[RRMan]

Does anyone run the tracker lithium batteries that Cabela's/basspro have? Thinking of upgrading the boat and want some thoughts and opinions. The only reason I'm even considering them is I have a 1000 dollar gift card to burn and it'll get me half of what I need/want.

Thanks for the info. Rrman

 

[Muleskinner]

I’ve had good luck with a pair of the yellow Walmart regular batteries non-lithium 10 years but was kept on a tender year round.

 

[BackyardBandit]

I’ve had good luck with a pair of the yellow Walmart ones . 10 years but was kept on a tender year round.

I didn't know lithium marine batteries have even been around for 10 years.

 

[Dafish]

I'm no help
Last week I "looked" at buying 2 TLI-100 Lithium plus a new charger. My charger is only for wet/gel/agm batteries

I'm an old tightwad so instead of buying 2 of the TLI-100 lithium batteries that weigh 30lbs each I bought the 31 AGM batteries that weigh 65lbs each(I weighed them) from Sam's. Then I re-located them to the other side of the boat so the boat would not have "the lean"
On my boat they made it so the wiring run is on the drivers side, the 2 starting batteries are on the drivers side along with the trolling motor batteries in the front. Plus me
Which some red-neck engineering and a hole saw I was able to move the front heavy batteries to the passenger side .
It road pretty level today on the river, for once...

 

[Muleskinner]

I didn't know lithium marine batteries have even been around for 10 years.

I’m sorry I fixed it .
Optima’s were though I believe.

 

[RRMan]

I'm no help
Last week I "looked" at buying 2 TLI-100 Lithium plus a new charger. My charger is only for wet/gel/agm batteries

I'm an old tightwad so instead of buying 2 of the TLI-100 lithium batteries that weigh 30lbs each I bought the 31 AGM batteries that weigh 65lbs each(I weighed them) from Sam's. Then I re-located them to the other side of the boat so the boat would not have "the lean"
On my boat they made it so the wiring run is on the drivers side, the 2 starting batteries are on the drivers side along with the trolling motor batteries in the front. Plus me
Which some red-neck engineering and a hole saw I was able to move the front heavy batteries to the passenger side .
It road pretty level today on the river, for once...

I'm kinda in the same boat the battery set up I want would be about 2000 dollars and dollar for dollar it's about the same just a lot up front. Honestly I'll probably go the agm's and just be happy. Momma let me buy the new boat and want to upgrade batteries, it came with interstate 27s for free but wanted to charge me 300 a piece to upgrade to 31s I said I'll do it myself at that price.

Just curious why do you have 2 starting batteries?

How was the fishing? I'm itching to get back out but the weekend temps might keep me home. 35 for a day time temp doesn't sound fun right now

 

[Dafish]

I'm kinda in the same boat the battery set up I want would be about 2000 dollars and dollar for dollar it's about the same just a lot up front. Honestly I'll probably go the agm's and just be happy. Momma let me buy the new boat and want to upgrade batteries, it came with interstate 27s for free but wanted to charge me 300 a piece to upgrade to 31s I said I'll do it myself at that price.

Just curious why do you have 2 starting batteries?

How was the fishing? I'm itching to get back out but the weekend temps might keep me home. 35 for a day time temp doesn't sound fun right now

BOAT? You got a New Boat?


I was in a rush and probably should have bought the lithium's. lighter weight and
will last 2 to 3 times more charges\cry once

2 starter batteries, I bought this from a guy who fished lake Michigan and it is a big lake for a battery to go bad.
as they can go bad at any time,plus it is used for livewell lights radio and fish finder.
It has a battery switch 1 or 2 and off switch, I turn it to off when done fishing,
funny story, a friend bought a center console, they were floating down the river listening to some tunes and drinking, went to start the boat and the battery was dead. They called the place they bought it from and asked where the aux battery switch was....

since Sam and I went out I have been out twice and caught 2 fish water temps was 38

 

[RRMan]

I was in a rush and probably should have bought the lithium's. lighter weight and
will last 2 to 3 times more charges\cry once

2 starter batteries, I bought this from a guy who fished lake Michigan and it is a big lake for a battery to go bad.
as they can go bad at any time,plus it is used for livewell lights radio and fish finder.
It has a battery switch 1 or 2 and off switch, I turn it to off when done fishing,
funny story, a friend bought a center console, they were floating down the river listening to some tunes and drinking, went to start the boat and the battery was dead. They called the place they bought it from and asked where the aux battery switch was....

since Sam and I went out I have been out twice and caught 2 fish water temps was 38

That's very true on the batteries you never know when they decide to die, I need to upgrade that one as well, very surprised they only put a group 24 for a starter on a 150 motor, it's got the cranking amps but I don't trust it to start to many times.

We've only been 3 times this year seems like something always comes up and throw work in the mix and there just isn't much time. First time was awesome caught 5 including personal best for the boat of 52 then the other 2 times we couldn't even buy a bite.

The wife did have a FB post she made last year when we caught our first "winter" cat and refecting back I feel we did very well for the first year of winging it but there is always more to learn. We hired a guide for a May trip on the river to do some more learning, different techniques/baits/ structure it'll be an experience learning trip that I hope will pay off in the future.

 

[PoisonSnake]

I went with lithiums a couple of years back. With an 11 year warranty, I figured I may as well give it a shot. I think mine are BattleBorn out of Nevada. I'm glad I made the switch for sure. I didn't entertain the Tracker product due to the warranty. They may have since changed it. As I understand it, shipping lithium batteries can be a pain. So, that 11 year warranty may not be as attractive as simply being able to exchange a battery at the local Bass Pro/Cabelas.

 

[RRMan]

I went with lithiums a couple of years back. With an 11 year warranty, I figured I may as well give it a shot. I think mine are BattleBorn out of Nevada. I'm glad I made the switch for sure. I didn't entertain the Tracker product due to the warranty. They may have since changed it. As I understand it, shipping lithium batteries can be a pain. So, that 11 year warranty may not be as attractive as simply being able to exchange a battery at the local Bass Pro/Cabelas.

I think the trackers had only 5yrs which is a huge downfall for me but the whole reason I'm even entertaining them is because of the gift card I have, I agree and exchange would be much easier since I have both bass pro and cabela within an hour of me so if I ever had problems I wouldnt be stuck without for who knows how long

 

[421sd]

I bought a 2016 Tracker right after Christmas, and it still had the original Interstate batteries! I pulled the Interstate 31 deep cycle off my Jon boat for the troller (2 years old) and bought an Interstate 27 dual purpose for the motor (30hp) and accessories (boat functions, 2 Garmins, and a BT radio). A marine tech buddy recommended this setup to me, we’ll see how it all functions this year. I had never even heard of a dual purpose battery before. So far so good.

 

[RRMan]

I bought a 2016 Tracker right after Christmas, and it still had the original Interstate batteries! I pulled the Interstate 31 deep cycle off my Jon boat for the troller (2 years old) and bought an Interstate 27 dual purpose for the motor (30hp) and accessories (boat functions, 2 Garmins, and a BT radio). A marine tech buddy recommended this setup to me, we’ll see how it all functions this year. I had never even heard of a dual purpose battery before. So far so good.

I wasn't to impressed with my last set of interstates I had, I had 2 group 31s in the 12 volt system and only got 2 1/2 years out of them, they did get used hard but the best batteries Ive had so far longevity wise has been the orschlen brand they carry

 

[PoisonSnake]

I've tested the lithiums to some degree. I have ran 4 days hard without a charge and never lost an ounce of power. I was pretty pleased with that after running into problems down on Sardis a few years back (just barely made it through the day on a single charge pulling cranks).

 

[421sd]

I wasn't to impressed with my last set of interstates I had, I had 2 group 31s in the 12 volt system and only got 2 1/2 years out of them, they did get used hard but the best batteries Ive had so far longevity wise has been the orschlen brand they carry

Hope that was a fluke. Interstate is all I’ve used on my boats and have had good performance from them. One exception is I use an O’Reilly brand (Super Start? I think) lawnmower battery to power my Garmin on the Jon boat.

 

[liv2hunt]

I wonder if a Bass Pro employee would get 50% off on those batteries since they are 'Tracker' brand(Bass Pro) might check if you have buddy or relative working there.

 

[seth_turner_04]

I bought a pair of 100AH Ampere Time lithiums last summer for $740. I believe they can now be had for $650. Anyways, I have used them hard since then and they are amazing. It’s like having an extra set of my old batteries on hand. I will fish hard for several
days and still have full power on the troller.

For what it cost me for the 29dc Everstarts from Walmart, I only need them to last 6 years to be a wash on cost. That doesn’t take in to account the performance and weight savings benefits. As for a charger, I just grabbed a cheapy with a LifePO4 setting off Amazon that will do 24v at 10amps. Works great so far.

If you can get by with 50AH, the cost is a lot less as well as the break even point. A 50ah has similar runtime to a 27 series lead acid battery.

The only pitfall is that you can’t charge them below freezing temps. They have a heated model, but it was a couple hundred more per battery. They are light so pulling them and bringing them inside to charge isn’t a big deal if need be. If you don’t fish during the winter time then it really doesn’t matter anyways.

 

[RRMan]

I bought a pair of 100AH Ampere Time lithiums last summer for $740. I believe they can now be had for $650. Anyways, I have used them hard since then and they are amazing. It’s like having an extra set of my old batteries on hand. I will fish hard for several
days and still have full power on the troller.

For what it cost me for the 29dc Everstarts from Walmart, I only need them to last 6 years to be a wash on cost. That doesn’t take in to account the performance and weight savings benefits. As for a charger, I just grabbed a cheapy with a LifePO4 setting off Amazon that will do 24v at 10amps. Works great so far.

If you can get by with 50AH, the cost is a lot less as well as the break even point. A 50ah has similar runtime to a 27 series lead acid battery.

The only pitfall is that you can’t charge them below freezing temps. They have a heated model, but it was a couple hundred more per battery. They are light so pulling them and bringing them inside to charge isn’t a big deal if need be. If you don’t fish during the winter time then it really doesn’t matter anyways.

My boat stays in the garage all year but it not uncommon for me to be on a body of water when the air temp is in the teens. Going by some of your post you are out all winter have you had a performance issues with extreme cold?

 

[RRMan]

@seth_turner_04 just curious how big of trolling motor do you run I found where it says support's up to 70lb trolling motors and I have an 80 I'm guessing it wouldn't make a difference but I'm curious if it would even matter. You can't beat the price of them that's for sure!

 

[seth_turner_04]

My boat stays in the garage all year but it not uncommon for me to be on a body of water when the air temp is in the teens. Going by some of your post you are out all winter have you had a performance issues with extreme cold?

They work better during cold weather than my leads did. Granted the leads were several years old and had a lot of use on them, but my research shows that the lithium tech still gives you nearly the full AH rating where as leads are reduced quite a bit.

 

[seth_turner_04]

@seth_turner_04 just curious how big of trolling motor do you run I found where it says support's up to 70lb trolling motors and I have an 80 I'm guessing it wouldn't make a difference but I'm curious if it would even matter. You can't beat the price of them that's for sure! View attachment 238464

I run a 24v 80lbs Minnkota Ultrex, which draws around 56 amps. That's about the max you can get for a trolling motor. A 12v 55# pulls 50amps and a 36v is usually around there or slightly lower as well (less poundage and higher voltage reduces amp draw). I've had no issues running them hard all day in heavy current while chasing spots, smallies or trout. I'm pretty sure the BMS is capable of handling up to a 100 amp draw and no standard trolling motor will come close to that.