2nd Battery worth it?

[bncrshr77]

Almost finished installing my Garmin Echo 550dv on my 2011 wake 155.

I have read several different threads and some say never to use your primary battery for anything other than starting and some say if you're not fishing way offshore and only for a few hours at a time then there is no real need for a 2nd battery?

I will be in freshwater lakes where I will never be more than a mile or so from the shore... Not one of the great lakes either.

My battery is 26AH AGM and supposedly the max draw from the Garmin is 1A so to me it seems as long as I stay on top of my battery I could fish for a weekend "randomly throughout the days" and be fine.

I do have a spare battery but it seems like a PITA to deal with trying to mount it.

What is the latest though train on this?

 

[bncrshr77]

Guess I should have put this in the PWC fishing thread... Can someone move it or tell me how to? Thanks!

 

[Hawk388]

Completely ignore that the title for this battery says for a Piranha Max fish finder. This battery will work on any of the small fish finders used on Ski's. It's a very small AGM sealed lead acid unit about the size of two bricks stacked on each other. I helped do the wiring on my neighbors pontoon boat to this very battery and he is using a $900 fish finder/GPS/ Chartplotter from Lowrance. It runs that thing for two days without needing a charge so I imagine it will run the smaller ones with a 1A draw for quite awhile. At least 7 hours at 1A.

Sorry, I've not had enough coffee to do the exact electrical conversions needed to get an exact amount of time the battery would last with your unit. On something like our jetskis, I wouldn't hook ANYTHING up to the starting battery. It will cost a few hundred dollars if you require Seatow or some similar entity to come tow you on a dead battery. Not to mention how long you could be stuck out on the water and what could possibly occur to you.

 

[Spimothy Leary]

excellent idea, a baby battery should do the trick.

 

[bncrshr77]

For sure! Might be something worth looking into other than a full size battery!

 

[Spimothy Leary]

I have a couple of these in a desk drawer, they came with the used phone equipment.

not sure if they take/hold a charge, but i'd send one up for cost of shipping $6.

(your prolly better off new, I parked these in the drawer a year ago)

 

[bncrshr77]

Appreciate the offer but I think I'll get a new one! Fairly cheap off of amazon.

 

[Hawk388]

Appreciate the offer but I think I'll get a new one! Fairly cheap off of amazon.

Yep. I have two of them already. Haven't decided on what Fishfinder I'm going to use, but for only $20 each and shipping is free? I couldn't pass it up! This is the same battery my neighbor uses on his Pontoon boat and he has two as well. He gets about 6 hours total out of each one. He fishes for two to three hours almost every morning. So while the other one is charging, he's out fishing on the second one.