Humminbird Side Imaging Forums
General => General Discussion => Topic started by: Rotus623 on April 15, 2013, 10:15:04 PM
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Hey guys I just found out my older 2stroke motor is not voltage regulated. Is there anyway to regulate the voltage going into the humminbird or do I need to hook up to a dedicated battery? Just tryin to be safe here!!!
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You have a couple options to regulate your input..
You can use a lead-acid battery
You can use a big car audio capacitor
You can find a DC-DC converter on ebay.
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My manual says: 10 - 20 VDC.....
Straw
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With an unregulated power supply you have no way of knowing what voltage may be getting passed onto the unit. The unit does have some high voltage protection circuitry but this only protects to a certain point and is more for more constant DC voltages and not against the possible high voltage spikes that could be generated by an unregulated voltage system. It’s usually the voltage spikes that kill electronics.
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So Greg best bet is a separate battery?
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For a non-regulated system? Yes.
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Cool. I just bought a 12v 12AH lead-acid battery from Radioshack for $29! So if I drain it down to 50% with the 780MA usage, I will get 7.5hours on the water with it. Perfect! It is a small price to pay to keep my electronics safe.
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It has been my experience that trying to estimate run times using factory specs is very error prone. there are all kinds of variables that enter in especially with rechargeable batteries. For one thing their capacities tend to increase by as much as 20% through the first 20 cycles or so. Temperature and age are also factors. I see the assumption that the draw is a constant. It obviously takes a much louder ping to sound in 200 ft than 20. Brightness of the screen also comes in. The only way to really figure this at all accurately is trial and error it seems to me.
I also see in all Fish Finder documentation that the minimum voltage is 10. I have run other smaller units with the same spec with 8 NiMH AA cells. The operating voltage in series was 9.6 and they ran for about 5 hours.
I was once told by a tech at HB that the true operating voltage was 8 and when it dropped below this the unit would shut down with no harm done. This was also borne out in my experience.
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Interesting about the 8VDC. And yes the world of batteries is everything but a constant. But for $30, you cant go wrong. Plus it only weighs a few pounds. I just like the idea of clean, separate power running in to my most prized possession. I know that this is all theory until it gets put into practice, but you have to have some sort of starting point.
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You would not want to attach your unit to a battery that
could be charged while the unit is running.
This may cause electrical interference.
Hooked to a dedicated battery that you charge (off the water),
is best.
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Sweet, this is what I keep hearing.