Author Topic: Using 18V Drill Battery for LiveScope System  (Read 14829 times)

Offline dgfidler

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Using 18V Drill Battery for LiveScope System
« on: Mar 08, 2019, 01:26 PM »
I bought a Garmin LiveScope system for my boat and have built a 'LiveScope Box' that is self contained. I've missed the boat for ice fishing this year, but I have big plans to use this LiveScope next year and beyond.  I hacked an old Ryobi battery charger and turned it into a device that outputs 18V.  I have my box built and am very pleased with it.  I am running the 'black box' and a EchoMap Plus 93sv off this ryobi battery.  I'm conducting a test in my basement with the livescope submerged in water while the unit runs on a 4ah battery.  I had planned to get the new 9ah battery Ryobi sells, but this 4ah battery has been running the entire system for 3 hours and the voltage is down to 17.2v according he the EchoMap.  I have no idea when this battery is considered 'discharged' and needs swapped out with a fresh one.  Can I run this until it gets in the range of 12v?  If I do that, will I ruin the battery?  I got the idea of using the cordless drill battery from this site, but am now realizing I don't really know at what point I should swap the battery based on volatage.  I'm sorry for jumping right in with a question like this on my first post.

Offline dgfidler

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Re: Using 18V Drill Battery for LiveScope System
« Reply #1 on: Mar 08, 2019, 02:02 PM »
The Garmin unit just shut itself down at around the 3 1/2 hour mark.  It looks like I should swap out batteries soon after voltage drops below 17.5 which would have been about 2.5 hours on a 4ah battery.  This tells me the amp draw is less than 2 at least when running with the LSV32 in a bucket of water.  This thing's going to be awecsome!  I added a picture of my box if anyone is interested.


Offline shoeshineman

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Re: Using 18V Drill Battery for LiveScope System
« Reply #2 on: May 05, 2019, 04:10 PM »
I am very interested in this! Can you show in detail how this battery is setup?

Thanks in advance!

-Josh

Offline Skywagon

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Re: Using 18V Drill Battery for LiveScope System
« Reply #3 on: May 06, 2019, 06:54 AM »
2-12 volt, 10 amp Lithium batteries wired parallel will last a day of fishing with the Livescope and the 93 screen on full bright.  Does your boat motor have a charging system you can plumb into?

Offline dgfidler

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Re: Using 18V Drill Battery for LiveScope System
« Reply #4 on: May 07, 2019, 10:00 AM »
I chose ryobi as my battery because I have a large selection of their batteries for my tools.  Once I go to a drill powered auger, it will be a ryobi drill. Anyway, I took an old charger base and took it apart. On the circuit board, I broke the pathways from the positive and negative battery to the rest of the circuitry. I then cut the power cord and soldered one side to the pathway tied to the positive side of the battery and soldered the other side to the negative. At this point I had converted the charger base to output 18v. I used this to provide power to the black box and head unit.

Offline dgfidler

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Re: Using 18V Drill Battery for LiveScope System
« Reply #5 on: May 07, 2019, 10:10 AM »
On my boat, I still use my ‘ice fishing box’. I wanted to be able to mount the transducer pole to either side of the boat.  And I wanted the head unit on the gunnel. When you ‘spot lock’ over fish, the bow will end up pointed into the wind, so to deal with that, I wanted my transducer pole to be track mounted. I have a tig welder and fabricated the mother of all transducer mounts. I used a Cisco electronics mount to gain the ability to swivel the pole from horizontal to vertical. Hey, it was winter so why not?





Offline dgfidler

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Re: Using 18V Drill Battery for LiveScope System
« Reply #6 on: May 07, 2019, 10:21 AM »
We fished western basin of Erie this past weekend. Regular sonar was marking fish from 20-25 down.  We caught a couple fish deep, but you can take your livescope, aim it forward with the range at 100 ft and see the true depth the fish in front of the boat are suspended at. You’ll track a target coming towards the boat then when it’s 30 feet from the boat it disappears. We saw suspended fish from 10-15 that we otherwise would not have known they were there and caught more fish because of this information.  This is huge and in my mind justifies the purchase. Those shallow fish are the most catchable and you never see them on regular sonar.

Offline Wyoming_Ice

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Re: Using 18V Drill Battery for LiveScope System
« Reply #7 on: May 13, 2019, 08:18 AM »
Did you have to install a "voltage regulator" to bring the voltage down to 12 volts for your Garmin unit ?
RIP "LT"   This place just won't be the same...

Offline dgfidler

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Re: Using 18V Drill Battery for LiveScope System
« Reply #8 on: May 13, 2019, 08:27 AM »
No, the echomap plus 93sv and livescope support up to 18vDC. Since a fully charged 18v battery is 20.2v, I was worried at first,  but I’ve got over 20 hours on the system at between 18 and 20v that I’m no longer concerned.

Offline papadarv

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Re: Using 18V Drill Battery for LiveScope System
« Reply #9 on: May 15, 2019, 09:21 AM »
Livescope /Echomap operating volts is 10vdc to 32vdc so your 18v Ryobi is well within the operating range. Ryobi uses Sanyo (Japan) 18650 Li-Ion batteries charged to 4.2v with a cut-out at 3.0v. 5 batteries in series provides the "typical" 18v with a cut-out at about 15v. The charge board inside the battery also has a shut down circuit at 15v preventing battery damage. Livescope uses 21 watt (@18 v  = 1.1amp) you should get about 4 hours on your 4ah battery. All the cordless tool batteries are great for fishing electronics. I use the Milwaukee M18 with a USB / 12v converter on my electronica as they operate at 12v. Drill holes with my 1200ip fuel than pop battery in converter running flasher, camera, charging phones etc. Your good to go with the Ryobi.






Offline yonger

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Re: Using 18V Drill Battery for LiveScope System
« Reply #10 on: Oct 01, 2019, 03:38 PM »
I just bought a $20 unit off of Amazon that my Dewalt 20V battery plugs into.  Does anyone know what voltage a Dewalt 20v battery shuts off at? 

Offline WyoDave

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Re: Using 18V Drill Battery for LiveScope System
« Reply #11 on: Jan 07, 2020, 01:30 AM »
The Dewalt 20 volt batteries do not have an auto shut off feature built into the battery pack itself.  When using it in a Dewalt tool it is the tool that determines the shut down voltage.  That being said it is probably not good to drain the pack down to below 17 volts.  Permanent damage can occur if drained too far.  I have not measured this yet but I plan to run a full pack down to one bar on the status led and measure my voltage at that point to verify.  I plan to run my Echomap 93sv with live scope ducer with the 20 volt Dewalt since that is what I’m using to run my Dewalt 996 on the 8” kdrill.

Offline WyoDave

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Re: Using 18V Drill Battery for LiveScope System
« Reply #12 on: Jan 07, 2020, 01:51 AM »
Papdarv, you are correct on the voltage specs for the Livescope black box and ducer however the head unit itself is only spec’d for a max voltage of 18 volts.  Not all packs actually match the advertised voltage.  Milwaukee 18vlt show 20 volts.  Dewalt 20’s are actually 20 volts.  I would want to verify what the ryobi is putting out and use a step down module if over 18 by even a smidge.  $7 insurance on an $800 head unit.  The step down modules and the head units all have just a trickle of parasitic draw so you would never want to leave your battery connected overnight fully draining and damaging the battery. 

Offline winterbuddy

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Re: Using 18V Drill Battery for LiveScope System
« Reply #13 on: Jan 07, 2020, 03:22 AM »
That being said it is probably not good to drain the pack down to below 17 volts.  Permanent damage can occur if drained too far.

17 is a conservative benchmark, I change my M18 at 15volts (and higher) for my LVS setup.  At 15, once the batteries are warm, they still show a bar of charge.

and use a step down module if over 18 by even a smidge.

Not my unit, but I personally wouldn't hesitate to run out at full terminal potential using 20volt lithiums tool batteries, as long as it's measureably under 21volts. I use m18 for power all summer and winter on my 3 echomap head units.  And, I'm not the only person doing this. 

Offline Skywagon

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Re: Using 18V Drill Battery for LiveScope System
« Reply #14 on: Jan 08, 2020, 07:36 AM »
I have been using two Dakota 10 amp Lithium batteries for over a year on my Livescope setup.  I am considering buying all the parts necessary to convert it to use M18 batteries as a backup measure only (long story as to why).  For those of you that have been using the M18 batteries for a quite a while (with no problems), what parts do I actually need to buy?  Thank you for any advice.

 



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