Lowrance hds 7 Gen 3 Setup

[kingr]

I bought the Gen 3 for my boat this year and then I decided to try to rig it up for Ice Fishing.  I brought it out over the holiday's and I loved it.  The only problem is that it went through my battery in approximately 2 hrs.  I was hoping for some advice on how to extend the life of the battery through the settings.

[slammer]

You need to turn off the GPS while you are fishing.  

[sittingintraffic]

Turn the screen brightness down. You should see voltage on the voltmeter come up a little as you turn brightness down.  Set mode to Icefishing.  Helps on my Gen 2 8". Not sure Gen 3 has the same settings.

 

How many amp hours is your battery?

 

I Had 2 7aH batteries in parallel. It would run for a day of fishing and a few hours the 2nd day. Adding a 3rd battery hoping to get 2 full days of fishing on a charge. I see they now make 20 to 30+ amp hour agm batteries. Buying one big one is probably the way to go.   

[kingr]

32 minutes ago, sittingintraffic said:

Turn the screen brightness down. You should see voltage on the voltmeter come up a little as you turn brightness down.  Set mode to Icefishing.  Helps on my Gen 2 8". Not sure Gen 3 has the same settings.

 

How many amp hours is your battery?

 

I Had 2 7aH batteries in parallel. It would run for a day of fishing and a few hours the 2nd day. Adding a 3rd battery hoping to get 2 full days of fishing on a charge. I see they now make 20 to 30+ amp hour agm batteries. Buying one big one is probably the way to go.   

I just switched to 1 9 amp hour battery.  I bought 2 but I am hoping that I can get away with 1 to keep the portability similar to my old ones.  That may have to suffer for the bigger screen I guess

[kingr]

The new 9 Ah battery and turning the backlight down improved a lot 4+ hrs so thank you for the feedback

[sittingintraffic]

Another battery saving setting is the backlight. (The "Lowrance" emblem on the back of the unit is lit up.) According to specs, its pullin 0.5 amps. To turn it off hit menu button twice then System/Advanced/Hardware. Uncheck the box for sticker backlight. HDS 8 Gen 2.

Edited January 28, 2017 by sittingintraffic