Solar Panel

[dickenscpa]

Say I have a 12v rechargeable battery solely dedicated to my fishfinder. A couple of back to back fishing days where you forget to plug it in at home that night. It's not dead the next day but you're probably not gonna make it the whole day on what's left. Or more likely I'm fishing a couple of tourneys this year where I'll probably hammock camp in the campground where the boat launch is actually located in the campground but no electrical hookup. I won't kill the battery on day one but it won't make it all day of day two.

Is it feasible to get a solar charger in the 10W size to keep it on the boat day 1 and day 2 in direct sunlight just to keep it topped off for say a two day tournament? If not what size? Also, do these things just not work as advertised, reviews are all over the board.

Plus I've sold my boat and dived headfirst into kayak bass tournaments so a big 36" panel stretched across the back deck won't work for me now.

[bobcoy]

You need to figure out how many watt hours your battery has. I would guess, the battery would have to be 500Wha to run a day on a trolling motor. That is too many for a 10W charger to replenish. A spare battery would be cheaper than a solar rig that would be effective for your situation. I have no experience with a Yak, but I see a bunch of pedaling or paddling in your future without a spare battery.

[wmitch2]

Look into a Troll Bridge. It will re-charge your batteries on the run when the big motor is running. I've gone 3 heavy use days with out ever plugging in to recharge. PLUS, if your start battery is low, it will AUTOMATICLY "Borrow" power from the TM battery and get your started !! Well worth the money.

http://www.yandina.com/troll12X24info.htm

[bobcoy]

I don't think his Kayak will generate enough voltage!

[dickenscpa]

The battery doesn't run a motor. The tournament trail I fish is pedal/paddle only. It just runs my Garmin.

[Jig_Man]

I think Bob has given you the best option, get another battery.

[bobcoy]

The battery doesn't run a motor. The tournament trail I fish is pedal/paddle only. It just runs my Garmin.

Then you can get by with less. Watt is the Garmin using up? (electric yuk for your Yak).

[CatFan]

10W is less than 3/4 of an amp and the panel will only produce that in bright sun. 30W might be worth the effort. A second battery will always work.

[mastergun]

Would a lithium battery work in this situation? Would it get him through 2 full days of fishing?

[dickenscpa]

I think I've settled on two batteries, of course I'd need to remember to plug both in, LOL! The charger for these type of batteries isn't like the big on board charger bolted into my bass boat so it may serve me well to get a second one that stays in the truck and I could top it off on the way to the water or if push come to shove and I was in a tournament and I just had to have my graph I could pull up back at launch and plug it in for a bit.

Dakota Lithium is a sponsor for KBF in my state of TN, so if I were to go lithium I'd obviously want to support them since they support us, but man they are expensive.

I used to just have low level models of Lowrance on my boat. Didn't see the need to spend big dollars on them since 1) I never fished tournaments in my boat, hated it 2) Never took the time to properly learn how to read them 3) Fished the same old place over and over for years and knew it like the back of my hand. So I just had simple low level B&W screens.

Fast forward to Sept 2019 I bought a kayak, got hooked and got bit by the tournament bug. This forced me out of my cocoon and traveling out to waters I'd never been to before and with my work it wasn't like I had time to prefish a few days prior. So the need for mapping and the need to eliminate where fish weren't a bit quicker was necessary.

I've owned a CPA firm in TN since 1998 and as you guys probably know a LOT of pro anglers live in TN and I do a LOT of their taxes and two of them were nice enough to kinda baby me and they took me out on their boats quite a bit after tax season last spring and put me thru sonar boot camp. LOL!

BTW, thank all of you for your responses! I appreciate good feedback that either helps me make a purchase or keeps me from making a bad one. Tight lines to you all!