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DAKOTA LITHIUM 36V DEEP CYCLE- worth the money?


C-Los

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I tried to convince myself I wanted to swap to lithium batteries on my 24 volt motor. The fact lithium supposedly is good for many more charge cycles and the fact you get full power while the battery discharges were two compelling reasons for.  Having to have a different onboard charger for trolling motor batteries and the starting battery was the biggest reason I began to shy away from the thought of changing to lithium. Two AGM batteries to replace what I have made more sense than converting. I have not bought my batteries yet so I am still trying to sell myself on lithium as well. 

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I just received two Group 31 - 12v Lithium Ion 100AH batteries ($938.00 each) for my 24v trolling motor, and an expensive 1-bank charger, made specifically to charge Lithium batteries ($266.00).  Even though I've studied enough about them to convince myself they are an awesome source of power for the application, I'm nervous.  I attached the new 15 amp charger to one of the batteries last night to see how quickly it would top it off, and after a couple hours, the charger was VERY HOT and humming, and the charge-level indicator lights had not changed!  Needless to say, I will be returning the charger - and maybe a toasted LiFePO4 battery as well!  I will post the results when I get this worked out.

I have read that ordinary smart chargers should not be used with Lithium batteries, because the maintenance feature in the charger will damage the battery.

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This is my Honest Opinion (and experience).  If we are talking about a tech skiff where space and weight are at a huge premium than Lithium is a good option even with their safety concerns. If we are talking about a Flats or Bay boat then AGM's are IMO the way to go. These opinions are based on first hand experience with Lithium, AGM and Wet Cell battery's and the good and bad characteristic's of each one.

I "currently" have a 2200 bay boat and have an AGM house (group 27) and 36 volt trolling motor bank (group 24). I have never had a low voltage issue that would cause me to consider a better option (I also run Stealth 1 a/c/ d/c). By changing from AGM to Lithium I would gain nothing to compensate the risk and cost.

NOW having said that it would be way cool to have the Lithium technology !!!!!    Just be sure to buy reputable, quality battery's and pay attention to them.

 

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27 minutes ago, geeviam said:

I just received two Group 31 - 12v Lithium Ion 100AH batteries ($938.00 each) for my 24v trolling motor, and an expensive 1-bank charger, made specifically to charge Lithium batteries ($266.00).  Even though I've studied enough about them to convince myself they are an awesome source of power for the application, I'm nervous.  I attached the new 15 amp charger to one of the batteries last night to see how quickly it would top it off, and after a couple hours, the charger was VERY HOT and humming, and the charge-level indicator lights had not changed!  Needless to say, I will be returning the charger - and maybe a toasted LiFePO4 battery as well!  I will post the results when I get this worked out.

I have read that ordinary smart chargers should not be used with Lithium batteries, because the maintenance feature in the charger will damage the battery.

Very interesting stuff geeviam  . Please keep us all up to date because switching from a good AGM set of batteries to Lithium type batteries is very expensive and the more infor out there the better . Thanks for sharing.  Joe R 

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Guest DavidG
3 hours ago, smooth move said:

i know nothing about lithium batteries, but, my neighbor hood is a canal community with houses on pilings and in the last year, we have had 2 houses burn down. fire department determined the fire was caused by the lithium batteries being charged in golf carts. just sayin-----

I have to agree with smooth who is spot on. There has been issues with ALL lithium batteries in certain areas such as drills, golf carts, even that 2 wheeled break your neck toy catching fire! The water is to cold this time of year to have to go swimming! I know I’m not the brightest bulb in the box ,just a retired Lt with the FD.....David

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I just tested the battery and it's fine.  The problem is the charger.  So, 2 out of 3 chargers I've bought, made by Pro Charging Systems (Dual Pro), were bad units.  The first one (the cheapest model) was great - never a problem!  I've ordered another Lithium charger that's highly rated on Amazon, for half the price: OptiMate Lithium 4s 5A

After studying the various brands of Lithium-Ion batteries and trying to find the best value, I ended up spending a little more for ChargeX batteries at https://www.lithiumion-batteries.com/ .  They are the only ones I found that claim to be a direct drop-in replacement for wet cell or AGM batteries, and are suitable for starting and deep cycle applications.  They also have built in protection circuitry, for almost any type of situation, that could possibly damage the battery.  They have a Lifetime warranty too.  The weight savings going to all Lithium in my skiff is 141 LBS.  That's the equivalent of one additional bikini model plus a few extra six-packs of beer!  (for you single guys of course, lol)

Here's and older article on Lithium batteries with some good info:

https://www.bassmaster.com/news/lithium-battery-advantage

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Did a bunch of research about 6 months ago for the Maverick. I took the two tm batteries out (80 lbs) out of the console. The boat ran 2 mph faster and had a much flatter run attitude at 4-4500 rpm. Big change. I am waiting for Dakota to come up with a starting battery 1st qtr 2021.  Still fooling around with chargers. It looks like the maverick is a good application for ion.  I’ll stay with AGMs on the Pathfinder. Great info here!

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Update: The OptiMate TM-291 Lithium 4s 5A charger arrived yesterday from Amazon.  Connected it to the ChargeX LiFePO4 battery, and it worked great.  Fully automatic test, charge, and now has all green lights in "maintain mode".

Probably won't have to use this charger often, once the 3 new LiFePO4 batteries are installed in the boat, because they will be setup with a Yandina Trollbridge 12X24-LI Charger/Combiner (like the Stealth setup) that charges and maintains the starting battery, as well as the two 12v trolling motor batteries (24v setup) automatically from the outboard motor alternator.  I'll post an update when the project is completed and tested.

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3 hours ago, geeviam said:

Update: The OptiMate TM-291 Lithium 4s 5A charger arrived yesterday from Amazon.  Connected it to the ChargeX LiFePO4 battery, and it worked great.  Fully automatic test, charge, and now has all green lights in "maintain mode".

Probably won't have to use this charger often, once the 3 new LiFePO4 batteries are installed in the boat, because they will be setup with a Yandina Trollbridge 12X24-LI Charger/Combiner (like the Stealth setup) that charges and maintains the starting battery, as well as the two 12v trolling motor batteries (24v setup) automatically from the outboard motor alternator.  I'll post an update when the project is completed and tested.

Serious high tech !!!

 

dc

 

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geeviam

a small misstatement in that the yandina system is  not like the stealth.

same results but totally different  process.

stealth takes 12 volts and ups it to 24 or 36 to charge the batteries in series.

the yandina takes the batteries and puts them in series or parallel depending on  need but only puts 12 volts for charging.

I know they have a new charger for lithium but standard yandina is much better in my mind  over stealth. many bass fisherman on THT also prefer yandina.

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11 minutes ago, smilemaker said:

geeviam

a small misstatement in that the yandina system is  not like the stealth.

same results but totally different  process.

stealth takes 12 volts and ups it to 24 or 36 to charge the batteries in series.

the yandina takes the batteries and puts them in series or parallel depending on  need but only puts 12 volts for charging.

I know they have a new charger for lithium but standard yandina is much better in my mind  over stealth. many bass fisherman on THT also prefer yandina.

Thanks for the clarification SmileMaker!  You are better educated on the differences than I am.  Yandina told me that a simple 1-bank charger connected to the 12v cranking battery, when needed, is all you need - and the Yandina Trollbridge senses the connection and allocates the charge to all 3 batteries in the correct order as needed.  Pretty cool, and I won't have to carry around the extra weight of 3-bank on-board battery charger all the time as well!  Just going to install an AC power port (pictured) so the hatch can be closed when the charger is connected.  The new lithium charger is light and fits in the palm of my hand.

 

 

AC_power_port1.jpg

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