USB on your yak

[Pat Smith]

A any of you guys have USB ports installed on your yaks? I have seen some videos of people who have them and wonder how will they work on kayaks.

My hope is to get a gopro battery eliminator, and run it from the fish finder battery. I worry about salt water messing it all up

[CAGE RATTLER]

They have marine specific USB mounts so should be no problems.
I've thought about adding one myself to use to keep my phone charged so I can use the Navionics app.

[DonV]

Some of the USB power banks such as this http://www.amazon.com/EasyAcc-10000m...usb+power+bank are getting pretty powerful and really cheap. May be easier to use something along that line dedicated for USB instead of trying to tie into the fish finder battery. Can always just toss one in a drybag/box in case of emergency.

They should actually have plenty of juice for some fishfinders. Be interesting if the output voltage could be modified. Here is one that puts out multiple voltages of DC at 9V, 12V, 16V, 19V, 20V plus USB voltages http://www.amazon.com/Poweradd-Pilot.../dp/B00DN0KBXU
Little to pricey at $120 considering my $25 battery setup, yet interesting

[Pat Smith]

my goal would be to run the gopro entirely off the battery.. by use of a battery eliminator. It seems weird to me to have a battery below deck for the FF, one usb one in a dry bag strapped to the gopro pole and potentially one in the rear for the trolling motor.

Granted the trolling motor would be completely separate but it would be a cool setup to have full on-board power to run the GOPro from.. if it can be done reliable in all kinds of wet conditions.

[Frogsauce]

If I were gonna film myself or run any electronics except a fishfinder, I would want the same thing as you Pat. I have often thought about how to setup a stern light on the same battery as the fishfinder so I don't need to worry about the rechargable AA batterys in it. I don't know about others, but I can run my fishfinder (Low. Elite 4) for days on end without draining the battery. I know because I have forgotten to turn if off over a weekend before.

It wouldn't be difficult to install something like this:
http://www.amazon.com/Blue-Sea-Syste.../dp/B0082CXEI8

If you upgraded your battery for a trolling motor, you could probably run everything off one battery and just keep the other for reserve. Might even get fancy and add a switch if you want. Or REALLY fancy and add a dual battery circuit. All of this is expensive however, and probably unwarranted for day trips on the bay.

[Pat Smith]

that is the exact thing I was looking at Frogsauce. My question remains however.. how would that plug perform with a little salt water splashed around WHILE powering a GoPro or Light or something? It says it is marine and water resistant but I wonder if they mean all that while it is powering something.. as opposed to just having the rubber water tight cover.

[CAGE RATTLER]

Connect it in the hull and there no worries.
I keep my battery box in the hull and will mount the USB adapter on the box.

[Frogsauce]

that is the exact thing I was looking at Frogsauce. My question remains however.. how would that plug perform with a little salt water splashed around WHILE powering a GoPro or Light or something? It says it is marine and water resistant but I wonder if they mean all that while it is powering something.. as opposed to just having the rubber water tight cover.

It will probably be fine if you put it somewhere that doesn't submerge often. A bit of di-electric grease would help too.

[mweber02]

You could also consider wrapping and waterproofing the connection at the USB with goop or something to ensure water can't get in anyway. Then your only semi-exposed connection is directly at the gopro, which I'm guessing will be up high enough to stay dry unless you turtle.

[DOGFISH]

Why not just make a waterproof connection with a Longshot? http://www.portableuniversalpower.co...ucts/longshot/

[J.A. Veil]

A Native Slayer Propel owner from Perth, Australia (Mark Wilson) built this customized panel that includes a mini-USB port.

electronic panel.jpg