Lithium ION Upgrade

[Onpoint_FishnGame]

Hello,

I have a 2022 Tracker Pro 170 and I am considering putting a 24v Minn Kota Ultrex on the bow in the distant future. That being said I want to upgrade my current battery power to a 3-12v Lithium ION setup with a 3 bank charger. The boat has a 50HP Merc 4 Stroke and currently has a Edge 45 on it for a troller. We fish all day long and sometimes in the current of the rivers and I do not want to be under powered, that being said I don't want to spend absurd $$$ on complete overkill. I was hoping some of the folks on the forum could chime in and give some advice on Amp hour Ratings and what brands they went with as well. My plan is to wire a pair of the 12v jars in parallel for now and run the Edge 45 for now and when i can get around to the Ultrex ill swap them to Series.

[goodman_fishing]

For your setup, I would advise against a lithium cranking battery. A lead acid is far more than suitable for just cranking and minimal accessory loads. Lithium cranking batteries are $$$.

If you want to go 24v, something like two 50-60Ah 12v batteries will do pretty well. What's your budget for the batteries?

[CincyGus]

I have a Tracker Targa V-19 with a Garmin Force 24v/36v TM and three graphs (1-106sv and 2 93sv Garmin's). I went with 3 50ah Ionics for the TM and a 125AH house battery for the graphs and all other accessories. I had BPS move the wire for the fuse box to the 125ah and use the group 27 AGM that came with the boat as the starting battery, strictly for that purpose. Put a new 4 bank Minn Kota PCL 460 charger in the boat to charge the lithium's and have a stand along 10 amp charger I use for the AGM. My suggestion for your situation is to go with 2-100ah 12v lithiums for the TM. Being that you stated you fish currents for full days, I don't believe you will be happy with the 50ah. It also doesn't help that your TM is the 45ftlbs thrust as you will have to run it on higher settings which eats batteries AH faster than a stronger thrust TM running on mid or low settings. Ionic was my choice due to the low temp cutoff for charging in cold weather protection, the Bluetooth connection to my phone to see my battery strength percentage and lastly the American customer service that gets rave reviews when there is a problem vs. someone not supported in the US and being none responsive like many of the lost cost brands sold by Amazon. Good luck in your decisions and your upgrade.

[Impulse Lithium]

Hello,

I have a 2022 Tracker Pro 170 and I am considering putting a 24v Minn Kota Ultrex on the bow in the distant future. That being said I want to upgrade my current battery power to a 3-12v Lithium ION setup with a 3 bank charger. The boat has a 50HP Merc 4 Stroke and currently has an Edge 45 on it for a troller. We fish all day long and sometimes in the current of the rivers and I do not want to be under powered, that being said I don't want to spend absurd $$$ on complete overkill. I was hoping some of the folks on the forum could chime in and give some advice on Amp hour Ratings and what brands they went with as well. My plan is to wire a pair of the 12v jars in parallel for now and run the Edge 45 for now and when i can get around to the Ultrex ill swap them to Series.

If you have some time, give me a call and I can help you with your setup

205-965-8436

Bill

[Onpoint_FishnGame]

Hello, @Goodman Fishing, love the vids on Youtube BTW.. Regarding budget, I am not quite there yet as far as ready to pull the trigger. I just want to lighten up the boat and not lug around three lead acids that need charged individually because I don't have a three bank charger installed yet. My Cousin has the same boat and one upped me with the purchase of two ionic 100 ah with a three bank ionic charger which set him back like $1700 my thought is that is an absurd amount of money to spend without first doing some leg work. I am however after watching your video liking the Ionics a little more now. I work in Data Center Operations on the facilities side overseeing the Electrical infrastructure so I am a bit of a BVM/BMS nerd and like the idea of Bluetooth monitoring.

[Onpoint_FishnGame]

Hey @CincyGus, Thanks for the Great information and I love the setup you have going on and appreciate the input for sure. I am leaning towards the Ionic 100AHs but still a little bit sticker shocked by it so I am open to other reputable brands.

[CincyGus]

Just make sure you get something that has good reports of customer service. The thing I see most going bad with these lithium needing a CS call is either the blue tooth stops working or the BMS has an issue. It may cost you a bit more on the front end but I can't imagine the level of pissed off I would be dropping big money on lithium's and then having a problem but not being able to get ahold of anyone to resolve it.

[Onpoint_FishnGame]

@CincyGus, I agree 100%, I used to work At Les Schwab back when they a gave a Rip so yeah I'm big on customer service.

[jamokebob]

I have this dedicated to my Ultrex:

https://battlebornbatteries.com/product/50ah-24v-lifepo4-deep-cycle-battery/

I get several days of fishing on a lake out of it no problem

[Onpoint_FishnGame]

Update: I purchased two Group 31 100 Ah LiTime LifePo4 battery's. Got them quickly and they were boxed very nicely. Upon installation I realized that the battery's would not fit into the battery compartment on the PRO170. (This was a complete miss on my part as I assumed that all Group 31 jars were of the same dimensions, they are not).. These were 13" long and the space where they needed to go was 13". Had to return the battery's which I was supper nervous about but was completely shocked at the response and customer care I received. Even gave me a discount on future purchases. Long story long, If you are in the market for a good battery and a solid customer service team at a very reasonable price then look no further than LiTime.

Conclusion: I had to pony up the dough and went to 2-100 AH Ionics and they are pretty amazing.

[CincyGus]

I don't think you'll be disappointed with the Ionics either. Great batteries and Cust Svc from my research and personal experience.