Which lithium battery ?

[RUGER]

I have decided to go with an Ionic brand lithium battery.
Yes, as most know, I am ignorant.
I will be using it to run my Terrova 55# trolling motor, and my helix that is mounted on the console will be hooked up to that battery as well.
I will be getting a 12 Volt battery.
My question is, which amp hour, if that is what the Ah means?
I see they have them from 12Ah all the way up to 125Ah.
Is more always better?

I kinda like the 50Ah due to the price. I can get one of those for $350.
I would RATHER not spend $800 if I don't have to.

I don't troll for hours on end but will be using spot lock quite a bit. I can already tell that is pretty rough on my interstate battery that I have now.

 

[Tn Joe]

I've always been told not to run your electronics and TM off the same battery

 

[RUGER]

I've always been told not to run your electronics and TM off the same battery

This is just my helix. I have a dedicated battery for my livescope.
When I am looking at it, the trolling motor isn't on, guess that helps.

 

[Spurhunter]

I have no idea what you need. But, I have two 54 ah Dakota Lithiums wired for 24V running my Garmin Force. One day me and my buddy pushed minners from daylight to dark and never ran out of battery. Since we have different trolling motors running on different voltages, that information is probably as useless as Rem270 at a pickup basketball game.

 

[BigCityBubba]

I think its one of those, buy the most you can afford. I have read up on it a little and according to the minn kota website, trolling motor batteries should be between 85ah and 110ah, the higher the better.

 

[TRIGGER]

Talk to Danny at performance fishing electronics. He will know. I went with the ionic batteries myself a few months ago and so far love them and the app that allows you to know everything you will ever need to know about them.

 

[DaveTN]

Looks like a model with 55 pounds of thrust has a max amp draw of 50. A 50 amp hour battery would last about an hour.

This is what Minn Kota says…..

A Minn Kota trolling motor will operate with any lead acid, deep cycle marine 12-volt battery/batteries. For best results, use a deep cycle, marine battery with at least a 110-ampere hour rating.

RUN-TIME..........VOLTAGE...........GROUP SIZE......................AMP-HOUR

Good......................12................................24................................70-85

Better......................12...............................27................................85-110

Best......................12..................................31...............................95-125

https://minnkota.johnsonoutdoors.com/us/support/trolling-motor-installation-guides/trolling-motor-wiring-and-battery-guide

 

[DaveTN]

Calculating Motor Run Time

A common question people have when trying to select a motor is “How long will this motor run out on the water?” To answer this question, it's necessary to know two things: a battery's amperage hour rating and a motor's amperage draw. Keep in mind that trolling motor run-time is not an exact...

www.trollingmotors.net

 

[WTM]

I think its one of those, buy the most you can afford. I have read up on it a little and according to the minn kota website, trolling motor batteries should be between 85ah and 110ah, the higher the better.

that is for lead acid batteries, which is what minn kota designed their last gen motors to use.

a 50ah LFP is equivalent to a 100ah lead acid battery.

 

[BigCityBubba]

that is for lead acid batteries, which is what minn kota designed their last gen motors to use.

a 50ah LFP is equivalent to a 100ah lead acid battery.

I learned something new today. Thank you.

 

[tnanh]

I have been using an 80lb ulterra on my boat since 2019. Have never had any trouble with running my batteries down using Walmart marine batteries or Interstates. I am overpowered for trolling motor which helps. I fish the TN. river mostly especially in the late winter and early spring when there is usually wind and current and my trolling motor is usually on spotlock. Have never had a fishing trip ruined for low batteries but I have a three bank Minn Kota charger that stays plugged in all the time when I am not fishing. You may want to check with someone who knows more than me but if you go lithium you may also need a new charger. On board chargers that stay plugged in make all the difference in the world.

 

[DaveTN]

On board chargers that stay plugged in make all the difference in the world.

It is my understanding that for the longest life, you don't want them charging all the time, and you don't want to store them at more that about 50% charge?

 

[WTM]

It is my understanding that for the longest life, you don't want them charging all the time, and you don't want to store them at more that about 50% charge?

50% or above. store them too low and they self discharge enough and go into low voltage disconnect, youll eventually ruin the battery.

a lot of folks have this thinking that they can go fishing for a couple of days on one charge. then before you know it, that bms goes into cutoff and youre batteries are useless until you "wake them up". let them stay in sleep mode too long and youll kill the battery.

so you can charge most with an agm charger setting. if it were me id invest in a good lfp charger that has a 0v wakeup feature, else youd better have a set of jumper cables and a good battery to wake it up.

 

[redblood]

I bought a 6 pound lithium 30 ah bathery to
Run my active target system. Its been great. I ran it on a river float to see how long it will
Pull my trolling motor and it made it 6 hrs (i had a backup) . Very impressed for a 79.00 battery


Going to buy a 100 ah for 12 volt trolling motot for my river boat. I think it will cost about 200.00

 

[tnanh]

I have left them plugged in for years and get about 3 years out of my tm batteries. Maybe I have been lucky. I used my last cranking battery for 8 years before I replaced it and it was still cranking just fine, I just thought it was time but I have a 60 Suzuki and it cranks super easy.

 

[WTM]

I bought a 6 pound lithium 30 ah bathery to
Run my active target system. Its been great. I ran it on a river float to see how long it will
Pull my trolling motor and it made it 6 hrs (i had a backup) . Very impressed for a 79.00 battery


Going to buy a 100 ah for 12 volt trolling motot for my river boat. I think it will cost about 200.00

and to be honest, a few of those cheap chinese batteries are built better than some of the $6-800 chinese batteries from what ive seen from inside the electronics, cells and wiring.

 

[redblood]

Well mine is only running my active target 2- which doesnt pull but 1.5 amps per hour

 

[TNReb]

A couple of thoughts...

Running your Helix on the same battery.... like you said - your Helix is at the console. You won't be using it when you're running the trolling motor. You won't have to worry about interference. The only thing to consider is how the Helix affects the battery life. If it's a Helix 7 (I can't remember) then it will draw about 0.8amps. If you're running a transducer with it, let's round up and call it 1 amp. If you fish for 8 hours with a 50ah battery, you'd have 42ah left for the trolling motor (in a perfect world).

To know the correct battery capacity, you simply need to know how many amps your trolling motor will draw in a given hour. Unfortunately that's not simple. Are you spot locking and letting the motor turn on occasionally to bump you into place? Are you using the trolling motor as your only motor and using it on high for 10 minutes at a time?

The max amp draw on the Terrova is 50amp, but I have a feeling that draw isn't typically hit even if you're running it on high.

I will say this - on my previous boat I had 3 12v 50ah Ionics in series for a 36v trolling motor (wiring in series doesn't change the capacity - it's still 50ah). I had an Ultrex, then a Ghost. The Ultrex max amp hours is 52. I fished 10-12 hour days before without any problems.

Unless you're just constantly on the trolling motor, I think you'd be happy with the 50ah.