Home Forums Hunting & Shooting Hunter's Campfire Lithium Trolling Motor batteries,

Been looking at the Lithium Iron Phosphate batteries, I've noticed they come with their own charger. It says a SLA 12v charger will work, but will decrease the number of charge cycles on the battery. Now I'm curious if they work well with the standard trolling motor, or if there is a newer style of those as well. I see some descriptions say "Suitable for SLA Battery use". How far down this rabbit hole do you have to go all at once.

Thinking about this for a canoe project. the weight and life would be a big perk.

LiFePO4 should be just fine for trolling motor use.

The optimum charging method for Li is different from SLA, so use the correct charger for longest battery life.

Troll. Have fun.

I wonder what the po’ people doing today?

I haven't researched them, but have seen them for sale at BPS with prices up to $1,000. Never had a problem running low on power. My group 31 deep cycle will keep my 12v trolling motor running pretty much all day. I carry a spare smaller battery just in case.

What's the benefit of a lithium trolling motor battery?

Weight - 24v and 36v systems

Installed one ($1500) 200 amp hour 12 volt unit in our travel trailer as all the modern features therein would fully discharge 2 lead/acid deep cycle units in 72 hours with no use. Carbon monoxide/smoke sensors, clocks, and electronics needed to keep water heaters, fridges, and heaters functioning (electronic pilot lights). The Lithium unit is far superior as to duration and number of cycles, and there's no harm with full discharges. Lead/acids are essentially dead when they're still reading 12 volts and are capable of far far fewer discharge/charge cycles like only a quarter of those accomplished by lithiums.

It was not plug and play, however, as they require a charger working up in the 14.6 or 14.7 range to fully charge. That required another couple hundred bucks. Conventional charging units will work, but they only take the batteries up to about 80% capacity.

Other downside is they will not charge at or below freezing temps. They will discharge just fine but must be warmed to bring them back to life. Not great if one does a bunch of cold weather boon docking and is expecting his solar panels to keep up. Yet to see how that works out with Cookie's November campouts. Might have to move the battery to the inside of the trailer.

One other feature: they can be mounted in any position with no issues.

A friend that lives in his travel unit expects his batteries to outlive him.

Should be fine for trolling drawdowns.

Not any more expensive than an outboard, and I can mount batteries in the front, electric motor in the back, save weight and have it better distributed. Not have all those outtings where I drive all the was to the river and then my little 2.5hp outboard won't run. The lack of cussing is worth something.

Weight and service life. Old people have a hard time with big heavy batteries. Look at Will Prowse's (of diy solar fame) stuff for the straight dope on them and way more information than you thought you needed. You can get good solid batteries with the same warranty and charge cycles for half of what the outdoor places charge. Just have to know where to look and Will constantly tests/updates his recommended models.

Li batteries are much lighter weight, about 50% the weight of an SLA, and they will put out the full amount of power until the very end of their charge. SLA batteries will lose power as they run down. You need a gauge on a Li because it will run full power right to the end and then just turn off. The gauge tells you how much fishing time you have left before you need to break out the oars. Lithiums are expensive up front but when you consider how long they last, they're cheaper in the long run. The good ones can last up to 10 years of constant use. If you plan to keep your boat a long time, a Li will save you some money.

If your group 31 gives you enough time for a day, a Li sized more like a group 24 or 27 will also do it because it'll carry more usable power. Your 31 probably weighs around 60 lb. A Li with the same power will weigh 25 to 30.

if indeed these are Lithium Iron rather than Lithium Ion.The charge will last twice as long as a Lithium Ion and should cost about 50% cheaper.Lithium Ion is old tech now.

LiPo batteries are about one third the weight of lead/acid, do not "fade" as the charge decreases, are good for thousands of recharge cycles, have great warranties, and some of them even have Bluetooth apps that connect to your device to monitor charge state, temp, and more. No pro bass fisherman would even consider going back to lead/acid these days. You may or may not have to upgrade your charger.

There are two price ranges for LiPo batteries, the cheaper ones use a lesser grade of lithium cell and have corresponding lower claims of charge cycles, etc.

Any recently made decent charger will have a Li setting. I just bought a NOCO Genius 5 for about $70 that does Li in addition to SLA and AGM.

Li-ion charge cycle is a bit different from LiFePO4.

The NOCO Genius 5 I just bought does both automatically. Many of them do now.

2.5 Yamaha??

The weight and battery life. They cost 10 times as much though.

2.5 Mercury. Bought new. Probably just not used enough to be reliable. But when it does work, it pushes that canoe about 8-9 mph... it's great.