Livescope Battery

[RHuff]

Is it possible to run livescope from my cranking battery? My two graphs are on the cranking battery and I have my two trolling batteries networked for 24V to run my trolling motor.. 

[TnRiver46]

I’d guess it’ll put a pretty good drain on it and maybe leave you stranded , but someone with the black box will have a better answer than me. You could just crank up and drive around every hour but we all know it’s hard to stop fishin 

[Team9nine]

Seems like a lot of guys have gone to running a separate battery just for their scope units, especially smaller and lighter lithiums, but you can run them off your cranking battery, especially if you have a larger engine that puts out a good bit of amps for recharging, and/or you do a lot of idling/graphing or long runs. As @TnRiver46 mentioned, you do run the risk of running that battery down and possibly unable to crank the big motor, so you might play with using it in that configuration on a local lake and staying close to the ramp just in case. If you can get through a day without issue and you have an onboard charger that also charges the main starter battery, you should be fine. You can also show the voltage on your fishfinder screen and monitor it so you'll know when you're starting to run that battery too low. Like you, I run all my graphs (including FFS) as well as lights and livewell/accessories off my main battery, but my engine is small enough I can hand crank it in case of failure (and I've had to a time or two before I regularly started charging my main battery).

[GaryH]

What size cranking battery and what size motor. I personally run 4 graphs ( including mega live and mega 360 with no issues at all.

Im running a 125ah Ionic and a 250 Yamaha 

[FryDog62]

You’ll likely get interference when combining various electronics off of one battery. I did, and went with Amped Outdoors 32ah FFS battery and haven’t had any issues since. 

[Tennessee Boy]

I would give it a try.  It depends on how big your two graphs are, how big your engine is, how long you fish,  and your fishing habits.  My guess is you’ll be fine.

[casts_by_fly]

A 9” graph is about 2.5 amps. A black box is another 2.5. Lvs34 is another 2.5. If you have two graphs then that’s 10 amps. You can do the math on drawing down a cranking battery for a couple hours and how much power is left to start the big motor. If you do, I’d want a bigger cranking battery that can supply enough cca at half capacity to be sure. 

[RHuff]

I’ll run the livescope on my Echomap UHD 93sv and i’ll have an echomap 73sv and a striker 73vc at the console

[Craig P]

What is your cranking battery?

[RHuff]

12v size 27

I’m thinking about ordering a 12v 20AH lithium and keeping it next to the black box under the front deck in one of the storage compartments

[HenryPF]

Want to see what you AH drain with all your electronics without spending a fortune?

 

Buy a adapter for one of your LiPO powertool batteries like so:

 

Milwaukee Battery Adapter

 

Run all your stuff of that battery/adapter and see how long it lasts without worrying about if you will be stranded when your starting battery is drained. You most likely have multiple powertool batteries, don't have to worry about buying a charger for them either. Go from there.

[RHuff]

I just went ahead and got a 12v 30AH lithium.. It was a little more expensive but worth it for the peace of mind..

 

I’ll only run the black box and unit off it and leave everything else in the boat as is

[casts_by_fly]

12 hours ago, RHuff said:

I just went ahead and got a 12v 30AH lithium.. It was a little more expensive but worth it for the peace of mind..

 

I’ll only run the black box and unit off it and leave everything else in the boat as is

 

I think this is a good choice.  Fish finders generally but FFS and big fish finders are sensitive to voltage.  They need a consistent supply and you'll have that now.  I think you'll be pleased.

[Siebert Outdoors]

On 3/1/2024 at 8:19 PM, casts_by_fly said:

A 9” graph is about 2.5 amps. A black box is another 2.5. Lvs34 is another 2.5. If you have two graphs then that’s 10 amps. You can do the math on drawing down a cranking battery for a couple hours and how much power is left to start the big motor. If you do, I’d want a bigger cranking battery that can supply enough cca at half capacity to be sure. 

 

This.   What you will have to watch out for is draining your battery so far down you get stranded.   I have all of my graphs and stuff on its own battery and also independently wired through a perko switch.  None of my electronics run through the console power switch.  Also, one thing that was mentioned above is you could possibly get interference if its hooked up to your starting battery. 

[RHuff]

I went a head and pulled the trigger on a 12v 30AH lithium. I’m gonna store it next to the black box in my storage compartment under the front deck and solely run the black box and 93 UHD off of it…