lithium battery for depth finder

[jk1]

Does anyone use the Milwaukee drill lithium battery for their ice fishing depthfinder?  It does not seem to work for me????  What am I doing wrong?.....jk

[Gator]

I've never heard of or seen such a use, but that doesn't mean much lol. I'm just good enough not to electrocute myself using the toaster.

 

I'm not sure how you would attach the leads firmly, but I suspect that even if you could, most of the Milwaukee drills I've seen coupled to augers run on 18 volt batteries rather than 12 volts, so there's that working against you, too. Unless there's some way to MacGyver 12 volts out of the system (I guess there could be three six-volt batteries hooked up in series inside the casing). 

 

IMHO, the new Marcum 9 Amp hour lithium batteries are the bomb, and weigh about half that of a normal lead acid.

[Sk8man]

I don't know what kind of depth finder you have but I know with my Vexilar FLX 20 it is sensitive to the current and even with a brand new 12 volt battery charged up with another charger (than the one specifically for it) it wouldn't operate at all when I tried it. My hunch is the higher amperage of the drill battery might at least cook the fuse in the depth finder (if not worse). This may be a situation where using the correct tool for the job can save you money

Edited March 12, 2021 by Sk8man

[Sean Youngblood]

Here is a tread from Ice shanty guy did it with a Ryobi battery.  https://www.LOU/ice_fishing/index.php?topic=379821.0

[Gator]

Definitely a MacGyver solution!!! Cool to see what some guys do.

[Sean Youngblood]

Yeah  I would just spend the money and get a 12 volt Lithium battery made for flashers. I have way to much money into my flasher to be experimenting with it.

[Jomat]

https://www.amazon.com/Battery-Regulator-Milwaukee-Converter-Robotics/dp/B094QTY788/ref=asc_df_B094QTY788/?tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=533371127898&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=15852031927141180588&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9005754&hvtargid=pla-1396746722791&psc=1

 

is this what ur looking for?

[Smat64]

I have been doing it with a voltage regulator and it works well.

 

Its nice to use the same batteries and switch back n forth and you can get a lot of battery for the $ and use them all year.

 

 

[rougarou]

Go to seelite .com they have hook up for both milwaukee and dewalt also you can youtube it

[jk1]

Just got it all hooked up for $10.  Seeing how long it last, thanks guys......jk

[Smat64]

I built a styrofoam box and put a hand warmer in with the battery to keep it warm. 

[Sk8man]

Something that can help battery life is to cut out a piece of styrofoam insulation in the shape of the base of the depth finder and place it at the bottom of it to keep it from direct contact with the ice I velcroed mine to the base of the cover. By the way, I am still on the same regular 9 amp battery that came with my Vexilar which I bought in 2005. I have charged it every single time upon return home from ice fishing and it has never gone below 40 percent charge after coming off the ice.

Edited December 25, 2021 by Sk8man