Using DeWalt 20volt to Power a Graph?

Has anybody done this?

My Garmin 73sv plus says it can run on 10-18 volts.

The DeWalt 20 volt “max” system is actually 18 volts nominally (from what I read).

Could I just buy the adapter and run my graph straight off a drill battery? If the battery is at 18.1 volts will it fry it?

Does anybody know the voltage of a 20volt max battery after it’s been off the charger for a bit? I’ve never tested one.

If it works it would awesome to just take a handful of 5 amp/hr batteries out on the ice to drill AND run a graph.

https://www.ebay.com/i/113852022344?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=711-117182-37290-0&mkcid=2&itemid=113852022344&targetid=539174379075&device=m&mktype=pla&googleloc=9052389&poi=&campaignid=6470549469&mkgroupid=75695854057&rlsatarget=pla-539174379075&abcId=1139336&merchantid=6296724&gclid=Cj0KCQjwz8bsBRC6ARIsAEyNnvokVR0oImpmdr48eEGwdl8IbEPAk_9ypS1C-f2ahbjCDjsAgksmHXUaAmi_EALw_wcB

If the voltage is over 18 volts on a rested battery what kind of regulator/resistor would work?

How about something like this?

https://www.amazon.com/DROK-Converter-5-3V-32V-Regulator-Transformer/dp/B078Q1624B?ref_=fsclp_pl_dp_2

I use the 18volt fuel batteries tapped straight out to power both 7 and 9″ echomap plus graphs and the gls10 processor, those are slightly over 20V when topped off.

Thanks Fishwater, so no problems running at a higher voltage?

Do you ever run a 73 with just the regular ice transducer?

I wonder if by running panoptics that you’re creating a big enough draw that it’s actually pulling the voltage to a safer level? Or that it can handle more than the rating?

I just tested a rested 20 volt max battery…..read 20.78 volts

I asked a buddy who is a battery guru (works for Action Battery) and he sent me a link to a small waterproof converter.

Going that route for cheap insurance so I don’t fry a $600 head unit.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/installation-power/step-down-dcdc-voltage-converter-40v-8-40v-to-24v-33-24v-power-reducer/5390/12102/

A pair of 5 amp hour batteries should easily last a full day of fishing. My unit draws .8 amps at 12 volts (with an open water transducer), couldn’t find specs for the power draw with an ice ducer, but I assume it would the same or even less.

You can get a adapter that has a usb and a 12v output for the heated jackets and what not.

Dusty Gesinger wrote:

You can get a adapter that has a usb and a 12v output for the heated jackets and what not.

I’ll dig into that a bit more

I have a generic DeWalt adapter that has 2 USB ports but not the heater port. Love it for charging phones.

The one you’re talking about says it’s rated for 1 amp, which “should” be adequate. My only problem is I can’t find what a 73 plus draws using when an ice transducer.

Anybody have experience with the jacket adapter and a graph?

B-man , One thing to watch out for with the adapter is it will draw voltage any time that it is connected to your battery. Wrecked a 2AH battery by leaving it connected for a couple of weeks. Could not bring it back to life with all of the tricks found on the internet.

I took one of those generic USB adapters off of amazon and replaced the guts with a little switching regulator from Texas Instruments (TPS54531EVM-530). Instead of 1A I get north of 5A for running panoptix which can be pretty power hungry (3A i think).

I measured a few graphs for input current at 12V. My 9″ HDS Live drew 1.5A. My 7″ gen1 HDS drew .75A. Back lighting level makes a big difference. Whether a transducer is connected or not didn’t seem to make a difference.

Awesome, thanks guys.

Jim I’ve heard that before. The convertor draws power any time it’s on the battery, even with nothing hooked up.

I used a Milwaukee M18 battery with 12 AH all last ice fishing season and all this summer for my panoptix livescope. I didn’t use a voltage converter but ran it directly. Initially the voltage can be as high as 21 V. I have a note from the Garmin tech support that this would be fine. The Livescope is actually rated to run at higher than 24 volts.

I use the same battery to power my Milwaukee Drill on the Auger. Works great.

I tested the dewalt 20 to 18vlt adapter. It physically changes the shape so that the 20 volt batteries can be connected to the older 18 volt tools however it is still passing through the same 20 volts. And yes, it does draw a small bit of current even if not connected to a tool and will flat kill a battery overnight.

Here are pics of my setup using the Dewalt 20 volt battery using a step down module to bring it below 18 vlts. Pulling .6 amps with livescope on highest settings.

Attachments:

1. 

   VOLTAGE3-1.jpg
   

2. 

   VOLTAGE2-1.jpg
   

Those step down modules do have a parasitic draw. I use them when I power my vex and small humminbird. Mine have not killed a battery overnight tho. A couple weeks, yes.

Dave, I found that exact thing when testing last night. It would be best to have a toggle switch inline between the battery and the step down module. It’s not enough draw to affect a days fishing since you would not pop in the battery till you need it. But, I can see myself leaving the battery in when I get home and forgetting it till I get set to fish again. I also think that the Garmin head unit will also have some parasitic drain as well.

I have done this exact project and can show you my bench test results. My apologies if this seems long winded but I have spent a ton of time looking for info so I thought I might save someone else some legwork.
I have a Garmin Echomap+ 93sv with a GLS 10 sonar black box, PanoptixTM LVS32 transducer. I tested it with a 12 volt 7.5 amp hour battery fully charged using a fluke ammeter and found that the head unit alone only pulled about .25 amps. Once I turned on the Panoptics transducer it jumped up to .60 amps with the display on 100% brightness and depth and distance to maximum (this did make about a .15 amp difference).

The specs on the head unit say max 18 vlts. The specs on the GLS 10 say max 32 vlts. So, I’m opting to use the Dewalt 20 vlt- 5 Amp hour battery since that is what I’m using to run my Dewalt DCD996 on my 8″ K-drill auger. To bring the 20 volts down to an acceptable range I am using an adjustable step down converter to bring it to 17.5 volts just to be safe (purchased from Amazon). https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017S2XC3E/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1.
I chose that particular module because it is a sealed unit and should be fairly waterproof. As Dave mentioned, these stepdown modules, the GLS-10 and the Echomap head units all have a small amount of parasitic draw and even though turned off will drain a battery over a couple of days. So, to negate that I will be putting a toggle switch between the battery and the module.

I am still waiting on one part from Amazon to complete my set up. I need the 20vlt 3D printed connector that mates to the Dewalt batteries. As soon as I have that I will get it out on the ice for some real world testing. The Garmin has a setting to warn you when the voltage drops to a level that you choose…..I’m setting mine at 11.2 volts and will be using that as a reminder that I’m going to need to change the battery soon. I expect to get at least 5 hours on one battery. This kit is all being housed in a Frabil 13qt bait station and I have fashioned a livescope ducer pole using clear pvc. I will share pics and results of all of it after I get back from my first field test this week.

Wish me luck!

You should really be using something like below. If you just use a voltage regulator and run your Milwaukee or Dewalt Batteries all the way dead you will wreck them in a very short time. Lithium’s do not like being discharged completely. All of your tools will cut the battery off when it hit’s about 14 volts, for 20V tools.

https://www.amazon.com/LANMU-Battery-Adapter-Lithium-Soldering/dp/B081T1ZLBR/

Bman, I have done this exact project and can show you my bench test results. My apologies if this seems long winded but I have spent a ton of time looking for info so I though I might save someone else some legwork.
I have a Garmin Echomap+ 93sv with a GLS 10 sonar black box, PanoptixTM LVS32 transducer. I tested it with a 12 volt 7.5 amp hour battery fully charged using a fluke ammeter and found that the head unit alone only pulled about .25 amps. Once I turned on the Panoptics transducer it jumped up to .60 amps with the display on 100% brightness and depth and distance to maximum (this did make about a .15 amp difference). The brightness affect was hardly measurable from 10% to 90% and even at 100% only equaled about .07 amps. So, with everything on the most I could get it to pull was .60 amps.

The specs on the head unit say max 18 vlts. The specs on the GLS 10 say max 32 vlts. So, I’m opting to use the Dewalt 20 vlt- 5 Amp hour battery since that is what I’m using to run my Dewalt DCD996 on my 8″ K-drill auger. To bring the 20 volts down to acceptable range I am using an adjustable step down converter to bring it to 17.5 volts just to be safe (purchased from Amazon). https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B017S2XC3E/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1.
I chose that particular module because it is a sealed unit and should be fairly waterproof.

I am still waiting on one part from Amazon to complete my set up. I need the 20vlt 3D printed connector that mates to the Dewalt batteries. As soon as I have that I will get it out on the ice for some real world testing. The Garmin has a setting to warn you when the voltage drops to a level that you choose…..I’m setting mine at 11.2 volts and will be using that as a reminder that I’m going to need to change the battery soon. I expect to get at least 5 hours on one battery. This kit is all being housed in a Frabil 13qt bait station and I have fashioned a livescope ducer pole using clear pvc. I will share pics of all of it after I get back from my first field test this week.

So, the system has been powered up and ran for about 10 minutes at 17.9 vlts using the 20vlt battery with no damage. Wish me luck!

Thanks for the info David.

I was just about ready to get a step down voltage regulator and use my DeWalt batteries, but ran across the Amped Outdoors guy at the ice show (a guy can’t leave the show empty handed )

Let us know how it all works out after a few outings. I’m surprised at how low the amp draw your 9″ and goodies are pulling.

I could get my 7″ Garmin to draw just short of a half amp at full brightness and the gt10 on. A little over a half amp for the 9″ is impressive.

I run a Gpsmap 942xs in my big boat for radar, but have never tested the draw. Thought about using it for ice fishing, but it would be overkill for running just 2d (I don’t have Panoptix….yet…. )

Thx for that tip Tom. I had not seen that adapter before and thats handy so I ordered one.
For this project though I’ll stick with the other adapter that can be mounted in place because I want to be able to pop batteries into my ice kit and not have them free to bounce around inside. I plan to use the low voltage alarm warning on the Echomap to tell me when to change batteries.

This is cool stuff, guys. Be sure to keep posting your findings and results once you actually get them out on the ice. I had been mulling over doing something pretty similar to what David has rigged up with the bait box/converter setup over the summer for Milwaukee Fuel batteries.

It just seems like a lot of work for less performance. These use Li-ion and not lifepo4. I would think they need to be replaced in half the time of an amped or dakota style for the same replacement cost. You could diy a 4s lifepo4 battery that more closely matches the voltage rating you’re looking for with less parasitic loss.

iTinker wrote:

It just seems like a lot of work for less performance. These use Li-ion and not lifepo4. I would think they need to be replaced in half the time of an amped or dakota style for the same replacement cost. You could diy a 4s lifepo4 battery that more closely matches the voltage rating you’re looking for with less parasitic loss.

At least for me (and I’m assuming others who want to go this route), the reason for changing isn’t due to performance, but rather because people have a ton of Dewalt or Milwaukee batteries around for other tools. Especially if you run an auger off your drill, you can just bring a couple batteries for the day/weekend and you are good to go.

iTinker wrote:

It just seems like a lot of work for less performance. These use Li-ion and not lifepo4. I would think they need to be replaced in half the time of an amped or dakota style for the same replacement cost.

I’ve been testing used LiFePO4 batteries to quantify the capacity after a year or more of use. The results are limited due to the fact I can only test batteries I can have in my possession. The power output tests are showing some batteries degrade as much as 20+% in only a single year. I started testing these at first because my buddy had an 18ah that wasn’t giving him the performance he thought it should. He was right.

I’ll do some of my older m18 to see how they match up with spec.

There will be parasitic loss with any battery that is connected to your graph and/or GLS-10 transducer unless you install a manual switch behind the battery and before any electronics. How much parasitic loss can only be determined with an ammeter. Every system will be slightly different. The major motivation to use Dewalt 20’s for me is that by starting with 17.7 vlts I can run longer than if I start with 12.7 .
Also:

+ The individual cells used by Dewalt are of the highest grade available.
+ It also allows me to use a single battery platform for running my
electronics, my auger and my floodlight. (35 6″ deep holes per battery)
+ The modular design is light and convenient to quickly pop in another battery
that is already sitting in my kit every 5+ hours….even with gloves on.
+ The GLS-10 runs just warm enough to keep the spare batteries warm inside the
frabil box as well ensuring peak performance when you need them.

Milwaukee batteries are also very high quality cells and very well built. There are of course some very high quality batteries available in 10 and 12 amp hour configurations that would also do very well in this application. Personal preference really.

So far what I have discovered on my unit is that at 11.3 volts the Head unit reports that it has lost connection to the lvs32 transducer. It is spec’d to run on between 10 and 32 volts but that does not seem to be the case. I have submitted an email to Garmin to address this as I have read many posts describing intermittent connection to the livescope transducer.

David Burchard wrote:

So far what I have discovered on my unit is that at 11.3 volts the Head unit reports that it has lost connection to the lvs32 transducer. It is spec’d to run on between 10 and 32 volts but that does not seem to be the case. I have submitted an email to Garmin to address this as I have read many posts describing intermittent connection to the livescope transducer.

I suspect the gls10 failure to work below 11.3 with your setup is because of lack of power due to insufficient current capacity of the battery because it’s drained. Power is current x voltage, so as voltage drops, your battery actually gets taxed harder. The gls10 really uses power, not voltage.

Would you mind reporting the voltage that is displayed on your 93sv when first connected to a fresh M18 battery? I REALLY need to be sure this graph isn’t going to melt down if it sees 20 volts input. If you could share a pic that would give me the assurance I need to remove this step down reducer from the equation. My theory is that I can get maximum runtime from the 5amp hour 20volt battery without taking the battery too low by using the low voltage warning setting on the graph. My 1st test on the ice with the voltage reducer gave me right at 5 hours but I think I can do better.

David – here’s a picture of my setup at startup on a fresh 12ah battery, reads 20.3 volts.

Attachments:

1. 

   20200115_050809.jpg
   

Thanks for that pic Fishwater. Yesterday I removed the step down module and I am now powering my setup with the 5 amp hour Dewalt 20 volt batteries without any voltage reduction. I’m getting 20.4 volts showing on the Echomap screen with a fresh charged battery and so far it seems just fine. I’m sure I can get more than 5 hours per battery pack in this configuration. After researching further it seems that the low voltage cutoff determined by the newer brushless Dewalt tools is 15 volts so I will set my Garmin to alarm at 15.5 volts to protect the lithium batteries.

Attachments:

1. 

   6AC39FDE-EE71-4A42-8842-C8B08D36BC29.jpeg
   

I posted on this last year on IDO as well. I run everything with my DeWalt batteries. Underwater camera, locators, drill/auger everything. I leave the house with one small insulated bag holding four 5amp hour batteries and I’m all set. This change has completely eliminated my battery frustration. I can switch out batteries as I please in just seconds. I’ve never ran out of power yet.

Attachments:

1. 

   20181201_113120.jpg
   

2. 

   20181201_113034.jpg
   

3. 

   20181201_113013.jpg