Fishfinder/GPS battery ???

[jhoss]

I recently upgraded to a Lowrance Elite 5-Chirp fishfinder/GPS unit. The problem I'm having is my battery goes dead after about 3-4 hours on the water. At this point I'm just getting started -so I'm wondering if anyone else has had this issue, and what you have done to solve the problem?

I currently am using a 12v 7.2 AH battery

(I have 2 of these-the problem has occurred with both so it's not just a bad battery-it used to last several TRIPS with my last FF)

Thanks in advance for any ideas,

[J.A. Veil]

I started with a 5 amp-hr battery. After recharging it many times, it was unable to hold enough charge for a 3-4 hour trip. I next tried a 7 amp-hr battery and had the same result after 6 months. I am now using a 12 amp-hr battery that has longer output time. The downside is that it is heavy. There are some other battery types that offer longer output time with low weight, but they are considerably more expensive.

Unfortunately as we upgrade our electronics we often need to provide more power to run them.

[Cowpokey]

Elite-5 units (HDI and CHIRP) list typical power consumption at 1.1 amps. Simple math puts a fully charged 7 amp hour (Ah) battery at a run time 6.3 hours for those units, if the battery holds a full charge.

I also have a 7Ah battery, but have only run my new Elite-5 for 5 hours on the longest trip so far...I'm not sure if it would last another hour or not, it was still working when I quit for the day.

Originally bought the battery for my Elite-4 HDI, which has a typical power consumption of .75 amps. In that configuration it should last 9.33 hours, I've been on the water for 10 hours and it was still working.

I will be getting a battery with more capacity to go along with the increased power consumption of the Elite-5. Most likely a 10-12Ah cell.