Real world experience with cheaper lithium batteries?

[Chris at Tech]

Does anyone have any real world experience using the cheaper lithium batteries to run 24 or 36v trolling motors?

The bigger names - Dakota, Ionic, Battleborn, etc - seem to come with the bigger prices. Amazon has a bunch of cheaper options with high ratings, so wondering if anyone has successfully gone that route.

[Bill Reynolds]

I have these installed for only about a month but looks good so far. Shipping was 3 days and free, build quality is excellent and customer service is great. Only time will tell about durability.
I researched for quite a while with the intent of building my own because I cannot afford the commercially available ones. I had decided on cell design, management system and battery box when I found these with all the preferred components for about $50 more than I could have built them and they come with a 5 year warranty.
They do not have Bluetooth but the $10 monitors give me all the information I need. The BMS does have high temp cutoff but not low temp. However my battery charger has low temp cutoff and I live in a mild climate. If I lived in the North, I may have made a different decision.
I replaced 4 year old flooded cell batteries and took over 100 lbs out of my bilge. Price was about the same as 2 AGM batteries.
It took me a long time and a lot of research to determine if 2 50AH batteries would be sufficient but it has proven to work well. That being said, what works for my boat and fishing style but may not work for everyone.
I could not afford 100AH Lithium even with these discount batteries.

[nightbasser]

I have these installed for only about a month but looks good so far. Shipping was 3 days and free, build quality is excellent and customer service is great. Only time will tell about durability.
I researched for quite a while with the intent of building my own because I cannot afford the commercially available ones. I had decided on cell design, management system and battery box when I found these with all the preferred components for about $50 more than I could have built them and they come with a 5 year warranty.
They do not have Bluetooth but the $10 monitors give me all the information I need. The BMS does have high temp cutoff but not low temp. However my battery charger has low temp cutoff and I live in a mild climate. If I lived in the North, I may have made a different decision.
I replaced 4 year old flooded cell batteries and took over 100 lbs out of my bilge. Price was about the same as 2 AGM batteries.
It took me a long time and a lot of research to determine if 2 50AH batteries would be sufficient but it has proven to work well. That being said, what works for my boat and fishing style but may not work for everyone.
I could not afford 100AH Lithium even with these discount batteries.

Nice set up!!!

[rangerman942]

What are you running for a cranking battery?

[tracer1]

Have to agree with you Bill. These so called brand names have gotten out of hand being comparably priced. ALL of the lithiums come from China and I agree some are better than others but how doe one know which one. A higher price means it's a better battery? I don't think so. It would probably amaze and surprise us to find out which of the cheap batteries have been rebranded at a higher price. I have also researched the batteries and price is the only thing that slowed my purchasing any of them. If you notice on the reviews, all are great. Seems no one posts the bad reviews or trouble they may have had with them. I hope those batteries do well for you ( and they probably will) but please keep us posted on how they do.
Cheers

[billnorman1]

Two less expensive 50 AH batteries. Took over 100 pounds off. Have had zero issues. Bought a Lithium rated charger too. Less than $700.

[mactlman]

Does anyone have any real world experience using the cheaper lithium batteries to run 24 or 36v trolling motors?

The bigger names - Dakota, Ionic, Battleborn, etc - seem to come with the bigger prices. Amazon has a bunch of cheaper options with high ratings, so wondering if anyone has successfully gone that route.

https://www.amazon.com/LiFePO4-Lithi...s%2C138&sr=8-5




3 50 amp hr fine for 36 volt or
2 100 amp hr for 24 volt

[NoCAL]

3 Zooms 100 ah cost about $1100 last year in Nov. Been running fine since then. No BT but who cares? Never had BT with AGMs for SOC. I just put voltage up on my HDS screen so I have some idea of SOC. I still run AGM for a starter and for electronics.

NoCAL

NoCAL

[Slicefixer]

https://www.amazon.com/LiFePO4-Lithi...s%2C138&sr=8-5




3 50 amp hr fine for 36 volt or
2 100 amp hr for 24 volt

100ah Weize house battery.....running 3 Carbon 9's. 1 HDS10 2, AT, Rite-Hite, 3D SS, pumps, lights, radio, phone chargers, etc. It's been flawless to date, but, only a couple of months usage.

[jerzia]

3 Zooms 100 ah cost about $1100 last year in Nov. Been running fine since then. No BT but who cares? Never had BT with AGMs for SOC. I just put voltage up on my HDS screen so I have some idea of SOC. I still run AGM for a starter and for electronics.

NoCAL

NoCAL

The difference with the Bluetooth is it tells you how much charge is left. Voltage tells you nothing, for the lithium batteries have constant voltage until they quit. Not saying BT is a necessity, but nice to know if you are getting near the end of their charge.

[Smallie_Hawgin]

Been using these from a previous post: http://www.bbcboards.net/showthread....8#post12576998 since spring. I have zero complaints, fished several really long days and a couple of tournaments, no problems what so ever. Something I learned along the way was that lithium "base charge" that comes to you on the order, likely is not 100%. Apparently they need at least one other full charging cycle to get to 100%. Found that out the hard way. These Ecoworthy 50 AH are only 12 lbs each. Compared to any other lead or AGM I saved a huge amount of weight. I had dual X2 AGM prior which weigh 76lbs each!!! So, so far, so good!

[Bill Reynolds]

What are you running for a cranking battery?

I am running a group 27 AGM for the cranking battery. I have a Mercury 4 stroke and do not know if Lithium is an approved cranking battery.
I also have an Amped Outdoors 30 AH in my front locker. This powers my LiveScope and 10 inch Garmin on the bow. The 9 inch Garmin on the console is powered by the cranking battery.
With regard to Bluetooth reported state of charge: this feature is built into the BMS and reads the battery voltage as a measure of remaining battery capacity. This feature adds about $50 to the cost of the BMS while the $10 units shown in my pic give the same information, sans Bluetooth.
This is the discharge curve for a LiFePo4 chemistry battery:

[Slicefixer]

I am running a group 27 AGM for the cranking battery. I have a Mercury 4 stroke and do not know if Lithium is an approved cranking battery.
I also have an Amped Outdoors 30 AH in my front locker. This powers my LiveScope and 10 inch Garmin on the bow. The 9 inch Garmin on the console is powered by the cranking battery.
With regard to Bluetooth reported state of charge: this feature is built into the BMS and reads the battery voltage as a measure of remaining battery capacity. This feature adds about $50 to the cost of the BMS while the $10 units shown in my pic give the same information, sans Bluetooth.
This is the discharge curve for a LiFePo4 chemistry battery:

Thank you for that Brother Bill! That'll really help me to monitor my discharge status via the Amazon voltage monitor (same one you're using). Btw, it cost $100 to upgrade my lithium with BT, which I declined to do.

When I added up the total potential amp draw of the major components of my electrical system the 100ah, in theory, should be plenty of power for my mission. So far it's proven to be 100% reliable.

[haus9393]

3 Zooms 100 ah cost about $1100 last year in Nov. Been running fine since then. No BT but who cares? Never had BT with AGMs for SOC. I just put voltage up on my HDS screen so I have some idea of SOC. I still run AGM for a starter and for electronics.

NoCAL

NoCAL

if you are putting voltage on your hds screen that is only reading voltage from your agm and has nothing to do with your SOC on your lithium trolling motor.

[06x6spdGTO]

Would avoid using some of the cheap batteries.
The BMS won't support amp draw from most major trolling motors. Expect to see random power cycles on the trolling motor at higher thrust settings.

[NoCAL]

if you are putting voltage on your hds screen that is only reading voltage from your agm and has nothing to do with your SOC on your lithium trolling motor.

I have both voltage and battery overlaid on my screen. One is cranking battery and comes through the power cord from the cranking battery. One is trolling batteries through the Ghost over NMEA network.

NoCAL

[BarryFL]

I am running a group 27 AGM for the cranking battery. I have a Mercury 4 stroke and do not know if Lithium is an approved cranking battery.
I also have an Amped Outdoors 30 AH in my front locker. This powers my LiveScope and 10 inch Garmin on the bow. The 9 inch Garmin on the console is powered by the cranking battery.
With regard to Bluetooth reported state of charge: this feature is built into the BMS and reads the battery voltage as a measure of remaining battery capacity. This feature adds about $50 to the cost of the BMS while the $10 units shown in my pic give the same information, sans Bluetooth.
This is the discharge curve for a LiFePo4 chemistry battery:

I dont think that chart is correct. I have a 60aH 12.8v and it shows constant 12.8v throughout usage. Lithium doesn't drop voltage like a wet cell or AGM. Hopefully one of the BBC sponsors will chime in.

[Wayne P.]

I dont think that chart is correct. I have a 60aH 12.8v and it shows constant 12.8v throughout usage. Lithium doesn't drop voltage like a wet cell or AGM. Hopefully one of the BBC sponsors will chime in.

Battle Born sent me the SOC chart for their batteries.

[NoCAL]

I use a chart like this to guesstimate my SOC ^^

[bobcoy]

Just a note on voltages: read at the battery terminal. If you use the voltage at your graph you will be reducing the voltage because of voltage drop and whatever error your unit has in the reading. All setups will have a voltage drop. As you can see just .2 or so will make a for a large error. JMO Bob