Big Cliff Posted January 11 Report Posted January 11 (edited) I was starting to find it hard to lug my lead acid battery around. I love my argo but it's not quite as efficient as a boat so with the lead acid battery i could only troll for about 4 hours. I decided it was time to invest in one of these. What a huge difference in so many good ways. No worries about off gas when charging. I can pick this thing up with one hand and lift it in and out of the argo easily. I am not sure how long I can troll with it on the Argo but I have run it for over 7 hours at a time including wide open down the lake and back about 1/2 an hour each way with a 55lb thrust trolling motor. No issues at all. Only thing I would do differently is I would spend the extra to get one with the Bluetooth capability. Guess what I'm getting my son for his birthday this spring😊 Edited January 11 by Big Cliff 6
Barry Willis Posted January 11 Report Posted January 11 Howdy Big Cliff, one can't go wrong with a lithium battery. Getting off topic, I've never trolled with my Argo but plan on doing so this year. Curious if you have used an outboard on yours? I do have a trolling motor but I am thinking of also trying my 2hp. Johnson on it. I can run my little Johnson on my Sportspal canoe (I know it won't be as efficient on the Argo) for eight and a half hours that's trolling and wide open on one tank of fuel and it only holds 9,10ths of a liter.
CrowMan Posted January 11 Report Posted January 11 (edited) I have the built-in Bluetooth monitor on my AOLithium battery....it's very useful, because when a lithium dies..it dies. There is no progressive slow down of power to warn you. I do believe you can buy separately a Bluetooth monitor that will work with any battery. Edited January 11 by CrowMan
Terry Posted January 11 Report Posted January 11 https://www.amazon.ca/Boutique-Plus-Battery-Monitor-Charging-Analyzer/dp/B0C6C5WRFM/ref=asc_df_B0C6C5WRFM/?tag=googlemobshop-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=581084504077&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=8778248240636745088&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=m&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9000960&hvtargid=pla-2392946650072&psc=1&mcid=3bb543a7de993139b62a1bb8b59b0d39
akaShag Posted January 12 Report Posted January 12 So Cliff, you did not sell the Argo after all, I guess? Back to Barry: I did use an outboard on my first (8 wheel) Argo many years ago. It was equipped with an outboard motor mount on the stern and also had a v-shaped bracket about 2/3 the way down the hull, that the outboard motor shaft contacted so it did not warp the motor mount. I think it must have been a 4 hp Merc I ran on it, as that is the only small outboard I remember from those days. The Argo was bow-heavy even with an outboard attached, and I was not a fan of having it in deep water. The second (6 wheel) Argo only went on water a few times, and always by accident! And my current (8 wheel) Argo has not been in any depth of water to speak of. I really must give it a try again, given that I can't carry a tinner any more.... I think an electric motor with battery like Cliff uses is a good idea. Doug 1
Big Cliff Posted January 12 Author Report Posted January 12 8 hours ago, akaShag said: So Cliff, you did not sell the Argo after all, I guess? Doug No, I had a couple of low ball offers and decided to hang on to it. It turned out to be a good choice because my son bought a 40' park modle trailer for his property up in the French and I can spend as much time as I want up there. Mine is the 6X6 and I have no trouble taking it out into any depth of water, it is nose heavy but even with my weight and loaded with gear I have tons of freeboard. Moving from side to side, netting fish, it's far more stable than a canoe and I have never taken on water. Besides that, you can't sink them as long as you have air in those tires. My son did put a 2hp motor on his, switched back to the electric, it was much easier than reaching over the seat to start it. Also there's something special about the silence when you are way back in the bush. Even with the battery, if it does go dead you are never stuck, just start the Argo , it moves surprisingly well in the water under it's own power. In fact often if I am trolling for pike I just run the Argo, the turbulence from the wheels seems to excite the pike. 2
Cast-Away Posted January 12 Report Posted January 12 Hey Cliff, Be careful not to let it run too low. Lithium batteries can overheat when the voltage gets too low and the cells can catch on fire when charging if the voltage is off on any one cell. Make sure to charge it out of the house somewhere safe. I use lithium batteries (LiPo) in my RC planes and had this happen a few years back. It ended up being a $65,000 insurance claim for smoke damage to my home. I was really lucky that I was charging them in an amo box on top of some bricks, otherwise my house would have burnt to the ground. Be safe!
Big Cliff Posted January 12 Author Report Posted January 12 5 minutes ago, Cast-Away said: Hey Cliff, Be careful not to let it run too low. Lithium batteries can overheat when the voltage gets too low and the cells can catch on fire when charging if the voltage is off on any one cell. Make sure to charge it out of the house somewhere safe. I use lithium batteries (LiPo) in my RC planes and had this happen a few years back. It ended up being a $65,000 insurance claim for smoke damage to my home. I was really lucky that I was charging them in an amo box on top of some bricks, otherwise my house would have burnt to the ground. Be safe! Thanks for the heads up. Not sure if it might be an issue with these larger batteries, this one has smart charge technology, we've never noticed any heat while using or charging it but we'll keep an eye on it.
lew Posted January 12 Report Posted January 12 25 minutes ago, Cast-Away said: Hey Cliff, Be careful not to let it run too low. Lithium batteries can overheat when the voltage gets too low and the cells can catch on fire when charging if the voltage is off on any one cell. Make sure to charge it out of the house somewhere safe. I use lithium batteries (LiPo) in my RC planes and had this happen a few years back. It ended up being a $65,000 insurance claim for smoke damage to my home. I was really lucky that I was charging them in an amo box on top of some bricks, otherwise my house would have burnt to the ground. Be safe! Somebody took an electric bike with a lithium battery onto a Toronto subway train couple weeks back and thing caught fire but fortunately everyone got off OK
KraTToR Posted January 16 Report Posted January 16 On 1/11/2024 at 12:30 PM, CrowMan said: I have the built-in Bluetooth monitor on my AOLithium battery....it's very useful, because when a lithium dies..it dies. There is no progressive slow down of power to warn you. I do believe you can buy separately a Bluetooth monitor that will work with any battery. So true, it dies..totally. Found this out the hard way in my new ranger. The system alerted me 2x, about 1 minute apart. Stupid me I looked at the message and said to myself..what the hell??. By the time I figured it out I had to get out the booster pack... I do like the huge weight reduction tho and thanks CrowMan, i'm going to look into a BT monitor for sure.
CrowMan Posted January 16 Report Posted January 16 (edited) On 1/12/2024 at 8:03 AM, Cast-Away said: Hey Cliff, Be careful not to let it run too low. Lithium batteries can overheat when the voltage gets too low and the cells can catch on fire when charging if the voltage is off on any one cell. Make sure to charge it out of the house somewhere safe. I use lithium batteries (LiPo) in my RC planes and had this happen a few years back. It ended up being a $65,000 insurance claim for smoke damage to my home. I was really lucky that I was charging them in an amo box on top of some bricks, otherwise my house would have burnt to the ground. Be safe! Don't cheap out with lithium...make sure they have BMS (Battery Management System) built in...this circuitry will prevent overheating and overcharging. Also use a dedicated charger specifically rated for lithium use. Once charged, promptly unplug from the charger. Saw these photos online the other day. Apparently charging lithium batteries on the boat in the garage... Edited January 16 by CrowMan 1 1
Cast-Away Posted January 16 Report Posted January 16 Here is a picture of the brick that the Amo box sat on in my basement. The second picture is the two batteries that caught fire in the Amo box. I am so fortunate that we found the fire and nobody was injured or killed. My wife smelled smoke and when we opened the basement door a billow of white smoke came at us. The smoke detectors did not work because we did not have the dual detector that picks up smoke and heat. Guess what I replaced every alarm with in my house when we moved back in? I am shocked that the fire services are talking up the hazards of Lithium batteries more. You can only put out the fire with a Class D extinguisher. Try to find one anywhere to have in your house. I am sure that Lew will comment on this being a retired fire fighter.
akaShag Posted January 16 Report Posted January 16 8 minutes ago, Cast-Away said: The second picture is the two batteries that caught fire in the Amo box Did they short out on the metal of the ammo box? Doug
Big Cliff Posted January 17 Author Report Posted January 17 It certainly looks like there is some potential for problems, this one came with it's own charger but I sure will keep an eye on it and watch for any sign of over heating. So far I am really impressed with it.
Cast-Away Posted January 17 Report Posted January 17 Doug, They were being discharged down to a lower voltage for winter storage. They are 6 cell batteries and the voltage on one cell was off from the others. When this happens that bad cell will overheat and catch fire. Most power tools are low lithium batteries and they recommend not leaving the battery plugged in once full charged. Lithium is a great storage solution but quite volatile when overheated so people jut need to be aware and be careful. I brought it up here just to bring awareness to others. 1
akaShag Posted January 17 Report Posted January 17 This is all adding to my education, thanks folks. I have been sitting in the weeds about switching over to a lithium battery for my trolling motor, but maybe not yet. Doug
Big Cliff Posted January 17 Author Report Posted January 17 3 hours ago, akaShag said: This is all adding to my education, thanks folks. I have been sitting in the weeds about switching over to a lithium battery for my trolling motor, but maybe not yet. Doug Doug I bought this one on Amazon last year it was over $400.00. Lithium batteries have come way down, the exact same battery in now about $325.00. It has the BMS system and comes with it's own charger. The light weight, long life, and 5 year warranty were all factors in my decision. In my book the advantages outweigh the risk. 2
Barry Willis Posted January 17 Report Posted January 17 Wow, I've never seen batteries do that. Thank God your wife smelled the smoke. You and your wife are very lucky. I think I'll put the purchase of a lithium for my trolling motor etc. on the back burner.
Cando Posted January 26 Report Posted January 26 On 1/17/2024 at 8:06 AM, Cast-Away said: Doug, They were being discharged down to a lower voltage for winter storage. They are 6 cell batteries and the voltage on one cell was off from the others. When this happens that bad cell will overheat and catch fire. Most power tools are low lithium batteries and they recommend not leaving the battery plugged in once full charged. Lithium is a great storage solution but quite volatile when overheated so people jut need to be aware and be careful. I brought it up here just to bring awareness to others. This is the same thing that happens with cell phone. That was the 1st time I herd of them telling people not to leave them on the charger when they are full charge. I was lucky that my Galaxy 8 never caught fire. I left it plugged in whenever it was not in use, which was most of the time. The only thing that happened was the battery expanded to the point that I had to use tape to hold it together. 1
porkpie Posted January 26 Report Posted January 26 I’ve been to a couple of house fires that burnt to the ground as a result of charging batteries in the garage. None of them where lithium at the time. Any battery or charger left on constant charge has the capacity for catastrophic failure. I have used lithium for years. One of my kids and I flew model planes for a few years and we charged lithium’s for 100’s of cycles . I even charged crashed batteries that had puffed packs outside while keeping an eye on them. Never had one light up. Millions of cell phones, iPads and other lithium powered devices are charged daily across the country with no negative results. Every so often one sparks up and we get to lithium is bad. I just don’t see that as being the case. I’m sticking with lead acids or AGM’s at this point because of price and because I can still heft them. When the difference price is negligible I’ll go lithium! 1
CrowMan Posted January 26 Report Posted January 26 1 hour ago, porkpie said: I’ve been to a couple of house fires that burnt to the ground as a result of charging batteries in the garage. None of them where lithium at the time. Any battery or charger left on constant charge has the capacity for catastrophic failure. I have used lithium for years. One of my kids and I flew model planes for a few years and we charged lithium’s for 100’s of cycles . I even charged crashed batteries that had puffed packs outside while keeping an eye on them. Never had one light up. Millions of cell phones, iPads and other lithium powered devices are charged daily across the country with no negative results. Every so often one sparks up and we get to lithium is bad. I just don’t see that as being the case. I’m sticking with lead acids or AGM’s at this point because of price and because I can still heft them. When the difference price is negligible I’ll go lithium! At $325 for a 100a lithium, compared to the price of an AGM...I'd say the price difference is now negligible. 1
porkpie Posted January 26 Report Posted January 26 Last battery I bought was around $200. At the time a lithium was $500-800 a piece. I agree you can probably get some AGM’s and lithiums close in price now. And I’ll definetly look at them next time. My new boat is a 2019, and the old owner was meticulous and replaced all batteries last spring. It’ll be a couple of years before I’m looking for batteries and no doubt the pricing will be comparable. 2
BassMan11 Posted February 27 Report Posted February 27 I did a bunch of research into Lithium phosphate's and 2 budget friendly brands kept coming back time after time as a good deal that are built well that are easy to order from Amazon. Li Time - $369 Power Queen - $349 The basic models do not have low temp charging cut offs, but then again your AGM's are not supposed to be charged below 0C either. No bluetooth either. AOL Lithium seems to be also very well made according to several reviews but you need to order from their website. I pulled the trigger on 2 Power Queen 100ah's as my AGM's are just too heavy. cutting the trolling motor battery weight from 140lbs to 50lbs is significant enough to make the switch. My current AGM's are Nautilus AGM extreme XD's group size 31's - $665 each currently at CT. If you have the money and want to go with Dakota, Ionic, or Battleborn that is great as well. But the few battery brands above seem to be a good budget option with a decent reputation thus far. Time will tell. BM 2
CrowMan Posted February 27 Report Posted February 27 27 minutes ago, BassMan11 said: I did a bunch of research into Lithium phosphate's and 2 budget friendly brands kept coming back time after time as a good deal that are built well that are easy to order from Amazon. Li Time - $369 Power Queen - $349 The basic models do not have low temp charging cut offs, but then again your AGM's are not supposed to be charged below 0C either. No bluetooth either. AOL Lithium seems to be also very well made according to several reviews but you need to order from their website. I pulled the trigger on 2 Power Queen 100ah's as my AGM's are just too heavy. cutting the trolling motor battery weight from 140lbs to 50lbs is significant enough to make the switch. My current AGM's are Nautilus AGM extreme XD's group size 31's - $665 each currently at CT. If you have the money and want to go with Dakota, Ionic, or Battleborn that is great as well. But the few battery brands above seem to be a good budget option with a decent reputation thus far. Time will tell. BM Something must've changed. I bought my AOLithium from Amazon last year.
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