STOWE TRAILING LOG - BATTERY REPLACEMENT

[geoff3nebel]

I have a Stowe trailing log/distance recorder. It's an oblong shaped cream painted alloy case approx 7"x4"x5" or thereabouts with analogue dial, on/off switch, reset button, trailing lead with impellor and mounting brackets.
It had a heavily corroded squarish shaped red eveready battery inside. The leaking battery has not damaged the log's circuitry, but has eaten away the battery case. Can anyone tell me what the voltage/battery ref. No. is please? The battery is about the size of a packet of OXO cubes. Is it 7 1/2 v?

 

[geoffatstanpit]

I picked one of those up at a boat jumble for peanuts. Nice bit of kit. The battery should be 9v but I replaced it with the output of a Maplin 12-9 adapter and run it off the main battery. I intend to fit a plug on the spinner cable and socket in the back of the cockpit to simplify deployment and recovery.

 

[VicS]

Not the ubiquitous PP3 approx 45 x 25x 15 mm excluding terminals?

Is it a PP7 46x 46 x 42.2 high. 9 volt and available from Maplin

presumably not the big 9 volt PP9 62 x 52 x 81 high.

http://www.maplin.co.uk/module.aspx?moduleno=82

Back in the 1960s there was also one about the size of a C size cell with the terminals on opposite ends. 9 volt IIRC but I have not seen one of those for a long long while.

for the record a pack of 6 Oxo cubes is 44 x 44 x 64 mm !

 

[PuffTheMagicDragon]

I removed the two battery wire clips and soldered a standard 9-volt clip in their stead. The new battery is an ordinary 9v alkaline that is held in place with a spacer and rubber bands. I've had this system for more than 10 years now, replacing the battery each summer, although I don't stream it at each outing; only for long passages out of sight of land.

 

[roger]

I believe it should take a PP9. These were unavailable in France but you could get in France an adaptor that held two 4.5 volt "flat" batteries. Not that this information is particularly useful. I haven't seen a PP9 in years. You can get battey holders from Maplin.

 

[LittleSister]

There are two versions of the wonderful Stowe trailing log, both of which run on 9v, but with two different battery sizes.

The older type (I have one in front of me as I write) has an electro-mechanical mile counter and runs off a larger battery, which is about 44(wide) x 44(deep) x 55(high, excluding terminals)mm. I have it here in front of me, but it has no number on it. I'm sure we can rely on Vic that it is a PP7.

As I understand it, these once popular batteries were becoming rarer, so Stowe developed the later version, which had a LCD mile counter and hence consumed less power and could be run on the smaller and more easily obtained PP3.

I used to have one of the LCD ones some years ago, but the display used to fade and/or give out. This was usually at a navigationally critical moment, or just before I looked at it to see the grand total mileage for my latest adventurous voyage! It didn't seem to like heat. Or rain. Or cold! (I'm not sure whether they were all similarly afflicted.)

They are a great bit of kit. Batteries last ages, and the independence from the main battery is an advantage, especially if this is reliant on home charging or from an outboard, as is the case on many small boats. The two disadvantages, in my opinion, are having the trailing line dangling around the cockpit (though a friend had his 'plumbed in' with an electrical socket by the aft rail for the trailing line); and other boaters trying to be helpful by telling you have a line dangling in the water! On the other hand there is no need for a hole through the hull, they don't get fouled up with weed and barnacles, so are more accurate (or at least more consistent!) than through-hull types.

I really missed mine after selling them with boats, but managed to find one at a jumble, luckily one of the old electro-mechanical ones I prefer. If supplies of the bigger old batteries disappear, I am sure I'll manage to cobble something together from, say, 2 PP3s.

 

[roger]

I've just checked the Maplin site. You can get a holder for 6 AA cells for 89p plus postage.

 

[VicS]

[ QUOTE ]
holder for 6 AA cells

[/ QUOTE ] Excellent idea, HQ01B on THIS PAGE

 

[[10753]]

Yes I have one of these and it is a PP7.

A few years back PP7's were difficult to get hold of so I drilled a hole and led wires to external PP9.

Excellent piece of kit although everyone always shouts at me 'You're trailing a line'

 

[geoff3nebel]

Thank you everyone. This is the first time I have used this forum and I'm mightily impressed!!! A problem shared is indeed, in this instance, a problem solved. I shall try and track down a PP7 and, failing that I shall explore the Maplin adapter route.
Fair winds and benign weather to you all.