Would you go Lithium?

[JFB]

I’m looking into a 921 Phx, I’ve been told that lithium batteries change the ride and it almost sounds like they are too light because of the way weight becomes distributed. I would have a 112lb thrust ultrex and likely two graphs on the bow so certainly not bow light.

Anyone have any experience here? I love the idea of saving weight but certainly not at the cost of effecting performance. Thx

[skpeter]

I'm undecided at this point I have a 920 elite with a single 36 volt lithium and one 12 volt lithium. My previous boat was a legend v20 I had the same set up in that boat and it was worth it I saw a performance gain in the legend with the lithiums in both holes shot and top end. So far I'm not sure if I gained perfo in the phoenix I know it floats shallower and that is also important to me but according to what I'm reading from other phoenix owners it doesn't sound like I gained much if any in performance

[sdendy]

I definitely think it was worth it. Went from 36 V 31 series Wet Cell to 3 100a Battle Born now did I gain top end no and if you are wanting to do just to gain speed you will be disappointed from my experience. I have set it before and will say it again Lithium are not a purchase it is investment. The ability to plane off in seconds even with full fuel and full live wells. Also the speed to recharge is so awesome when I am fishing tournaments I can come in from a full day fishing and before I go to bed my trolling motor batteries are fully charged. I see no power loss in a full day of fishing. I still run a regular deep cycle battery for cranking etc. My Battery charger is set up with the Lithium Program on 3 banks and regular wet cell on the other bank. Yes you float higher and if you watch how the boat trailers the tires do not sag on bumps etc. One thing I found was that I had to run my Hyd. Jack Plate lower because the rear does not sit down as deep as it did with conventional battery. I am going on my 3rd year with mine. My line as I said before it is a investment not a purchase and I would do it again.

[DREWTICK]

I have sold lithium batteries to lot's of Phoenix owner's and I personally run a full lithium setup. I'm sure some will chime in.
There is a huge difference in performance, not necessarily in speed but in handling, hole shot, run time, charge time, and totally maintenance free,
as for the weight offset just dropping the Jack plate a little it's good to go

[skpeter]

I agree the hole shot is great , the charge time fantastic. I can't comment on handling since I've never driven a phoenix without lithiums to compare to. Also I had lithiums in my last boat for about 6 years and didn't notice any fall off on power I know I would have changed out standard batteries at least once in that time frame. The only thing that surprised me if that I figured I could turn more rpm and gain speed tried several props and Jack plate settings just can't seem to get to 6000 or more rpm . Reading other post with similar boat and motor set ups guys are getting more rpm out of the 250 pro xs 4 stroke . How ?

[JFB]

Appreciate the info guys.

[fishin couillon]

I dont have the bigger boat or full Li setup but just put in 2 Ionic 50ah batts from Drew. I can tell the holeshot with and without water in the wells is a big difference. Handling still about the same. Still running an AGM starter battery.

[txbass1]

The 921 PHX is not the Phoenix that you’re going to get high seventies out of anyway. I fished out of and drove my partner’s 921 Pro XP for a few years and I would have loved to have had lithium’s on the back for the hole shot alone. It wasn’t a dog by any means, but my 920 (Fully loaded) will flat go when you mash the pedal. As far as handling and performance, I didn’t notice a real change in handling and speed is about the same (not enough to really measure). I wouldn’t trade that holeshot or the other benefits (no power drop, quick charge, etc) for anything. I’d do it again in a minute.

[steph281086]

I definitely think it was worth it. Went from 36 V 31 series Wet Cell to 3 100a Battle Born now did I gain top end no and if you are wanting to do just to gain speed you will be disappointed from my experience. I have set it before and will say it again Lithium are not a purchase it is investment. The ability to plane off in seconds even with full fuel and full live wells. Also the speed to recharge is so awesome when I am fishing tournaments I can come in from a full day fishing and before I go to bed my trolling motor batteries are fully charged. I see no power loss in a full day of fishing. I still run a regular deep cycle battery for cranking etc. My Battery charger is set up with the Lithium Program on 3 banks and regular wet cell on the other bank. Yes you float higher and if you watch how the boat trailers the tires do not sag on bumps etc. One thing I found was that I had to run my Hyd. Jack Plate lower because the rear does not sit down as deep as it did with conventional battery. I am going on my 3rd year with mine. My line as I said before it is a investment not a purchase and I would do it again.

I had no idea you could setup the charger to do part Li and part wet cell. How do you do that? Can you do this with a deltapro charger?
(sorry, not trying to highjack this thread) but this could make the switch to Li a bit more gradual for me.

[MengRanger]

You can send in your charger to Dualpro to have each bank programmed, or you can buy the newest version (which I did) that let's you set the starting to type and trolling motor batteries to type via the phone app. It is lighter than original version and you never have to take it out of boat to send in. I went all 4 lithiums on my rig. Drewcraft (Andy) can set you up.

[Basseditor]

I have 4 ionic lithiums in my Phoenix 721. I am very pleased. I don’t drive my boat at top speed anyway, but it is far more responsive and great hole shot. Best part for me is the back end sits way above water line.

My outboard broke down last time I used it so I had to use my Ultrex to get back to the ramp. After 5 hours of heavy fishing use on the TM, and I was a long way from ramp, the batteries and Ultrex got me back in. It took 3 more hours to troll back in at about 80% power — I still had plenty of juice left.

Thanks Andy at Drewcraft for the set up.

[Phoenix919]

I have Lithium's in my 919 paired with a Power-Pole Charge. Could not be happier.

[Rangerdawg]

Not that it matters but I have Relions and have been very pleased....especially with the trolling motor performance....recently switched to a ghost from an Ultrex and am even more impressed like everyone else no real performance gains in speed etc.

[JFB]

By any small chance has anyone had a chance to come out of the hole next to a similar bird (or similar boat for that matter) except one has lithium and the other not? Just trying to get a feel for the difference in hole shot.

I recently saw the new merc 4 stroke take a Ranger 521c out of the hole and it had traditional batteries and man that motor really gets it up fast. So part of me says why would you need it out of the hole even faster but the other half of me wonders how much better hole shot might it be lol.

[DREWTICK]

By any small chance has anyone had a chance to come out of the hole next to a similar bird (or similar boat for that matter) except one has lithium and the other not? Just trying to get a feel for the difference in hole shot.

I recently saw the new merc 4 stroke take a Ranger 521c out of the hole and it had traditional batteries and man that motor really gets it up fast. So part of me says why would you need it out of the hole even faster but the other half of me wonders how much better hole shot might it be lol.

I have sold a full set of lithium's and a Bailey Foil to guys with the Merc V8, they say its a neck breaker, I take off quite often beside of 2 619s and im usually gone so fast I dont get to see how far behind they are, probably not a fair comparison, they are running Merc 2s 200s one has 4 lead batteries other has 3, Im running a 225 SHO with all lithium and a Bailey foil


the biggest noticeable difference is with the live wells full , when they are full it will take off like they are empty, and when they are empty it just gets better

[JFB]

Thanks again everyone. Currently I have the jump box feature in my boat (and I’ve used it a few times)... as I understand it, lithium’s won’t turn over a merc 4s? So in the event my cranking wears down, are there any lithium’s that would get u started up?

[DREWTICK]

Thanks again everyone. Currently I have the jump box feature in my boat (and I’ve used it a few times)... as I understand it, lithium’s won’t turn over a merc 4s? So in the event my cranking wears down, are there any lithium’s that would get u started up?

that depends on what size trolling battery you are jumping from, the 50ah Ionic have the power to start but the BMS has a 170amp max protection for current draw, with a completely dead cranking battery the 50ah would not work, but if you have a lithium cranking battery and tune the jump switch you can let it sit a few minutes and transfer power then you could start, our solution to that is the onboard lithium emergency starter https://drewcraft.com/product/emergency-start/

other option is go with the 100ah trolling batteries and never worry because they are also sold as starting batteries and will start any motor

using the Ionic 125ah for a starting battery the chance of ever needing to jump start is pretty slim

[sdendy]

I sent the Charger back in to the dealer and they put the algorithm in the charge. That algorithm is specific to Battle Born and you can check their page in the news section they had a article on it

[haus9393]

I went from 2 70lb and 3 60 lb batteries down to 5 lithium at 29lbs each. My hole shot was insanely better with a 2 stroke pro xs on a 721. My top end speed might have actually went down since I don’t carry much in the back and have quite a bit of tackle and graphs up front. I have for sure lost bow lift over the last 2-3 years.