Budget Lithium Torture Test: LiTime 12v 100AH LiFePO4 REVIEW

[@ALXqc]

Finally! someone who really test those battery with a real trolling motor! It give us a very good idea of the runtime! Thanks a lot!

[@Woefman911]

Thanks for your review. I checked reviews before buying mine. Mine is few years old, under their old name ampretime. For me this is game changer, sometimes i leave my home HOA neighborhood lake, go to big lakes with my little boat. Its so much lighter i now can carry ton stuff from my truck to my boat. Making launching faster and coming off water faster. The run time gives me confidence i can get back to ramp in 8 to 10 hr fishing day. I highly recommend you get battery monitor. Lithium just like in your drills give you full power until there is nothing. Deepcycle lead acid, slows down, telling you head back to boat launch.

[@ClearviewOutdoors]

Great video Josh, I have 4 of them in my boat, 3 for trolling motor and 1 for electronics, about 6 months now and am very impressed with them, great battery’s!

[@buckeyecatfishing622]

I have 2 of them in my Tracker V19 with a 24V Minnkota Ulterra. I've tortured them and they have been excellent. I broke down (Gas, DUH) on the Ohio River a few weeks ago and they took me upriver against the current until I could get a tow. That was after running all day, dragging and spotlocking.

[@KissmyBasss]

Well, I bought mine before your test and I've had no problems this season with my 24v setup ,running spot lock and trolling 2-3mph. Top speed is 3.5mph in my my tx17 tracker. My big motor is down currently and I just run my tm all day. Found a cheap $60 12/24v charger on Amazon that works perfectly.

[@TheWeekendAngler]

@@KissmyBasss yeah I converted my 36-volt over and have been highly impressed

[@CreoleCatfishing]

I’ve used that exact battery for my GPS base station with a 35W external radio for over a year. It’s been left in the weather, beat around in the bed of my truck, dropped on the ground, you name it. It has performed incredibly well.

[@TheWeekendAngler]

That's awesome, brother! I'm impressed enough that I'm ordering three of them to replace the aging lead acids in my boat.

[@Woefman911]

What is a GPS base station

[@fisherman7275]

Was wondering how long one of these were gonna last for my electronics (2-10", 12", 9" garmins wirh ffs black box) Think i calculate 10amp draw, think Im safe for the whole day with this one as a group 27 deep cycle lasted but would be down to 11v by the end of the day

[@DanielSon69]

The one advantage I didn’t hear you mention is the longer life/many more charging cycles for the LiFePo4. This is a big factor for me. Drives the operating costs down significantly. The other advantages that you covered off are the icing on the cake, so to speak😎

[@TheWeekendAngler]

@@DanielSon69 longer life definitely balances out the higher price. I was happy enough with what I saw of this battery that I bought three of them to upgrade my 36v system on my primary boat. The difference has been phenomenal.

[@DanielSon69]

@@TheWeekendAngler just ordered two LiTime 12v 100A grp 24 with bluetooth for my trolling motor battery bank. $357.00 CAD each shipped via Amazon.ca. Hopefully get them installed by Sept 1, should be a fantastic upgrade to the lead acid batteries currently in the boat 🤞

[@michaelburdette2198]

Great video! I'm considering Li Time batteries for my boat and really appreciate the info!

[@CircleHookProductions]

My LiTime batteries arrived today so this video is well timed :) I got 2 of the mini 100ah’s

[@johnhenderson7094]

Happen to know the weight of those minis yet?

[@CircleHookProductions]

@@johnhenderson7094 they're 19lbs a piece

[@leahvang9094]

@@johnhenderson7094 21 lbs.

[@jasonbroom7147]

In general, a lithium iron-phosphate (LFP) battery will weigh half as much and deliver twice as much usable amp-hours worth of capacity when compared to a lead-acid/AGM battery. They also suffer less voltage sag and deliver 3-5 times as many total charge cycles. Their only down side is they should not be charged when the battery is at or below freezing temperatures. Other than that, LFP batteries are the only logical choice for a trolling motor, these days, since the prices have really come down on them.

[@turdferguson5300]

What were the weights of the two batteries? I'm using a small lithium to power my electronics but my other batteries are still working for now. As they fail I'll replace them with lithium batteries. I can't justify changing what I have if they still work even if something else is better.

[@TheWeekendAngler]

The lead acid is around 75 pounds or so. The LiTime weight is shown, I don't recall offhand the weight, but it was around 23 pounds give or take.

[@mikewalker4062]

Great review. Thanks for posting this.

[@MrQuasar1958]

Are you using the motor in reverse,if you are then the prop will not make as much thrust as if it was on the back of the boat and pushing- instead of pulling

[@TheWeekendAngler]

@@MrQuasar1958 no, even though this was designed as a transom mount motor, I use it only on this little plastic boar, so what I did was removed the bolt and spun the head around. So it's in forward.

[@MrQuasar1958]

@@TheWeekendAngler 👍🏻thank for your super quick reply, and greetings from the UK 👍🏻

[@robertmartinez3769]

Question when you tried both batteries. Did you eat lunch before or after each test and did you poop. This could explain the 1 mph difference

[@TheWeekendAngler]

@@robertmartinez3769 😂 Nope. Stopped back on shore, swapped batteries, went back out.

[@leahvang9094]

Have two of the Bluetooth minis for my 80lb troller. Will see how long it last for $500.

[@TheWeekendAngler]

@@leahvang9094 last week I ordered 3 more of these batteries so I can replace the lead acids running my 36v terrova. Going to get them installed tomorrow

[@CatfishWeekly]

Outstanding review Josh!!!

[@fica021spark]

Thanks for the video! Do you know if there is any difference between Litime 12v 100AH LiFePO4 (I bought it a few days ago) and that with the label TROLLING MOTOR?

[@TheWeekendAngler]

As far as I can tell, the only difference between those two models is that the trolling motor model has a thermal cutoff to prevent charging in sub zero temperatures.

[@thevelotramp1]

I think the size is also important. Some of these batteries use hard casings around each individual cell called prismatic while the ones used in smaller versions use soft pouches to contain each cell. While the latter do create an overall smaller package I believe that the lower density and more durable casing of the former will create a more durable and longer lasting battery overall. If size and weight are not much of an issue for your application I would suggest getting the prismatic type as opposed to the pouch type. If size and weight are most important and you can sacrifice some reliability you may consider a mini or pouch type set. Pros and cons. Also as mentioned above, some BMS have a low temp cutoff which can be very important for certain areas.

[@johnybigbravo]

Loved the test mate! Thanks

[@v0rt3x86]

Standard Ah rating is usually with a 25A load and I imagine the higher draw would lower the total calculated Ah closer to 100. Good to see tho since these are on sale rn.

[@TheWeekendAngler]

25 would have been my preferred amperage, but the trolling motor would have absolutely flooded the floor of my shop. It ended up being a compromise between how fast I could run the motor and how low I had to go in order to keep the water inside the container. I've tested a few different lithium batteries now. I'm tempted to drop the trolling motor in a 55 gallon drum full of water and run it wide open to see how each one would perform under those conditions. It may be interesting to see how they compare when facing a much higher amperage draw. For what its worth, even after testing batteries from a few different companies, I ended up ordering three of these LiTimes to power the 36v terrova on my primary boat.

[@mannyfragoza9652]

you missed the most important test, how long was the run time in the boat of each battery?

[@TheWeekendAngler]

@@mannyfragoza9652 Not sure what difference that makes, but roughly the same time. From the dock to the mouth of the back cove and back.

[@mannyfragoza9652]

@@TheWeekendAngler The difference is a real-time test; ie, water resistance, air speed, and a 300lb man in the boat, vs. your control test. Plus, I would be curious about how the lead acid did vs the LifePo4 battery on the water under this real-time condition

[@TheWeekendAngler]

@@mannyfragoza9652 Here's where the difference would be. A loaded down boat would put more load on the trolling motor and draw more amperage. The higher amperage draw would result in a shorter run time. But, it would only give an indication of that particular boat setup. However, since we learned the battery capacity from the control test, anyone who watches this video need only determine the amperage draw of their own trolling motor. Since we know the battery capacity and the amperage draw (2 of the 3 equation variables) we can calculate for the third. If you know how much amperage your motor, on your boat, draws you need only divide the capacity by the amperage. That will give you a good indication of run times. For example, if your motor draws 20 amps instead of 10 like the control motor drew, you could reasonably expect your run time to be half of the control. I know you're not suggesting I do so, but it wouldn't be reasonable to spend even a third of the control run time out on the lake zip zapping around. As much as I'd love to do so, my family and day job would prevent that. That's why I do a monitored control test with test equipment and rely on established formulas to give us our data. Hope this helped.

[@TheWeekendAngler]

@@mannyfragoza9652 in regards to the lead acid side of your comment, I actually have to purchase a new lead acid battery for one of my other boats. I intend to do a control test under the same conditions with that lead acid battery so that we then have a reference point.

[@mannyfragoza9652]

@@TheWeekendAngler Awesome I'm going to sub to your channel

[@RosssRoyce]

Great test! You should have done the laundry at the same time (adding some soap)😝

[@TheWeekendAngler]

@@RosssRoyce lmao I thought the same thing! Definitely looked and sounded the part.

[@bolzena]

Thank You

[@robclark1215]

How much does it cost??

[@TheWeekendAngler]

It depends on whether they are running a sale or not. There is a link to the battery in the description of the video. That will always show the current price.

[@WitkowskisFishingSickness]

I paid 309$ for mine off Amazon

[@clarkpitts5393]

A++ Great Vid.

[@RedneckDeluxe]

Of course the boat will plow nose down when motor, battery and you are sitting on the front. Do a test with motor on the transom.

[@TheWeekendAngler]

That's not configured as a transom mount motor and the test conditions were the same for both batteries. That's actually how I run that particular boat because I typically have a 2.5Hp outboard mounted on the transom. So fuel tank and gas outboard are in the back, battery and trolling motor in the front. In both cases the boat plows water which honestly is the nature of those little boats.

[@thevelotramp1]

I’m with you on that. It’s not the nature of the boat, it’s the nature of the set up.

[@miguelsalami]

That's one fast boat 😂

[@hodlr8489]

Seriously sounds like your review is not unbiased. So many streamers do not want to piss off suppliers that give them free stuff

[@TheWeekendAngler]

@@hodlr8489 what you choose to believe is your business. I have no issue calling out problems I find.

[@thepubliceye]

Would a Chinese company send free extra good batteries to KZbinrs to test? We all know they stuff Amazon with fake 4 and 5 star reviews.

[@TheWeekendAngler]

@@thepubliceye well, I bought three more of these batteries off their website and they all work just as well, so...

[@FieldWordsworth-m5n]

Jackson Susan Moore Patricia Brown Steven

[@leemobai762]

LiTime is crap. There is no cold weather protection.

[@Shawn-ts4jw]

Mmmm batteries are not going to make it go faster lol. So the 3mph vs 5mph is got nothing to do with the battery....

[@scarbroughr0396]

I call BS on the speed.

[@TheWeekendAngler]

You got me. I got out of the boat and ran around to get the top speed up. 🤦

[@scarbroughr0396]

@@TheWeekendAngler I believe you used the wind or current to increase your speed. 1 volt is not going to increase the speed by 2 mph. Come on man!

[@TheWeekendAngler]

@@scarbroughr0396 dude, I blatantly say in the video that the speed increased when I got OUT OF THE WIND. This resulted in less wind resistance and a much calmer water surface. When in the same general area it ran 3 with a quick tick to 4mph. From personal experience has been that boat, with the lead acid battery, same trolling motor, and everything in the same general position of the boat will run around 4mph. A 1mph increase is within reason. Had the wind cut out the lead would have probably measured out at 4. If you think I purposely went on the water and used the environment to make the lithium look better for the purposes of the video, you're as full of crap as a Christmas turkey. I literally had nothing to gain one way or the other. But, since the max speed is visible in that app, had I said 4mph and some nit picker seen 5mph on the screen, they'd be in the comments section throwing a hissy also. Welcome to the world of posting videos.

[@scarbroughr0396]

@@TheWeekendAngler no need in getting all bent out of shape. If you’re going to post comparisons videos you should not expect everyone to agree with you. If you would have run the same route with the same background I probably wouldn’t have called BS

[@TheWeekendAngler]

@@scarbroughr0396 I'm not getting bent out of shape, but I'm not going to sit here and be called a liar either. Agree, disagree, it's all good. We probably both would get along fine. It's tough to read tone from written words. Chalk it up to misunderstanding?