Pond Boss Forums AERATION Should I aerate? Portable De-Icer System

I want to keep an open hole of water on a 1-2 acre (approximately 10’ deep) pond for waterfowl. The pond is too remote to have access to electricity. I’m looking for (inexpensive) ideas for a de-icer system that would last for a few days without maintenance (i.e. recharge batteries).
I have “experimented” w/ a trolling motor lower unit attached to a portable metal stand which created a 10’X20’ hole outta’ 4” thick ice by “directing” warmer water to the surface. The problem was the small marine battery only lasted 2-3 hours before runnin’ out of juice.

I’m planning to purchase a couple of large marine deep cycle batteries to provide the system w/ extended longevity, but I don’t know how to properly
wire multiple batteries for this purpose. Also, I think I can double the battery life by using a flasher timer, but don’t have any idea how to set up this system. Any ideas, thoughts, etc. would be appreciated!

You'll want to wire the batteries in parallel, (Negative to Negative, Positive to Positive), in order to stay at 12 volts.
I suggest you consider three items:

1) Low power draw air pump with appropriate air stone(s) I takes very little air to move lots of water.
2) Voltage converter from DC to AC to run the air pump on 110v (I have found that 110v air pumps are more efficient at a given output then sometimes hard to find 12volt)
3) Solar panels to re-charge the batteries. (And the time to occasionally drop in and remove snow etc. from said panels)

Based on the watt usage for the pump, and some loss from the conversion from DC to AC you can determine how much battery and solar panel you need to do the job. Always consider the maximum amount of direct daily sun the panels will really receive when performing your calculations.

See: http://www.icpsolar.com/solar-calculator