Fish Finder Amps

[cstallings]

If my Fish Finder is listed at 200 watts / 1600 watts peak to peak is the amps per hour calculation as follows?
200 (watts)/12 (volts) = 16.6 Amps. So it would pull 16.6 amps per hour?

Thanks

 

[minuteman62-64]

Re: Fish Finder Amps

The 200 watts is the output to the transducer. Not to be confused with the power consumption for the device. I checked the specifications for a couple of devices and was surprised to find they did not show the power consumption. Based on the power supply wire sizes of some of the fishfinders I've been looking at I'd be surprised if you couldn't run one on a 10A circuit.

 

[minuteman62-64]

Re: Fish Finder Amps

Found a couple of references that your typical fishfinder draws less than 0.5A. So, if your question was related to wire/fuse size to power a fishfinder, it looks like a 5A circuit would be fine.

I wanted to pursue this since I'm shopping for one now and want to make sure I power it adequately

 

[TerryMSU]

Re: Fish Finder Amps

Your math is accurate, but you are missing two imporatant factors. The unit puts out 200 watts, but the pulse that it puts out is only on for a small portion of the time that the unit is on (maybe 1%), so the average power is not 200 watts, but 200 watts times 1% or 2 watts. Also, most of the power goes into the support electronics, not the sonar ping. The 0.5 amps mentioned by Minuteman is probably about correct. By the way amps is amps; the per hour is not appropriate.

TerryMSU

If my Fish Finder is listed at 200 watts / 1600 watts peak to peak is the amps per hour calculation as follows?
200 (watts)/12 (volts) = 16.6 Amps. So it would pull 16.6 amps per hour?

Thanks

 

[cstallings]

Re: Fish Finder Amps

I was really trying to calculate load on a battery...doing a little battery shopping. But wiring and fuse size is also relevant. I've heard FF draw minimal amps, but I got a little confused when I did my calculation for my humingbird piranhamax 170. So the 200 watts is the output of the transducer, not consumption of device...makes sense. Just not sure why they don't list the consumption.

I have a Lowe 1448 big jon that I completely gutted and restored and was trying to get away from running two batteries for weight issues, so I was attempting to calculate the battery load.

Thanks

 

[dingbat]

Re: Fish Finder Amps

I'm running a 1 kW RMS sounder it's speced at 1.0 amp @12VDC

 

[Davem3]

Re: Fish Finder Amps

on my hummingbird, i use a 3 amp fuse, and have never blown one yet...............16A would kinda high IMHO.

 

[Silvertip]

Re: Fish Finder Amps

The installation iinstrudctions in the user manual for a locator will specify what size fuse is needed. that's all you need to know. The long and short of this is that don't draw squat for power so you can power it with 8 flashlight batteries probably all summer.