Battery life for a Lowrance Hook 4x Ice machine

[JaysFishin]

Hello fellow Ice fisherman. I am stumped by my Hook 4x battery life. Only get 3.5 hours from a full charge. My son and other friends can go all day with Marcum LX 5-7 units, 12v 7ah batteries. I've called Navico, and the tech replied.." Well that particular unit, the best you will get is 4 hours.." Lithiums are 89.00, don't really want to drop that in this little unit, BUT, if that is my only option for an 8 hour screen life....any other suggestions?

[RStock521]

I get 12+ hrs out of my Elite 5 HDI on a 9ah battery.  I've never ran out of battery, so I don't know how long it would go before it dies.  I keep my brightness around a 7 or 8 most of the time.  I'd say your battery is going bad maybe? 

For what it's worth, I use a Battery Tender Jr. to charge my batteries after each trip, and a top off every few months during the off season.

[quickco]

my marcum vx-1i says 17-22 hours on the supplied 7ah zeus battery. havnt gone that far though, pick up a 20 dollar walmart might max battery if even the expensive ones wont give you run time at least you'll have a spare.

[DR.SPECKLER]

my lowrance 3x elite gets  15 hrs and more run time on a 9ah battery..

[Nitro16]

I can go all day and longer with my elite 5 chirp with whatever battery came with the ice pack. I also use a battery tender jr

[RapShack]

A 12V 7Ah battery is going to give you basically the same run time whether it's Lithium or an SLA.  It sounds to me like your battery is junk as I had an Elite 4 HDI which had the GPS and ran it on a 5Ah battery no problem.  I would just get a new 7Ah SLA.  If you've got a Batteries+ or other such retailer nearby they will usually test for free.   

[SirCranksalot]

Mine runs for 5 hrs or so and my batt is nearly fully charged afterwards. I think mine is 7 AH

[markinohio]

Something is wrong with your battery or charger. I have ran my Hook 5 for 14hrs straight on the ice with a 7Ah battery. I don’t trust the cheap battery chargers that come with the Lowrance ice units…..would suggest trying a Battery Tender or equivalent.

[stealhead4749]

I just bought the hook 4x and charged the battery and got 3 trips at 5 to 6 hours each on a single charge. I've got another issue with mine, or maybe I don't I'm not sure. I've always used flashers but bought the hook 4x a couple weeks ago. I notice when the graph is moving from right to left it marks everything fine but the images as they go across the screen don't seem to move very smooth. It seems to kind of stutter as it goes. Maybe that's normal I don't know

[SirCranksalot]

Have you tried a faster speed?

[stealhead4749]

I've got ping speed set at fastest

[Lukaszu]

Ok well sounds like u need a different machine or a bigger ah battery

[Seamonkey84]

I notice when the graph is moving from right to left it marks everything fine but the images as they go across the screen don't seem to move very smooth. It seems to kind of stutter as it goes. Maybe that's normal I don't know

I don’t seem to notice that on my unit, maybe if it was extremely cold the display lags a bit. But going from a flasher to a graph, that may be the slight hiccup in the display I’ve heard flasher guys claim about graphs.

[RStock521]

Turn on Amplitude Scope.

[JaysFishin]

Thanks for all the productive input! I took advice and had the battery tested, it would drain at a rate of 3a per hour...so in 3 hours it was dead. Bought an new 12v 8a and had 5 hours on the ice with 11v still remaining....cool! Thanks again.