Ice Helix 7 w/lithium battery drained in less than an hour!

I have a brand new Ice Helix 7 Chirp GPS G3 FB (model 411200-1) with a brand new Dakota 12v 10 ah lithium battery. I had the battery on a charger maintaining a full charge for a week or so. Took it out for the first time today using only the flasher and in less than an hour the battery drained completely down. I was under the impression that a lithium battery lasted a very long time. Anyone out there that has one of these units that has any insight on why that happened, besides a bad battery?

It was sunny out today, did you have the screen brightness on high? Also was the charger rated for a Lithium battery?

Munchy the charger I bought with the battery was a Norsk lithium ion charger. Not sure how high the brightness was set..honestly I didn’t even think of that but I’ll check when it’s done charging. Even so would the screen brightness really suck that much juice from a lithium battery?

outdoorguy wrote:

Munchy the charger I bought with the battery was a Norsk lithium ion charger. Not sure how high the brightness was set..honestly I didn’t even think of that but I’ll check when it’s done charging. Even so would the screen brightness really suck that much juice from a lithium battery?

No. You have a bad bms system. Needs to be returned.

Something is up. Bad battery, bad charger, bad connection.

I think a Helix 7 can pull up to .75 amps at full power, which will easily last an entire day on a 10ah battery.

Do you have a multimeter? If so check the charging voltage and the battery voltage once its fully charged and disconnected.

I checked the connections on both ends of the power cord and it was connected properly..could still be an issue with the cord I can’t see though. I’m hoping it’s just the charger or battery.

Cameron-by bms I’m assuming you mean battery management system in the battery?

If you’re going by the % meter, I don’t think they’re accurate with lithium batteries. See the tail end of the “can’t see my jig with helix” in the ice fishing forum. It’s explained better there than I can do.

I thought about that since I have read that thread but then thought “wait a minute this is the first time out for both items there’s no way this thing should be dead, shutoff dead, in about an hour”!

I tested my new Helix 7 in the living room today with a Milwaukee M18 battery and the battery meter on the Helix stayed at 100% until the very end. It went from 100 to 0 in a little over 90 seconds. It was still on for a full minute at 0% when I shut it down.
I know it’s entirely different in the cold on the ice, but this was a 3.0 ah battery that was only showing 2 of 4 bars when I attached it to the Helix, it was on for just under 5 hours. I am impressed with that. If I bring two 5.0 ah batteries for the Helix and a 9.0 ah for the drill to run the auger, that should get me through a full day.

outdoorguy wrote:

I checked the connections on both ends of the power cord and it was connected properly..could still be an issue with the cord I can’t see though. I’m hoping it’s just the charger or battery.

Cameron-by bms I’m assuming you mean battery management system in the battery?

Yes. Of all the batteries I sold up here, I had two Dakotas go bad. Both were the BMS system, not the battery itself. That said, I would try a different lithium charger first. Could be a bad charger. Once you eliminate the bad charger possibility, charge it, turn your unit on at home and let it run till it dies. If it still only gives you an hour, then it’s a bad cell or a bad BMS.

munchy wrote:

Do you have a multimeter? If so check the charging voltage and the battery voltage once its fully charged and disconnected.

Sorry Munchy I missed this reply last night. I think there’s a multimeter in my girlfriend’s late fathers tool bucket in our shed that I haven’t had a chance to go fully through but now I’m going to lol. If there is one I’ll check what you mentioned. Thanks for the suggestion.

Yes. Of all the batteries I sold up here, I had two Dakotas go bad. Both were the BMS system, not the battery itself. That said, I would try a different lithium charger first. Could be a bad charger. Once you eliminate the bad charger possibility, charge it, turn your unit on at home and let it run till it dies. If it still only gives you an hour, then it’s a bad cell or a bad BMS.
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Cameron is there a way to know if the charger I have is bad before I just take it back? Test it in anyway?

A 12 ah lithium should run a Helix 7 on full brightness for around 16 hrs. Just for reference.

Yeah Mahtofire14 that’s what I thought after reading the different posts about these units so I decided to get one. Not sure if it was a good buy now. Hoping this issue is just the battery. I just took it off the charger after being on it since about 4 pm yesterday and in about 20 minutes it has gone from 100% to 58%. The flasher has been flashing crazily every few minutes for a few seconds and the level of charge drops and then goes back up but is lower than it was before the crazy flashing starts. Is thing possessed??

It is now down to 7% and the flasher stopped flashing, yesterday the flasher worked until the unit shut down on it’s own. So I scrolled through the other views and nothing is doing anything. Additional issue now..really thinking about sending this thing back and getting a traditional Marcum or Vexilar if I exchange the battery and it continues to do the same thing. 4% now…

outdoorguy wrote:

It is now down to 7% and the flasher stopped flashing, yesterday the flasher worked until the unit shut down on it’s own. So I scrolled through the other views and nothing is doing anything. Additional issue now..really thinking about sending this thing back and getting a traditional Marcum or Vexilar if I exchange the battery and it continues to do the same thing. 4% now…

Dude it’s the battery. Simmer down.

Electronics do weird things when they aren’t supplied with the proper voltage.

Just like a human and oxygen. 20.9% is all good, 17% will have you acting a bit goofy too.

Dude it’s the battery. Simmer down.

Electronics do weird things when they aren’t supplied with the proper voltage.

Just like a human and oxygen. 20.9% is all good, 17% will have you acting a bit goofy too.
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Thanks for the commentary B-man. I get there is a battery issue and was being silly about the situation. It’s not really a big deal, more disappointing than anything..so I just figure out what’s wrong and remedy that issue. I’m just reaching out for every possible situation before a decision is made to send it back and trying to put a little humor in the situation. Putting in a regular 12v battery to see what happens. The trials continue lol…..

No real way to test the charger. I use a noco 3500 myself, way better than the factory ones, and has a lithium setting. The 1100 does as well.

Cameron white wrote:

No real way to test the charger. I use a noco 3500 myself, way better than the factory ones, and has a lithium setting. The 1100 does as well.

Thanks for that noco mention.

I checked them out and they have some really cool products!

Cameron white wrote:

No real way to test the charger. I use a noco 3500 myself, way better than the factory ones, and has a lithium setting. The 1100 does as well.

Thanks Cameron I’ll check them out. I just took the battery back yesterday and ordered one from Amped Outdoors. I put the battery that came with the unit and one of my other batteries in it and it worked fine with both of them so it was the battery.

I checked out noco..nice stuff. I didn’t see the models you mentioned but their Genius line is very impressive. I like their jump starters too. I see a purchase in my future!

Cameron white wrote:

<div class=”d4p-bbt-quote-title”>outdoorguy wrote:</div>
Munchy the charger I bought with the battery was a Norsk lithium ion charger. Not sure how high the brightness was set..honestly I didn’t even think of that but I’ll check when it’s done charging. Even so would the screen brightness really suck that much juice from a lithium battery?

No. You have a bad bms system. Needs to be returned.

Sounds like it. I had one go bad too. Just wouldn’t take a charge.

Yeah Bass Thumb it just wouldn’t hold a charge so on to the next battery.

Keep in mind that you shouldn’t necessarily trust the battery meter when you change to a lithium battery. That battery might just power that helix 7 for 6 more hours even when it says 0% battery.

The norsk charger is not the one you need for the dakota battery.
The norsk can use the same one as the lead acid batteries.
The dakota uses a 14 volt charger.
I have both batteries and have to use different chargers on both.
Charger is the problem not bad battery

here is from Norsk battery description..
Description
Battery
12V, 7.5 AH, 36-42 hours of continuous flasher operation, built in Battery Management System (BMS) circuit (no new charger necessary), 5 hour recharge time, weighs 1.3 lbs
Charger
The NORSK Lithium-Ion Battery Charger is designed specifically for the NORSK line of ice batteries. Includes a quick-connect harness for quick and easy connection after a long day on the ice and charge indicator

here is Dakota charger specs..
CHARGER RATING
INPUT 100-240 volts, 50/60HZ. OUTPUT: 14.4 volts, 3.0 amps