Support Iceshanty... Get some great gear and forum goodies... Join The Iceshanty Hardwater Militia
still waiting to hear about the 14vdc transformer
I used a Milwaukee power source wired to my Ridgid for that exact purpose, it has a 12V out, and a USB out too..
Here’s just one of many adjustable step down transformers. Can set it for any output voltage you want/ need.https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07JZ2GQJF/ref=emc_b_5_mob_t
vexilar says there units can take up to 20 volts with no problems run mine on a 18 volt Milwaukee battery no problem no need to step down voltage
But what happens if the battery is over 20 Volts?Be aware that some power tool battery packs fresh out of the charger can be as high as 24 volts or more.When I spoke to Vex a number of years ago they stated nothing over 16 volts, their instructions state 10.5-16 volts.I ran into the same thing with HumminbirdI think if it were me I would have "THE" company that quoted you a voltage range to put it in writing!Electronics are just way to expensive for me to experiment with.Just saying.
I did not want to speak for other units without checking, but it seems like most of the major brands could possibly work. The problems I have heard of is that your battery gage of course does not work, and there is nothing to keep you from taking the tool battery down to below wha the manufacturer recommends for most recharge cycles.(the sonar will for sure work down to around 9 V), so you need to monitor the charge on your battery and switch before it gets too low.
Almost all drill batteries have a controller in them that will shut the battery off when the voltage reaches the minimum setting. The only way to drain it farther is to keep an extremely low load on it that the controller cannot catch. ie leaving a voltage controller hooked to it for a long period of time or after the battery cuts you off. Most flashers are 200+ mah draw and LED strips are way higher, I would think the battery would catch that and shut it off in time but maybe some wont. With the ability to use most batteries in low amp tools/items now (inverters, usb, heated items, lights) they should catch a 200mah draw and not let you over discharge the battery. Easiest way to check would be to just get a digital voltage output and mount it to your flasher or battery box for lights and keep an eye on it. Maybe use a battery in a tool for a while until it dies and then record the voltage so you know when to stop. But if you are running a normal flasher with low draw, you arent running a 4ah+ drill battery out of charge in one day of fishing. Just recharge when you get home. For lights, it should catch a 1A+ draw easily and not let you hurt the battery. I can run my flasher for 14 hours without using half of my 4ah ryobi drill battery. Disconnect your battery adapters when not in use and you will be fine.
I have some very old Ridgid batteries- before they even had charge meter lights. The 73SV uses more current than than your flasher. Manual says 800 mA typical. That would be about 10W, so a 4 AH 18V battery might do 8 hours. It does have battery voltage on the screen, and I set an alarm for 17.5V I also reduced the screen brightness to 60% and it lasted fine.