Ionic Battery - faults, high voltage spikes, $3K costs so far
I've posted in the BBS lounge and electrical issues as well. I'm pretty infuriated right now. Buyer beware of the Ionic 12V 125Ah battery as a starting battery for a Ranger. It's cost over $3K so far and more to come. Some of the cost is because of BPS round rock incompetence in performing basic troubleshooting as I ask to check voltage on the battery.
In summary, I purchased the 12V 125Ah dual purpose starting battery in early December and installed on Dec 4th. I ran it on a couple of weekends and no issues that I could tell (not really noticing any engine surging). On Dec 30, 2024, coming back from a long run and my entire electrical system shutdown. Ranger touch panels were dead. After a $700 tow to the ramp, I took my Ranger 520C to the BPS service dealer in Round Rock. All 3 touchpads and the ECM were replaced totaling $2300. The thought that the pads were faulty and that's what the techs at BPS went with. I suspected the battery and even asked them to check voltage but BPS techs did not check voltage. So, I took the boat out today after an expensive and timely service (over 2 months) and all pads died again. During that run and before it died, my Mercury 250 ProXs was surging slightly.
Thankfully, I had purchased the key set from Ranger and started the engine again. When I ran it back to the ramp, the engine was surging (rpm drop). I stopped and idled and notice my voltage at the smart panel was rapidly going from 13, 15, and even 22V. When heading on plane and increasing RPM, the voltages was rapidly changing with spikes up to 22V. I trailered and took it to my Mercury Service Dealer in Lago Vista. So thankful, for Brad at Lago Vista Marine as he spent an hour with me at no cost. He's maintained my engines for almost 20 years. He hooked up the Mercury to the laptop and he confirm the spikes of voltage at idle and with increasing RPM. The laptop hooked to the engine display red warning with those spikes of voltage. We were wondering why I wasn't getting faults in the Merc system.
In order to determine if alternator or battery, we installed a new Interstate AGM battery in the boat. After starting, the voltage stabilized at 13V and there was no spiking which is typical of AGM batteries. Engine was smoothly running (purring). In short, the Ionic battery is faulty and causing large voltage spikes and has incurred $3000 worth of damages to my boat and 3 months off the water. Today, the battery has probably fried three more pads which will cost me another 1K. This is infuriating and I will be posting on all of the bulletin boards and fishing sites to tell this story of the faulty batteries. At least Martin from Lithium hub could have responded to my email on Jan 23, 2024 to help diagnose and give some feedback. In the interim, I'm asking for a refund for the faulty battery at least. We will see if they even response since I sent an email to Martin at Lithium Hub on Jan 23 and no response.
I have a 2019 Ranger 520 with Merc ProXs and ran AGM as a starter battery for years. Super reliable and never left me stranded. I'm never buying a Lithium battery again for a starter battery. No trust and can't afford another $3000 k worth of touch pads and ECM. Speaks to Ranger not devising a fuse setup for this. Good chance, I'm not buying a Ranger again, due to the touch pad and how it's setup.
Again, buyer beware with these cheap lithium phoshate batteries like Ionic (Fly by night) companies. Unless they prove otherwise. I don't want anyone else to go through this.
