Lithium battery - worth the expense?

26 Feb.,2024

 

A bud just boat a lightweight Li battery for 350 bucks. Anyone buy one and was it worth it?

Claimed advantages:
1. A lithium battery can keep your trolling motor at the same speed for almost twice as long as lead-acid batteries of the same rated capacity.

2. Most lithium batteries can be discharged down to 10-20% SoC (State of Charge). If you regularly discharge a lead-acid battery below 50%, it will deteriorate faster, and you will have to replace it sooner.

3. You get the same rated capacity even when discharging them very fast. A lead acid battery whose amp hours is based on discharge speed, will have less power sooner the more amps drawn by the t.m.

4. Good lithium batteries can handle 3000-5000 charge/discharge cycles. Good lead-acid batteries last only 200-300 cycles if discharged only to 50% of their rated capacity. However, if you regularly take them down to 20% of capacity, you will quickly damage the battery, which will have perhaps only around 30-50 cycles available with available capacity diminishing as well.

5. Lithium batteries don’t suffer from sulfation, which occurs in most lead-acid batteries. Sulfation is a buildup of lead sulfate crystals on lead-acid battery plates. It occurs whenever a battery is left without a full charge, and it is the main reason lead-acid batteries lose performance and fail. Sulfation is responsible for longer charging times, shorter run times and shorter battery life.

6. Lithium batteries typically weigh 60% less than marine lead-acid batteries and take less valuable space.

7. Lithium batteries can be charged with as much current as 100% of their Ah capacity, which means 3-5 times faster than lead-acid batteries. For a lead-acid battery, recommended charging current is 10-30% of the rated capacity. For example, you shouldn’t fast charge a 100Ah lead-acid battery with more than 30 Amps.

8. Lithium batteries typically weigh 60% less than marine lead-acid batteries and take less space.

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