Lithium Ion Trolling motor batteries

[Big Sky]

Didn't want to hijack the small battery thread

I'm going to replace the trolling motor batteries in my boat this year.
Currently running two group 27 lead acid batteries. About 90Ah each

My choices seem to be Alberta Lithium or Dakota Lithium. The Alberta Lithium is quite a bit less expensive. The Dakota Lithium brand has been around for a few years and gets positive reviews out of the States.

This is going to be a pretty expensive conversion so I want to get it right.

Anybody have experience with these brands of batteries in a trolling motor application?

[pikergolf]

This might help.

http://www.outdoorsmenforum.ca/showthread.php?t=418711

[Weavster]

I have 3 12V 100AH Dakota lithium's for my trolling motor and do not regret one bit spending the money. They now keep me in spot lock all day long and haven't let me down yet. Oh and the weight reduction was a nice ad on as well.

[Big Sky]

Weavester, how much are you depleting those batteries in a day? Do you ever troll with your electric?

In 8hrs of fishing, I'd be trolling with my bow mount for about 4 hours and using the spot lock for the other 4. I've never had an issue with my 2 lead acid batteries running out of juice in a day. As long as I can charge them up at night I'm good to go the next day. If it's calm out I can get a couple of days without charging.

My reading tells me that Lithium batteries can be depleted to a much lower level than lead acid batteries. This is supposed to let you get away with lithium batteries that have quite a bit lower Ah rating. I've read that my group 27 batteries could be replaced with 50Ah batteries ..... about half the Ah rating of my lead acids.

Those Dakota Lithium would be the easy choice but I'm still curious about the Alberta Lithiums.

[thumper]

I've got a Dakota 54 ah, a Canbat 50 ah, and a Canbat 10 ah - all Lithiums.
I use the 54 or 50 ah for an electric trolling motor on a 10' plastic boat (Pelican Bass Raider) Boat & gear & me total about 350 lbs, and I can troll at mid or low speed for 6 - 8 hrs straight on the 50ah.

All of them are less than 2/3 weight of the equivalent lead/acids I used to run.

Because you can run them right down to nothing without harming them, they have just as much 'run-time' as a lead acid with 15 to 25% more ah, where it's recommended that you don't use lead/acid past 75% discharge.

My only concern with lithiums is that there's very little warning that you've run out of juice! With my lead/acid, the trolling motor would begin to lose power, and I'd know it was time to head straight in to the dock. With the lithiums, you have about 30 seconds 'warning', and you're dead in the water! So make sure that your charge status lights are visible, or that you carry a spare. In my case, I run my fish sonar on the small 10ah lithium, and switch the trolling motor over to that to head in - if the big lithium runs out.

I don't see any difference between Canbat and the Dakota, except price. Unless you find a real good sale on the Dakota's (which Cabelas sometimes has), the Canbats are less expensive. Their service is excellent - you can call and they'll answer any question knowledgably, they also have great sales come up on their website, and their shippings reasonable & fast - batteries are well packaged. www.canbat.com

Once you go lithium, you'll never go back!

[Weavster]

I have yet to kill them even fall fishing in manitoba for long days of trolling working shore lines and spot locking in heavy wind for 10-12 hour days.