# Powering lowrance with drill battery



## RNeiswander

I bought a lowrance elite 5x DI. I also bought a small sealed battery but it's only 5AH. I tried hooking it to my drill battery, it has 4 terminals. I hooked it to power and ground, I had power through the cable to the unit but it wouldn't turn on. It turns on fine with the sealed battery. Any ideas on how to hook it to the drill battery? I googled it with no success.


----------



## K gonefishin

What do you mean drill battery? Lowrance units require 12v like a marine battery or a battery you would use for ice fishing which still provide 12v


----------



## RNeiswander

K gonefishin said:


> What do you mean drill battery? Lowrance units require 12v like a marine battery or a battery you would use for ice fishing which still provide 12v


A cordless drill battery. It says in the directions acceptable voltage is 10-17v, the drill battery is 16.5v


----------



## M.Magis

Wrong battery.


----------



## RNeiswander

M.Magis said:


> Wrong battery.


Care to elaborate?


----------



## K gonefishin

RNeiswander said:


> Care to elaborate?



Just like he said wrong battery, wrong application, the lowrance isn't a drill use a battery made for marine electronics if you don't it won't power it sufficiently and you could ruin it. Read the directions, it also requires a fuse.


----------



## leeabu

The drill battery may have sufficient voltage, but will not provide enough current for the fish finder. A fuse is not required, but it is a good idea. Contrary to popular belief, the fuse will do little to protect the electronics. Its main purpose is to protect the wires and battery in case of a short circuit. Get an AGM sealed tractor or motorcycle battery.


----------



## rod bender bob

I use to have a converter that powered my Garmin GPS/Sonar unit. Probably similar available for Lowrance. Much better than a battery.


----------



## sherman51

RNeiswander said:


> A cordless drill battery. It says in the directions acceptable voltage is 10-17v, the drill battery is 16.5v


when you charge a battery it just about always charges higher than its rated. a 12 v car battery may charge as high as 13.5 or 14 volts. I have some little 3.7 v batteries when I charge them they will charge to over 4.2 volts. so even if a drill battery would work a 16.5 battery could charge to over 18 volts. but I just don't think a drill battery has the right current to run a depth finder.

I would invest in a sealed atv lead acid battery. or a sealed lawn mower battery. these lead acid batteries will run your depth finder. this is all just my opinion.
sherman


----------



## yakfish

I have run a fish finder on a 14.4v drill battery before and it worked just fine. Batteries do charge beyond their rating so a 16.5v battery might damage a fish finder if it is rated up to 17v. Current supplied by the battery isn't an issue here. A fish finder will draw much less current than a drill. which means it will just take less time to drain the battery. 

I use a 4 cell LIPO battery for my fish finder. It is a 14.8v battery but at full charge it actually has 16.8v. It is also 5Ah and I have only had to charge it once this year! I could probably leave it on for 3 straight days before it needed a charge.


----------



## RNeiswander

I wasn't intending to use it all the time, it's more of a backup. It was only around 16.5 or 16.4, I checked with my meter. 

I know the battery is capable, it just one of those "see if it can be done" things.


----------



## RJohnson442

Yeah at that voltage it probably wont turn on. I'm not saying you probably fried it. They usually have an internal cut out if too much voltage is applied. Fuses blow by amperage. So you could see voltage and the fuse not blow. But its too much puwer being supplied by the battery. I bet if you wore it down on a charge it would power up.


----------



## RNeiswander

Yes I made sure, a few times. I was afraid I damaged it at first, but it fired right up with the new battery I bought. 

According to the manual 17v is the upper limit so it "should" work but I'll run that battery down and see what happens.


----------



## leeabu

Since you say you have a meter, put it on the current setting and hook it in series with the depthfinder on a good battery and turn it on and read the amps it draws. Now swap out the battery for your drill battery turn it on and watch the amp draw. You can also leave the meter on the voltage setting in parallel with the battery to read voltage. While it is reading voltage, turn the depthfinder on and watch if the voltage drops down. This indicates the battery cannot supply enough current because it is weak or not enough AH.


----------



## sherman51

another battery that should work good for this is a small electric start generator battery. just thought one of these might be alittle cheaper than a atv or lawn mower battery and may be smaller. but good luck on getting your drill battery to work.
sherman


----------



## privateer

for as much as a drill battery costs, you can purchase a decent small "normal" battery. as for backup - why are you carrying a battery powered drill on your boat... :^)


----------



## Snakecharmer

privateer said:


> why are you carrying a battery powered drill on your boat... :^)


Silly, if he gets too much water in the boat, he can drill a hole in the bottom to let it out.


----------

