Lithium battery - worth the expense?

[Steph Boeker]

I imagine there are those 12v batts that come w/ their own chargers. I'm not familiar w/ them yet. I do have a 3 bank trickle charger I keep my Zero-Turn, Harley and Aux. (marine deep cycle in truck for camping)
Will a trickle charger like that maintain these boat batteries (are they lithium ?) Or do they have to be speed charged w/ a charger and then do you keep a trickle charge going ?
Thank you for your generous consideration,
Sincerely ..................

 

[airshot]

As with most batteries, follow the care instructions to the letter !! Those that follow those instructions will find there Lifepo4 batteries are excellent !!
The next consideration is....how much do you use them? Regular use of them makes the cost worthwhile, but if you only use deep cycles on ocassion or for short periods of time, then the cost may not be justifiable.... This is what I am considering now, my current AGM batteries were replaced in 2019, so probably this will be there last year for them. Do I use them enough to justify the expense?? I have two..group 31 for the TM and another 31 as a house battery...not gonna be cheap which ever way I go !!!

 

[airshot]

I imagine there are those 12v batts that come w/ their own chargers. I'm not familiar w/ them yet. I do have a 3 bank trickle charger I keep my Zero-Turn, Harley and Aux. (marine deep cycle in truck for camping)
Will a trickle charger like that maintain these boat batteries (are they lithium ?) Or do they have to be speed charged w/ a charger and then do you keep a trickle charge going ?
Thank you for your generous consideration,
Sincerely ..................

Anything "lipo" needs there own type of charger !! Some of the newer fancy chargers will do all styles, but you need to be absolutely sure !!! No guessing here, this is where fires get started !!! Lipos dont like trickle charges, charge them full if they are going to be used within a few days or week. Lipos like to be stored with about 70% of full charge or there abouts, you battery specs will tell you how much.

 

[Steph Boeker]

Anything "lipo" needs there own type of charger !! Some of the newer fancy chargers will do all styles, but you need to be absolutely sure !!! No guessing here, this is where fires get started !!! Lipos dont like trickle charges, charge them full if they are going to be used within a few days or week. Lipos like to be stored with about 70% of full charge or there abouts, you battery specs will tell you how much.

Thank you for the heads up. I've been at risk w/ my Aux batt in the truck for about a year. It's connected to my alt. and always charging when driving. I'm surprised I haven't blown myself up yet. I'll change that tomorrow.
Thanks again,
Sincerely ......................

 

[Robin Nelms]

here's a thought for all of you. If you want a lighter battey for small boats I use a ride on lawn mower battery, or a motorcycle battery . they work perfect for starting my 2023 9.9 mercury 4 stroke and for my little 30 lb. thrust min- kotta electric trolling motor.

 

[airshot]

here's a thought for all of you. If you want a lighter battey for small boats I use a ride on lawn mower battery, or a motorcycle battery . they work perfect for starting my 2023 9.9 mercury 4 stroke and for my little 30 lb. thrust min- kotta electric trolling motor.

Yes, they do work well when low draws are all that you need. Years back I bought a small deep cycle agm wheelchair battery. Same size as my ATV battery but 18 ah. It powers my big boom sprayer for an easy hour of lawn spraying. Also use it with my 30 lb trolling motor to stir in chemicals and pond die with my jon boat, again an hours runtime. I used itbto run electronics in my kayak, lasted all day!! Best part is...it cost less than 40 bucks shipped to my front door, completely sealed, awesome little battery!!! That was over 6 years ago and it is still going strong, even killed it a time or two and it recovered fully!! Not that I woukd recomend that....

 

[CRS]

Using small batteries is great, if you fish small lakes and use the trolling motor for only short times in a small boat on a clear calm day. I fish a small lake for trout in the Pennsylvania wilds, using a 30# Minn Kota, I still use a deep cycle lead acid battery from Walmart. I learned the hard way that a larger battery is necessary. Under calm conditions I can travel the length and get back without ever running the battery past 50%. Remember after 50% discharge you are damaging the battery. A sudden hard wind picked up and continued to get stronger, my motor running full throttle I was barely moving forward and only when I tacked could I make any progress back to the ramp. I ended up with a dead battery and pulling the boat up along the shore. This was years ago and I being much younger and stronger was able to recover, today I would not be so fortunate. The morale of my experience is always have enough electric/gas to get back in bad conditions or get back faster in emergencies.

 

[LDUBS]

How do you know when the batter is at 50%? Checking voltage with a multimeter or ???

 

[Steph Boeker]

How do you know when the batter is at 50%? Checking voltage with a multimeter or ???

There's a really cool voltage meter available on TBNation for sale. Just add it inline to your wiring.
https://tinyurl.com/2e6hx9mc

 

[airshot]

There is a chart put out by battery makes that shows the amount of charge based on battery voltage ( digital volt meter reading). If I remember correctly it is...12.6 and above is a full charge...then down to 11.9 volts is below 50%......12.3 volts might be 60 or 70% charge....... Gonna look it up, I believe there is one posted on this forum. Perhaps someone that is better at posting may know where one is at...

 

[Buster]

If you have a little extra money, something like the Victron Smart Shunt can be very helpful to monitor battery SOC. I bought a cheap version a couple years ago but it wasn't waterproof and failed on a rainy day. I suppose I could have sealed it but I was dumb. The Smart Shunt IP65 is waterproof and connects via bluetooth to your phone to provide lots of battery info.

 

[FuzzyGrub]

Curious. Who would cut their day of fishing short when the batteries hit 50%?

 

[CRS]

The voltage check is not reliable on LI batteries. I bought a clamp meter and checked the amp usage for the motor, that way I know how many amp hours are being used. I do have a shunt on the electric outboard that keeps me informed on time left. If your fishing the same water it won't take long to know where you can go and get back.

 

[CRS]

Curious. Who would cut their day of fishing short when the batteries hit 50%?

Everyone that doesn't want to row or buy new batteries more often.

 

[FuzzyGrub]

Everyone that doesn't want to row or buy new batteries more often.

It sounds like you don't have a large enough battery for your application. Or, I like fishing more than most!

I have a charge level indicator on the trolling motor. I never look at it. So, I can't say that on a typical day where the battery level ended up. I do recharge them as soon as we get home, and LA batteries have lasted 5 years or better.

If I was all electric, would make sure that I had more than enough reserve.

 

[airshot]

It sounds like you don't have a large enough battery for your application. Or, I like fishing more than most!

I have a charge level indicator on the trolling motor. I never look at it. So, I can't say that on a typical day where the battery level ended up. I do recharge them as soon as we get home, and LA batteries have lasted 5 years or better.

If I was all electric, would make sure that I had more than enough reserve.

Oh yea, forgot about the charge indicator on my MK trolling motor!! I do use that often....damn long winter, forgot all about that. On mine, I have checked with a volt meter to compare..when the motor shows 50% the actual charge shows higher on the battery itself like 12.3 volts, that is more than 50%. Based on that, I could go to 25% on the battery scale on the motor before getting concerned. I am refering to agm deep cycle batteries not lipo !! After almost 8 hrs of continous running has it dropped to 50% on the motor gage.

 

[FuzzyGrub]

For those with LiFePO4 batteries, how are you storing to the recommended 50% charge level?

I haven't been doing that. If I have two days of fishing on the LiPO battery, I'll recharge it to full when I get home. It would seem to take allot of monitoring. If it is above, running it down to 50%. If below, charging to only 50%.

Drone batteries I have, if charged to more than 50% will start a slow discharge after sitting for two weeks, and stop at the 50% level. I am not aware of a BMS that does that.

At a minimum, it sounds like I should change my charging regement for the LiPo to the night before a fishing trip. Only do partial charge if battery is "low".

 

[-CN-]

Lithium batteries was the rave in the motorcycle world. Problem is they do not work well in cold weather. A lot of folks where getting stuck with a bike that would not start. Guess it would work for fishing.

I had one of the premium advertised lightweight batteries for my racing motorcycles in the early 20teens. When it was cold, the first push of the starter button on the bike heated the cells, and the second push started the engine.

 

[Ray Clark]

For those with LiFePO4 batteries, how are you storing to the recommended 50% charge level?

I haven't been doing that. If I have two days of fishing on the LiPO battery, I'll recharge it to full when I get home. It would seem to take allot of monitoring. If it is above, running it down to 50%. If below, charging to only 50%.

Drone batteries I have, if charged to more than 50% will start a slow discharge after sitting for two weeks, and stop at the 50% level. I am not aware of a BMS that does that.

At a minimum, it sounds like I should change my charging regement for the LiPo to the night before a fishing trip. Only do partial charge if battery is "low".

I store mine fully charged.

The manual for my battery is silent on the issue.

Dakota Lithium's web site recommends a full charge prior to putting the battery into storage.

Another brand recommends that their batteries have "at least" a 50% charge.

So...looks like recommendations are all over the place.

 

[airshot]

Only critical if storing for long periods of time. Over winter or months they should be stored at 50-60% if only a couple weeks the no issues. Over a month....mabey leave your battery alone after using it until your a few days away from your next outing, then charge....