LiFePO4 - Lithium Iron Batteries

[The Fisherman Guy]

Who's using them?

Making the switch over to Lithium Iron (LiFePO4) on my flasher unit, from Lead Acid, I sure won't miss the weight of the lead acid cells. The weight savings is impressive!

Who's got their hands on the new cells from Marcum? Dakota Lithium? Canbat?
Good? Bad?

[Esox]

I want to make the switch to. Where has everyone found the best price?

[egoerz]

Dakota lithium. 10Ah. Love it. Haven’t ran it dead in a day yet. Only thing is the battery percentage isn’t accurate on my helix anymore.

[FishHunterPro]

I have the Dakota 10ah and have gotten 2.5 days without it dipping below the max discharge . I wish I could remember how low the voltage went after that trip but I do remember it was still well within spec.

[AlbertanGP]

Most of my stuff has been switched to Dakota Lithium. Not a cheap proposition for sizes you can't get easily from places like Cabela's. Battery World carries a brand as well with a blue and black label...I forget the name...I have had good luck with those too.

Keep in mind you will need a special charger with lithium batteries. You can charge them with a normal charger, but they won't reach their full charge potential.

[Remps17]

Friend and I both have helix 7s I have a Dakota in mine, lead acid in his. When he left for the day he was down to 23% I was at 93%. Worth the money I think

[WinefredCommander]

I have a Amped Outdoors lithium. Worth the money for sure. Years back you had to ship from the states. Now Cabela’s sells marcum lithium’s.

[calgarygringo]

Havent been on the ice yet but did buy 2 Dakotas. One in the camera and one in the Bird 7. Cant comment on time yet but both sure feel lighter.

[GrillBoss]

Cabela's had the Marcum on for $120 for Black Friday so I ordered one. Canada Post is so overwhelmed it still hasn't shown up though. :angry3:

[SamSteele]

I've run a Dakota 10ah on my Helix since last year. Its been great so far and I've run it for a couple of days straight without charging. Weight reduction was nice too. I'd really like to run them in my boat to save a bunch of weight, but they are so dang expensive in that size and my rig runs 5 batteries...

As noted above, the battery meter on your Helix units will always show full when using a lithium battery. That part is a bit of a pain, but understandable as the voltage on a lithium doesn't really drop until it's completely dead.

SS

[The Fisherman Guy]

Where has everyone found the best price?

Getting over the cost is tough, especially when shipping batteries across international borders. Throw in duties, taxes, and shipping costs to an already high cost is even tougher to swallow.

Canbat has the best prices I've found so far: Canadian company, free shipping, and a deeper selection of model options than the other companies. They have a sale on now too. No duty or shipping costs, and a ton of inventory from 4.5Ah to 300Ah

https://www.canbat.com/product-category/lithium-iron-phosphate-battery-lifepo4/

I just received my first order from them, a 30Ah that was on sale. Impressed with the quality, and it only weighs 9.5lbs. The 7.5Ah model is just under 3lbs.

Putting it to the test this week on a cheeky night burbot mission, will let you know about performance once I've put it to work.

[Evan83]

Got my hands on a couple marcum 10ah today. Will give them a good test this weekend in Saskatchewan