Lithium Battery Overview – Video Walkthrough w/ Top Brands

With lithium batteries powering our augers, cell phones, electronics, and video cameras I thought a lithium power overview video might be useful to someone considering their first lithium battery.

Great info!

Thanks

I’m experimenting with using a Milwaukee M18 battery to power some of my electronics including my custom Raymarine Axiom. I’ve got several of them ranging from 5amp to 12amp. Less chargers to keep track of…I lost/misplaced my Ion charger, doh.

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The ability to run everything off just the Milwaukee M18 batteries is a huge advantage. Lite Flite auger with M18 drill and 8ah battery, plus a 5ah battery for my Helix 7, and an additional 5ah battery with a power adapter to charge the underwater camera, cell phone, lights and for backup power. I can throw those 3 batteries in my sled and know that I have power for a full day of fishing. The light weight and reliability in the cold is a bonus that can’t be overstated.

Thanks James, great overview!

Can you overcharge lithium batteries? I know you get a long run time with them but if you charge after each trip regardless of run time can you hurt or ruin the battery? I did not see this covered in the video.

Great video though and I am glad I have made the switch to lithium with my Helix 7 this year.

lrott2003 wrote:

Can you overcharge lithium batteries? I know you get a long run time with them but if you charge after each trip regardless of run time can you hurt or ruin the battery? I did not see this covered in the video.

Great video though and I am glad I have made the switch to lithium with my Helix 7 this year.

All the batteries that I’ve used recommend they be completely recharged after each use. If you use the lithium charger the manufacturer sells for the battery you should have no issues with overcharging.

I picked up an amped outdoors 18AH this fall to run a helix 10 converted to a flasher. I ran a test (albeit at 70 F) and it ran the gps and sonar at 6 brightness for 21 hours with a couple stop/starts to be realistic. I used a multimeter to check brightness vs amp draw and found 6 to be in the sweet spot and above that the draw increases substantially. Going to actually test it fishing next week.

The Amped Outdoors 18AH was tested and was by far the best AH for the $$

With the Amped 18AH out of stock everywhere I am looking for other ultra light options. Would the Norsk 15ah battery be able to run livescope?

Eric Ahlstrom wrote:

With the Amped 18AH out of stock everywhere I am looking for other ultra light options. Would the Norsk 15ah battery be able to run livescope?

I would guess you could get 8-10hrs depending on screen Brightness, I would hold out for an Amped though…

Thanks for the video James!!

Amped Outdoors all the way for me.

You get a lot for the price point compared to the other brands.

I’m running their 12ah in my Helix5 and couldn’t be happier. All day with brightness turned up pretty high on sunny days is a non issue.

I got their 18ah for my Panoptix last week and the weight savings is ridiculous. Around 6 pound difference vs stock. I contacted them regarding if the stated weight was accurate and they said yes. Battery showed up and absolutely accurate. Dakotas 18ah weighs almost 2x more and is more expensive.

I have yet to put that through its paces yet.

As far as charging. I used the Helix for an hour a couple weeks ago playing with the maps.

When I was done the voltage read 13.x volts. I hooked up the stock Humminbird charger and it slowly
Charged it up to 14.5v and stopped. By stopped I mean voltage quit increasing but the charger light was still orange. I put my Amped 4a lithium charger on it and light went green. So it’s doable I think. Just slow. I’ll try that again after a full days use. I’m sure that was the battery management system kicking in, the reason it stopped.

It looks like Amped’s are available on Thorne Bros site. How accurate that is, I don’t know.

You can’t go wrong with any lithium.
Increased run time and substantial weight loss, what’s not to love!

Great video James! One important note to add is to make sure your LiPO4 battery is over 32 degrees when you charge it. You can damage the battery if charged when it’s below that due to the chemistry of the battery. They are too expensive to not follow this rule.

Another really important note about the Norsk brand is that they use a different chemistry and only last 400 charge cycles vs Amped/Dakota that last 2,000 charge cycles! That’s a HUGE difference!

luckydave wrote:

Great video James! One important note to add is to make sure your LiPO4 battery is over 32 degrees when you charge it. You can damage the battery if charged when it’s below that due to the chemistry of the battery. They are too expensive to not follow this rule.

Thankfully most of the lithium chargers are “smart” enough now that they won’t charge a cold battery. The Strikemaster auger batteries definitely will NOT charge if they’re cold. The lithium chargers I have for my Norsk, AMPED and Dakota batteries flash back and forth from red to green if I try and charge a cold battery so it seems like the manufacturers are trying to make battery care dummy-proof.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

#1999506
Another really important note about the Norsk brand is that they use a different chemistry and only last 400 charge cycles vs Amped/Dakota that last 2,000 charge cycles! That’s a HUGE difference!

Not to be contrary but that’s not what it says on my battery. My Norsks say “800+ charge cycles. 2 year warranty.” When it comes to claims regarding charge cycles I don’t think many anglers will ever get anywhere close to 800, let alone 2000. Most anglers couldn’t get to 2000 charge cycles in 50 years of use.

I own batteries from AMPED, NORSK, and Dakota Lithium. Based on my personal experience using them all… they all work, they all save weight, and they all provide the power I expect of them. I couldn’t point to one battery being better than any other at this point.

JoeMX1825 wrote:

Another really important note about the Norsk brand is that they use a different chemistry and only last 400 charge cycles vs Amped/Dakota that last 2,000 charge cycles! That’s a HUGE difference!

It’s funny you mention this – NMC (LiNiMnCoO2) vs LPO (LiFePO4) battery chemistry – is there a difference? Yes! Will most people really notice the difference? Who knows. The NMC cells in the Norsk are the same chemistry as cells in the Strikemaster (and pretty much all other power tools, ie Milwaukee) 40v auger battery.

Someone from Amped Outdoors (maybe the owner??) was on an internet rampage last year outright bashing the Norsk batteries on forums and facebook posts. They were saying stuff like the NMC batteries from Norsk were dangerous and would not last. Honestly they might have been right, but bashing a direct competitor is never a good business or marketing strategy.

Fast forward to this year and now Amped Outdoors is also offering NMC batteries – same thing they were bashing last year. Funny what a year can change.

You wont notice any difference from a charge or device performance perspective, but the charge cycle limit could be an issue for those who use it a ton, I would suspect you’ll notice it degrading far before that limit too?

I agree James that the 400/800 cycle limit isn’t going to be an issue with 99% of folks, but it is a difference worth mentioning as it will degrade much earlier than others…

Who knows, likely in a few years new technology will allow the batteries to be even smaller/lighter and the whole point is moot as most upgrade to them long before the cycle limit comes into play…

Price per AH absolutely should be factored in though…why pay more $$ for less/same performance?

JoeMX1825 wrote:

You wont notice any difference from a charge or device performance perspective, but the 400 charge cycle limit could be an issue for those who use it a ton, I would suspect you’ll notice it degrading the closer you get to that limit too?

Who knows, maybe in 2 years new technology will allow the batteries to be even smaller/lighter and the whole point is moot…

See James’ post above. Norsk rated their batteries for 800+ charge cycles. You got the 400 charge cycles number from one of their competitors. Don’t be scared of Norsk and tell others to be scared of Norsk based on what you read from one of their competitors.

correction – My 400 cycle information was for a different Norsk 15AH lithium battery model #20-020, their website states 800 charge cycles for model #20-115.

I’m not hating on Norsk, I actually wished other brands also had the digital charge % and USB ports, genius move on Norsk’s part.. just pointing out the difference in projected life of the battery vs other brands…

I am going to try the Norsk 24ah battery for my livescope. Got a deal on it so that it was slightly cheaper per ah than an 18ah Amped. I will let you know how it goes.

Nice video and walkthrew.
I and probably others I bet would like to see same kind of presentation in regards to lithium’s in boats.
Thanks for the info!

a-and-t wrote:

Nice video and walkthrew.
I and probably others I bet would like to see same kind of presentation in regards to lithium’s in boats.
Thanks for the info!

There have been a few posts about them,but the cost seems to be a big deterrent.I went with LifePO4 batteries in the boat,and it is a real game-changer!My whole set-up weighs about 72lbs.That is with 1 Ionic 12V/125AH battery,1 LBP 24V/75AH battery,homemade insulated box and Power Pole Charge.The same set-up with AGM batteries(3)would be over 200lbs.And I did not have room for the 3rd battery to make 24volts.Those 24V single batteries are sweet!

I have fished an entire day on the river,using spot lock with Ulterra,and went home and had main battery at 90% and aux at 95%.I have the PP Charge set to prioritize the aux battery.In fact,since the middle of June I doubt that the PP Charge has only spent about 4 hours on AC charging.

I made the insulated box to contain the batteries and charger leads,because LifePO4 batteries cannot be charged under 32F.A couple of handwarmers in box will keep the contents happy.But even AGM batteries should not be charged under 32F,but those do not have a BMS on them.Possibly doing that will shorten their life?But running them below 50% will do it.LifePO4 batteries don’t care in that respect.BMS will shut it off and put battery to sleep.Most just need charging voltage to wake them up.

James Holst wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>luckydave wrote:</div>
Great video James! One important note to add is to make sure your LiPO4 battery is over 32 degrees when you charge it. You can damage the battery if charged when it’s below that due to the chemistry of the battery. They are too expensive to not follow this rule.

Thankfully most of the lithium chargers are “smart” enough now that they won’t charge a cold battery. The Strikemaster auger batteries definitely will NOT charge if they’re cold. The lithium chargers I have for my Norsk, AMPED and Dakota batteries flash back and forth from red to green if I try and charge a cold battery so it seems like the manufacturers are trying to make battery care dummy-proof.

In this case,it is the battery’s BMS rejecting charge voltage because it is below 32F.The charger itself doesn’t know the temp of battery,unless they are together like in a boat.Then the charger should have temp compensation based on battery type.So you can take a cold battery like M18,and plug it into a room temp charger and have the flashing red light.
I won’t try and charge anything coming in from the cold,until it has a chance to get to ambient temp.

James Holst wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>lrott2003 wrote:</div>
Can you overcharge lithium batteries? I know you get a long run time with them but if you charge after each trip regardless of run time can you hurt or ruin the battery? I did not see this covered in the video.

Great video though and I am glad I have made the switch to lithium with my Helix 7 this year.

Thanks James I just think that is better than taking a chance it dies on the ice. One thing about Lithium batteries is that they don’t die like a normal battery seems they just work and then they don’t LOL.

Keep the content coming. Are you going to start maybe doing seminars and things of that nature once the new location is rock and roll ready?

All the batteries that I’ve used recommend they be completely recharged after each use. If you use the lithium charger the manufacturer sells for the battery you should have no issues with overcharging.