Can you mix & match different brand lithium chargers & batteries?

Curious if a Norsk brand 3A charger can be used with an Amped outdoors lithium battery and vice versa? Same for other brands like Marcum & Dakota lithium? I know you shouldn’t use SLA chargers with Lithium…

I’d be curious to see if it’s not just a giant rebranding scheme like other batteries . Seems like all the sudden lithium company’s popped up over night

I know with Amped Outdoor battery’s that you should only use their chargers. They were very clear about that when I bought my battery from them. Also those things are amazing with how long they last!

You don’t have to use their specific charger. When I bought my amped outdoors battery off their website the chargers they were selling were not even amped brand chargers.

I’ve long suspected as long as you’re using a Lithium battery specific charger, you’ll be just fine…

As long as they are a Lithium specific charger and the output amps/volts is the same then should be fine.

There are 2 kinds of lithium batteries and they have different chemistry. Norsk told me an Amped charger was not recommended when I couldn’t find a Norsk charger. I was able to get one soon after that.

Gregg Gunter wrote:

There are 2 kinds of lithium batteries and they have different chemistry. Norsk told me an Amped charger was not recommended when I couldn’t find a Norsk charger. I was able to get one soon after that.

Do you mean LifeP04 & NMC? Yes, they require different voltages…but you should be able to use any 12.6 volt charger with any LifeP04 battery and 16.8 volt charger with any NMC battery….

I asked the guy at Thorne bros last week if I could use my Dakota lithium charger with a new Amped battery. He said no

Nodakk wrote:

I asked the guy at Thorne bros last week if I could use my Dakota lithium charger with a new Amped battery. He said no

Why?

I didn’t ask for the long answer but it had to do with being different types of lithium batteries

Gregg Gunter wrote:

There are 2 kinds of lithium batteries and they have different chemistry. Norsk told me an Amped charger was not recommended when I couldn’t find a Norsk charger. I was able to get one soon after that.

There’s actually 3.

It’s all about output voltage coming from the charger. Chargers from each of the 3 types should not be interchanged and in most cases simply will not work as the BMS on most quality batteries will simply stop the cells from accepting the voltage if it doesn’t fall within the acceptable range. That said, if the charger outputs the correct voltage you could definitely use it. Again, it’s all about the voltage output.

Regarding the 3 types of Lithium batteries I mentioned; there’s 12.6V chargers for 11.1v nominal voltage lithium ion batteries.

14.4V chargers for LiFePO4 batteries.

16.8V chargers for NMC Lithium Ion batteries.

There are of course other chemistries beyond the 3 listed here, we’re experimenting with a couple new and unique ones currently, but the three mentioned about will cover 99.9% of all batteries used in ice fishing scenarios.

If you have any specific questions about lithium chargers or batteries just give me a shout or email Norsk at [email protected] and we’ll be happy to point you in the right direction.

Coletrain27 wrote:

Nodakk wrote:

I asked the guy at Thorne bros last week if I could use my Dakota lithium charger with a new Amped battery. He said no

Why?

I’m making an assumption here but my guess is the Dakota battery was LiFePO4 chemistry and the Amped was an NMC. The voltage requirements are different with the chargers for NMC outputting a higher voltage (14.4V versus 16.8V). In this scenario the chargers would absolutely not be interchangeable.

Well I guess I’ve been lucky with mine. I just checked my amped and Vexilar lithium batteries and they are both lifepo4. I have been interchanging my batteries and chargers but now it makes sense why all mine work together I guess since they are all the same luckily

Coletrain27 wrote:

Well I guess I’ve been lucky with mine. I just checked my amped and Vexilar lithium batteries and they are both lifepo4. I have been interchanging my batteries and chargers but now it makes sense why all mine work together I guess since they are all the same luckily

Yup, as long as the chemistry is the same, in your case LiFePO4, you could use your current charger on batteries from a dozen different companies as long as all those batteries are LiFePO4.

This has been a very good learning thread for me!! Thanks fellers!

Stupid question: How does this work with a Lithium battery connected to the outboard alternator? Must be something different about the alternator that I don’t understand.

That’s a good question Ron. Thanks James, have gotten excellent service from Norsk!

Vexilar s are Lithium Ion, LifePo4 aren’t they?

yes according to there website

Ron wrote:

Stupid question: How does this work with a Lithium battery connected to the outboard alternator? Must be something different about the alternator that I don’t understand.

This is actually a very good question.

Plain and simple, most lithium batteries are NOT designed to be used as starting batteries for modern outboards.

Lithium batteries intended to be used as starting batteries must provide a much higher current for a much longer amount of time than lithium batteries designed to power a trolling motor can deliver AND a lithium battery designed for use as a starting battery must be able to accept the higher output voltage from the alternator that will often exceed 15 Volts.

Another thing to consider would be Merc’s requirements for lithium starting batteries to preserve the outboard warranty. Again, most lithium batteries don’t even come close to meeting these requirements. The biggest issue is the alternator outputs a higher voltage than most lithium batteries can accept, the BMS disconnects the cells from receiving this higher voltage current, and once that happens that current that was going into the battery now has nowhere to go and it ends up frying the alternator and other electronics on the outboard.

Norsk will be releasing a Starting + House battery this summer that exceeds Merc’s requirements.

Currently, unless a company expressly states their battery was designed for use as a starting battery and they show it exceeds the warranty requirements specified by companies like Mercury Marine…I’d skip the lithium starting battery.

Gregg Gunter wrote:

That’s a good question Ron. Thanks James, have gotten excellent service from Norsk!

Jake Hals is the man behind the curtain handling Norsk Customer Service and he’s doing a bang up job. He has the perfect demeanor for the role and his general fishing knowledge and knowledge of electronics makes him an incredible asset for our customers. For those that send out emails at late hours or call on a weekend and get a quick response…that’s all Jake.

Thanks, James. Well-written answer to my question. The last thing I want is a fire in my boat! Hopefully this helps others understand the technology.