Lithium batteries

I know people have probably ask but is there a big difference in the different brands of lithium batteries? what are you suggestions? thanks steve

No... Just seems that some warranty their batteries better than others... And don't forget customer service... I went with Impulse because of both... Dan

I got ionic for the reasons above, answered a bunch of questions in emails and not one took more than about 3 hrs.

availability is another consideration, sartin marine now carries ionics so that is a plus for me.

Lithium are game changers if you fish allot. I have done 16hr (straight fishing) sprints and have never gone down below 35'ish percent. Running two 100ah lithium batteries on an 80lb ultrex. Warranty is what you want to focus on. I went with a brand X, and have been pleased. remember you will also need to upgrade your charger. Noco is the way to go. I removed three 75 lb batteries from my boat and installed three 22 lb 100ah batteries. Two are for the trolling motor, the other is for electronics only. I still have a wet cell for starting the motor. Good luck, and you will be happy if you fish allot. if your fishing a couple days a month, might be different. Lastly, lithium don't like to sit at 100%, when you get home with normal batteries you would charge them. Lithium like to stay mid charge while idle, and charge before you go.

I switched to lithiums about 6 weeks ago.. I contacted Ionic on the advice of some people I trust. We spoke a bit a bit and I decided on a set including a starting battery.. they had every chance to up sell me on bigger batteries and a charger and they didn't. They told me my MK charger would work just fine and it has. They recommended a lesser package than I originally thought I needed. Every part of the buying process was simple. Great customer service, fast shipping and low prices. Not near as pricey as I figured.
Been nothing but impressed by the batteries so far. Rarely drop under 85% even after a long day of fishing in the wind. I stay on the TM a lot too. Even after 2 days of fishing I've yet to go below 75%. I just have 3 of the 50ah on a 2021 Skeeter ZXR20 with a 112 Ultrex. My cranking battery has never been below 95% even with FFS and 360. The phone app to monitor them is great as well

I saved a ton of weight by switching and my boat did lose any speed or handling either. Drafts a bit shallower now too.

Mark I have been debating this for my 22 FXR21. I just assumed I would need 3 of the 100ah for the ultrex, but is sounds like the 50ah is good enough?

There are some differences…even between the “name brands”. Some have lower temperature charging ability than others, some don’t limit charging at low temperatures at all (very bad!!). Some have Bluetooth monitoring, some don’t. Some have a better water resistance rating. Some have longer full warranties, some have tiered, or prorated warranties. Some have REAL customer service, some take several days to respond to a simple question.

After all of the research I did, I chose Ionic based on the better features, price, and excellent customer service reputation. It was actually a very easy choice.

With the increasing price for a lead acid wet cell or AGM, the price is really cheaper in the long run.

I assumed the same thing as well until I spoke with them. He reccomended the 50ah and I have been impressed. We fished 4 days last week on the Atchafalaya Basin in river current and never had them below 85% after a single day. I didn't even charge them back up one night and I was on 75% after 2 days. I have the 125ah starting battery. He told me my Minn Kota MK460PC that was on my boat would be perfect to charge them with on the AGM setting and it has been. It works exactly as it did with my conventional batteries. He definitely could have easily sold me the three 100ah batteries and a charger as I assumed I needed them initially but I really appreciated his honesty. Great warranty too. He is super fast about replying to your questions etc. Here is the link. I have no affiliation with them whatsoever. I bought mine and got no deals. The pricing beat everyone else as well. Really wasnt as bad as I expected and not even double the price of conventional batteries. He shipped straight to the house. Had them in 2-3 days.


https://drewcraft.com/ionic-lithium-batteries-for-bass-boats/
.

Does that void the Yamaha warranty?

No

No.

no it doesnt but you will have some "expert" come along and say it does

Been running the Ionic 125 for 2 years now on my SHO. Zero issues.

Probably my next upgrade on my boat.

Yamaha dealers are selling them.

I’m sure there are others that are good but the combination of Ionic Lithium and the service from Drewcraft Marine has been above and beyond all expectations. I have 3 50AH for Ultrex and a 125AH for starter. I can get 2 full days out of the 50AH batteries and probably 3 if I wanted to without charging.

Doesn’t that MK charger you have have a Lithium option?

The PC model does not. The PCL model does. I have the PC.
No.

Roger that thanks

If anyone is in the market dont hesitate to reach out! I usually match or beat anyones pricing shoot me a message, call or text 210-595-0073
https://fishtacklemarine.com/collections/ionic-batteries

Going on my 5th yr with same set of relions

This thread gave me the nudge, to make the switch. Ordered a bundle of Ionic.

I had to really convince myself as well. I had never had any issues with conventional batteries and couldn't get price paying a premium for lithiums. I felt like I was solving a problem I didn't have. Once it was time to replace my original batteries I felt better about it.
Now after making the switch I am very satisfied and happy I did. With such a long warranty it now seems like a no Brainerd. Cool thing is prices keep coming down on lithiums so I doubt I will ever have conventional batteries in fixture boats.

The difference can come down to material and build quality and warranty.

Whatever brand you get make SURE they are sealed well. IP65 at the very least. Better if they are IP68, which means they are submersible.

I ordered a pair of lithiums off of Amazon. They worked perfectly for about a year and a half and then suddenly they both failed. I had not paid any mind to sealing issues as my boat has a battery cabinet where they are protected. But as I found out — only to a point. After many daily heat up and cool down cycles water vapor began to condense to liquid water inside the battery cases. There are battery management circuit boards and other vulnerable electronics inside these lithium battery boxes. When I opened up my failed batteries I poured about 3 ounces of water out of each one. The circuit boards were wrecked. This was not a fault of the battery manufacturer. It was buyer error.

If these same batteries had been indoors in a climate controlled environment they would have been fine.

I replaced the failed batteries with EG4 Batteries. They are IP68 rated. They are built in Texas. They have a very high cycle rating. They have a Bluetooth battery monitor. They are sold by a solid vendor — Shut Up And Fish.

This is interesting, just to note, there are a few high end batteries that are intentionally vented. I didn't see any brand name marine-intent batteries mention IP68 ratings in the quick search I did.



https://millertechenergy.com/product/36v-60ah-marine-trolling-battery/

thats good to know

I have 3 Relion 100 ,s, been two years now without any problems, have never come close to running them down, have fished two long days without charging them. At the time I bought my boat there was still some talk about mercury not warrantying the engine so i went with the huge X2 cranking battery, it is a great battery as well, if it ever goes bad I will go with another Relion for the cranker.

I have the same charger/batteries, charges them just fine. one thing I did was put the charger on a timer for 3 hrs. a night for storage, seems to work just fine to keep them up.

Battery noob. Would 3 of these work for a 36 v ultrex. I see
Near the bottom of description it recommended for 20 -30 lb TMs.

Guess my question is why wouldn't these work but ionics does.


https://www.litime.com/products/litime-12v-50ah-lifepo4-lithium-battery-like-new

I don't own an Ultrex with 50Ah lithiums, but here's my opinion. 50Ah is pushing the envelope due to the battery 1C discharge rate. (applies to any 1C rated LiFePO4 battery, Ionic 50Ah is 1C as well). Ionic 24v Example Case

An Ultrex is rated to 56A max draw. These LiTime batteries are rated to a 1C (50A) continuous discharge rate. There's a strong chance that when you run the Ultrex at 100%, you will trigger the "over-current" safety feature on the batteries and they will cut power after ~10 seconds. (Batteries have a 2C max discharge for 10s). If you want to run it on 80% instead of 100%, you'll have no problem.

How do you fix that? One of two ways.

• 1) Increase the battery size. (60Ah x 1C = 60A)
• 2) Find a higher continuous C-rate battery. 50Ah x 1.2C = 60A

The cheapest I could find that should work is Eco-Worthy 50Ah (ad) it is a 1.2C discharge rate as listed on their website. However their customer support if you have an issue will very likely be nowhere as good as if you bought an Ionic. Be sure to compare the warranty as well, Eco-worthy was only 3-years the last time I checked.

There's a good comparison of size and C-rate of this size battery in this video. Hope it helps!

*disclaimer* some battery companies "under-rate" their batteries so that they hit the capacity at their end of life. SO if the "Ionic 50Ah" is really "56Ah", then it will work fine. I don't have a great way to predict that, however.

I have 4 ionics and 1 powerhouse lithium dedicated 16 volt for graphs. They are worry free.

I’d guess they’d work ok. The 50Ah Ionics work great. Maybe there is a difference in the BMS for the money?

Thank you for the detailed reply!

I was reading on BBC someone having a similar issue with the 100% vs 80.
Someone told him it cause he was running a 24v single battery? Having two(50ah) would
Fix it? Hell now I'll really confused.

Every thing I have read says 50 would do. But then I read what I said above.
One thing everyone does agree on is they will not start a motor if needed.

Barret- you running 50 or 100ah?

Kinda the only difference I saw Steeze.


I already ordered 3 100 ah from Litime but I'm cheap and could
Use the 250$ ID save.

I've sent Litime an email last night. Waiting on a response.

I've been using 50a Ionic's for two and a half years now on my 36v Ultrex and now my Quest and never had a problem. Lots of other people have as well.

I have 3- 50 AH trolling motor batteries, A 125 AH cranking battery (complete over kill but was using this to power the entire boat), and a 100 AH 16 volt lithium PH battery with a run and gun charger that powers 3 12 Helixs and a 16 inch Garmin.

I have an Ultrex 112 on a 20' boat. I have three 12" graphs with Livescope and M360. I have a 125ah starting battery and 3ea 50ah Ionic lithiums. We fished all day yesterday in a tournament and ran livewells all day. It was a little windy and I stayed on the TM a lot.

At the end of the day my battery readouts were:
125ah-82%
50ah-84%
50ah-85%
50ah-85%

Both yall got some nice set ups. Appreciate the feed back.


Litime asked what size thrust I had. Guess I should of mentioned that.


Still wonder why theirs wouldn't be sufficient per thier website
If I bought 3 50AHs. Can't remember the last time I fished over 7 hrs in a day.

Cheers.

Some of the new motors pull 60amps while on High power. If you were on an electric TM only lake and were running on High, you’d have no batteries in less than an hour (with 50ah). Granted not many run that hard for that long, but we have a TM only lake here and it’ll put a hurt to small TM batteries. I could kill a set of 100ah if I tried at the TM only lake.

At a regular lake, I only drop my 100ah batteries 10%-30%.

Anyone have any experience with the power queen lithium batteries?

I've read tons of reviews about alot of lithiums lately. One about power queen
Claimed he got water into battery and they wouldn't replace it. He said it's
Not made for boats.

I started looking else where.

I have no issues with theirs. They also have a "trolling motor" version

Great info, It's finally come that time. We finished a tournament Saturday running my Fortrex on high just to get around. I was hoping to finish the THSBA season with the set of lead acid batteries I have but that may not happen. I've got the MK330D charger in my boat; 24 volt system, and everything I've read says it will work with lithium batteries in the AGM mode. The one question I have is how do you mount these 50AH Ionic batteries in place of these massive group 27 or larger lead acid deep cycle marine batteries?

Two of the 50Ah Ionics will ALMOST fit in a standard 31 size tray. I simply cut the edge off of one tray and use two straps. I’ll get ya pictures of how they are mounted if your interested.

yes please

the mk 440 pc will charge 12 volt lithiums

I am running Power Queen. May be the best deal out there for price and all. I like mine and I was on the fence about every getting any but their price was just to good to pass on !

The two batteries, side by side, are about 1/2” longer than the tray. I am using the giant copper blade switch to link the two batteries in series. When it is closed, it completes the 24v circuit, when it’s open, it disconnects the batteries from each other and opens the circuit to the trolling motor, removing power during charging.

I have to say that reading this thread really reminds me of how good this forum is and why I signed up so many years ago. The posts are more than helpful, highly informative, and best of all everyone has shared their experiences and opinions in a thoughtful and civil manner all while staying focused on the topic and not derailing the thread by dragging politics and personal insults into the conversation. Well done fellas!

Now, I have a HDS 16 in the console and HDS 9 at the bow and my old lead acid cranking battery would be almost shot by the end of the day, even with putting the graphs in standby when running and when fishing and using spot lock almost exclusively even in situations where I prefer my power poles. Heaven forbid I catch a fish early and use the aerators, I would be lucky if the battery would last half the day let alone until weigh in. So I replaced that battery with a 31 group Duracell AGM battery and it would last almost all day if I did not use the aerators, but was really fed up with having to worry every time I went to the lake "is my boat going to start after 1:00 p.m" instead of just focusing on fishing. After reading a lot on the lithium batteries I replaced the AGM with a Monster Marine scorpion lithium battery, 120AH 1300CCA. Now I can leave both graphs on all day, run the aerators all day, run the power poles and even listen to my spotify playlists through the sonic hub audio all day and I have yet see it fall below 82% when I check it at home. I have a minnkota pcl460 charger that works perfectly with the battery and the ability to monitor the status of the battery through the bluetooth app is surprisingly awesome for peace of mind considering I really didn't care about that feature prior to buying the battery. Besides not having to worry about running out of juice on any given day, the images on my graphs are noticeably sharper and clearer than before. I still have three lead acid batteries for my 112lb Ultrex but will replace them with lithium when the time comes. Yes it was costly, but only up front, and it will actually save money over the long run as it will last much longer than the lead acid or AGM batteries.

Thanks!