battery power

[pullmyfingers]

Hey, Could someone please give me an approximate amount of time that I can run the factory Kenwood CD player at, say, medium volume before the battery gives out? I just bought an 05 Outback and was curious about this. My previous boats have been of the bass persuasion and I always had to charge them after each use even though the motor charged them to some extent. Bottom line: I do not want to paddle that mother back to shore if I can't crank the dead battery.

[smokedog2]

I read a thread on dual batteries set up such that only one pulled on the sterio but both were charged by the alternator. I plan to do that. I do not recall wha tthe switching unit was called but if you are big on tunes I think that setup is a must have.

[lowdrag]

Or you could try one of these if you don't want to go through wiring up a second battery

http://www.overtons.com/modperl/over...item_num=20193

It cuts the power before it gets too low to start the engine.

What about buying a solar panel used in Rv's & such. It can lay on the dash of the boat & plug in the 12V outlet. It should keep the battery topped up & be able to run the stereo.

[Yellowmobius]

I keep a $40.00 jumper pack on the boat, it has saved the day a few times. A couple due to play the tunes too long on a sandbar and a couple of times when "someone" left the key on after loading the boat. The next trip to the ramp the battery was dead, pulled out the jumper pack and away we went!

[sextons]

We also keep a battery just starter in our boat but have never had to use it on our boat, but we have used it to start a number of other people's boats this past year. We've run our radio at pretty high volumes for 4 hours without starting the boat with no issues. The only time we've seen a power drain is if we have the boat off and throw on the tower lights, they suck some serious juice.

[pullmyfingers]

Thank you for your input. It is greatly appreciated.