The Group 31 sized batteries fit very nicely. I put in 2 12V 100Ah LiFePOs and a NOCO onboard charger. The weight difference is quite striking and I expect substantially longer runtimes between charges.

just checked the NOAA website and it looks like the river will stay above 683ft until next weekend.

Yes that should be how they are wired. Sounds to me like there is an obvious issue between that lone working button light and next one toward the back of the boat. First thing I’d do is to swap the first non-working button light with the lone working lignt. If it doesn’t light up you know the issue is that light and not the wiring. If it does, you know it’s the wiring. At that point I’d disconnect those two button lights, clip the wire and use old wire to fish a new length in. I’d systematically go down the line like that until power was getting through the whole series without interruption.
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Excellent suggestion! I sure hope it is that button light and not the wiring!

Thanks for the suggestions – I don’t think the corrosion is all that bad – the trailer is only a few years old. I looked up the diagram for those plugs and running lights are all on the same lead for the entire trailer. The Eagle trailer has a bunch of ‘button lights’ along the frame that turn on with the running lights, along with the two tail lights. What’s odd is that on the passenger side, all the lights work and on the driver’s side, only the button light closest to the hitch lights up. All of the button lights behind that and the tail light on that side doesn’t work. There are also 3 button lights on the very back, between the tail lights and under the guide-on roller. Those are not lighting up either. Are these wired like christmas lights – one goes out on the portion tied together and none of them work? Of course, all the wires are threaded through the frame so can’t really check to see if there are any breaks. Any suggestions?

At what water level do they close the Hudson launch? Just checked the water level forecast and it looks like it will get up to 85′ again, as BZZ said – late Sunday or Monday.

bzzsaw wrote:

It’s finally open. Nicest ramp on the Croix.

Hudson Launch is open??

yikes

Any further updates as to open launches for tomorrow?? I’m not expecting to be able to get out there, probably another week yet. Looks like it doesn’t drop below flood stage until next week friday?

we’re talking tritium here… beta radiation. doesn’t even pass through a piece of paper. Your skin is an effective barrier. not a big deal…

don’t look up

deertracker wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>suzuki wrote:</div>
How are they going to replace the lost energy generation? Hint-they aren’t unless you count solar and unicorn farts.

How many Unicorn farts are in a watt?

or solar farts…

suzuki wrote:

How are they going to replace the lost energy generation? Hint-they aren’t unless you count solar and unicorn farts.

I have a SnowDogg all-hydraulic plow on my Ranger – easy on/easy off and you’re not beating up a winch and the mounting on the frame. It is heavy but that doesn’t seem to make much difference when plowing – maybe even helps keep it on the ground. I bought a used setup this fall and it’s been great.

https://www.buyersproducts.com/product/snowdogg-mut-snow-plow-4605

whew… got my driveway and walks cleared. Combination of plowing with the Ranger and my old snow blower. Hard to say how much snow we got, it varied so much from one spot to another. Some sections were well over 2 feet deep while others were probably less than a foot. All in all, I’d say we got between 12 and 15 here. Totally agree with the comment about the deer – we have quite a few around the woods by us and groups of 8+ move in together to clean up around our bird feeders.

might be a good reason to get an iPad or google tablet… Or they should make a version that runs on Surface or other Windows 11 system. Sure, I can view the maps on my iPhone but having it on a bigger screen would be great. I guess I’m not too worried about downloading maps to the Helix, as I’d rather use AutoChart to create my own but having a really good map to identify areas of interest (or areas of hazard!) would be very handy when going to an unfamiliar body of water.

Also agree that it would great to be able to copy waypoints and tracks between a Helix and a phone. I know you can download to a SD card from one Helix and then copy those over to a different Helix but it would be great if you could do that via the new app, and keep a copy on your phone.

TheFamousGrouse wrote:

Also, do you have a battery cutoff switch installed?

Electronic brainboxes on many devices are active even with the device powered off…

Testing the battery load, I could clearly see that even starting with a fully charged battery, there was enough of a load on the battery from all the little brain boxes spinning away in the background that the battery was losing 3-5% of its charge every day. So the boat owner was starting out a half-charged battery or less to begin with.

So yes, a bigger battery may be the answer, but also I’d seriously suggest looking at a cutoff switch for the starter battery.

Yes, for sure – this is one of the main reasons I’m looking to add a second house battery – to keep the starting battery isolated from all those small drains of current. From what I’ve found, either option I posed above (Minnkota Onboard Alternator or the Blue Seas Add-a-Battery) will essentially isolate the starter battery from any drain outside of the outboard. The Blue Seas allows you to select to cut off connections from both batteries so that’s a plus for that system. With the Minnkota system, if the outboard itself had a small draw on the battery when not running, that would still drain the starter battery but nothing in the boat would be drawing any current from the starter battery, even if the Master Power and Auxiliary switches were left on (and I always put both those switches to the off position when done for the day).

I have a DF150SS Suzuki outboard, on an Alumacraft 185 Competitor Sport. For electronics, I run the livewell aerator, radio, HELIX 9 on the dash, HELIX 7 on the bow. The trolling motor is on it’s own dual-battery system and everything is connected with the Humminbird network. I don’t always run the Helix up front, if I fish from the main deck on the boat. I have a Group 24 marine battery powering everything now but as I said, there’s been a few times when that battery was so drained that it didn’t have enough juice to start the outboard.

Also, forgot to ask – what size deep cycle? I was thinking of going with an Interstate Group27 size for the house battery.

https://patch.com/minnesota/minneapolis/gov-walz-signs-bill-requiring-100-percent-carbon-free-energy-2040

Even scarier… unless they include nuclear power.

Just loaded the new One-Boat Network app – looks like it won’t let you use those individual lake maps that have been bought in the past. Read something that said you have a year to download the map to a SD card. You now have to pay a $25 subscription fee for access to the VX charts of USA and Canada lakes. If that $25 allows download and use of any lake anywhere, seems like a reasonable deal.

suzuki wrote:

MOA I thought this post was going to be about gun scopes.

Had the same thought!

N2i0c0k8 wrote:

ICE UPDATE: I went out last night for a bit. I measured 13″+ everywhere I checked. Drove out in my pickup without issue.

Fishing was pretty slow. Lot of lookers and non willing to eat except a few decent crappie.

May be 13″ but what about the quality of the ice? Did this cold snap firm it up? I’m too old and out of shape to walk all the way from the North Hudson launch…

put this one in our house (https://www.geapplianceparts.com/store/parts/spec/GXWH70M). I like the WiFi feature – will alert you if you have a leak or other damage and tells you when you need to change the filter. Our well water is loaded with iron (and the sulfur that goes with it) and this really cleans it up before it gets to the softener.

Here’s what I found: https://sites.google.com/somerset.k12.wi.us/somersetfishingteam/2023-bass-lake-tournament

Looks like the winner caught a 33″ pike. Most others were in the 20″ range.

So, I guess I lied in that original post. The quick-connect is only on the left side (opposite the controls) so that can only be connected on that side; but you CAN hook up the regular hose to either side. I have the hose from Mr. Heater that says you don’t need the filter (the other hoses degraded with the propane flowing through and this can clog up your heater) but I think I’m still going to get one and connect with that in place. Can’t hurt…

KP wrote:

Trucks are driving out there?

I’ve always wanted to do this tournament but hasn’t there been year when someone wines with like a 12 inch bass or northern?

Yeah, I saw some vehicles out there even a few weeks ago (and one that looked like it was really stuck). I’m not sure I’d drive even my SxS out there! The cold snap we’re heading into will hopefully freeze things down a bit.

There’s been some 30″+ pike in prior years that were winners.

Any ice updates? Drove by the access in North Hudson last week and it looked wet right near shore… Still walking out?

The Laurel Supper Club on Hwy 64, east of New Richmond is really good…

thanks for all the responses… doesn’t sound like we’re going to have decent ice anywhere in this area this year! Now I wish I had a snowmobile… next thing on my wish-list.

any ice updates?? Looking to go out this weekend and wondering if vehicles are driving out yet. Ice was not good on the small lake near my house – about 8″ of ice, covered with water and slush, covered with thin ice, covered with snow. No way I’d drive on that. I did see some vehicle out on Bass Lake (St. Croix Co) last weekend.