Thread: Power problem

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  1. #1
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    Power problem

    I have two lowrance touch 12 and one HDS 10( I think gen 3) and a SS2 box for structure scan. When i night fish I have problems with low power after I run my units and night lights. If I did not use my LSS2 how would that effect my structure scan quality and would it help my power loss? I have run gr 31 AGM Batteries in the past and have had pretty good luck. I just tried a gr 31 heavy duty sealed and the problem is still there. My two units at the console have a separate power wiring direct to them. The touch 12 up front and the SS2 run of the original factory connections. When I ran a heavier size wire to run the two units at the console it seemed to help a little but the problem is still there. I run the info on my units and my boat motor charger shows it is getting 14.4 volts to the units. The units drop back to low 13 volts when the motor or charger is off and when my battery charge gets below 12.2 volts my units start shutting down on their own. Sometimes when they shut down the Ethernet source on the sonar and Structure scan changes. Never on both on a unit running both on screen. My boat is a 2013 Ranger Z522 that came with two HDS 10's and a LSS1.

  2. Member MBDiagMan's Avatar
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    #2
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    Last edited by MBDiagMan; 05-11-2023 at 09:34 PM.
    Ranger R81
    Lowrance HDS Live 9”
    Lowrance HDS Live 12”
    Active Target 2 on Seelite Pole
    Lowrance Ghost
    Mercury 175

  3. Member
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    #3
    Try by passing the box for SS plug your transducer directly into the Black Port and see if that saves anything. Also at night take each back light down 1 notch. Also go into advanced setting and turn off the Lowrance light dispay on ea unit. You don't need those. That should save some juice. Also not sure how old your battery is but take it to a place and get a load test done even if new. Great voltage is only part of the battery if your reserve is wore out then time for a new battery. Also do you have a on board charger that charges your cranking battery or just your trolling battery?

  4. Member
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    #4
    Quote Originally Posted by Basshopper View Post
    Try by passing the box for SS plug your transducer directly into the Black Port and see if that saves anything. Also at night take each back light down 1 notch. Also go into advanced setting and turn off the Lowrance light dispay on ea unit. You don't need those. That should save some juice. Also not sure how old your battery is but take it to a place and get a load test done even if new. Great voltage is only part of the battery if your reserve is wore out then time for a new battery. Also do you have a on board charger that charges your cranking battery or just your trolling battery?
    I just redid the wiring last spring. I tried to make sure I had good connections. I know I can do better. I saw a note today about using marine grade wire. I do not have that but it appears that only age pays a big part on that. I did run a test on my big battery today after charging. It read 12.7 volts which I think is correct. Im going to check the voltage at the units tomorrow because they read 11.9 when charger is off. Meter may be wrong on my units. They read 13.5 plus when charger on with a 14.4 volts from the charger. My boat has 4 bank 15 Amp per bank charger. My motor battery is only about a year old. It is not dual purpose but is a group 31 heavy duty machinery battery. Has specs about the same as the Deka Gr31 AGM that i ran before. I did read an article when i changed it that said that AGM are harder to charge. My last AGM went to ground and burned up my Ranger pushbutton start and what they call the boat brain. Is 14.4 enough to charge a AGM. I,ve been reading on BBC about people using this X2 dual purpose AGM battery. It has high ratings as far as put outs but it did say something about it need higher voltage than normal to charge correctly. Oh and My night lights are those that are off or all they will shine. I do not turn on the bug/see parts of the lights . Just the black light. I was going to use some contact cleaner on mY Lowrance unit connections. Is that OK?

  5. Member
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    #5
    Based on your description you are not using a Deep Cycle Battery. Which is why you are loosing time from the battery. A machine battery is not deep cycle so it can't be run down to a deep discarge as its designed to take a consistent charge while running the equipment. This why you have great voltage in the beginning then it drops off very quickly. I would say this is your main problem the rest is just Minusha.

  6. Member justinp61's Avatar
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    #6
    I don't think the wire size will cause the battery to discharge faster, voltage drop, yes. I also don't trust the voltage readout on Lowrance units, my 9 Live reads a full volt low from actual voltage. Have you checked the actual voltage drop from the battery to the bow? The next time you go to the lake take a volt meter with you, after you fish for an hour or so and with everything still on check the voltage at the battery and at the bow. If you have excessive drop, your wire is too small. I've only used lead acid batters, so I'm not familiar with any of the others, but if they can be load tested it'll tell you if the battery is good or bad.

    I just rewired the main feed wires in my boat. It had #10 power and #12 ground from the battery to the fuse panel at the console, then #14 from the console to the fuse panel at the bow. When the (aluminum) boat was built in 02 the wiring was probably sufficient. I ran #8 from the battery to the main fuse panel at the console, then #10 to the fuse panel at the bow. I now only have a small voltage drop, there is no difference in image quality though.

  7. Member
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    #7
    Think Im going to go back to a AGM. I know what a Deka(Liguidator?) group 31 can do but does anyone have any personal exp. with this X2 gr 31 AGM? Also I cant dig up any info that my Battery charger is good enough for this battery, I have a four bank 15 amp per bank factory installed by Ranger. Thanks for everyones comments. I kept up with all of this stuff when i was younger. My boat is 10 years old and more than likely my last. Only has 350 hours. Still got some good years in it.

  8. Member
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    #8
    Quote Originally Posted by ARK Ranger View Post
    Think Im going to go back to a AGM. I know what a Deka(Liguidator?) group 31 can do but does anyone have any personal exp. with this X2 gr 31 AGM? Also I cant dig up any info that my Battery charger is good enough for this battery, I have a four bank 15 amp per bank factory installed by Ranger. Thanks for everyones comments. I kept up with all of this stuff when i was younger. My boat is 10 years old and more than likely my last. Only has 350 hours. Still got some good years in it.
    I use the X2 in my setup which you can read about and watch a video at the below link:
    https://storage.westernbass.com/mag_...e34/index.html

    Many bassboats run the X2; it is probably the most popular choice available today.
    ciao,
    Marc