Installing a fish finder

[Bluestu41]

Morning all!

I have a 10 foot rib and have just bought a Garmin Striker 4. Can I install it not the main battery or is it better to get a second battery?

Thanks

[treerat]

Main battery is usually fine isolation switch is key when doing that though.

[Peter_C]

The battery used should be charged by the motor or it will kill the fish finder battery in short order. A relay could isolate them but requires a on/off switch to do, or an expensive battery isolator/combiner like Hell Roaring's version.

Do you have pull start? Or electric start? As long as you have a pull starter killing the main battery is a non issue, except battery life will be shortened dramatically.

Why not upgrade the main battery to a powerful lithium battery that is probably lighter and 2-3 times as powerful as what you currently have? Could always put a charge controller inline as they can be finicky to what voltage they are charged at. (This is what I would do on a small boat.) On that note they do not require much power, but I found my Garmin GPS/sonar unit would kill the AGM battery in two days of medium use. Installing a charging system onto the outboard solved the issue.