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[TheFishingLad]

Edit: Had it running for 5 1/2 hours, turned it off before bed.


Been looking at my options over the last few days on a fish finder for my Kayak, and to be fair most portable options were either clunky, poorly reviewed or awkward to carry via backpack (IE Fishin Buddy 120), so I made my own.

****Note:
                 I've had the fish finder running on this 12v battery for 5 hours 30 minutes so far in Simulator mode with backlight on full power to draw as much juice as I can. Im not confident but I imagine with the transducer hooked up and giving me real time feed on the water it will double the power draw. I expect this and really with at least 1 hour 15 minutes of run time on the water for a tiny battery is fine with me. It may not be a great idea for some, but I do have 3 of these batteries, and their light enough for me to pack.

I still need to figure out a mounting system to my kayak, but I feel the hardest part is already done.


Items used:

x1 Humminbird PiranhaMax 175
x2 Butt Connectors (1 Blue for Negative cable, 1 red for positive)
x2 Heat shrink pieces
1x 12v Battery (Im using a 12v Milwaukee from my toolbench) w/ charger
1x Carrying case of choice
Wire cutters/strippers
pliers (or crimper)
Side cutters (Or blade if youre brave)


These are the connectors I used.


This is what we want to expose by getting rid of the surrounding plastic for our battery connection.


The appropriate size hole here is a good thing to remember, too small and, well, its too small.


The results of my side cutter hack job to rid the plastic heathen surrounding my jewel.


I love heat shrink. Not only does it protect connections from water (This case it won't do that since my connection to the battery is kind of exposed anyway) but it stiffens and gives further flexibility to the wires; also allows me to play with fire.


My battery situation. It is tiny.


I chose butt connectors for this battery for obvious reasons. They fit nice and snug into the battery itself.


As you can see I alo had a second piece of Heat shrink already waiting above the wire to be secured over both wires, for again extra strength and water proofing (Its a big enough size to slide over the back of the connectors). I also added white electrical tape over the positive wire so I don't forget.


Final result of it running.

[typhoon]

Very nice! I'm looking to do something like this for my Scadden boat. I definitely don't have room for a large battery.
Did you have to buy the drill to get a battery with blade connections?

[TheFishingLad]

Very nice! I'm looking to do something like this for my Scadden boat. I definitely don't have room for a large battery.
Did you have to buy the drill to get a battery with blade connections?

I bought the drill/impact combo from Homedepot for my work as a mechanic. So I just adapted a work application to a fishing one. Technically you can buy the batteries separately, but then you would also have to buy the charger separately. I wouldn't see that being too cost effective.

I was also playing with a 12v Dewalt battery but it would of been more difficult to secure connections to the battery itself so I opted fr my Milwaukee.

Also, its now at 3 1/2 hours of running.

[Tenz85]

Great job and writeup. I as well was looking at doing a setup like this and the same finder/sounder, piranhamax 175 because of the multie and wide beam. If not connected to the trolling motor battery, i intend to rig up 8 1.5v AA batteries with those premade battery holders. I think those cost 5-10 bucks at home depot or a general electronics store. There's a how to on youtube for the battery pack rig but its cooler when you can use everyday items lying around the garage as do here.  If you get the chance, let me know how the piranhamax 175 works for you.

[TheFishingLad]

Great job and writeup. I as well was looking at doing a setup like this and the same finder/sounder, piranhamax 175 because of the multie and wide beam. If not connected to the trolling motor battery, i intend to rig up 8 1.5v AA batteries with those premade battery holders. I think those cost 5-10 bucks at home depot or a general electronics store. There's a how to on youtube for the battery pack rig but its cooler when you can use everyday items lying around the garage as do here.  If you get the chance, let me know how the piranhamax 175 works for you.

I too was looking at a AA pack set up, which in theory would work perfectly, just need a good battery management system as Id probably have 16 batterys at any point with me. I intend to try it out soonish, ill keep things updated. at 4 1/2 hours of runtime on this battery so far.

[Tenz85]

Sounds good. I would think the watts stored in those power packs would surpass most AAs but if you need them for work too.. You'll have some explaining why you drill/grinding manually lol

[banx]

fishinglad. you should look into the lithium batteries used in radio control cars. hobby quality.  also the deans connectors are great for an application like yours.  you can buy batteries for cheap from china on ebay, and they are the same you are using without the additional weight of the plastic case.

[TheFishingLad]

Youre right, that looks like up my alley. My new end game for this (with my kayak) is to have a mount right infront of me for the finder, then directly below that (On the underside) a slot to slide in a flat 12v RC battery pack, waterproof, easy ad out of the way. Thanks for the idea

[TheFishingLad]

I tried this bad boy out on Sunday at sasamat lake. I caught sweet f all but I did see fish at various depths.

Only issue Is doesn't have enough power for the '455Kz' "kHz?" Mode. So no 600ft for me, but 120 is enough.

[troutbreath]

You using the transducer stuck to the hull on the inside? I hooked it up to the skeg on my kayak. Was surprised how close the trout would come to the back of the boat. It was like they were following me around the lake.

[TheFishingLad]

I'm going put it on the front of my kayak via stick going into the water, maybe. Or the rear may be more paddle friendly. We'll see. 

What fish finder do you have troutbreath?

[troutbreath]

I have a portable one (Hummingbird) and Bottomline Fishing Buddy (or something like that). The one on the kayak died the other year (after 15 years) and I replaced it with the portable. I had rigged up the old one on top of a small tackle box with 2 of those 6 volt batteries in series. Then ran the transducer line to the back where it attached to the skeg . I was reluctant to glue the transducer inside the kayak as I also used it on my other boats. The fishingbuddy one is almost useless when travelling fast in a boat, as the thing bends on it's mount. Works OK when rowing. Happy with the potable one and it would be easy to mount on the kayak.  Here is someone else's set up:

http://www.tomneale.com/tips13.html

[Spawn Sack]

I can't get the pics to load on my (stupid) work computer but sounds pretty clever!

I have a Hummingbird 140C (I think that's the #, it's the color screen model). I LOVE it! True the screen does not have the detail etc of a more powerful/expensive one, but for fly fishing and trolling smaller lakes it works great.

I bought a Sanyo Enloop charger that came with 16AA batteries from Costco. This is perfect as the unit takes 8AAs. I always have a 2nd set fully charged in my tackle box and when the one set dies I just swap them out on the water, then charge the other set back up when I get home. As far as battery life goes I typically get a full day (10+ hrs) no problem, often 2 full days on the water if I'm not using the side scanner (uses more battery).

I like that the fishingbuddy can easily be swapped from one boat to another. I'll use it on the car topper one day, the canoe another, loan it to a buddy to try out, etc.

Down sides are:

-You need to stay on top of your AA batteries as running out of juice on the water and not having back ups sucks.
-Using alkaline batteries would get expensive it you used the unit often.
-To change the batteries you have to unscrew the top of the unit which is a bit of a pain, esp on the water.
-if you want to move above trolling speed you need to take the unit out of the mount other it will bounce around. Same goes with coming asore you need to take the unit out or else it will grind on the bottom.

Overall I really like mine, esp for the price. The black and white model is about $100 less and the batties last about twice as long; however I like the color screen and would buy this model again.

[TheFishingLad]

Spawn, I too was looking at the fishin buddy but didn't like the idea of a fixed pole to haul around.. But they are well reviewed.

Was at Deer lake today trying out le fish finder with my kayak for the first time. I thought the lake was deeper than 20ft, but turns out, nope! Only caught a few bass, saw some on the finder , but didn't catch any of them.

This is my biggest bass to date.

[Spawn Sack]

I don't find the fixed pole much of an issue to haul around. In a kayak maybe as you have much less room than in a boat. It does become a bit of pain if you want to move above trolling speed or coem ashore as the fish finder has to be lifted out of the mount and into the boat. I made a "holster" for the shaft out of PVC pipe. The shaft goes into the pipe then I have a small bungee cord that goes over the top of the fish finder to secure it. This pervents the transducer from getting banged/damaged when not in use.

It sounds like your set up is working well for you so I'd stick with it!

I love my fishing buddy and have no regrets buying it.