Attwood Tsunami Double Pump System Battery Recomendations?

[jnorto01]

I got 2 Tsunami 1200 pumps to set up a double pump rig for my Caption. I have V1250s in my other open boats. What I missed is that the Tsunami pumps have a 4A draw as opposed to 2.6A. This prevents me from running two pumps on my current battery which is a 12V 5A sealed lead acid. I use an Otter box 3500 as my battery box. Does anyone have battery recomendations for this setup. Looking for something in the 10A range that is 3.5in W x 2.75in deep x 4.0 in tall to fit in my battery box. The verticle dimension could be about an inch taller, limited by were I already drilled and installed the switch through the box.

I'm willing to go the Lithium ion battery route, although it will be expensive and require a special charger. Anyone with experience with these?

Thanks,
Jim

[jscottl67]

I know it's not the most elegant solution, but why not a second battery/box? The captions a big and fairly heavy boat, so I'm not sure the weight of an extra 5A SLA would be horrible. You'd have some redundancy in the rare event something went wrong.

[gumpy]

don't you mean 12v 5ah? that's not a measure of maximum output, but capacity (the 5ah part). it means you can power a five amp load for one hour. if you use two tsunami 1200's, you've got an 8 amp load, that will run for .625 hrs. plenty for a good days boating.

isn't this right?

[jnorto01]

Gumpy,
You are right. I just short handed the notation....But my battery would not drive both pumps. Diconnected one pump and the other spooled up just fine. Could be my batteries are shot. Been C-boatin' for the last season and a half and slacked on the battery maintenance.

[Eric Nyre]

Lead Acid batteries rely on a chemical conversion to deliver energy.

While in theory a 5 Ah capacity would allow the battery to drain 8 amps for 37 minutes, it ignores the conversion rate.

Sounds like the 5Ah battery can't generate the needed 8 amp power demands. Either the plates aren't thin enough, or it's just worn out.

If you go with another Lead Acid battery, make sure it has at least 8 cranking amps, preferably 10 or more. The cranking amps indicates how much output the battery will generate for 30 seconds at 32 degrees.

LiION batteries will explode if improperly charged or drained. They have regulators built in that will stop discharge at 5 or 7 amps. If you hook up 8 amps worth of pumps, you'll just trip the circuit and nothing will happen. NiMH has more oomph than Lead Acid, odds are you can find a NiMH pack that works for your current setup. www.batteryspace.com is where I get mine from.

[jottsee]

Series or parallel load (pumps) matters right?

[Shep]

If you put them in series, you need a 24V battery to run them, but the current is the same as a single pump. If you were wiring your own battery packs from individual cells, this might be a handy trick, but with off-the-shelf packs, it's probably not worth the trouble.

Thanks,
Shep

[jnorto01]

Pumps wired in parallel. If they were wired in series you split the voltage across the pumps. They get 6V and won't run.

[Todhunter]

Look on batteryspace.com - you can get LiIon or NiMH up past 10Ah ratings.

[jnorto01]

OK. I need to nominate myself for a bonehead award. I put my extra 12V 5Ah battery on charge overnight and tried it on the pump rig. They spooled up just fine. Took the tandem to the LY over the weekend and that battery ran the double pump just fine for the day and ran the single pump in my Zoom for the next day. I most likely damaged the first battery by over charging it as I had forgot about it and left it on the trickle charger for quite awhile.

Bottom Line: the el cheapo 12V 5Ah sealed lead acid battery will run two Tsunami 1200 pumps just fine even though they are rated at 4A each.

[Shep]

Bonehead or not, it's good info. Thanks for posting the update!

Shep

[Riverscout]

Jim,

I believe I have a solution to you problem. The Optima Blue Top Deep Cycle Marine Battery with 800 Cold Cranking Amps. It will provide enough power for you to run the worst lines through the longest rapids on multi-day trips without fail!!!!

This battery would allow for a great number of other useful Whitewater Canoe options to be installed such as:
-A larger hi-speed/high capacity pump. Just make sure the drawstring from your swimtrunks stays clear
-A small trolling motor may even be possible for those strenuous attainments and nuisance flatwater sections.
-Running lights
-Electric Beer Cooler
-Depth finder to locate shallow rocks
-GPS Navigation with rapid by rapid descriptions
-Air Compressor to maitain proper pressure in airbags. (assuming you would still need the bags with the SUPERPUMP)
-LOJACK Canoe theft recovery system.

Let me know if this helps. The other options I can think of would be to run dry lines and deal with the ocassional fill up as part of the openboat expierence or paddle a decked boat.

Good Luck and see you at Tandemonium!!!!!