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Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100

+2
Docrunner
motorazr
6 posters

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1Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Empty Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Sun Jun 24, 2012 9:22 pm

motorazr

motorazr
Team Poseidon
Team Poseidon

I had no intentions of putting a fish finder on my tube but was trawling the internet last night and came across a discussion about Garmin Echo 100 finders.
Apparently a national store here in Oz (Dick Smiths) had the finders on sale for $23.98, Guess where I ended up standing at 5 minutes to 5 before the store closed Sunday night.

A quick search of google images using the search "Float tube fish finders" gave me some needed inspiration and I found a unit that I thought I could make.
I will not give measurements as all mine were in millimetres but I purchased a project box approximately 5 inches wide x 3 inches high x 4 inches deep. The exact measurement would depend on your battery size.
I was lucky enough to have a 12 volt 4 Ah battery on hand so based my box on the size of the battery.
I calculated that this battery would probably give around 8 hours of use before it needed recharging.
The Echo 100 runs on a voltage of between 10 volts and i think 24 volts.

Started off with the electronic project box.

[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

Cut two slots in the base of the box to take a 1 1/2 inch strap to attach it to one of the pontoons.

[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

Inserted the battery and padded the sides with a bit of high density foam to stop movement.

[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

Drilled three connector holes for the Fish Finder stand and a larger hole to take a rubber grommet to feed the power cable through.

[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

Connected the finder stand to the top of the box and fed the power cable through the grommet.

[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

Connected the battery terminals on and used an automotive plug to connect and disconnect. My charger has a similar fitting so when the battery needs charging just plug it on.

[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

connected the stand base to the lid.

[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

Connected the power cables together and zip tied them into the unused space.

[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

Screwed the box together and turned the unit on, currently running in simulator mode.

[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]


All i have to do now is work out a clip to attach the transducer to the strap so open to ideas but I might have a look at cutting a PVC fitting up.

2Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Empty Re: Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Sun Jun 24, 2012 9:34 pm

Guest


Guest

very nice, i have the same FF. im running it off 12v 5ah.

3Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Empty Re: Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Sun Jun 24, 2012 11:14 pm

motorazr

motorazr
Team Poseidon
Team Poseidon

Do you have it set up a similar way? How long do you get from the battery?
Well got the transducer sorted, I used the existing fitting supplied in the box and got out the trusty Dremmel.
I expanded the slots in the existing mount which were there to take a mounting strap to attach it to an electric motor.
Widened the slots to take a 1 inch strap and can now strap it to the bottom of the float tube.



Last edited by motorazr on Mon Jun 25, 2012 5:18 am; edited 2 times in total (Reason for editing : added)

4Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Empty Re: Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Mon Jun 25, 2012 8:56 am

Docrunner

Docrunner
Senior FTFF Member
Senior FTFF Member

nice! always something very satisfying about doing your own mods! Thumbs Up

and I'm sure it saves on some costs.. compared to this item, that looks kinda similar:

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Seems pricey.. more than the FF unit itself! But, maybe you can get some ideas from the pics to incorporate into your mod.

I think Waxon or someone here, has also made a battery pack for these fish finders that uses a radio shack 8 AA battery block somewhere. Might be lighter?

Nice pics..

5Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Empty Re: Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Mon Jun 25, 2012 12:36 pm

Guest


Guest

motorazr wrote:Do you have it set up a similar way? How long do you get from the battery?
Well got the transducer sorted, I used the existing fitting supplied in the box and got out the trusty Dremmel.
I expanded the slots in the existing mount which were there to take a mounting strap to attach it to an electric motor.
Widened the slots to take a 1 inch strap and can now strap it to the bottom of the float tube.

For mine it's a very simple designed. I have the head unit sitting in my cup holder (outcast fat cat), battery is stored in a zip lock bag in my side pocket. The transducer is mounted with the TM strapped to 1-1/4 PVC pipe set up that is also mounted to my rod holder. The transducer comes apart from the holder. I have a picture floating around here somewhere. I'll try and post a pic of it later for you if need to be

6Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Empty Re: Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Mon Jun 25, 2012 12:40 pm

Guest


Guest

[You must be registered and logged in to see this image.]

7Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Empty Re: Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Mon Jun 25, 2012 1:55 pm

motorazr

motorazr
Team Poseidon
Team Poseidon

I had thought of putting the FF in the cup holder and placing the battery elsewhere but the cumberland holder is at the rear of the pack and the base woudn't fit into the opening of the holder.
The only thing I am concerned with is the weight of the unit on the tube.
If I find it is too much I suppose I can disconnect the display from the box and put the battery more central in the bag to disperse the weight and rig a plate on the base of the display to run a strap through.

8Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Empty Re: Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Mon Jun 25, 2012 6:37 pm

bodfish


Senior FTFF Member
Senior FTFF Member



Hey Guys,
this is one of the coolest set-ups I have seen so far! perfect for my toon! where did you get the project box?

bodfish

9Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Empty Re: Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Mon Jun 25, 2012 7:10 pm

Vagabond

Vagabond
Senior FTFF Member
Senior FTFF Member

Very nice design and build, just out of curiousity how much does the entire unit "box, wires, batt and finder" weigh?

10Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Empty Re: Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Mon Jun 25, 2012 7:40 pm

Guest


Guest

I would say it weighs around 2-3lbs. It's not bad at all

11Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Empty Re: Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Mon Jun 25, 2012 9:35 pm

motorazr

motorazr
Team Poseidon
Team Poseidon

Weighed mine and it came in at a whopping 7 and a half pounds with the new modded holder, the battery box weighs 4 and a half pounds on its own. I imagine if I had left it as it was probably 6 pounds all up.
I was a bit concerned about the weight forward so decided to split the FF and battery.
Used a 100mm pvc flange with a 100mm screw cap, the flange has a solid bottom. Drilled slots for the strap put the miles of left over transducer cable inside the flange and screwed the cap on.
I will now split the weight and put the battery box inb a side bag.
Got the box from an electronics store,they call them a project box and come in various sizes.
[img][You must be registered and logged in to see this link.][/img]

12Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Empty FF mods Tue Jul 31, 2012 4:17 pm

motorazr

motorazr
Team Poseidon
Team Poseidon

Well I have been fiddling around with my initial FF set up and decided it was all too heavy. At over 7lb way too much. I found a reference that one of you guys had successfully operated a Garmin Echo 200 on 8 AA batteries for over a week so i decided to rearrange the battery set up and try something similar The redesigned battery pack now weighs 1 lb and the FF screen and transducer 2lb, half the weight.
I used 10 eneloop rechargeables giving me 14 volts fully charged to run the Echo 100. The batteries are rated at 1900mah and i reckon that should give me about 7- 8hrs of full use. The eneloops were not cheap at around $50.00 for the ten but I chose these batteries as they have an extra long shelf life without using or losing power and they are designed to give a full charge until the very end when the charge drops of and not a gradual decrease of voltage. Proof will be when i test it at the end of August, doing a road trip to Lake Bolac for a few trout.
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13Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Empty Re: Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Tue Jul 31, 2012 6:01 pm

RetsofNV

RetsofNV
Junior FTFF Member
Junior FTFF Member

motorazr wrote:I used 10 eneloop rechargeables giving me 14 volts fully charged to run the Echo 100. The batteries are rated at 1900mah and i reckon that should give me about 7- 8hrs of full use. The eneloops were not cheap at around $50.00 for the ten but I chose these batteries as they have an extra long shelf life without using or losing power and they are designed to give a full charge until the very end when the charge drops of and not a gradual decrease of voltage. Proof will be when i test it at the end of August, doing a road trip to Lake Bolac for a few trout.
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Hi Motorazr,

When I first set my Garmin echo 200 up, I was thinking I'd be lucky to get 3-4 hours out of a pack of batteries (so I made two packs that I could swap out), but I was way off. I got 30+ hours over the course of 6 days out of my first 8 pack of Energizers! I'm going fishing for three or four days again next week, and I'm planning on letting them run until they die just to see how far I can push them.

I want to run mine on rechargeables too, so I picked up 8 2300mah Energzers and two chargers. I haven't used them yet, but once my first set of non-rechargables is spent, they are going in.

One thing I discovered with my Garmin 200 (an your 100 should be the same) is that it only pulls 0.8 - 0.9 Amps, which is not much. I'm tempted to try to run it directly off a GoalZero Nomad 7 Solar Panel, just to see if it will work. I talked to GoalZero's Customer Service and they thought it might require just a bit more than their panel can produce, but I'm thinking about giving it a try because I want to pick up the Nomad 7 to charge my AA packs anyway. If I can run the unit directly off the sun, even cooler.

With 10 cells, I would expect you to get much more than 8 hours of fishing time. You should be good for a week.

Good fishing!

PS. Do you worry about crocodiles while float tubing in Oz? I've probably watched too much Animal Planet. I still miss Steve Irwin BTW.

14Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Empty Re: Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Tue Jul 31, 2012 7:22 pm

motorazr

motorazr
Team Poseidon
Team Poseidon

Hey retso, your post elsewhere on the battery pack inspired me to change mine around, thanks for that. I was unable to find a reference anywhere of the draw that the garmin had on a battery, so I appreciate your reference to that fact.
Thankfully no crocs in Adelaide. I would be interested in you posting a report using a solar panel if you head that way.

15Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Empty Re: Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Tue Jul 31, 2012 8:27 pm

motorazr

motorazr
Team Poseidon
Team Poseidon

Not quite the same as a solar panel but what are your thoughts on this.
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16Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Empty Re: Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Tue Jul 31, 2012 9:08 pm

RetsofNV

RetsofNV
Junior FTFF Member
Junior FTFF Member

motorazr wrote:Not quite the same as a solar panel but what are your thoughts on this.
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It looks like a powerful charger at 14 Volts especially for it's size. I've recently seen some 13 Volt panels that were the size of laptop computers, so this one represents a huge space and weight savings. I'm still not sure this one would work for my purpose though.

The reason I was interested in the Nomad 7 is that it was actually designed to operate small devices directly from the sun as opposed to having to charge a battery pack over a number of hours before use (it can do this too). They advertise that it can power a light, cell phone, or hand-heldl GPS unit directly from the sun.

I'll probably end up just leaving my Nomad on the roof of my SUV while I'm fishing so I always have fresh batteries on hand, but I still want to try to run the Garmin from it just to see if it's possible.

17Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Empty Re: Fish Finder Mod Garmin Echo 100 Wed Aug 01, 2012 8:50 am

kg562

kg562
Senior FTFF Member
Senior FTFF Member

motorazr wrote:Not quite the same as a solar panel but what are your thoughts on this.
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seeing this item makes me think creative. I just wanna make something out of that solar panel lol!

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