My Power Pole Charge Review - is it worth it?

[Phoenix919]

So I discovered something really interesting. First off I have the Power-Pole charge and so far its a great product. I have it paired with a pair of Dakota Lithium's and a group 31 AGM for the main engine. So here is what I found out. If you have to bring a lithium awake and use an external charger as per Dakota Lithium, if you don't disconnect the battery terminals, the Charge will see this extra charge as some sort of imbalance and draw the main battery to almost empty. I noticed this situation over the weekend and luckily I was able to disconnect before damaging the main battery. So just a heads up.I was able to repeat this situation so it was not a fluke. Overall great product and works well.

[HoffaFXR20]

Thanks I will certainly give that a try!

[Yellow Fever]

Just installed mine and downloaded the APP, when I press connect on the app a menu comes up that pairing is almost done, but I can see it working in the background and it comes up if i press the cancel prompt. The instructions are pretty vague The Bluetooth listed the Charge unit and it had Trolling and Starting as well I selected all. Any ideas?

[KandKKustomz]

For those who are having a BT/App issues: Hold down the orange button on the CHARGE unit for approx 6 seconds. This will reset the CHARGE BT signal. Close out of the APP and open it back up.

[Spidergrub]

For those who are having a BT/App issues: Hold down the orange button on the CHARGE unit for approx 6 seconds. This will reset the CHARGE BT signal. Close out of the APP and open it back up.

Yep, I had to reset the charge twice before C Monster got itself straight and kept itself hooked up. All is good now after Kevin helped me out. I check it every time I go to the garage and C Monster finds it everytime now.

[KandKKustomz]

Yep, I had to reset the charge twice before C Monster got itself straight and kept itself hooked up. All is good now after Kevin helped me out. I check it every time I go to the garage and C Monster finds it everytime now.

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[red devil]

Great thread guys. I gotta question. I’m running three Tracker 12 volt lithium batteries and I’ve had one of the three get burnt up. Power pole replaced the charge system and tracker replaced the batteries but I’m worried about hooking it back up. Any thought on what could be causing the charge system to burn up the batteries?

[KandKKustomz]

Great thread guys. I gotta question. I’m running three Tracker 12 volt lithium batteries and I’ve had one of the three get burnt up. Power pole replaced the charge system and tracker replaced the batteries but I’m worried about hooking it back up. Any thought on what could be causing the charge system to burn up the batteries?

are you configuring the charge to the proper battery type (lithium) and correct AH setting within the app

[red devil]

are you configuring the charge to the proper battery type (lithium) and correct AH setting within the app

Yes sir I believe so. I spent about two hours on the phone with PP and they said that the Charge system doesn’t like the Tracker batteries ? Any thoughts on why ?

[MengRanger]

I am pretty sure Tracker are rebadged Relions. I am running 3 Relions for trolling batteries and have not had any issues with PP charge.

[SSMinnow]

Yes sir I believe so. I spent about two hours on the phone with PP and they said that the Charge system doesn’t like the Tracker batteries ? Any thoughts on why ?

Sure would like to know if this is true and why. PP Charge here as well and have a situation where the HP100 Tracker cranking lithium is not holding charge now after only 8 months and little use during the summer. The PP Charge is saying that the battery is connected and being charged on the Cranking side even when no battery is connected since I have it disconnected and diagnosing. So far, the Trolling side isn't affected as far as I can tell but I'm concerned overall. Enough so that I had to buy another brand charger (Noco) to test my battery and see if it is still good or if it fried the BMS of the battery. I really like the PP Charge but it needs some advanced control access and better battery monitoring mechanisms than just the voltage testing.

It sucks when you have your boat plugged in, ready for use. Then start connecting, check the app and ^%#^, it's all dead. Happened 4 times over the past couple of months. Thought it was something I was doing and leaving on, but even if I did, the charger should keep up.

[SSMinnow]

As a follow up to this, I contacted Basspro to get my cranking battery replaced and found out that Bass Pro's site specifically lists the Power Pole Charge - NOT - Be used with this battery.

Link - https://www.cabelas.com/shop/en/trac...-battery-green

Near bottom of description, it says - NOTE: External battery balancers such as Dual Pro B.O.S. and the PowerPole charge are not recommended for Lithium batteries.
That's quite a concern for a blanket "Not recommended for Lithium" for that charger. Maybe Power Pole CS can help with this?

[Phoenix919]

LOL I call garbage on that one. Or perhaps a CYA statement.

[SSMinnow]

Also noticed that the battery models have changed. Website shows it to be TLi100-HP, the one I am having replaced is WRM100-HP. Wish I knew the difference.

[DQM]

WRP is White River Marine, the boasting subsidiary of Bass Pro. It is just a SKU change, I would imagine.Not recommended, as their website says, does not mean DO NOT USE. Just not recommended.Given as many problems as many of us are having with PP Charge and lithium’s (most frequent, no battery qualifying and middle of three batteries in 35 volt system not getting fully charged and then losing charge over time), it is not surprising that PP would start saying “we have issues with battery brand a or b.” It’s a battery. It has voltage. It can accept a charge if the charging voltage is higher that the stored voltage (yes, I know, I am simplifying it). It is not that hard.Trying to do everything for everyone is their problem. Honestly, do many people with flooded lead acid batteries really spend $1200 on a charger? I would expect if you are going to drop that kind of money on a charger (and I did) you are going to also have dropped money on lithium’s or at least high quality AGM batteries.They should design Charge, or a update existing models, to work with Lithium’s only, at least on the TM side/bank, or something. Too many issues and for a lot of people who do not have lithium batteries with a Bluetooth app or some other means other than Charge to see actual voltage and SOC, they really have no ideas if it is actually working since PP admits the actual voltage it shows is not accurate in some configurations/situations.

[bigtimearcher]

Honestly, do many people with flooded lead acid batteries really spend $1200 on a charger? I would expect if you are going to drop that kind of money on a charger (and I did) you are going to also have dropped money on lithium’s or at least high quality AGM batteries.They should design Charge, or a update existing models, to work with Lithium’s only, at least on the TM side/bank, or something. Too many issues and for a lot of people who do not have lithium batteries with a Bluetooth app or some other means other than Charge to see actual voltage and SOC, they really have no ideas if it is actually working since PP admits the actual voltage it shows is not accurate in some configurations/situations.

I wonder what they are doing with the pro's? I'm pretty sure most pro's are running lithium......on top of that, each of these pro's are pimping a different brand of lithium battery.

[gatorsin09]

I love my charge with lead acid trolling batteries and an X2 cranking battery. I did over 200 days on the water this year and never even had my graphs dim once. So yes there's people buying a 1200 dollar charger with lead acids.

[KandKKustomz]

Ran power pole charge and (2) 100 ah impulse and a 120 platinum cranker w no issues all season.

[Phoenix919]

2 seasons strong zero issues. Great product for my needs and I am power hungry with 5 Garmin's

[Rich B.]

Customer support is excellent. I had one of the first models they put out and it worked great. The charger failed out of warranty this week. I downloaded the diagnostic scan and sent it to Power Pole. To my surprise they sent me a new one, free of charge. I am a customer for life. The app is a little finicky, but not a game breaker.