New PA Rigging

Hey everyone,

I'm brand new to the site and just picked up my first ever pro angler 12. Sorry if this has been answered many times before, however I'm wondering what the best bet is for battery placement in the PA for my graph. I'm thinking the back hatch how people have cut it out..? Thoughts? Also cheapest place to buy the battery and everything I'll need online? Thanks everyone.

Welome Alex I can not speak for the Pro Angler but I put my batter box in the rear hatch of my AI and have not had any problems, as for the cheapest I think they are all about the same when you add shipping, you could try frys .

PatR

WTTM !!!!

Thanks guys, i'll keep looking into it!  What do you guys think about DSI vs. regular 2d lowrance sonar?

With the transducer well on the PA 12, I would say go with DSI. I would check the fit on the PA 12 but I really like putting the battery in a Hobie deep bucket in the rear hatch. The deep bucket doesn't fit all rear hatches. I know it won't fit an outback.
Check out this site for details
 http://froggin4bass.blogspot.com/2012/04/i-gotta-have-more-power.html

I changed this up a bit and just make a cut in the top of the bucket to run the wires through. Not water tight but haven't had any problems. Also I like taking the entire bucket out with battery still in it, just disconnect the battery and the whole bucket goes to the bench to charge.

Thanks for the info baker, i'll look into that.  I'm just trying to figure out if it's worth it to just buy the hobie battery kit for $100 bucks or try to piece it together and get the battery somewhere online?

Thanks guys, i'll keep looking into it!  What do you guys think about DSI vs. regular 2d lowrance sonar?

That is a great question.  I just got a Lowrance Elite 4 to test today vs the DSI version.  My primary objective is to test waterproofness.  Planning on testing a dsi next to have a comparison.  Second test will be shoot thru hull vs "wet" transducer.  I'll post my findings next week.

~Bill

Thanks guys, i'll keep looking into it!  What do you guys think about DSI vs. regular 2d lowrance sonar?

That is a great question.  I just got a Lowrance Elite 4 to test today vs the DSI version.  My primary objective is to test waterproofness.  Planning on testing a dsi next to have a comparison.  Second test will be shoot thru hull vs "wet" transducer.  I'll post my findings next week.

~Bill

Bill,

Awesome, let me know what you find.  Are you planning on comparing the sonar pictures to each other as well?  I heard there are advantages and disadvantages of DSI...i'm wondering how it will fare when i'm fishing bottom fish in 150-200ft of water...says it only goes to 200-250ft...

Alex

Welcome and congratulations on the new PA12. I've only had mine for about a month so far so my experience is limited but... I went with the Elite4 DSI with the Hobie battery. I would recommend the Hobie battery because it is designed to be water proof. This includes the plug, wire nuts and battery which allows you to mount the battery in the hull like they show in the video and keep your rear hatch for dry storage. As for the DSI, I am a geek at heart and I wanted to have the latest tech out. I will say that on the 4 screen I am not sure that I can see the real value of the DSI but I have only had it out on the water two days and I was bass fishing so I was hugging structure pretty tight. I am thinking about heading out for some deep water trout and will wait until then to form my opinion of the DSI.

I have a 09 PA (I must admit the seat on the newer PA looks comfortable!).  I have two waterproof Walmart cases, one has a 10 amp and the other has a 7 amp battery.  I drilled one hole in the case and sealed it with a grommet to pass the wires through.  The battery sits next to the seat and I bungee it to the yak.  I did have one of the early side imaging Humminbirds and was not impressed with it, the learning curve was too extreme.  I did just buy a down imaging Humminbird FF/GPS combo for my boat and will try it out. 

Thanks guys, I'll keep looking into it!  What do you guys think about DSI vs. regular 2d Lowrance sonar?

That is a great question.  I just got a Lowrance Elite 4 to test today vs the DSI version.  My primary objective is to test waterproofness.  Planning on testing a dsi next to have a comparison.  Second test will be shoot thru hull vs "wet" transducer.  I'll post my findings next week.

~Bill

I have the unique opportunity to test the Non DSI & soon the DSI Lowrance Elite 4 units.  Starting with the non-DSI this coming weekend.  I will upload photo's starting tonight/tomorrow and test results by this weekend sometime.  I plan on SUBMERGING the unit for waterproof testing so stand by for those fun results!  I don't want to get into the pro/con of transducer mounting location because we beat the daylights out of this topic HOWEVER I will test it myself in a few different manners for the fun of it.  My end result is a comparison of DSI vs non-DSI units in a Saltwater environment.

Bill,

Awesome, let me know what you find.  Are you planning on comparing the sonar pictures to each other as well?  I heard there are advantages and disadvantages of DSI...I'm wondering how it will fare when I'm fishing bottom fish in 150-200ft of water...says it only goes to 200-250ft...

Alex

Does anyone know where the link is to an explanation of how people install the battery in the back hatch?

I have spent a fare amount of time discussing the technology of the DSI with the Lowrance team & reps.  The DSI claims 200ft but that is based on freshwater applications with minimal particulates in the water to obstruct the sonar; ie. "Perfect" conditions.  We all know, this does not exist in real world scenarios.  They are often receiving their best data on a DSI, in saltwater, at depths less than 50'ish feet.

I will be testing, and hopefully providing "real world" use screen shots of the two units for comparison.  I won't be able to run them at the same time/trip but I will see if I can make that a possability.  I will try to replicate the results to the best of my abilities by running the same spots (but water conditions/clarity will be different).  Hopefully we can find this helpful ... or a portion of it at least.

~Bill

With the transducer well on the PA 12, I would say go with DSI. I would check the fit on the PA 12 but I really like putting the battery in a Hobie deep bucket in the rear hatch. The deep bucket doesn't fit all rear hatches. I know it won't fit an outback.
Check out this site for details
 http://froggin4bass.blogspot.com/2012/04/i-gotta-have-more-power.html

I changed this up a bit and just make a cut in the top of the bucket to run the wires through. Not water tight but haven't had any problems. Also I like taking the entire bucket out with battery still in it, just disconnect the battery and the whole bucket goes to the bench to charge.

Does anyone know where the link is to an explanation of how people install the battery in the back hatch?

Try this one

Does anyone know where the link is to an explanation of how people install the battery in the back hatch?

Sorry I don't have time to look that up at the moment but you could search for dune12 on the members list and look though his post hes been rigging his pa12 and i think he went with battery set up your talking about