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Rechargeable AA are not 1.5v like normal alkaline/hd batteries, they are 1.2V. 6 normal AA are 9V, 6 rechargeable are just over 7V. You'll need to find a rig to somehow hold 10 of them together if you want actual 12V. But a 12 AA try will be 14.4V and will work fine on almost all flashers/lcd units. Your 8 pack holder will be 9.6V which will not turn on most flashers. Also, you are only going to get about 60% charge out of them before they give up the beans, maybe less in the cold. Most AA rechargeable are 2000mah (2ah) so you'll essentially have a labeled 2ah battery when done.. but really more like a 1-1.2ah battery for use.
There have been a lot of options put forward to replace the SLA batteries we all lug around on the ice, and it makes sense- technology has provided many better solutions in the last few years. One I thought of yesterday was rechargeable AA batteries. I converted an old LCD summer rig to use as. a spare flasher to take guests with a battery box I bought off EBAY and 8 energizers, but what about the rechargeable you can buy now. I am almost done buying throwaway batteries- just got another 24 rechargeable AAs from Amazon for $28. There is a nice box you can buy for $4, and you would have a 2.9 AH battery pack for $13. Has anyone tried this? Any reason it would not work? I am not sure what the current capacity would be, but flashers are not much current. I have run my Marcum Showdown off 6 of these batteries for years.
Kevin23: You can buy a 10 AA battery holder, but maybe a better starting point would be the 18650 battery. That is what they use in tool battery packs and even inside the lithium batteries designed to replace 12V SLAs. I think the 18V tool batteries use 5 in series. You can get a holder for 4 of them, which would be 15-16 volts at the start, and 12V at the end. Looks like you can get those on Amazon for about $2, so if you can get the case for 3 bucks, it would be even cheaper. The tool batteries end up being 2 or 2.5 AH with 1 bank of these cells, so you would end up with about the same AH, just at a lower voltage, which is closer to the design center of 12V electronics. If you were starting from scratch, and needed to buy something, this seems like it could be a cheap, light option if there are no hidden technical issues.
Yup. the Marcum Showdown is a digital sonar not really a typical flasher No spinning motorsIf it uses 6aa that’s 9 volts. I assume you meant 8 AA?Digital logic is easy on the current draw. the lcd screen brightness is what will suck your amps Hence you may be able to get by Cheap enuf. to give em a try. good luck
Dont forget you also need a micro controller and a way to balance charge your newly made battery pack of 18650s. You cant just hook 4 of them up together and go, well you can but that is very dangerous and it wont last long. Plus you will need to fork up for some good ones, samsung are arguably the best.. you definitely dont want to just buy the cheapest 4 you can find. Samsungs will be about $5 each and are what are inside almost all name brand drill batteries. I'm speaking from experience with AA rechargeable batteries in the cold (coyote caller and lights), you will be very lucky to power a traditional flasher or newer lcd unit with 10-12 of them for more than 2 maybe 3 hours. They just dont work in the cold, and the ones you are talking about buying are guaranteed to be incorrect mah rating. They are like 18650s where you need to buy the good name brand ones or you are just getting the cheapest ones they could rebrand in china. They'll say 2000mah, 2500mah, etc but be the cheapest weakest ones on the market... its one of the biggest scams in batteries. Most guys who would use them in coyote callers in the winter would take 3 or 4 battery packs, where you would only need one if you used AA alkaline batts.. but its a way to save money in the long run.. as long as you dont mind 1/4 the runtime and charging a bunch of batteries overnight. Its good to think outside the box though. It's just that this mouse trap has already been invented and re-invented.
Just to enforce what you are saying here, I tried rechargeable AA in my tip up sensors last season... they did all kinds of weird things, false signals etc. I went back to good old Alkaline batteries and they solved all the mysterious issues.. I believe it was a combination of the lesser voltage and inability to work in the cold..
