Thread: Charging my lithium deep cycle

I run my Ionic 100aH LiFePO4 battery all day on my kayak and it often only runs down like 15% to 20% because I generally don’t run it very hard. I’m used to recharging my lead acid deep cycle batteries right away no matter the drawdown, but wondering if there is any benefit to drawing down my LiFePO4 further by using it on successive trips before recharging?

The general consensus is to not store at 100%, although recharging for the next trip within a few weeks isn’t necessarily bad for the battery. I personally don’t charge mine as soon as I get home (only the AGMs for cranking and electronics, for now) and look ahead by a couple of days before deciding to charge or not before the next trip. I’ve not had my batteries below 40% for no reason other than I ended up charging in case I might have to troll back to the ramp instead of motor back. Light trolling might not use more than 5-10%, while pulling crankbaits might pull 40% on a windy day. My reason for charging to 100% on occasion is just to equalize the cells.