Northwest Fishing Reports

I have a 20 foot aluminum boat with a 80lb thrust 24v Minn Kota bow mount trolling motor. I will need to replace the trolling batteries as I can only troll for about three hours. My question is what batteries would you guys recommend for this setup? I want to be able to fish as long as possible without having to worry about the batteries croaking. If it makes a difference, the two batteries are dedicated to the trolling motor, nothing else attached to them. Thank you in advance for any and all assistance.

You can try Iconic lithium batteries by contacting Drew at - https://drewcraft.com/

you can also read about them on http://www.bbcboards.net/forumdisplay.php?f=45 by looking for the threads in this list/forum concerning those batteries.

You hit on something I have been thinking of writing about. There was a thread about trolling motors a few months ago I was going to comment on. I upgraded to a 36v 112# Minn Kota Terova on my boat. On that thread I don't think anyone said much about batteries. I did a lot of research before upgrading and what I went with was Ionic lithium 125AH batteries. I had to get 3 for the trolling motor and I also got one for a starter. Yes a lot of $$$.
I have a 2014 Hewescraft sea runner 200 ET, purchased new in nov 2015. At that time i moved my 55# Terova from my 17ft boat to it. I knew it would be under powered but I would give it a try. The boat normally comes with two batteries. I had them add a third battery. So I had a starter and two 115AH deep cycle AGM batteries. I was able to switch to the two deep cycle when running on the mini kota trolling motor, everything was 12v. The motor did OK when there was no wind and trolling under 2MPH running most of the time at 7.5 and above. The batteries were stating to show there age and I was only getting about 2 to 3 hours of trolling on the 2 deep cycle batteries. So time to do the full upgrade, not just get new batteries.

I thought about saving some money by going with 24v 80# but in the end am glad I went with the 112#. More than you need works. I went with 72" shaft even though 60" would have done the job. It has been a hard year to find things in-stock. Sportsman's Warehouse had it in stock for a day or two and they were gone.

Now your question was about batteries. Some of the things I came up with over the hours on the web. I'm probable going to say some things you already know. (And may be corrected by someone else with more knowledge). Like you probably know you want marine deep cycle batteries. As opposed to a starting or even a combination battery. It comes down to what kind.
There are four types to consider, 1-Flooded or lead acid, 2-AGM (Absorbent Glass Mat), 3- Gel cell, Lithium Ion.
1- lead acid- lowest price, weight is about the same as AGM, most maintenance, slower to charge but will tolerate over charging. Usable capacity is about 50% before it should be recharged. Shortest expected life.
2- AGM- price is higher than lead acid but well below lithium, weight is about the same as lead acid, no maintenance, faster charging but not tolerant of over charging so you will need a good charger. Usable capacity is about 80% (I have seen some that say 50%). longer life expected than lead acid.
3- gel cell - I did not look much at these they are similar to AGM but do not seem to be as common.
4- Lithium ion LiFePo4- price is 2 to 3 times higher than AGM, weight is 1/2 to 1/3 of AGM, no maintenance, fastest charging but not tolerant of over charge and some must have a lithium charger. Usable capacity is 80 to 90%. life expected is 3 to 4 times greater than AGM.

So for me it came down to AGM or Lithium.
I was looking at the V-Max AGM they have a 135AH for $350
On lithium I looked at a lot of different batteries. What looked the best to me for the money was Battle Born, Ionic, Dakota, and Amped outdoors.
I needed a combo battery for starter and other things on the boat. Do to space I thought the best thing was going to one battery for that. I also wanted to be able to monitor the batteries. I looked at different chargers, on the run chargers, and monitors. I thought about the Power Pole Charge that would do all of that.
Battle born looked great and I did spend time on the phone with them. Vary helpful. But no starter battery and would need separate monitors.
Dakota had some poor reviews that made me question them
Amped outdoors looked good, has 24v and 36v but not in-stock most of the time and would need separate monitors.
Ionic had higher AH battery with blue tooth monitor, and a rating for being used as a starter. and in-stock. So that was my choice.
The price of the lithiums where close to each other
I went with a Minn Kota 4 bank charger they said would work great. (Minn Kota has now come out with lithium charger)

I have now had this setup for a few months and have trolled for around five hours for trout/Kokanee and not dropped below 80% on the batteries. Using the anchor mode on the Terova with wind and current for around the same five hours it was still over 90%. They charge back up quickly.

I got the batteries on sale for just over 2 times what the AGM would have been. I also got a Ionc emergency start or jump start because I had gone to one battery for the boat.

On the life expected from the batteries, AGMs and lead acid are projected at 2 years, I have gotten 4 years in the past. The lithium are said to last 10 years, we will see. It is all based on how many times they are drawn down and recharged.

I hope the wasn't too long and was helpful

I guess I should add I went with drewcraft too

Not too long and extremely helpful and informative. You have me leaning towards the Ionic battery and they show a 24v in one package. Not sure if I will do two 12v or one 24v. If I decide on the 2-12v, I could use the battery for the electric on the pontoon. Need to do some research on the charger I have on the boat to make sure it is compatible with the Ionic battery. Just more to ponder to see what best fits my needs. Thank you so much for the input, would be great to troll all day without worry of dead batteries!

Give Drew a call or Lithium Hub (they sell Ionic). both will answer the phone and they can tell you if what you have will work.

went with the Ionic battery and Noco charger. 2- 12v seemed to be the best option, now should be able to fish all day with no worries. Thank you so much for your insight, was very helpful!

That'll do ya. Who'd you buy from?

Purchased from Drewcraft, they are running a special on the 12v 50ah batteries. Marked down from $499 to $349 each so had to jump on it. Thank you for the direction, now time to fish! Might check out Potholes this weekend if not too wet, but will still be running on the old batteries as the Ionics will not arrive until Monday.

Good for you, I don't fish in the rain anymore, or cold for the most part. The last time I fished Potholes in the late late fall I ran over some REALLY shallow water just outside the dunes. Was expecting to run aground any second, but made it back away. LOL Good luck.

Some day maybe I can get some batteries from Drew.

eat-sleep-fish wrote: ↑

Thu Nov 04, 2021 6:25 am

Purchased from Drewcraft, they are running a special on the 12v 50ah batteries. Marked down from $499 to $349 each so had to jump on it. Thank you for the direction, now time to fish! Might check out Potholes this weekend if not too wet, but will still be running on the old batteries as the Ionics will not arrive until Monday.

How those 50ah working out for you? I would have thought u should have gone for the 100ah.


LiFePO4 batteries are so inexpensive compared to a few years ago. 100ah for under $400 now. Same price as a high quality AGM with almost twice the capacity and over half the weight.

I have direct from China "KS Energy" LiFePO4 60ah batteries. Last year one of the batteries went bad. The company had me open the battery and take pictures. Then sent me a new one, no charge. 5 year warranty. Only 2 years left. If these die on me again, I'll probably go with Impulse Lithium Platinum 60ah batteries.

I tried an Amped Outdoors starting lithium battery a couple of years ago. Wasn't compatible with my 4-stroke. I had weird idling issues and my graphs would shutoff when I applied throttle. Supposedly voltage spike from the motor causes issues with the Battery BMS. Read about others encountering issues with other batteries too. Read success stories too. Saw reports from others about their BMS going to sleep and needing to be jumped. For me, I'll stick with an AGM starting battery for now. But for trolling batteries. Definitely go lithium.


Tom, I don't know if you have a 24v or 36v trolling motor. When you do decide to go lithium on your trollers and it's 24v, I have a spare DualPro 3 bank 15amps, that has 2 banks configured for lithiums and 1 AGM. Will give it away for cheap bc I don't need it.

test

edit: ok works now, hasn't worked for awhile.

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Tom, I don't know if you have a 24v or 36v trolling motor. When you do decide to go lithium on your trollers and it's 24v, I have a spare DualPro 3 bank 15amps, that has 2 banks configured for lithiums and 1 AGM. Will give it away for cheap bc I don't need it.
[/quote]I'll have to talk to you about it.