# Cooler Livewell Battery?



## TomC (Feb 29, 2012)

I’m building a cooler livewell right now but need a small light weight battery that I can dedicate to run the aerator for 8-9 hours. I saw a light weight deep cycle marine battery at Academy last night that probably weighed 12 pounds or so for $50. Would I be better off with a small deep cycle like this or a small motorcycle/atv cranking battery. Weight is the primary concern but I need to be able to run the aerator for 8-9 hours and I can’t afford to tap into my trolling motor batteries. If anyone has a specific battery or link to one they have been pleased with I’d appreciate a suggestion as I need to buy in the next few days. Thanks!


----------



## Lawnmowerman (Feb 29, 2012)

TomC said:


> Would I be better off with a small deep cycle like this or a small motorcycle/atv cranking battery.



small deep cycle,,,


----------



## duckone (Feb 29, 2012)

TomC,

What is the amp hour draw on your aerator?  That will help determine the reserve capacity needed for your aerator battery.

Second, what is your budget limit?  I ask because I know of a new Lithium Iron battery manufactured by Shorai.  You may be able to get a 3-4 pound battery from them that would fill your need but the cost would run somewhere between $90 - $180 dollars.  I'm not sure how well this new battery chemistry does on deep discharges though.


----------



## Eroc33 (Feb 29, 2012)

A wheel chair battery ought to work


----------



## j_seph (Feb 29, 2012)

Depending on aerator amp draw you can get a real small 12 volt 10 amp hour battery for about $40


----------



## TomC (Feb 29, 2012)

Looks like the aerator draw is about 1.75 amp/hours. I guess I'll just have to decided whether to go with this lightweight deep cycle Academy sells or I saw a Deka ATV/Motorcyle Cranking type battery both of which run in the $50-$60 range. Its all about weight at this point. Would love the lithium but can't swing that king of cash but I need to be able to get 8-9 hours or so of run time.


----------



## littlejon (Feb 29, 2012)

If you want it to last then go with a deep cycle as it is designed to be drained and charged. Cranking batterys are not


----------



## breampole (Feb 29, 2012)

You can get the small Sealed Lead Acid Battery in different amps. A 20-22 AH Sealed Lead Acid Battery that is used for electric cart applications costs around $50 and weighs around 12-14 lbs.  I would think one of them would run 1.75 amps for at least 8-9 hrs.  You can also get a charger for not a lot.  A smaller AH one might do the trick.  I have a 10 amp Sealed Lead Acid Battery that runs my fish finder.  It weighs around 5 lbs and is very small.  Don't know how long it would run say the rule 360 gph pump that runs my areator, but I'm going to test it and see.  Can get those for under $30.00 and with a charger for under $40.  

Also AGM batteries weigh far less than coventional batteries (25 lbs) and don't cost much more.(around $100) and are smaller.  I got mine at bass pro.  It will run my vintage 15 lbs thrust trolling motor that I use on my canoe all day. 

I'll test the 10 amp Sealed Lead Acid Battery on the 360 gph tomorrow and post the result.  I know that these batteries need to be kept charged.  They self discharge at the rate of about 3% a month and it is not good for the life of them to be completely discharged.


----------



## Chris S. (Feb 29, 2012)

During  jon boat tourneys I have always used the little bubbler aerators that run on 2 d cells..you can stick em to the top of the cooler lid with some velcro or wrap a bunjee around the cooler and clip them to it..25 bucks for a couple and no extra weight to contend with.......I get about 20 hours out of them with fresh batteries if used intermittently....they work great.

I will at times change out some of the water in the cooler if it gets too ammoniated from the fish and also use keep alive and frozen water bottles in the summer to keep the temp. stable.


----------



## Lawnmowerman (Feb 29, 2012)

*Hmm,, sweet livewell*



Chris S. said:


> During  jon boat tourneys I have always used the little bubbler aerators that run on 2 d cells..you can stick em to the top of the cooler lid with some velcro or wrap a bunjee around the cooler and clip them to it..25 bucks for a couple and no extra weight to contend with.......I get about 20 hours out of them with fresh batteries if used intermittently....they work great.
> 
> I will at times change out some of the water in the cooler if it gets too ammoniated from the fish and also use keep alive and frozen water bottles in the summer to keep the temp. stable.



I can picture that Chris,,!
I'm tired of that big BPS livewell I got that aint worth a snot.
I'm gonna give this a shot,,, thanks,,


----------



## coreyj (Feb 29, 2012)

X2.. Frabill aerators work well for me also. I never had a fish to die using them.


----------



## Etoncathunter (Feb 29, 2012)

The D cell bubblers work well for me with hardy fish like blue gill in the summer and worked ok for trout this winter before I put together my pump/areiator. This was in just a standard 32qt rectangular cooler. With shad though I just couldn't keep them alive for more than an hour with it. I made a areator using bilge pump and adaptor the Hilljack posted on here a few months ago. It has worked great with trout and gill, but haven't tried it with shad. The pump says it pulls 1.7amp and I can get about 6-7 hours using my lawnmowers battery as the sole power source o the pump. Last trip I had 2dozen trout in the cooler and used the LM battery from about 7 till about 1ish before it started slowing down enough that the fish weren't looking happy and I switched the pump over to my trolling motor battery.


----------



## Chris S. (Feb 29, 2012)

Etoncathunter said:


> The D cell bubblers work well for me with hardy fish like blue gill in the summer and worked ok for trout this winter before I put together my pump/areiator. This was in just a standard 32qt rectangular cooler. With shad though I just couldn't keep them alive for more than an hour with it. I made a areator using bilge pump and adaptor the Hilljack posted on here a few months ago. It has worked great with trout and gill, but haven't tried it with shad. The pump says it pulls 1.7amp and I can get about 6-7 hours using my lawnmowers battery as the sole power source o the pump. Last trip I had 2dozen trout in the cooler and used the LM battery from about 7 till about 1ish before it started slowing down enough that the fish weren't looking happy and I switched the pump over to my trolling motor battery.



Shad do much better in a round tank versus a rectangular tank.


----------



## Etoncathunter (Mar 1, 2012)

yeah I know, but it is all I had at the time. Even with a less than ideal shape I would think they'd die off that quick just from having corners.


----------

