Question on lithium battery chargers.

I have just bought lithium batteries and chargers. My new chargers have cooling fans on them. I have always plugged my wet cell chargers in when I got my boat home and shut it off when I headed out for the next trip. Most recently I’ve used MinnKota Precision chargers and only had to top off water every 4-6 months.

Do you leave the lithium chargers plugged in for long periods or must they be shut off after a certain time period? I charged my new batteries over night and when I checked them, the cooling fans were still running.

I’m going to call my contact at my new battery company tomorrow but would like to get other opinions.


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I’m going to call my contact at my new battery company tomorrow but would like to get other opinions.

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I have no lithium battery experience to offer, but I am curious who is the new battery company.

Can you share?

Thanks

Most BMS systems of lithium batteries shut off when reaching full charge of lithium batteries if you leave the chargers on. Once they reach full charge, I unplug the chargers. Lithium batteries don’t loose a charge when sitting idle like your wet cells will.

I only charge mine the night before if they need it.

Skinny Water Marine. They are a new sponsor of mine and they sponsor Jeremy Mattingly's show "On The Hook" on Pursuit Channel.

Found out my Skinny Water battery has Bluetooth output for battery conditions and voltage on my cell phone. New one on me. It will allow me to know exactly when I need to charge.

My chargers are designed to never overcharge and will cut off automatically.


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[QUOTE=M R Dux;[URL="tel:4235688"]4235688[/URL]]Found out my Skinny Water battery has Bluetooth output for battery conditions and voltage on my cell phone. New one on me. It will allow me to know exactly when I need to charge.

My chargers are designed to never overcharge and will cut off automatically.


Your going to love that phone app. My Ionic lithiums have a phone app bluetoothed to the BMS of the batteries giving me all the info on them. The info keeps you totally in touch with the usage of the battery as well as charging times.

I charge my batteries about once a month during off season. It takes a while for the lithiums to show full charge and much longer for the sla to fully charge. I don't know what this really means.

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Skinny Water Marine. They are a new sponsor of mine and they sponsor Jeremy Mattingly's show "On The Hook" on Pursuit Channel.

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Thanks

a heads up that I found out the hard way. The 36 volt charger with a fan from amped outdoors is not water proof. FYI. Don't know if that is true of all chargers with built in fan but it is on mine. Scott

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Originally Posted by ultraslab

a heads up that I found out the hard way. The 36 volt charger with a fan from amped outdoors is not water proof. FYI. Don't know if that is true of all chargers with built in fan but it is on mine. Scott

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Mine are guaranteed waterproof from the manufacturer.

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Originally Posted by ultraslab

a heads up that I found out the hard way. The 36 volt charger with a fan from amped outdoors is not water proof. FYI. Don't know if that is true of all chargers with built in fan but it is on mine. Scott

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Up front of my boat, I run a Noco Genius charger on an amped outdoors 60AH lithium for my livescope box and graph. I run two Optima D34M batteries in the back of my boat. 1 is for starting, and the other is for lights, radio, pumps, graphs. They are dual purpose batteries (starting and deep cell). The optimas are connected to a minn kota dual bank precision charger. I leave both chargers plugged in all the time (except when I am fishing) and never had an issue. And the chargers are completely waterproof. The go into maintenance mode when the batteries are fully charged.

Yes I have the noco for ny other 2 battewries and it is water prrof but not the dedicated 36 volt with built in fan. I already regret I didn't do more research and get a battery with bluetooth capabilty even though I've never lost power it would be nice to know a head of time as as when a lithiumn goes dead it's dead. Scott

My ionic have bluetooth and is actually very useful. I have noco gen5 charger and I do not leave the lithiums banks turned on all the time, just charge to full the night before I plan to use them. Its best to leave lithium batts sit at 70-80% charge, however I left mine at 100% (well 99%) this winter and they were still 99% 3 months later.

My noco has the ability to turn banks on/off so I leave my charger plugged in 24/7 for my maintenance free starting batt and turn the lithiums off.

So the best thing to do is leave them around 70-80%, but I assume you are using your boat at least once a week so it doesn't really matter. Leaving them plugged in 24/7 wont hurt anything as the BMS controls when the battery charges, but it also doesnt help anything as lithium do not lose voltage at rest. So IMO unplug it to save your chargers lifespan.

I am highly impressed with my Blue ionic lithiums. The phone app is very useful.

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I have 4 of the 125 amp ionic lithiums. I'm still waiting on the Minnkota PCL chargers to hit the street. My trolling batteries are at 80% and I won't recharge them until I get below 40% they haven't been charged since January. I have made a couple of trips out. I do keep the starting battery on charge as it went dead once and I still haven't found the problem, believe it is in the bilge will check pump wiring when I get back home next month. It is a pain to get the battery to take a charge when it is dead if you don't have one of the right chargers to get to take a charge.

Don

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Originally Posted by dallman

I have 4 of the 125 amp ionic lithiums. I'm still waiting on the Minnkota PCL chargers to hit the street. My trolling batteries are at 80% and I won't recharge them until I get below 40% they haven't been charged since January. I have made a couple of trips out. I do keep the starting battery on charge as it went dead once and I still haven't found the problem, believe it is in the bilge will check pump wiring when I get back home next month. It is a pain to get the battery to take a charge when it is dead if you don't have one of the right chargers to get to take a charge.

Don

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40% ?? That seems awful low. Keep in mind I am not familiar at all with lithium batteries.

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Originally Posted by Barnacle Bill

40% ?? That seems awful low. Keep in mind I am not familiar at all with lithium batteries.

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Lithium can be discharged to 0% without damage, unlike lead acid. So Yeah its fine to go down to 40% and let them sit there, not going to hurt a dang thing sitting at 40-80% charge. You get roughly 3,000-5000 20% to 100% charges with these batteries, over 10,000 80-100% apparently. But its best to keep them stored around 80% charge. By "stored" I mean several months without use. You aren't going to kill the batteries storing at 100% just like you wont kill them storing at 50%, its just optimal to store at 80% long term.

LiFePO4 batts are awesome.

PS I trolled for 3 hours last night at 0.4-0.6mph and my batteries dropped to 95%. 70# PD on a 17' Deep V with 50ah Ionic.

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Originally Posted by Kevin22

Lithium can be discharged to 0% without damage, unlike lead acid. So Yeah its fine to go down to 40% and let them sit there, not going to hurt a dang thing sitting at 40-80% charge. You get roughly 3,000-5000 20% to 100% charges with these batteries, over 10,000 80-100% apparently. But its best to keep them stored around 80% charge. By "stored" I mean several months without use. You aren't going to kill the batteries storing at 100% just like you wont kill them storing at 50%, its just optimal to store at 80% long term.

LiFePO4 batts are awesome.

PS I trolled for 3 hours last night at 0.4-0.6mph and my batteries dropped to 95%. 70# PD on a 17' Deep V with 50ah Ionic.

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Thanks for the education.