I've been using two of the 100 ah batteries pre-rebranding. They are connected in series powering my Garmin Force trolling motor. Overall they were a great price and have worked great for my use. The one issue I have been worried about is that they do not have an internal heater which means if you are fishing in cold temps, they could cut out on you. Likely not an issue near freezing as they will produce some hear discharging current, however still a worry. I actually watched a good test of them a couple days ago which indicated the high temp cutoff was not working well (let them get too hot), but that was pulling 150 amps for a sustained duration. I am going to keep using mine for the moment, but will likely be swapping them out to something a little better with a bluetooth BMS. As for charger, I have them hooked individually up to a NOCO Gen5Pro 3x10 charger. I have a breaker/disconnect between the two batteries allowing me to safely charge them this way. I've read that charging them individually instead of in series can be better from a charge balancing perspective.

 

I've been looking at making the swap to lithium ion as well. I was looking at the Epoch 24v 50ah, more expensive but seem built well. Also don't know if the 50ah capacity will be enough.

 

The epoch is what I am looking at as well for next time. But plan to get a 100 ah, 36v instead.

 

I like the idea of a 100ah but man they are spendy, running two 12v 55ah AGMs right now and have only ran them dry a few times so I'm thinking a 50ah will work, I need to do more research though.

 

Do you know what your amp draw is when normally trolling? With a 24v system, I average about 5 to 6 amps on my 16 ft silverstreak. With a 100 amp battery, gives me plenty of power to fish a couple days for kokanee. I will note, this is trolling 1 to 1.4 mph and no kicker motor used for thrust.

 

Amp draw is the Minn Kota manual. Max is 56 amps. My boat is a basically a 18ft Jon boat. I use about 40-50% throttle for springer fishing. For summer and fall chinook I'm about 50-70% throttle depending on winds and waves.

I'm still kind of on the fence. My batteries live in the bilge which get wet when it rains. I also hose down the bilge regularly after crabbing. I hope these new batteries are water proof and shock proof from bouncing around in the stern trailering and boating. Current batteries are size group 27 sitting in battery trays. Need to measure and see if the Li Times will fit in my existing trays.

 

Amp draw is about the same as you when trolling, maybe a little higher due to a 19ft boat. Highest will be when bass fishing but even then im almost never above setting 6 on my trolling motor, if it is its not for long.

 

I’m happy with the Epoch 24v x 105 AH. No question that id do it again after using Fla or a 50 ah LiFePO4.

 

I have those batteries and for the one year I've owned my boat, they have performed well. My internet research / customer reviews convinced me to place the order.
Prices are much better than Battle Born which my friend went with.

 

My friend has a 100ah 24v Epoch running a 24V/80lb power drive on a 20' Alumaweld supervee. There were times when we drained it down to around 20% capacity during long fall salmon days trolling for 8 or more hours. Pro-troll salmon trolling takes quite a bit of power, even with the kicker helping.

The battery has been working well. One thing he noticed was it drained itself this winter. Maybe due to an internal heater? So he now keeps it plugged in during long term winter storage.

 

I just installed 2 of the minis running 24v with a Victron shunt. Haven't used them yet. I'll be giving them a work out here in a couple months.
I have a Victron shunt in the RV, great piece of equipment.

I saw no need for heated batteries. My understanding is that the heater only kicks on when they see charge voltage. My boat is stored in my shop so it never gets below 35.

 

I’ve got the epoch 100Ah 24V for an 80lb Minnkota. It never dies with a long day trolling but I wouldn’t want to step down to a 50Ah. It’d run out of juice some times and I prefer to run it no lower than 10% if I can help it.

FWIW, I don’t think you should keep a Li battery on charger during long storage. ‘Optimal’ storage comes at storing the battery around 60% from the testing I’ve seen. When it’s sitting, I just check it monthly but it usually drops<5% per month. As long as it stays above ~40%, i don’t mess with it. Very different than flooded battery storage

 

Hi. I'm thinking about making the jump to lithium ion batteries this year. Right now Li Time 12V 100ah trolling motor batteries look like the best bang for the buck I've seen. I'm also looking at the Li Time 24V 20A charger setup. I wrote Li Time and they said you can charge two 12V batteries in series with their 24V charger in about 5-6 hours. You don't need two chargers or banks like my current lead acid setup. I also might add a Victron Smart shunt to the negative post.

I want to hear from other people that are running Li Time batteries? Good experiences? I know they used to be Ampere Time and rebranded. I'm a little worried about them doing that again. Warranty is now 5 years instead of 10 years. Thanks in advance.

This is what I'm looking at getting:

LiTime 12V 100Ah TM Lithium Marine Trolling Motor Battery

Explore LiTime 12V 100Ah LiFePO4 lithium trolling motor battery. All-Round Upgraded BMS for enhanced safety. Designed for durability and performance.

www.litime.com

LiTime 24 (29.2) Volt 20A Mountable Lithium Battery Charger

Discover the LiTime 24V 20 amp LiFePO4 lithium battery charger for efficient, fast charging. Ideal for your energy needs—reliable and safe!

www.litime.com

SmartShunt | Victron Energy

The SmartShunt is an all-in-one battery monitor, only without a display. Your phone acts as the display. The SmartShunt connects via Bluetooth to the VictronConnect app on your phone (or tablet) and you can conveniently read out all monitored battery parameters, like state of charge, time to go...

www.victronenergy.com

Hi there.

Couple things. Big thumbs up to the Victron Smart Shunt. That is awesome you are looking at installing this. This is going to give you a LOT more visibility to your power usage and battery management.

Regarding the Li Time - Will Prowse's videos are probably the best tear down and tests that you're going to get regarding these batteries. For the price, they are probably still the best bang for the buck.

Regarding chargers, we discussed some of the good/bad/ugly with using a single 24v charger with series batteries in our old thread here:

Lithium batteries suggestions

I am in need of advice / experiences from those who have purchased lithium batteries for their boats. My fiend has Battle Born brand and is happy with their performance - but admits this brand is pricey. So I researched lithium batteries on web and in reading the articles from various boating...

www.ifish.net

It is very convenient to use a single charger instead of a multi-bank. But you need to keep a few things in mind:

1. The batteries MUST BE in the same state of charge when you install them. i.e. fully charge both batteries before you connect them together.
The reason for this is, if you charge them with a single charger and they are not balanced, the BMS will disconnect the fully charged battery and then the battery that is not fully charged will not get charged. The BMS disconnects to protect the fully charged battery and then your series circuit is now disconnected and the other (less charged battery) will not get fully charged. Same thing on discharge...you'll not get full capacity and the BMS will disconnect one battery and then you are a sitting duck at that point.
2. There is the potential that they will drift over time, especially if the cells are not balanced in each battery pack. So once a season, if you charge each battery separately with a 12v LiFePo4 compatible charger, you'll confirm they are indeed at the same state of charge before your next usage.


Once you go to LiFePo4 you'l never want to go back to Lead Acid for trolling motors 😊
-J

 

The only other thing I'd add; I would definitely do a capacity test when you get the battery --- i.e. fully charge and discharge to BMS disconnect to make sure you are getting full 100Ah capacity. You'll also want to do this a few times to make sure the BMS balances out the cells. A battery capacity tester is the easiest and best method...

But, if you buy the SmartShunt, you can use that to measure your Ah usage and put a resistive load on it (like a headlight, or anything with a decent current draw). Its not 100% accurate (I think spec is 1% accuracy for the Victron SmartShunt)...but its going to get you close enough to make sure your battery is good. Every once in a while, you can get a bad battery. I did...and had to ship it back. But Amazon Prime...no issues...

Out of 7 LiFePo4 batteries in the last 2 years for various projects...I got one bad one that did not test to full capacity. It was actually at 80%...so sent that sucker back.

-J

 

Thanks for the advice J. Do you have a recommendation on battery capacity testers?

 

Thanks Jeb! That is a ton of info. I saw Will's video about series batteries and getting to them the same state before connecting in series. I guess I need to add a cheap 12V lithium charger to the list for that purpose.

 

The Noco Genius chargers are fairly inexpensive and good to have around the house. Most of them have the battery type selector on the front - so they'll do Lithium, AGM and Lead Acid.

-J

 

Measured my battery trays yesterday. They are 12.5" long. I need 13" for the Li Times. I can either buy some group 31 trays and drill more holes to mount or modify my existing trays to fit and use more straps. I'm leaning towards the latter and running a horizontal strap at the bottom. Here is my current arrangement with my group 27 trays.

 

The challenge you have is; most of these Chinese LiFePo4 battery packs are not well balanced when they ship them. It takes a good half dozen or so full charge/discharge cycles for the BMS to try to balance the cells. So, you'll not be optimized with just a single charge /discharge cycle.

 

New question today. Can I use two 12V LiTime Chargers while battery is connected in series? I wrote Li Time and awaiting response. This is charger I'm looking at:

LiTime 12V 10A LiFePO4 Battery Charger

Charge with confidence using the LiTime 12V 10A LiFePO4 battery charger. Experience quick, reliable, and safe charging for all your 12 volt lithium needs!

www.litime.com

 

From what I have read you need to have a switch or breaker between the batteries so you essentially isolate them before charging.

 

Why?

A multi-bank charger is just for convenience.... a single 120VAC plugin and providing multiple battery chargers all in one. Yes you should have a fuse in line with your charger to battery...but there is NO need to isolate the batteries wired in series when you have multiple chargers hooked up - i.e. one charger per battery.

For example, note what is said about this directly from Battery Tender's website.
Two Batteries in Series, Two Chargers


If you have the space and don't care about having multiple 120VAC plugs...then you can use multiple chargers - one for each battery. Most of us use a multi-bank charger because its a cleaner installation and requires less space on the boat which is usually a premium.

We are talking about batteries in the boat that you are charging when you get the boat home. If we are talking about shore power on moored boats - or charging while at a slip, that requires a whole other discussion regarding isolators and bonding. I think there is another thread on that subject matter...

-J

 

Thanks Jeb. Li Time is stating to use only the 24V charger for batteries in series. I sent them your Battery Tender link. Awaiting final decision.

 

Response received from Li Time:

Hello,
Thanks for getting back.

We have just confirmed with our technical colleague that you can also use 2 of our 14.6V chargers to charge the two 12V batteries connected in series.
Please note that do not let the battery charge and discharge at the same time, i.e. disconnect the loads or shut off the inverter while charging the batteries.
It is also not recommended to charge like this for a long time because the voltage difference developed between the two batteries may affect the use.

Hope the info will be helpful to you.
Best regards
Patty

 

So Li Time is about to release a group 24 100 amp hour battery with Bluetooth and low temp charging protection. They are having a pre-order sale right now for $70 off. This guy filmed a video on it. This battery looks the whole package I'm looking for. These would easily fit in my group 27 trays. I won't need them until May or June but that is when I will probably pull the trigger.

LiTime 12V 100Ah Group 24 Bluetooth Battery | Smart Power

Explore the LiTime 12V 100Ah Group 24 lithium battery with Bluetooth. Enjoy smart monitoring and reliable power for all your RV and boating needs.

www.litime.com

 

Great salesman! Got me thinking about it hard....

 

Nice to see more options in a group 24 size like this available.

 

I have a 200ah AmpereTime/LiTime 12 volt battery and charge it with a Minn Kota 220. Charger gets the bank to full. Lithium batteries are worth every penny.

 

New video on the smart battery. I think I'm sold.

 

Will Prowse just released a new video where he cut up the new battery. I just ordered 2 batteries for the boat! $620 and free shipping.