Will my aerator drain my battery?

[jackrabbit66]

I'm trying to decide whether I should spend the $35 to get a timer switch for my aerator. Currently I have an on / off toggle switch and when I'm fishing with the motor off I'm worried about running down the battery. About how long would it take to run down a battery to a point where i couldn't crank the outboard motor if i ran the aerator constantly? The aerator is 1.8 amp @ 13.3 volts new and the battery has 685 Cold Cranking Amps but also states "mins. at 23 amps = 140". any advice or personal experiences regarding this matter are appreciated.

 

[Silvertip]

Your aerator is electric therefore it draws power from the battery so yes it can run down the battery -- at some point. However, if it was left on constantly drawing 1.8 amps (let's use 2.0 for simplicity) we can run some numbers. Your battery states 140 minutes with a 23 amp draw. Since the aerator is only drawing 1/10th of that test spec (23 amps) the aerator could run for 1140 minutes (19 hours) before depleting the battery -- and it would indeed be depleted, as in stone dead. So to ensure the starting battery has enough reserve to start the engine, you could likely run the aerator for a full 8 hour day provided the engine is properly tuned and you know how to start it without cranking for long periods, A live well timer is a good addition whether you need it or not. Some have adjustable on/off times but the cheaper units are fixed and run for about 30 seconds and are off for 3 minutes. They have a manual position that allows constant operation if needed. In your case installing a timer should ease any fears about killing the starting battery -- provided the battery is in good shape.