Lithium Batteries

[Wizard]

I know little about Lithium batteries. A trolling battery at the boat show was near $400 for a type 31. Looking on Amazon, a Lithium type 31 was near $200.The Amazon batteries may be Chinese. Anyone try using Lithium batteries from Amazon?

Wizard













l

[caddyjoe77]

i have not -- even though the lithium may be the same one should consider the battery management system and the warranty.  IMO

[J.W.]

They are ALL Chinese. Even the US-branded ones. The difference is the US-brands have some supervision over quality control, and better customer service/warranty claim resolution.

If you go Amazon, you can get a deal, but do your homework, and make sure your info is recent. These "brands" on Amazon sometimes switch factories, production methods, etc, while still maintaining the same name and badge. Likewise a battery made in a factory might switch labels and be the same battery under a different "brand."

Things that are non-negotiable for LiFePO4 boat battery:
Battery Management System (BMS) with high/low voltage protection, and low temperature charging cutoff or a built-in heater.

Many of the cheaper batteries do not have the low temp charging cutoff.

I have Weize lithium batteries, which came from Amazon. I needed three lithium batteries and could not pay $1,000 a pop for them, so I did my homework and those were the top of the heap at that time as far as Amazon offerings. They have a BMS that has the features needed for marine use. They've been good to me so far, but I did a lot of research to arrive at that "brand" when I bought them, and I have no idea if the current Weize batteries are the same internally. I've heard that the build quality is no longer as good.

There is a guy on YouTube that tests all these Amazon batteries and even cuts them open to look at how they are assembled and see the internal build quality.

A lot of them are garbage.

Caveat emptor.

[Wizard]

Thanks, Gents.  Your comments plus a little reading have me leaning towards conventional batteries.

Wizard