mastertangler wrote on Apr 2^nd, 2011 at 2:49am:


If you carry your fully charged battery with you, it can power your fish finder, GPS, running lights, etc for the whole trip, and you won't have to count and carry all those pesky AAs. Additionally, you'll have the piece of mind in knowing that no one will steal your battery while you are tripping. Just strap it to a thwart, and it will hang from the canoe on the portages. It's amazing how many of life's little problems can be solved with a little ingenuity. Since you'll have the power pack, it won't matter if the battery is dead when you return.

KF's tip is a good one.
I'd try the 9 volt/ 8AA pack and unbolt the ground rather than take a battery lead loose at the battery terminal. A battery ground assuming you can reach it easily is easier to deal with than a battery clamp that is secure and clean with as mine are, coated with a thin layer of di-electric grease to inhibit corrosion.
I've done this while working on vehicles for short term and it works great. It bad enough to re-set radio stations/time, but on the newer cars you have so much electronics it can be a major hassle.

Biggest reason to my thinking is that as KF mentioned is the fuel injector air/fuel ratio. Lose your electronic memory, the computer has to " relearn" the proper mix as you drive, which may or may not be best for fuel consumption and vehicle performance. At the steep cost of gas, who needs that? You also might trigger some computer engine codes that would need clearing or they could cause problems?
I'm thinking one of those dashboard roll-up solar panels that deliver a trickle charge to battery might be the way to go here.
Park so your getting the sun from East to West and I think you could eliminate the worry?
Hard to imagine the battery would go completely dead with that set-up and with your back-up Power Pak, I think you have the bases covered.

BillConner wrote on Apr 5^th, 2011 at 7:17pm:


I think you may be on to something
We have some electrical engineers here, maybe they could give their expertise? If you could it would beat messing around under the hood

A quick Google check answered our questions.
There is a myriad of solar panels with adapters that charge 12v battery from the cigarette lighter. The better have a diode that prevents reveres drain. Some fold, some roll up. Not cheap, but since you can use them for marine/camping applications, might be worth it in the long run if you worried about dealing wiht a dead battery in a remote area.