running 2 gps at once

[thedan]

Have gps/sounder combo,getting sick of having to split screen etc,friend has spare furuno,wondering with two gps going at once will it flatten the battery as have told they may use substantial powerwhen motor not on

[finga]

That would depend on how big your battery is and which Furuno it is really.
The GP 32 is only 3 watts so that's about 1/4 the power usage of a 12V bulb in one of the nav. lights.

[Noelm]

hhmm my guess is, two will flatten the battery twice as fast as one!

[Noelm]

just being silly, most new small GPS units do not use huge amounts of power, but they do use some, and as such, you need a good battery to leave it on for ages without the motor running, but you do not do that all that often anyway.

[PADDLES]

do a quick calc yourself dan. the gps specs will tell you it's power consumption in mA. divide the amp.hour capacity of your battery by this figure (obviously in amps not mA) and it'll tell ya how long the battery 'should?' last. if the figure in the specs is in watts, then watts = volts x amps, so watts divided by 12V gives you a current to use.

[nthqld]

Hi it wouldn't be very often you'd have both units running with the motor not running would it?

I don't see why you'd have either running when at anchor apart from at night to monitor the anchor breaking free.

echo sounder and fish don't mix, i reckon it spooks them, find a rock with fish/bait on it and turn the sounder off.