Has anyone tried 3X 12V 50A lithium batteries for a 36V trolling motor?

[bassburch]

I've spent a few hours skimming posts but couldn't find anything more than people saying "I think 50A would work... but I went with 100A and I can troll for 3 days straight without charging!"....

I don't want a battery setup that will last 3 days. I want something that would last a solid day plus. If a 100A setup can last 3 days, a 50A setup should last a day and a half, no?

I am looking for feedback from anyone who's actually tried 3X 50A lithiums with their 36V TM.

[flatsboy]

Yes I had 3 Relion 50 ah and a Minnkota Ultera for 4 years running and i could never kill them in a days fishing. I would go to the Keys and fish heavy current under bridges & trolling shore lines and fish for three days without charging my batteries to torture test them on more than one occasion and worked flawlessly. I currently have a 24 volt setup in my new boat with 3 100 ah two for trolling motor and one for starting and plenty of run time. The only reason I went 24 volt is the boat was rigged already with the 3 100 ah Relions and I didn't have the space for another battery or wanted to swap them out for 36 volt system.

[bassburch]

I'm starting to wonder why anyone would get more than 50amp 12v x3. They seem nearly impossible to drain in more than day's worth of fishing.

The important question is depth of discharge in a day's fishing... high DoD would reduce the battery's life.

You went three days in current and still didn't kill em?

[flatsboy]

Yes I did more than once. Also the beauty of Lithium is discharging them doesn't kill them like AGM or Lead Acid. You'll need to discharge them 2000+ times to 100% shutoff to reduce them to 80% battery life!

[JohnnyC]

I was a huge Lithium battery fan for the first couple years. They weigh much less and they charge fast. However over the the past 3 years of tournament bass fishing, I elected to go back to to the traditional 3 12V batteries for my trolling motor and 1 12v for cranking.

Lithium batteries are great but I ran into situation while fishing a 2 day tournament. I was running a single 36V and a single 12v with a onboard charger. I've ran this set up for 3 years with no issues. I noticed on the last day of practice my TM battery lasted only about 2/3 of a day. Got off the water and put in on my standalone 36v charger. Charged it full and checked it 3 times before I unplugged it for the night. Day 1 of the tournament I got about 1/2 day maybe a little over. Managed to work through the day. Repeated the charging steps for day 2. On day 2 I got 1/2 day max.

I am not bashing using Lithium batteries or Lithium batteries in general. However the initial cost is a bit steep. If you have problems with them when in a tournament situation you can't go to a local store and get 1,2 or 3 replaced very easily. To me its not cost effective yet to be running batteries that cost thousands of dollars to replace them inside of 5 years. Is there a benefit to running them Yes! Does it out weigh the cost? I don't think so. Not yet at least.

Any thoughts from the masses?

[BassTracker175]

Don’t you guys think Li batteries are VERY dangerous in boats? A little leak or sealing failure, and a little water will make the Li batteries behave as bombs!