Lithium trolling motor battery

What’s people’s experiences with the new lithium batteries for trolling motors? Their are cheaper batteries all over, but unknown value and reliability?

Battery weight and charge lifetime are pretty big advantages. For me, I cannot get past that they cannot be charged at under 32 degree temps. I leave my batteries in my boat and trickle charge them over the winter, can’t do that with Lithium batteries in MN winter.

toddrun wrote:

Battery weight and charge lifetime are pretty big advantages. For me, I cannot get past that they cannot be charged at under 32 degree temps. I leave my batteries in my boat and trickle charge them over the winter, can’t do that with Lithium batteries in MN winter.

Wouldn’t need to trickle charge a lithium. At the price point lithium has hit now, I can’t wait for my lead acids to die….

If you don’t get the responses here in your post do a quick search on ido. There has been alot of post the last few years with alot of good info.

I just bought my 3rd set of Optima Blue Tops. Researched for 2 years. Both of my other 2 sets made it over 13 years. This last set has never gone dead on me. But Going to Rainy fishing the east basin from a houseboat and fear one my die. {I’m keeping them for my other boat.} Weight was a non-issue for me with a 115 Yamaha and fish 90% by myself. Didn’t require a charger upgrade. With 2 largest B.T.s and their best crank battery, with a 10% discount, I got out the door right at $800. Talking to the salesman after I bought them. He said he carries lithium because of demand. But said they wouldn’t be his choice. Something I never considered. Many lithium battery warranties repair rather than replace on the spot. Requiring shipping and sometime long wait times to get it back. Leaving you literally dead in the water. Rather than an over the counter, one the spot replacement. I would defiantly look into how warranty work. I’m 67 years old, if these make 13 more years. they can troll me out to spread my ashes!!

stevenoak, when I retired I worked at an auto parts store part time. I was dealing with car batteries not deep cycles, but Optima was the worst battery to deal with warranty wise. Our store ate the cost of a few Optima replacements just to take care of our customers. All of the batteries we carried were made by Johnson Controls and they stood behind every other battery they made but for some reason their Clarios division liked to jerk people around when it came to the Optimas.

Having done 2 years of remodel on my house since Covid. Buying anything’s a crap shoot these days. I was a battery dealer for over 40 years as well. Still have a little relationship with the supplier. Getting over 25 years out of 2 sets, I just decided to try one more time. Have heard manufacturing has gone to Mexico since I bought my last set. My salesman said they have still have pretty good luck with them. Did say a constant maintenance charger makes a big difference. There’s also a chance I may trade to a saltwater boat next year. Wife is thinking about a new car. We have a 2012 Pilot with 80’000 miles that’s seen less than 6 months of winter since new. I told her to buy whatever she wants. But if I had to drive to California, I’d take that Pilot over any new car in town.

There are a lot of crappy chinese knock off lithium batteries floating around out there. They just haven’t been out long enough to gauge whether they’re junk or they stand the test of time yet.

I would personally rather buy one in store with a warranty than from some amazon retailer online. Just in case there’s a problem within the warranty claim time. Whole lot easier to return one to a store with a person for a replacement than it is to go online and chat with a chinese bot.

Generally speaking, the cheaper the battery, the worse the customer service. You get what you pay for.

toddrun wrote:

Battery weight and charge lifetime are pretty big advantages. For me, I cannot get past that they cannot be charged at under 32 degree temps. I leave my batteries in my boat and trickle charge them over the winter, can’t do that with Lithium batteries in MN winter.

It’s actually recommended to charge them to about 80% and store them, no need for a trickle charger.

Also, many of the batteries have heaters built in to allow for charging during cold months. The batteries all have different cold charging thresholds. Some are 32*, some are 20*, ect…

What amp hour size are people going with for trolling motor batteries? I have an 80# Terrova FWIW.

blackbay wrote:

What amp hour size are people going with for trolling motor batteries? I have an 80# Terrova FWIW.

I just bought a amped outdoors 24v 80ah for my 80# terrova. From the info on their site the 80ah seemed more than enough my for use. I had group 31 lead acid batteries prior and never had any run time issues.

I didn’t go with a heated battery since I don’t use my boat when it’s that cold but I am making it easy to remove the onboard charger in case I need to charge the battery when it’s below freezing in the future. Also I believe bearcat said he used a heated blanket to charge his lithiums recently and it worked fine.

Stanley wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>blackbay wrote:</div>
What amp hour size are people going with for trolling motor batteries? I have an 80# Terrova FWIW.

I just bought a amped outdoors 24v 80ah for my 80# terrova. From the info on their site the 80ah seemed more than enough my for use. I had group 31 lead acid batteries prior and never had any run time issues.

I didn’t go with a heated battery since I don’t use my boat when it’s that cold but I am making it easy to remove the onboard charger in case I need to charge the battery when it’s below freezing in the future. Also I believe bearcat said he used a heated blanket to charge his lithiums recently and it worked fine.

Correct, I used a heated blanket to keep them warm and charge on rainy. I went with 2 group 31 12v 100ah. I am going to invest in the heated pad for them to sit on. I see alot of camper guys use them all winter.