Lithium batteries cold weather issues/ Ionic

[Phnx#22]

I purchased Ionic's in Dec 2018.

I have had zero issues with this set-up up until this past weekend when the temps dropped into the mid 20's.

Tournament morning my 125ah cranking battery did not have the available cold cranking amps to turn over the motor and I ended up having to jump start the battery to give it enough to turn over the engine. I had full power to every accessory, lights, livewells, graphs and such. But when I would try to start the engine it would roll over once and then all power would shut off completely. 1 min later everything would reset and I would have power again. The bluetooth app showed that all batteries were at full power.

Also, when I put down the trolling motor the batteries would only put out about half the normal power. I had to turn the thrust up to 10 and it felt like I had it on 5.

So, my question is...does the cold weather affect these batteries this much? If so, should I make sure to add some type of heat source in the bilge area in the future?

Thanks,

Matt

[06 SB]

What motor do you have?

[Phnx#22]

Pro XS 250 2016 model

[CatFan]

A couple of thoughts:

Did you charge them the night before? It could have been cold enough then that the BMS wouldn’t allow charging.

The fact that the battery would shut down could be low voltage or excess current draw. The BMS sees a problem and doesn’t allow it to continue to protect your battery. Your outboard tends to be a hard cranker on a cold morning and could have been drawing too much power.

All batteries slow down in colder weather, but your situation sounds like more than that effect.

[bloodman]

This issue has been addressed by others using various lithiums by "warming" them up through power draws prior to starting. Running trim, graphs, ect

[ammdrew]

If you are going to fish regularly when that cold I would put some battery heaters in, much like what pizza delivery bags have.. once you get the battery in the mid 30's it should work all day no problem.

[haus9393]

What was the temp of the actual battery in the app? Ive fished a few days around that 20-30 degree mark but interal battery temp was like 35-37 degrees. Also I did have my trolling ionic randomly drain to 0 when I was on the water in December. It was running and then it was at 0, I swear it was full charge before I left the house and I have the PP charge, I changed my ghost to 24v and finished out my day out. When I got home I charged the ionic back up and was literally dead, took all night to get back to 100%.

[Phnx#22]

What was the temp of the actual battery in the app? Ive fished a few days around that 20-30 degree mark but interal battery temp was like 35-37 degrees. Also I did have my trolling ionic randomly drain to 0 when I was on the water in December. It was running and then it was at 0, I swear it was full charge before I left the house and I have the PP charge, I changed my ghost to 24v and finished out my day out. When I got home I charged the ionic back up and was literally dead, took all night to get back to 100%.

.
I checked the app and all 4 batteries were right at 36 degrees. All batteries were fully charged. I am leaning to the fact that it was just the cold. I did start the process of warming up the batteries by drawing power through the lights, livewells and graphs, but I lacked patience on tournament morning to wait it out.

[MichAngler]

I thought Ionic offers a heated version of the 125?

I know that they make a point of talking about cold weather operations and if you plan to fish in these temps on a regular basis you clearly need a battery heater

[06 SB]

The 250 ProXS 2 strokes of that vintage have a huge electrical drag on the first start when it is really cold. They suck a lot of juice. It is exasperated by the lithiums that also do not like cold weather. You really need to get some type of warmer to get that battery kickin in the cold.

[DREWTICK]

there has been 2 upgrade's sense then to address that, but if you will run the trim or jackplate up and down a few times and also as stated turn on all graphs it will help, it will get stronger as you use some power, our emergency start is a great option for those proxs 2 strokes in cold weather to use on that first start up

[fishin couillon]

I experienced the cold start issue this morning......i think battery temp was around 37*..........after 3 attempts, it finally started to turn over the motor to get it going.......i'll be back out early but dont think it supposed to be to cold......

[bottomfisher]

I experienced the cold start issue this morning......i think battery temp was around 37*..........after 3 attempts, it finally started to turn over the motor to get it going.......i'll be back out early but dont think it supposed to be to cold......

In Louisiana? Been thinking about lithium myself. We get to fish year round of course. I never would’ve even considered a battery heater being necessary here though. Maybe good to know this, but never would’ve imagined it necessary.

[fishin couillon]

In Louisiana? Been thinking about lithium myself. We get to fish year round of course. I never would’ve even considered a battery heater being necessary here though. Maybe good to know this, but never would’ve imagined it necessary.

Yeah...........we been have pretty cold temps up here.....boat sits in an enclosed metal shop (not insulated), last week i checked the temp in batteries (via app) and they were around 36*, so for us, that's pretty cold.......battery was charged to 100% last night.....ive used it before when it was cold out but temps never stayed this cold for a long period of time.......

[Tom B]

I solved that issue long time ago by not going when its that cold

[haus9393]

Today I went ice fishing and had my 100ah ionic with me to power my graph. I kept it in the bottom of my shanty. It was -10 outside and the coldest I saw the app today was 28 degrees and it was still working. It was out in the elements for probably 10-15 min on average 4 times today so 1 hour total as I moved around spot to spot. 1 time driving out to my first spot. Then moved 2 times and then the trip back to the truck. When in the shanty it was only heating up to about 32 degrees since it was laying in the bottom of the sled on the ice. Even tho I was in a long sleeve shirt so it was probably about 60-70 degrees in the shack air temp.

[rangerranger]

there has been 2 upgrade's sense then to address that, but if you will run the trim or jackplate up and down a few times and also as stated turn on all graphs it will help, it will get stronger as you use some power, our emergency start is a great option for those proxs 2 strokes in cold weather to use on that first start up

Any thoughts on why the trolling motor batteries seemed to have less power than normal?

[DREWTICK]

Any thoughts on why the trolling motor batteries seemed to have less power than normal?

I would need to see screen shots of the app with the batteries fully charged

[DavidAnderson]

there has been 2 upgrade's sense then to address that, but if you will run the trim or jackplate up and down a few times and also as stated turn on all graphs it will help, it will get stronger as you use some power, our emergency start is a great option for those proxs 2 strokes in cold weather to use on that first start up

Andy, A dumb question however is it possible to update the battery via the Bluetooth?

[DREWTICK]

Andy, A dumb question however is it possible to update the battery via the Bluetooth?

there are administrative apps that would allow some BMSs to be programed by Bluetooth but most of IONICS are done via usb cable internally using computer software, the upgrades to the 125s were more then just programing they received updated BMS boards with different relays and wiring