Can a humminbird 197c be powered by a portable unit that runs on 8 aa batteries the portable unit did power a 175

SOURCE: Battery Problem

You need to begin using rechargeable batteries immediately. Look for nickle metal hydride (NiMH) cells that are at least 1800 mah and preferrably more than 2000 mah. Get two sets and a charger. Print this and take it with you. You can buy these at any electronics store. You'll need to charge the batteries before you can use them. And they don't really give you full life until they've been charged and discharged a couple of times. In other words, the first few times, you'll get a shorter life cycle before they run down. But you should see a marked improvement almost immediately.

SOURCE: GMR 325 Each unit takes

2.4 amp hour....ish :)

SOURCE: garmin gps 12 wont turn on.

Sorry to hear of the dead units. Are you using the correct power cable with a small hole in the centre of the plug? The GPS 12 is strictly limited to 7 volts only. The accessory cigarette lighter cable for this model has a circuit inside to drop the voltage from 12 to 7. Cannot be fixed. There would have been a plastic peg in the back of the GPS socket to prevent anything but the correct voltage Garmin cable being plugged in. Unfortunately these pegs are easily broken off. Yes, they are a good little unit even though well on in years. The next model up - the 12XL - can accept a wide voltage range and does not have the plastic peg.

All the best, Tony at KiwiGPS.

SOURCE: doesnt power up

try to plug power adapter without battery if it power on. in not remove back cover and check for possible burn fuse.