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PostPosted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 8:15 am 
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I currently have a 7AH battery in a gear bucket that i use on my PA and my outback. I really like that setup because it is clean and easily removable to bring in the battery for charging. It looks something like this:

Image

Problem seems to be that i constantly run out of juice while out on extended trips. I purchased a 12AH battery, but while it gives me enough power, the beast will not fit anywhere nicely and ends up sliding around the hull. I was wondering if anyone has used LiFePo4 batteries in the gear bucket and what is the largest capacity they could fit in there.

I also saw this option from a seller in ebay, but he no longer sells these:

Image

If anyone has any other ideas that may work please let me know...


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PostPosted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 1:31 pm 
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Location: Calgary Alberta
I'm using these 9.6ah LiFe's they are the same size as the one you have in there but about 1/3 of the weight. With a 7" Lowrance FF , a separate 4" Chart plotter, and misc USB charging I get about a day and a half out of one, I carry two and switch them on the fly if needed. (On the mast step mount).
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PostPosted: Sat Jul 29, 2017 4:21 pm 
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intersting, i had not seen that battery in my searches. i was leaning towards the battery Tender one

http://products.batterytender.com/Batteries/240-CCA-Lithium-Engine-Start-Battery.html

My only concern is that it says 10 - 14 Ah. i think that it is enough for my purposes, but having a range vs. a single number scares me a bit. My guess is that it will be much closer to the 10Ah.


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PostPosted: Sun Jul 30, 2017 1:42 pm 
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Location: Jaco, Costa Rica
That's all I do is use the small plastic bucket that comes with a new Hobie. Cut out the inserts (one side), cover over top and place my 16Ah Lipo battery inside it. I can get up to 2 full days off of it on a single charge. Big camping trips/fishing long range I bring an extra one. Check out HobbyKing.com, from time to time you can get one for on sale. I paid $50 for mine. You'll need a charger for it also. I would never go back to lead batteries.

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Tandem Island- 2013
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PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 11:02 am 
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CR Yaker wrote:
That's all I do is use the small plastic bucket that comes with a new Hobie. Cut out the inserts (one side), cover over top and place my 16Ah Lipo battery inside it. I can get up to 2 full days off of it on a single charge. Big camping trips/fishing long range I bring an extra one. Check out HobbyKing.com, from time to time you can get one for on sale. I paid $50 for mine. You'll need a charger for it also. I would never go back to lead batteries.


Mark,
which battery did you chose? is it this one by chance?

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/multistar-high-capacity-4s-16000mah-multi-rotor-lipo-pack.html


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PostPosted: Mon Jul 31, 2017 1:33 pm 
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Location: Calgary Alberta
I use a ton of lipo packs rc boat racing I probably have over 60 packs of different sizes. If you are not familiar with lipos there are a couple big differences between them and the Life batteries. Lipo's need a low voltage cutoff or at least a low voltage alarm to avoid over discharging. You will wreck the packs pretty quickly discharging them too low. Also the lipos have a balance connector, I balance mine every time I charge them. For the best longevity of lipos they should be put in "storage charge" if they are not going to be used in a week or more. Chargers usually have a setting for this. (About 3.8 v per cell)
The Life battery has a battery management system with the cutoff already built in and no balancing or storage charge required.


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PostPosted: Tue Aug 01, 2017 3:03 pm 
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Joined: Mon Jun 17, 2013 5:25 pm
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Location: Jaco, Costa Rica
sebby wrote:
CR Yaker wrote:
That's all I do is use the small plastic bucket that comes with a new Hobie. Cut out the inserts (one side), cover over top and place my 16Ah Lipo battery inside it. I can get up to 2 full days off of it on a single charge. Big camping trips/fishing long range I bring an extra one. Check out HobbyKing.com, from time to time you can get one for on sale. I paid $50 for mine. You'll need a charger for it also. I would never go back to lead batteries.


Mark,
which battery did you chose? is it this one by chance?

https://hobbyking.com/en_us/multistar-high-capacity-4s-16000mah-multi-rotor-lipo-pack.html


Yup, that's the one I got. Great battery. You'll need a balanced charger and maybe some connectors for soldering onto the locator power leads and leads on the charger to charge. Tombsy gives good advice above, except I don't know of any Life batteries big enough to hold an entire days locator needs, maybe that 8400mah on the HobbyKing site would work for a single day??, but for that price I would take the 16Ah Lipo, instead. My Elite TI 7 gives me the battery charge on screen to monitor so as to not over discharge.

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Tandem Island- 2013
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