LiTime batteries

I purchased 3 – 100 ah with built in heaters LiTime batteries about a month ago for my boat.
Thank you to Bearcat and a few others for your purchase experience with these batteries.
Here is a quick review for the batteries.

So far I think it has been the best battery investment I have made yet.
This weekend I went to Chamberlain SD. It was a grind. We spent 12 hours on the water to get our 2 man limit.
In doing so the batteries had to perform for those 12 hours.
The trolling motor didn’t have to work to hard but my electronics battery got a work out. On that battery I run 2 – 10” humminbird helix, a 9” and a 12” helix as well as my 360 and the boat (pumps and lights etc).
For anyone looking to buy lithium batteries and looking for a good budget friendly battery take a look at LiTime.

They have done me well and I just purchased a third one for a electronics stand alone battery. I can get 3 plus days of heavy river spot lock days on my batteries. That alone is worth the price. That and the price of these is so cheap it was a no brainer when I needed new batteries.

I have 2 of the 140ah arriving today. The 3rd one showed up friday. I see in the book that they recommend to fully charge each battery on its own, then hook all batteries in parallel for 12-24hrs so they equalize the voltage, then after that they are ready to be hooked in series. Then it goes on to say you should do this once every 6 months, has anyone followed this process??

Justin Laack wrote:

I have 2 of the 140ah arriving today. The 3rd one showed up friday. I see in the book that they recommend to fully charge each battery on its own, then hook all batteries in parallel for 12-24hrs so they equalize the voltage, then after that they are ready to be hooked in series. Then it goes on to say you should do this once every 6 months, has anyone followed this process??

I did not. Wasn’t even aware of that.

Hey Guys,
I have a small river boat that has a small 15hp, and a small transom mount Minnkota trolling motor. Has anyone used a single battery to start a small outboard and run a small trolling motor?

Trying to keep it as simple as possible as it doesn’t get used that often.

Thanks!

They don’t recommend using lithium ion batteries for starting batteries UNLESS it is made for starting outboards. They are not cheap !

Why are these so cheap

grizzly wrote:

Why are these so cheap

Because the battery market has become saturated with suppliers. Go to Amazon and you will literally see hundreds of options available.

My advice is that if you are considering a purchase I would do it sooner rather than later. Tariffs on batteries will increase their cost. Every lithium battery is made in China.

^ This. Once I started researching all the different companies and components I found they are all pretty much from the same factories in China. Some companies (like Litime) buy in bulk pre-asembled off Alibaba and slap their sticker on it. Some companies may buy the cells and BMSs and assemble them and do slightly more quality testing, but the cells and BMS are all within a standard deviation from eachother. You may get a better warranty from some companies that you trust to be around in 5 years (Dakota, tracker) or you take a chance on a Litime, Ecoworthy, Redodo that may not be around for long (look up Endropower or Ionic). Personally I’ll take the 1/4 cost ones that may not be around in 5 years, but to each there own.

Does anyone know if these batteries can be charged with the AGM setting on an onboard charger? I think I need a new starting battery so would like to get one of these for my electronics and a separate FLA battery for starting. I can’t use lithium for a starting battery.

I believe you will risk hurting the lithium battery as it will not talk to the charger and be able to tell it that it is fully charged. When you hear about a BMS (Battery Management System) that is what tells the charger it is fully charged and stops the charged cycle. You only will have a BMS in a lithium battery.

Stanley wrote:

Does anyone know if these batteries can be charged with the AGM setting on an onboard charger?

The charger will indicate whether that’s an option. Check first.

Mine specifically state only to be used with lead acid or AGM batteries only.

Some agm chargers will charge lithiums, but not all of them. I just opted to sell my current charger and swap to a new noco that does lead/ agm/ and lithium

Thanks. My charger won’t do lithium but I heard the AGM setting will work with some lithium’s. I think I will just get another group 31 AGM for now. Looking at where the batteries need to go I can’t fit 2 battery trays but could fit 2 batteries so I need to find a solution to secure the second battery.

Stanley wrote:

Thanks. My charger won’t do lithium but I heard the AGM setting will work with some lithium’s.

Just need to look at the specs for both and determine. The 50ah 12v litime I looked at says to charge at 14.4v +/- .2v.

Noco genpro AGM is 14.8v which is higher than recommended, old Minnkota Precision is 14.4v which is right on. AGM charging profile is also different and not ideal but it will work and the batteries bms shouldn’t let anything terrible happen.

I charge my LiTime lithium 100 ah batteries with my Minnkota PC 330 charger on the AGM setting. Which has a 14.4 volt charging voltage on the AGM setting. Yes, when the batteries are fully charged my charger has a green blinking light for each bank indicating the battery is full and the charger is done.
When I check the batteries with a volt gauge they read 13.4 volts which is a fully charged LiTime battery according to their website.

The NOCO gen pro chargers charge at 14.6 volts on the lithium setting.

First time out with these batteries and I’m impressed. 140ah running a 36v 112 terrova for 3 1/4 days up on rainy and not needing to charge once. Trolling motor setting between 2.5-4 pulling swimbaits up stream for 38 combined hrs and still having 22% capacity remaining at the end.

I changed my mind and ordered a 12v 100AH xtra-mini litime battery. I have a minnKota pc charger so I will give it a try. I will upgrade to a minnKota PCL 440 if I need to.

Stanley wrote:

I changed my mind and ordered a 12v 100AH xtra-mini litime battery. I have a minnKota pc charger so I will give it a try. I will upgrade to a minnKota PCL 440 if I need to.

Keep me posted how it works – I also have the PC charger that’s supposedly okay to charge lithium on if you read enough posts online.

James Almquist wrote:

I believe you will risk hurting the lithium battery as it will not talk to the charger and be able to tell it that it is fully charged. When you hear about a BMS (Battery Management System) that is what tells the charger it is fully charged and stops the charged cycle. You only will have a BMS in a lithium battery.

James Almquist wrote:

I believe you will risk hurting the lithium battery as it will not talk to the charger and be able to tell it that it is fully charged. When you hear about a BMS (Battery Management System) that is what tells the charger it is fully charged and stops the charged cycle. You only will have a BMS in a lithium battery.

A vast majority, if not all, of marine chargers do not communicate with the bms. The charger stops charging based upon the charge voltage and the current draw going to zero. The bms does not stop the normal charging process. It only stops the charging for certain conditions such as under temp, over temp, overvoltage, etc.

My Minn Kota PC charger (on AGM setting) charges my lithium batteries fine. I can check charge on the Bluetooth app, which states 100% charge when finished. The BMS should have overcharge protection, protecting from overcharging. This I can also check from the app.

Brand-wise, EPOCH in one boat and Li Time in the other, all 100ah, Bluetooth and heated. Both brands have worked great.

Side note; it’s not recommended to mix brands when hooking in series/parallel. Also, the heaters need least 10 amps to activate the pads- many lithium chargers (Noco and Minn Kota) are of lessor amperage or may regulate the amperage down in colder temps (dropping below 10 amps). To combat this, I bought a separate 15 amp charger from EPOCH and charge the batteries individually when below 32 degrees. I’ll do it this way until a more viable option is found that won’t cost an arm and a leg.

docfrigo wrote:

My Minn Kota PC charger (on AGM setting) charges my lithium batteries fine. I can check charge on the Bluetooth app, which states 100% charge when finished. The BMS should have overcharge protection, protecting from overcharging. This I can also check from the app.

How long have you been doing this? I have heard you can but didnt know of anyone first hand doing this

docfrigo wrote:

My Minn Kota PC charger (on AGM setting) charges my lithium batteries fine. I can check charge on the Bluetooth app, which states 100% charge when finished. The BMS should have overcharge protection, protecting from overcharging. This I can also check from the app.

Brand-wise, EPOCH in one boat and Li Time in the other, all 100ah, Bluetooth and heated. Both brands have worked great.

Side note; it’s not recommended to mix brands when hooking in series/parallel. Also, the heaters need least 10 amps to activate the pads- many lithium chargers (Noco and Minn Kota) are of lessor amperage or may regulate the amperage down in colder temps (dropping below 10 amps). To combat this, I bought a separate 15 amp charger from EPOCH and charge the batteries individually when below 32 degrees. I’ll do it this way until a more viable option is found that won’t cost an arm and a leg.

I bought a LiTime 20 amp charger. It came with 1 Anderson connector.
I run 3 batteries so I made 2 more Anderson connectors so I can quickly change batteries when charging with the 1 charger during cold temps. Works great for me.

I have a full season with 4 litime batteries in my impact. I installed a shunt and monitor to show percentage and am always surprised how much(little) use the batteries take from a full day on the river. Definitely a good investment.

William Beaumount wrote:

I have a full season with 4 litime batteries in my impact. I installed a shunt and monitor to show percentage and am always surprised how much(little) use the batteries take from a full day on the river. Definitely a good investment.

Can you monitor all 4 batteries off one stunt and monitor?

I ordered a 24v 100ah battery this weekend Saturday afternoon and it’s already at my house by noon Tuesday.

I ordered a Dakota Lithium charger at the exact same time, and the order has yet to have a shipping label created.

William Beaumount wrote:

I have a full season with 4 litime batteries in my impact. I installed a shunt and monitor to show percentage and am always surprised how much(little) use the batteries take from a full day on the river. Definitely a good investment.

Do you have to do that per battery or does 1 shunt and monitor cover all the batteries ?

I bought 2 of the 36v BT 50AH batteries over the winter and finally got to give them a good test at the rainy this past weekend.

Obviously wired in parallel, they combine for 100AH which is convenient for measuring percentage as well. LiTime says to wire them to a bus bar for charging with a single charger. It assures they charge and discharge evenly.

We fished from 7:30-5 on Friday and 9-4 on Saturday. Ranged from 2-5 on the remote nearly the whole 2 days with periods of running a few minutes at 7-8. After day 1 I was at 89 AH left and without charging overnight I was at 78 AH left after day 2. I am really impressed with these batteries so far.

I purchased their 36V 25A charger.

I chose 2 36v in parallel for a few reasons.
– If one BMS were to die, I can still keep fishing. If I were to go with 3 12V and one BMS dies, I’m done.

– 36V charging is faster. Before the trip, one battery was at 19% and charged to 100% in less than 4 hours.

– Fewer trolling motor batteries. I now have a dedicated group 31 Interstate for my electronics and downriggers. Instead of running all of this off my starting battery. I’m hoping to switch this over to a 12V 100 or 140AH LiTime sometime soon.

I just need to remind myself not to plug these in after fishing. Unless I’m going on an extended trip somewhere, I plan to keep their SOC between 40-80% and only charge to 100% when needed. I figure I can go a good 4-5 long days without charging with these things.

biggill wrote:

I bought 2 of the 36v BT 50AH batteries over the winter and finally got to give them a good test at the rainy this past weekend.

Obviously wired in parallel, they combine for 100AH which is convenient for measuring percentage as well. LiTime says to wire them to a bus bar for charging with a single charger. It assures they charge and discharge evenly.

We fished from 7:30-5 on Friday and 9-4 on Saturday. Ranged from 2-5 on the remote nearly the whole 2 days with periods of running a few minutes at 7-8. After day 1 I was at 89 AH left and without charging overnight I was at 78 AH left after day 2. I am really impressed with these batteries so far.

I purchased their 36V 25A charger.

I chose 2 36v in parallel for a few reasons.
– If one BMS were to die, I can still keep fishing. If I were to go with 3 12V and one BMS dies, I’m done.

– 36V charging is faster. Before the trip, one battery was at 19% and charged to 100% in less than 4 hours.

– Fewer trolling motor batteries. I now have a dedicated group 31 Interstate for my electronics and downriggers. Instead of running all of this off my starting battery. I’m hoping to switch this over to a 12V 100 or 140AH LiTime sometime soon.

I just need to remind myself not to plug these in after fishing. Unless I’m going on an extended trip somewhere, I plan to keep their SOC between 40-80% and only charge to 100% when needed. I figure I can go a good 4-5 long days without charging with these things.

No rocks this year ? What boat were you fishing out of ?

The CC. Just me and the kiddos.

No rocks. Figured it wouldn’t be a great way to fish for the kids anyway so we stayed away. Missed a deadhead by about 3’ though.