I bought three new lithium batteries to replace my blue top Optima AGM batteries. I hooked up the lithium batteries exactly the same as the AGM batteries on my Minn Kota 460 PC charger. This charger has always worked just fine. So, I know the issue is not with the charger. After verifying all of the connections were good on the new lithium batteries, and the polarity is correct, I plugged in the charger and the LEDs are all solid red. I should also mention that I verified that all of the fuses are good on the outputs of the charger.I had read that this particular Minn Kota charger is capable of waking up lithium batteries. Can someone help me?

Is it a 460 pc or 460 pcl?

Look at the owners manual online and make sure you set the charger up properly. I know those chargers have 3 different battery type settings if I remember correctly.

It is a 460 PC. I checked the manual and it says to set it on the AGM setting for lithium batteries. edited to add: I already have an ionic starting battery, so I know that this handles lithium’s just fine.

When my died I had jump it off my truck lol. I have the same charger.

Probably not what the TFF scientist would do but mines been fine.

You may need to wake up each battery by connecting them to a known, well charged battery. Once you wake them up, the charger should find them and start charging.

Those batteries must be REALLY discharged to not have enough voltage to get a charger to see them.

Check the voltage of the batteries, if they are below 10v battery wont charge and will need to be woke up and minnkota wont charge if below 4v

Yah, that’s concerning. Shouldn’t be like that if they’re new correct?


Op, since you didn’t mention it and it hasn’t been brought up yet, if you have a voltmeter you should check each battery to see where they’re at.

Beat me to it.

Thank you for all of the replies, everyone! I am going to try to wake up the batteries. Then, I will post back here once the issue is resolved as it may help someone else who finds themselves in this situation. Again, thanks again for the replies, guys!

They can be shipped in any state of charge. That doesnt mean they are bad. Lithium is a different animal. Storing them at a low voltage isn’t the same as store an AGM or lead at low voltage. They will be fine. Just wake up the BMS and charge them. Then plug them in when they need charging after fishing.

Call Andy at Drewtech. Even if you didn't buy the Ionics from him, he can walk you through your issue.

Know his stuff, especially Ionics.

Thanks, and you’re right, Steez- the paper work I received said they are shipped at 30-50% charge. I just need to wake them up and hopefully, I’ll be good to go. Looking forward to the lithium experience with the TM batteries. The Ionic starting battery has been awesome. Thanks again for all of the help.

As I said, I’ll post back here once I am able to figure it out (super busy this weekend, so can’t look at it until this week sometime).

As promised, I have an update to this post. Thanks for all of the replies, everyone. Good people here on TFF!!

It turns out that it was a simple fix of making sure the batteries were "awake" so they could charge. The way I did that was to get a charger specifically designed for lithium batteries, connected the cables, and plugged in the charger. Instantly, they were awake. The app found the Bluetooth connection and I found they were between 52% and 56% charged. From there, the MinnKota 460 PC began charging them with no issues.

The paperwork that came with the batteries stated that they are shipped with a 30-50% state of charge (due to shipping regulations). I originally researched and read that the MinnKota 460 PC was capable of waking up lithium batteries. Not true (at least in my case). I had to get a separate charger that was lithium-specific. So, the lesson is to be sure the batteries are awake before you hook them to your charger. LOL! I'm just relieved I have batteries that work now.

For a video reference- @goodman_fishing (he is here on TFF) is a wealth of knowledge on this subject and has great videos. Great guy and answered all of my questions. Here's the video about waking up your lithium batteries. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J0hHxu0I0-U

Glad they worked out for you. In the future you can simply wake them up with a pair of jumper cables to a charged battery.