100%. That is probly what you are seeing. As always, Verify your battery connections to the shuttle and to the helix.

Hello, don’t mean to hi jack the thread, but I just picked up a lithium shuttle/m3 combo and after I charge the battery and the green light on the charger comes on, the shuttle read out only shows 86-87%. Haven’t contacted marcum yet. Thought it was interesting that your bird showed the same %. Anyone else have an issue with a brand new shuttle? Thanks

Do you need to buy a special power cord adapter to run the Helix 7 on the Lithium Shuttle? Thinking about getting a shuttle and was wondering if another cable is needed?

TIA

Brett

brett21b wrote:

Do you need to buy a special power cord adapter to run the Helix 7 on the Lithium Shuttle? Thinking about getting a shuttle and was wondering if another cable is needed?

TIA

Brett

Yes

https://www.fishusa.com/product/MarCum-Lithium-Ion-Shuttle-Power-Adapter

If you’re not running a marcum, you could modify the existing cable for a few $ in parts.

cweber01 wrote:

the shuttle read out only shows 86-87%.

A saw a few other folks had similar charge % showing after their first charge-up. I think some shuttles charged fully after a discharge/recharge cycle. If not, call Marcum.

I’ve seen that adapter but I’m not quite getting how it works. Can’t you just run the power cable from your Helix right to the spade terminals on the battery?

munchy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>brett21b wrote:</div>
Do you need to buy a special power cord adapter to run the Helix 7 on the Lithium Shuttle? Thinking about getting a shuttle and was wondering if another cable is needed?

TIA

Brett

Yes

https://www.fishusa.com/product/MarCum-Lithium-Ion-Shuttle-Power-Adapter

Couldn’t you just take the Helix power cable and connect it right to the spade terminals on the battery? Why the need for an adapter cable?

munchy wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>brett21b wrote:</div>
Do you need to buy a special power cord adapter to run the Helix 7 on the Lithium Shuttle? Thinking about getting a shuttle and was wondering if another cable is needed?

TIA

Brett

Yes

https://www.fishusa.com/product/MarCum-Lithium-Ion-Shuttle-Power-Adapter

I know I’m a little late but I just bought the lithium shuttle for the helix 7 and was there anything special you had to do to mount it? The mounting part on the back of the helix 7 doesn’t reach the brackets on the shuttle.

Noah Horsch wrote:

I know I’m a little late but I just bought the lithium shuttle for the helix 7 and was there anything special you had to do to mount it? The mounting part on the back of the helix 7 doesn’t reach the brackets on the shuttle.

I drilled new holes in base of the shuttle. Be careful because they come close to the edge. I never thought about drilling out the gimbal bracket on the helix but I assume that would work too.

Anyone tried this with a helix 9?

I don’t think the battery monitor in the Helix is engineered to work with lithium batteries. So whatever your display on your shuttle reads is going to be accurate however accurate that is. When I had my Helix mounted on the shuttle I always took the battery read out on the shuttle to be a general guide as these things aren’t going to be near 100% accurate.

I have the Amped Outdoors lithium in my Helix 7 and the battery indicator on the Helix reads 100% right up until the unit shuts down due to lack of voltage. But it took almost 3 days of use without charging for it to happen.

I think that power adapter is waaaay over priced. What I did was take base apart. Lots of screws but didn’t take very long using electric drill. I then cut off the Marcum power and fed the leads from the Helix 7. matched up the color and soldered them. Wrapped solder joints with electrical tape. If you don’t have soldering gun can use wire crimps.

Then set base on shuttle and determine where you want to drill mount holes. Make sure everything lines up right and then reassemble. Took me about 30 minutes and I am old and slow.

I hardwired the included power cable from my Garmin and discarded the Marcum power cable. I did have to relocate the power port to the side of the Shuttle as the Garmin bracket was in the way.