Reading a Flasher

[MBDiagMan]

Kind of a fun story, but I don’t know what subforum to write it in.

I have a lucrative retirement business that is enjoying growth. A good thing, but eats into my enjoyable retirement activities, fishing being in the list. I have a ‘99 Ranger that was well equipped, well stored and in great shape when I bought it at the beginning of COVID. I put a Ghost and TI2’s on it then and last year upgraded to LIVE’s and an AT2. At the time I put in a lithium battery used exclusively for the new Lowrance gear.

My grandson loves to fish with me even though he knows little about fishing. He was home from college for the weekend and wanted to fish. I got the boat ready including plugging in the charger for the crank battery and the trolling motor batteries. Before the LIVE’s the gadgets ran off the crank battery, so my habit was to plug in the one charger that did it all.

When I got the boat in the water and when the LIVE’s wouldn’t start up I realized that I had not charged the Lithium battery. When I bought the boat it had perfectly operable old Lowrance flashers, one at the console and one up front. The one up front had its transducer removed when the Ghost went in, but the rear one still works great, I told Connor(my Grandson) that he was about to learn a dead language.

I have waypoints of brush piles and such that I have pinpointed myself, as well as many from my buddies, but no GPS so they were useless. I knew generally where there were some brush piles that have been very productive so I explained how it worked and staying on the trolling motor, had him reading the flasher. With explanation and moving around we found a brush pile and even saw a few flashes that were probably fish. We caught a couple of Crappie off the brush pile and had some golden Opa/Grandson discussion.

Even without my wonderful gadgetry, we fished old school, he learned how to use antiquated equipment, and had a wonderful afternoon together.

So that’s my Lowrance story that covers old and new.

[bassfisher444]

Good times, and to save you from that problem again you could easily run those electronics you have and crank the motor with one of these batteries. I run more than that off of mine and never have any trouble.
https://www.oreillyauto.com/detail/c...e-31/ssbl/316t

[MBDiagMan]

Thanks bassfisher. I wish I had room for that battery.

That’s the way I ran the electronics before. They didn’t draw near as much current as the LIVE’s + AT2. It has a 175HP motor that takes a hot battery to start. When I went to the LIVE’s and the AT2, I don’t remember the Amp draw number, but a long day could have drawn down the crank battery to a point that I might not be able to start the big motor. My buddies were using a Lithium Ion just for their Live Scope. I am going to look into a large double pole, double throw switch that I can use to run the stuff off of one battery or the other.

[bassfisher444]

Thanks bassfisher. I wish I had room for that battery.

That’s the way I ran the electronics before. They didn’t draw near as much current as the LIVE’s + AT2. It has a 175HP motor that takes a hot battery to start. When I went to the LIVE’s and the AT2, I don’t remember the Amp draw number, but a long day could have drawn down the crank battery to a point that I might not be able to start the big motor. My buddies were using a Lithium Ion just for their Live Scope. I am going to look into a large double pole, double throw switch that I can use to run the stuff off of one battery or the other.

You don’t have room to get rid of your current cranking battery and electronics battery and replace it with that one? I run 4 units, livescope, power poles and crank a 225hp all day long with that battery. Remember the outboard recharges the battery while you run it.

[MBDiagMan]

You make a great case for the battery and I’m sure that would be a great solution, but there is just no room for it. That’s why I put the lithium Ion in one of the rod compartments. I hated using that space, but it was my only choice if I wanted more battery capacity.

Thanks for the thought.

[bassfisher444]

You make a great case for the battery and I’m sure that would be a great solution, but there is just no room for it. That’s why I put the lithium Ion in one of the rod compartments. I hated using that space, but it was my only choice if I wanted more battery capacity.

Thanks for the thought.

What size cranking battery do you have now? A group 31 won't fit in that spot?

[justinp61]

You make a great case for the battery and I’m sure that would be a great solution, but there is just no room for it. That’s why I put the lithium Ion in one of the rod compartments. I hated using that space, but it was my only choice if I wanted more battery capacity.

Thanks for the thought.

I'd remove the cranking battery, electronics battery and replace them with a single lithium, just make sure it's compatible with your charging system. I run an Impulse Lithium 105ah All Purpose battery on my boat. It runs four HDS 12's, AT 2, two NMEA networks, turret, pumps and starts my 2002 90hp Yamaha. After eight hours of fishing, it still has 42% charge and 13.1v.

Impulse Lithium had the best warranty when I was shopping for a battery.

[Marc Marcantonio]

Not sure if the Ranger R31 is the same as my Ranger Z20...but I didn't think I had room for a 5th battery until I moved my oil tank more to the center and put the 5th battery where the oil tank was located. There are many times I miss using my flashers...good story.