Wanted: a lightweight, waterproof pump battery

[canoeman61]

My L'Edge came outfitted with a lead acid battery which was heavy but immune to water ....the leads were just attached to the poles with no waterproofing and it worked fine. Unfortunately that battery is now on the bottom of the Rocky Broad. A guy I know had a really light battery for a laptop running two pumps, but that battery had to be sealed up a in a Pelican case. What is the lightest battery that does not have to be put in a sealed compartment? Thanks in advance!

[hazardharry]

lithium is light but burns under water. i keep my battery in a case with enough parts to rebuild the entire system on the river. the case lets me secure the battery from ejection. i think your boat is lighter than my bilge system.

[Wendy]

I use a NiMH battery that comes in a water bottle with a charger from http://www.batteryspace.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
YOu do need to secure the battery- I secure it to the pedestal so when the boat is upside down it does not fall out.

[canoeman61]

I use a NiMH battery that comes in a water bottle with a charger from http://www.batteryspace.com" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
YOu do need to secure the battery- I secure it to the pedestal so when the boat is upside down it does not fall out.

I would be interested in this and other ideas. Do you have a link to this batter?

I had my battery belted in with a black bungie cord and it was secure enough that it stayed in when the boat spent a night upside down in a cave under a waterfall, however it somehow popped loose on the Rocky Broad !

Thanks

[Wendy]

http://www.batteryspace.com/waterbottle ... light.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Look around the web site. There are switches to go with the system.

[canoeman61]

Let me rephrase this request: What is the lightest sealed lead acid battery out there? Thanks!

[Wendy]

SLA is the cheapest, but weighs the most. YOu need a 12 volt, 4-5 amp battery for the Attwood Tsunami so it will weigh 3.5-5 pounds.
http://www.batterymart.com/p-12v-5ah-se ... -batteries" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[jknkboaters]

Here is some information on SLA batteries - charging and securing.

SLA batteries should not be discharged more than 50-60%. If you fully discharge a SLA battery, it will lose its charging capacity and may not even be rechargeable.

Attwood T1200 use about 3.25 amps to power it. A 4.5 Ahr SLA can be operated 4.5/3.25*.50*60 minutes=42 minutes of run time. How do you keep up with minutes on the river? I would say 2 minutes per big rapids, so you have 21 big rapids worth of battery life. Most of the rapids I run (Class 2-3) are more like 1 minute per rapid. Charge the SLA battery after every paddling trip. You will not go wrong charging the SLA battery. Store the SLA battery fully charged.

Another suggestion on securing SLA batteries, use 2" wide Industrial Strength Sticky Back Velcro strips on the side and bottom of the Battery. The other Velcro strips are placed on the canoe floor and side of the pedestal. I would also add another bungee or nylon strap to be sure it stays in place. A 4.5 lb wet SLA battery has a way of freeing itself from a restraint.

This SLA battery may have enough capacity from Zbattery.com has 3.6 Ahr SLA battery (3 lbs):
http://www.zbattery.com/B-B-12V-3-6Ah-S ... gory=62965" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[hazardharry]

home depot in the emergency/exit sign section of the lighting area has 5amp12v batteries for $24. loews has a great switch with rubber booty for $6.

[Riverken]

If weight is that much of an issue you might consider buying a small SLA battery (or two, since they are cheap) and just recharging it each time you use it. A 1.3 AH battery weighs about 1.3 pounds and ought to run a 1200 GPH pump for about 20 minutes. That should be enough for most days on the river, especially if you dump the boat rather than pump it out whenever you have the chance.

I've tried all sorts of ways of securing the battery and the pump. I have yet to come up with an ideal way of securing the pump, but I think I have solved the problem for the battery. Take a small block of minicell (just big enough to set the whole battery on it). Cut two small channels through the middle of the large face of the block, the long way and the short way, so they they make a cross design. Run shock cord or a bungee in each direction in the channels, then glue the block to the hull so that the channels, and, of course, the shock or bungee cord, are facing down. Thus, the block holds the cords in place. The cords should be only long enough to hold the battery firmly in place.


The battery sits on top of the block of minicell, with shock/bungee cord holding it to the block both length-wise and width-wise. That has never failed me and it costs almost nothing.


For my Option, I used a different system, but it works. I put the battery in a mesh bag (your booties probably came in such a bag), secure the bag to the air bag case with cheap carabiners and stuff the bag under the air bag cage. So far I've brought home my battery every time. Otherwise, I'd have to put the battery holder under an air bag. That would work, but it is inconvenient.

If anybody has a really good way of securing a pump, I'd be glad to read about it. Best of all would be a way of securing the pump that allows it to be taken out and moved from boat to boat.

[hazardharry]

glue it in with the red can.