Cheaper Lithium trolling motor batteries?

[Rich M]

I just bought a li time for $300. 12 volt 100 ah.

Figured middle of the pack might be good. I get about 3 yrs per regular battery and this is supposed to last 3 times as long. Will save about $100 and see what lipo is all about.

 

[SuperDUECE22]

I bought direst from LiTime from the “like new section”. They were “like new”, I couldn’t tell them from a new battery even the way they were packaged the post bolts were still In a sealed bag. Batteries arrived pretty quick, I’m guessing 6 days? Went with the

LiTime 12V 100Ah TM LiFePO4 Battery, Low-Temp Protection, Best Battery For Trolling Motor.​

They seem to work great, been out a few times with them and the NOCO still shows them 3/4 full after a full day of being on the motor pretty good.

Thanks
Are you using some short of smart shunt to monitor them?
What charger did you go with ?

 

[OXN939]

Figured middle of the pack might be good.

Kinda wondered the same thing myself. I went with a "Dr. Prepare" 100 Ah that was 200 bucks after looking around online without being able to tell much of a difference between them. Having it in hand, it appears to be the exact same battery as the Redodo 100 Ah I had on my old boat with a different sticker on it- both group 31 size, both made in China, terminals are the same exact hardware. That Redodo was great until it froze and died. Guess we'll see how this one holds up

 

[ckleeves]

Thanks
Are you using some short of smart shunt to monitor them?
What charger did you go with ?

No, I have a cheap Amazon tester that I don’t trust so I just ordered a smart shunt. Charging them off the NOCO I already had and seems to work fine in the lithium setting. The low temp protection seems to work as advertised, the other morning I wanted to see if worked so I left the boat outside overnight and it was 27 the next morning and they wouldn’t charge. They seem to work fine in the cold, it was about 18 at the lake yesterday morning and no problems.

It’s obviously going to take a few years to see how they hold up but so far (couple weeks lol) they have been fine.

 

[SuperDUECE22]

@ckleeves

I am no professional in this as I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to set mine up, but this is what multiple different people who are familiar with lithium setups and smart shunts are telling me.

If your NOCO is a dual bank 12volt charger using a smart shunt won't work. You would need to purchase a 24-volt lithium charger and each battery would probably need a balancer.
This is because the smart shunts do NOT support charging at one voltage & then discharging at a different voltage.

 

[Gman12]

I have a new boat that should be ready in a few weeks. I spoke with builder and he recommended a single Ionic 36V battery to run my trolling motor. I went to see him and he had the new battery at his shop ready to be installed. This one battery is lighter than a regular deep cycle battery which will lighten the boat by over 100 lbs. plus it will not take up as much space. This single battery will run the new 36V Power Pole trolling motor. Hopefully, the days of my batteries running out of juice mid-afternoon are over with this new setup.

 

[ckleeves]

@ckleeves

I am no professional in this as I'm trying to figure out how I'm going to set mine up, but this is what multiple different people who are familiar with lithium setups and smart shunts are telling me.

If your NOCO is a dual bank 12volt charger using a smart shunt won't work. You would need to purchase a 24-volt lithium charger and each battery would probably need a balancer.
This is because the smart shunts do NOT support charging at one voltage & then discharging at a different voltage.

Interesting I’ll have to look into that. Smart shunt might be getting returned.

 

[seand]

I’ve got two AO lithiums for my TM that were -$550 ea. will prose ran a microwave off one for 20 min, they have a super beefy bms and wiring.

I was going to install a yandina Trollbridge lithium on my outboard to charge them from my main, then after using on the water I found the batteries last so long I just charge them at home. If you want to charge on the go from the main, 12v batteries make sense if you have a lead acid starting battery since you can charge them with a Trollbridge. Lot of myths about charging lifep04 batteries - they are actually less critical than lead acid (by a lot). You don’t need a dc to dc onboard charger….

Anyway I checked and the AO lithiums site and they now have a different battery so no idea about its performance since it’s different but it’s only $200

 

[ckleeves]

For the guys who are knowledgeable on all things batteries am I better off wiring them separately with a switch between the two (12v Terrova, two matching 100 AH batteries) or in Parallel? Right now I have them wired in Parallel and followed all the info I could find online. Thoughts?

 

[Sanchez]

I got three of these for my 36 volt trolling motor. You can monitor them with your phone. Cost $310 each new.

LiTime 12V 100Ah Group 24 Bluetooth LiFePO4 Lithium Deep Cycle Battery, Low-Temp cut-off, Built-In 100A BMS, 1280Wh Energy

For a charger I bought a Minnkota three bank charger with 15 amps per bank.
So far everything works as expected.

 

[SuperDUECE22]

For the guys who are knowledgeable on all things batteries am I better off wiring them separately with a switch between the two (12v Terrova, two matching 100 AH batteries) or in Parallel? Right now I have them wired in Parallel and followed all the info I could find online. Thoughts?

Keep them hooked up in parallel!

 

[SuperDUECE22]

This is what i ended installing on my 21' Fisherman to power a 72" 80LB Terrova. Used for about 8 hours straight one day with a 10-13mph wind on spotlock & trolling, the batteries still showed 75% via the Litime App at the end of the day.

2 of these hooked in series:

https://www.litime.com/products/litime-12v-100ah-group-24-smart-lifepo4-lithium-deep-cycle-battery-built-in-100a-bms-1280wh-energy

On board charger:

NOCO - 2-Bank 10A On-Board Battery Charger - GEN5X2

The GEN5X2 is a 2-bank 10-amp waterproof on-board battery charger for lead-acid and lithium batteries and rated at IP68.

no.co

60amp Circuit Breaker:

Amazon.com

Connect-Ease 24volt series Trolling Motor Connection Kit with on board Charging

"Game Changer" 24 Volt Series Trolling Motor Connection Kit with On-Board Charging (RCE24VBCHK) Lithium Compatible #

24v Volt Series Trolling Motor Connection Kit. For those who want the ability to disconnect, remove or replace batteries quickly without removing on-board charging systems our system correctly connects batteries in series every time.

connect-ease.com

 

[ckleeves]

Quick update, the only issue I have had so far is my NOCO will occasionally throw a “High Voltage” code at the end of charging. What’s interesting is I bought a Litime charger for the the Litime 100AH “mini” I picked up to run my graphs and black box on since they were dragging my cranking battery down pretty bad on long days and when I put it on my trolling motor batteries after flashing the “high voltage” code they are completely charged. Other than that ( I think more a NOCO issue then the batteries) they have been great.