A little while ago I was able to add a Humminbird Helix 7 to my ice fishing kit. This was a game changer. It allowed to not only use flasher settings but also be able to “see” below me with sonar.
However, like most used equipment I had to dive in and maintain it where it had been neglected. The battery was worn out, heavy, and lead acid. The unit itself was misbehaving a little bit, but I couldn’t tell why. When I powered it on, sometimes it would flash the screen and then load. But the screen would go black some seconds later. This happened on the ice on more than one occasion. So before the 2024-2025 season kicked off I decided to give the Humminbird Helix some love with a battery upgrade.
Troubleshooting Power
My original lead acid battery was still holding a charge above the nominal 12 volts and was indeed taking a charge to somewhere like 13.6 volts on a trickle charger. I figured this out by putting a voltmeter to the battery after both the charger that came with the unit and my Shumaker unit said the battery was charged. Somehow though, the fish finder was still misbehaving. I found that after use the battery charge was immediately tanking, and not holding for any length of time. Finally, a path forward! I was worried having acquired the fish finder on Facebook Marketplace that I’d gotten a lemon but maybe I could recover.
So it was time for a battery upgrade on my Humminbird Helix. A Cabela’s replacement for the lead acid battery was $20, which was super appealing. Thankfully my buddy had a spare that I could try and see if the unit itself behaved. Lo and behold with a new battery the unit was no longer crashing, and I was able to put it into demo mode. Unfortunately for my wallet, I can’t be satisfied leaving the battery as a heavy, inefficient lead acid one. So it was time for an upgrade. I looked for options, and with a trip looming I wanted to ensure a functional fish finder. So procuring a battery locally was super appealing. Enter Norsk.
The Switch to Lithium
Norsk offers a few lithium ion options and were available at Sportsman’s Warehouse locally to me. I agonized over the battery since they weren’t particularly cheap. However, with a charge meter display built in, and two USB ports on top, I figured this might be an interesting upgrade to my Helix. It would allow me to run USB lights inside my tent for overnight fishing, and greatly extend my usable hours on my fish finder — which were currently pegged at 0.
The Norsk battery runs 15Ah (Amp Hours) at 11.1V. At first this kind of unnerved me, since I have a basic electrical knowledge mostly from troubleshooting 12v systems on my truck and doing some work on my house on 110v. The Humminbird Helix series of fish finders have an operating voltage of 10.8v – 20v DC which makes sense with the variability of the batteries they can be hooked to. So I charged my new lightweight lithium ion battery and away I went. Sorta.
Battery Issues Continue
Even after I replaced the battery with a new Lithium Ion from Norsk which I was able to pick up at Sportsman’s Warehouse the troubles persisted. The battery is a direct swap, or should be and it comes with a significant weight reduction. However the battery level was fluctuating absolutely wildly on my fish finder. The battery level was at 37% even after a full charge overnight on a brand new battery. This didn’t inspire much confidence.
Then I remembered from my experience with our camper that Lithium Ion batteries have a difficult time with chargers that are designed for standard AGM lead acid batteries. This is because of a voltage difference when batteries are considered at full charge. A cursory look on my menus for every possible setting didn’t reveal anything helpful like switching the battery type, so off I went to the internet.
Updating Firmware
So I did some digging around and it’s not the first time that Norsk or Humminbird Helix users have seen this problem. In fact, the Helix should have the ability to change the battery type right in the interface. But mine didn’t. I searched fruitlessly through the menus and could not swap the battery setting at all.
So now, it was time to see if I could upgrade my Humminbird Helix 7. It’s relatively modern, so I figured I’d probably have to be able to, right? The actual software updates are easy enough to find, right on their support page.
For my particular unit because my Software Version was quite old at 2.030 I needed to update to a newer version before upgrading to the newest version. This is usually because of massive code re-writes in firmware. So please, pay close attention to the upgrade instructions.
After a delicate dance of finding the series of updates, downloading them, rummaging around in my house looking for a sub 32GB MicroSD card, and formatting it to FAT32 I was able to begin my update sequence. After applying the first round of software updates, I also upgraded my basemap on the Humminbird unit. This added some new roads and maps to the display. Unfortunately the support for Colorado has always been woefully inadequate on both Humminbird and Lakemaster. So I’ll have to go on the search for better charts or investigate making my own.
Post Firmware Update
After what seemed like over an hour of back and forth, booting and rebooting and selecting menus I was able to conduct two firmware updates and a basemap update. With the updated software on my Humminbird Helix 7 I was able to scroll into the settings and change the battery type to Lithium! This means that the unit can now more accurately track the charge on the battery and represent it on the battery meter. Change the battery settings by doing the following:
Go to the Settings menu by holding Menu, scroll down to where it says Battery Type with the directional arrows. Select 11.1V Lithium NMC for the Norsk battery setup. Press Exit on your Humminbird unit. Viola! You should now have more accurate battery readings on your refreshed Humminbird Helix post battery upgrade.
