Trolling Motor Battery Showdown! -Lithium Iron Phosphate Batteries (LifePO4)

In today’s video I will performance test the LiTime 50ah Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery (LifePO4) as a trolling motor battery. My trolling motor is a 30lb thrust Minnkota trolling motor.
As a bonus today I am also reviewing the Eco Worthy 50ah Lithium Iron Phosphate Battery (LifePO4). I used this brand of battery as a trolling motor battery for my Seahawk4 inflatable boat in a previous video and the battery failed. The company sent me a replacement battery so I will test it out! Which of these is the best lithium iron phosphate battery for a trolling motor? How long does a lithium iron phosphate battery last when powering a trolling motor? How do these batteries perform as a trolling motor batteries?
I used the onX Offroad app to track my journey around the lake while performance testing this battery. I've been using the onX Offroad app to discover nearby trails, plan and track my off-road trips, and get home safely. Try it out free for a week with this link! onxoffroad.app.link/Eb5wFoNU5zb
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#mrfredsdiy #seahwak4 #boatmod #trollingmotor #lithium

[@MrFredsDIY]

What are your thoughts about these two batteries for a trolling motor? Do you think one is better than the other? Let me know in the comments below.⬇️

[@almighty3372]

I think it's not a good idea to "drain" the LifePo4 battery completely before you start recharging it. But still the first one that failed after 1st use was just a joke.

[@DaveSquibbSr]

I think that I will continue to use Timeusb.

[@BarnabyWild13]

Great presentation. Bringing all the receipts. Nice stylized production too. Answered my questions about what distances to expect.

[@r1sabotage]

Great video. This video is exactly what I was looking for. I have both of these batteries in my Amazon shopping cart and i was undecided...

[@tcz7742]

About 50 cycles on my Eco-Worthy battery. No problems. Love it.

[@nava8529]

Love your videos!! Make a cool battery box !!

[@VoyagingVoyager]

Thanks for the real life usage review. All of you doing your li time “unboxing reviews” where you read the owners manual to everyone, take note. This is how a battery review is done. Excellent job sir. Just bought my li time 50ah to run electronics.

[@MrFredsDIY]

I’m like the Litime battery. It seems like a solid battery for a decent price. Thanks for commenting.

[@rickortega4597]

Great video! Thanks a lot

[@MrXanFan]

Beautiful lake!

[@mhector89]

Good information awesome intro

[@MAGA-Brad]

Undercharged. At full, they should be about 14.6-14.8v I use two Eco-Worthy 12v 100ah batteries for my repeater, with an Eco-Worthy charger. Charger stops at 14.7v, and maintains 14.7v. Your charger cut out early.

[@retiredguyadventures6211]

I just bought a LiTime 12 volt 100 ah LiFepo4 trolling motor battery for my boat and camper. I tested it today in the boat which is a Scout 162 Sportfish. It is a bay boat and even though it is only 16 foot it is quite heavy. I ran the trolling motor hard for 2 hours through a lot of water vegetation and against a still wind. It never went below a 99% charge, and after it rested on the way home a half hour latter it was back up to 100%. No lead acid or AGM battery I have ever owned would stand up to that usage. This is the first LiFepo4 battery I have ever owned and I am beyond satisfied. I can only hope it passes the test of time, but it has a 5 year warranty and is rated for 4500 charges... This truly is the battery technology of the future.

[@crackericeproductions]

What did you use to charge your battery thanks

[@KarlBAndersen]

How are you able to check the percentage of charge?

[@Andy-df5fj]

@ 6:40, it's not the trolling motor that cuts out at 11.6 volts. It's the BMS in the batteries that cut out.

[@charleshorseman55]

11.6 volts is pretty high for a cut-off in bms. It should be closer to 10 but obviously taken into account that available current is going to drop. It would be interesting to extend the test with a lower-draw to see if the bms allows less than that voltage with a lower-current draw to see real voltage cut-off.

[@Andy-df5fj]

​@@charleshorseman55 Notice that he's measuring resting voltage after cutoff. Under load, it would have been lower which ties into the available current you pointed out. The more current pulled from the battery, the higher the voltage drop.

[@charleshorseman55]

@@Andy-df5fj Got it thanks!

[@joecam5330]

Li Time customer service is fantastic! For that reason alone I would pay the extra for the Li Time battery.

[@Cheechsboss]

I am a SGU resident and go to a Quail in Sand in Hollow a lot have a lifetime tamarack with a white snake 18. I have a little 10 amp battery that last about 15 minutes to a half an hour so I’m going for another battery 50 A or more but I still don’t know which ones the best they all seem to say LifePro 4

[@RyanMPLS]

What did you do for license lettering? Ugly, but functional. I'm Minnesota so the requirement is about contrast, spacing and letter size - the regulations are pretty tight as to distance from license sticker to reg number to this and that.... On phone with DNR "a lot of people spray paint with stencils." That's not exactly to spec, but probably doesn't matter if a person tries hard enough.

[@computergardener]

Excellent video... I still have a lead acid in my boat and thinking about moving to a lighter weight battery... But while I don't run it full blast, I get two plus hours regularly on the 40lb thrust motor. I guess short term I will keep it. Another question, do you just attach the fuse to the positive terminal only and then just leave it hang off the edge?

[@MrFredsDIY]

Yes, the circuit breaker attaches to the positive side. I just spliced it in-line short enough to stay on top of the battery. The weight savings on the LifeP04 is pretty awesome. Thanks for commenting!

[@practicalguy973]

You should wire both of them in Parallel and see if you gain efficiency. 2.6 plus 2.6 miles = 5.2 miles. Maybe you get closer to 6 miles since the batteries would be more efficient with less resistance.

[@TheCompjunkie]

@MrFredsDIY I found this video very intresting as well as surprising. I did a very similar project to this last month. Here in canada, those batteries on our amazon are over $500+, so not exactly cost effective compared to the lead acid marine batteries. I chose to go the DIY route. I have an existing 52V Battery from E-Bike, that is 13ah. This is 14S system as opposed to your 3S battery in your video, but much smaller amp hour. I connected the 52V battery (58.8V when fully charged) to a DC to DC step down converter that is 12V, 30Amp capable (actually outputs about 13.2V at all times). I then added a 30Amp circuit breaker between the 55lbs thrust minn kotta and the dc to dc converter. 52V Battery > dc step down > 30 Amp inline breaker > minn kota battery center box > 12V 55lb thrust minn kota motor The entire setup weight 9lbs (a milk bag) and is super efficient. I added a secondary voltage meter to thr box to show the realtime voltage of the battery itself. In my last run on the lake, i used battery for almost 3hrs, and only turned off motor maybe 3 times. Fully loaded boat with 2 adults and a child + gear. We averaged speed 4 on windy day to break waves and hualed back to shore in speed 5. We returned we 53.9V on battery after 3 hours, effectively only using 30% of the battery, leaving us with 70% remaining. The dc to dc converter has a min input voltage of 48V anyways, so thats a nice safety shutoff for the battery, and also BMS shuts off at 20% of thr e-bike battery as well. It seems my burntime was much higher than yours with only 13ah, opposed to your 50ah. I belive this is due to the higher voltage achiving the same overall wattage with much less ameperage draw on the battery. Its much more efficient to have higher cell count. Thanks for video! Def educational.

[@MrFredsDIY]

Thanks for sharing your project! Your results were very interesting. Lots of food for thought. Thanks for checking out my video!

[@TheCompjunkie]

@@MrFredsDIY after giving it some more thought. It makes sense I have longer range from a watt hour perspective. 12vx50ah = 600wh 52Vx13.5ah = 702wh The E-bike batteries are a great option, as they are multi purpose, extremely lightweight and offer higher density cells. Even though, this setup is only 100 watt hour more, the higher voltage is still more efficient, therefore getting great results! My next project will be to wire my 5 speed minn kota 55 endura C2 to a PWM speed controller to essentially get the same results as newer more expensive endura max, that has the infinite speed control. Then I will get incredible range, as it's much less amperage when done via pwm. That's more of a gain than lead acid v.s lithium battery, and adapters are about $25 CAD P.S I also have the Intex Seahawk 4 :P Cheers!

[@chuckpeter]

On the battery that wouldn't recharge, did you try jumping it with another 12v battery? That might give it the bump it needs to recharge. The chargers won't work sometimes if the battery is completely dead.

[@MrFredsDIY]

Thanks for watching the video! Yes, we tried a myriad of things but something inside of the battery failed.

[@lloyddaniel741]

How was your transom board? Did you find that it helped? Im curious as I have the C2 40 paired with an Excursion 5 and on speed 5 the back does flex quick a bit and was wondering if there was an alternative to the popular fix of using longer 1/2 metal conduit.

[@MrFredsDIY]

It worked awesome! I want to get some video of the gasoline Honda running with the transom board. It was a huge improvement!

[@lloyddaniel741]

@@MrFredsDIY oh man! That’s great to hear! I’ll have to mimic what you did. I’m going to try and use hardboard to see if that is solid enough. Thanks for the great idea!

[@MrFredsDIY]

It really did help a lot. We are filming again soon for this project boat so I will be sure to highlight the transom board and put the gasoline motor back on to show it again!

[@lloyddaniel741]

@@MrFredsDIY Great! I’m very excited to see your next video on the boat.

[@taimourali3561]

Did you ever end up making that video?

[@turnersawman]

I use my jackery to power my trolling motor. Works fine, and i have on board power. 2000 watt hours lasts for 16 hours by the numbers, but i go around all day and only have ever used it down to 45 %.

[@Hmmmppffff]

Still not the expected runtime... But at least better the defectiv Battery :D Motor: 30A*12V=360W Batter: 50Ah* 12V= 600Wh Runtime: 600Wh/360W = 1,66h The shutoff at 11,6v should only cost 5-10% capacity at Max. Peukert effect should be minimal at a discharge rate around 0,6C

[@Blaskor314]

I ordered 2 of the Eco-Worthy to run in parallel to double my AH. My motor is a Minn Kota 34. I don't plan on running full throttle so I am hoping to be on the water for awhile trolling around...Hopefully I won't get any bad batteries...

[@MrFredsDIY]

The price on those batteries is definitely appealing! 100ah should give you a lot of time on the water. My test was at full throttle but when people are fishing that is not how they use their motors. Thanks for watching!

[@Blaskor314]

@@MrFredsDIY I think I'm going to carry a charged 20AH battery...just in case. I plan on using quick disconnects so i can remove and connect things without tools. I am using a lot of yours and others ideas with minor changes here and there (like using copper pipe insulation instead of pool noodles). I am also going to add a board for my transom (great idea) but probably go with thick plastic.

[@tim1299]

What shaft length to you suggest for an Intex raft? 30 or 24? inch. They say the optimal depth of the top of the blade should be 12 inches below the water line.

[@MrFredsDIY]

I’d say shorter is better. This boat basically sits on top if the water.

[@NevadaScrubJay]

Great videos... Thanks... I also have an inflatable boat. My take is that you are getting one minute of run time for each AH. So, a 100 AH battery (with your motor and boat) would get a 100 minutes of run time. My guess is trolling at half speed would get twice the time on the water? Or, more? I would have been interested in the weight of each manufacturers batteries. My take, on the water, weight is a big deal. On amazon, there seems to be significant weight differences between manufacturers. Noting the failure of your one battery; what are your thoughts on a second battery to get you back incase of a failure? Or, incase you find yourself just running out of juice because of wind or whatever. It could be half the size and double as power for run any fish finders, etc.. I wonder if a small plastic bass boat or aluminum johnboat get more time or distance??? My experience is that aluminum canoes move through the water a lot easier than plastic ones. Thanks again... Bruce from Reno...

[@MrFredsDIY]

lots of great thoughts! My flat bottomed, John boat does seem to move through the water with less friction. Certainly a half throttle would seem likely to yield twice the distance. I just received a 100 amp hour battery that I will be testing in the new year. Thanks for commenting.

[@NevadaScrubJay]

Time on the water and distance at various speeds would be insightful if you have the time. My guess, that would get a lot of hits. I have an old battery box that looks like it would fit a 140ah LiFe battery. Cost is a factor (~$300), but at 32 lbs; I find the idea of being able to stay out all day appealing. I am thinking that and a 50 Ah for emergency back up. Another idea for a video might be differences between various props.

[@crazyobservations3080]

It seems it should go further. my 100ah will easily go 10mi probably much more, with a 55pt. Shouldn't you be able to get at least 4 or 5 miles?

[@MrFredsDIY]

It sure seems like I should have gotten more time on the water. I’m planning on a few more videos with a brand new motor and more testing metrics. Thanks for commenting!

[@ericklein5097]

The batteries didn’t cut out at 11.6 (or the motor). They were under load so you’d have to measure voltage under way. Voltage will then rebound. 11.6’ish is about right for a battery that’s been run down to 0% and rebounded in voltage. So it’s possible both went to BMS cut off which could be lower than 2.5V per cell. Some go as low as 2.1V per cell and we can’t assume both were perfectly balanced. The charger you use makes me question if it’s for lithium simply because it says 4 Stage. Lithium charging is 2 stage. Nothing more to it. Any other stage is damaging the battery. CC CV Constant current-current limited to what you set or the max of the charger with the voltage set to a max set point (typically 14.6V) Constant voltage-you’ve reached the voltage set point and now the voltage does not change but the current slowly drops. This is similar to the absorption stage of lead acid. At 0.05C is when this stage should cut off. So for a 50Ah battery that would be when the current drops to 2.5A. Obviously if you’re not using a 0.2C charger (10A in this case) then these numbers won’t make as much sense but you’re not killing the battery using a lower amperage charger. IMO if you’re using a low amperage charger then you can almost skip the CV stage since it won’t need it. Maybe let it sit in the CV stage for 20-30 minutes at most if using a

[@ericklein5097]

Maybe measure 50% charged voltage right when your wattmeter hits 25Ah and then measure again 2 hours later. Write both those numbers on the battery. Next time you go to storage charge it from empty use the same charging current and turn it off when you hit the first number. 2 hours later it should drop to match your second number. Anything within 0.01 or 0.02 volts is close enough IMO. What matters is that you’re storing under 75% but not so low that it could self discharge so low it damages the cells (that would take 6+ months of sitting with only the BMS draining the battery with its tiny 20 micro amp load). If it sits for 6+ months, charge it for a little while so you get back to at least 12V but like I said, 50% is usually 12.8V to 13.2V on a 12V battery

[@timtation5837]

I’ve run a lot of Wally Worlds biggest deep cycle marine batteries on trolling motors and had them last all day. 200+ times per year, and they each lasted for several years (I did a lot of fishing). For a $120 battery (heavy as heck, but durable)… I considered it money well spent… I have yet to use one of the new LiFepo4 type batteries… But I suspect some of the bigger ones might deliver a decent bang for the buck… At least from what I am seeing, I think they might be very comparable…

[@crackericeproductions]

How did you run it all day ?

[@mikefahmie7506]

Was your charger designed for Lithium batteries? I ask because the charger had "4 stage" written on it. I suspect that it is for Lead Acid batteries and won't reach the 14.4 volt level that is typical for a Lithium charger.

[@MrFredsDIY]

The charger in this video is the Ultra Power Smart Charger is made specifically for LifePo4 batteries.

[@redwood1957]

thats a very light boat your pushing. I think the full throttle was key wasting electric. I would like to see at 1/2 or 75 percent speed. Would a PWM controller help?thanks

[@MrFredsDIY]

Thanks for commenting! I will be filming another video in a few weeks with a larger battery. I want to see how long the battery will last under more “normal” conditions.

[@LetsCrappieFish]

Running it at full speed into the wind makes a huge difference. I have a 45 lb trust trolling motor 12V. My 100ah Lithium last all day 6-8 hours trolling at 1mph.

[@Urban_hunter2021]

How big is the boat you have it on? I want to put a 30lbs minkota on my 12 foot kayak and use a 100ah lithium iron battery. Just wondering how long it will last on a charge .

[@crackericeproductions]

Do you have to recharge it on the boat

[@LetsCrappieFish]

@@Urban_hunter2021 I don’t own a boat. I just go to a pay to fish lake and pay $10 to rent a jon boat. Lol

[@Urban_hunter2021]

@@LetsCrappieFish oh ok so it's prob a 10 or 12 foot john boat

[@LetsCrappieFish]

I believe as 12. @@Urban_hunter2021

[@24hrMusic]

I am a little surprised that the batteries only lasted an hour. I would have expected more considering the amp draw of the motor. I wonder if the trolling motor is somehow drawing more than 30 amps... if you could monitor the amp draw, you might find it has an issue.

[@MrFredsDIY]

Interesting hypothesis! I don’t think we’re quite done with this topic. Thanks for the comments!

[@user-tr7se8bk2y]

Many years ago I saw a boat using a electric trolling motor go for many hours on a relatively calm lake, but in that case he was using a car battery. There were no lithium batteries available back then, I suppose a car battery is more capable than the newer technology? 🤔

[@user-tr7se8bk2y]

I wonder why the first battery you purchased is such a dud? Maybe you were sent a defective one or a previous return?

[@MrFredsDIY]

My guess is that something internal melted or shorted out.

[@davidbergewaytogo]

I wonder how a Minn Kota with maximizer function would perform on these 50ah batteries... models such as the Enduro Max and Traxxis have that feature

[@davidjerome4689]

Bonjour Alors cette planche en bois derrière le bateau c est efficace ?? Je suis curieux de savoir ca r j ai le meme bateau 😁😁 Merci de votre réponse

[@MrFredsDIY]

Bonjour, cet étage fonctionne très bien. Cela ajoute la capacité de se tenir debout, ce qui est un gros avantage. Ce qu'il ajoute est minime étant donné qu'il fait environ 13 mm

[@davidjerome4689]

​@@MrFredsDIYje ne parle pas du plancher Je parle de la planche entre le support moteur et le bateau Est ce efficace ??

[@MrFredsDIY]

J'ai mal compris votre question. Cette planche de tableau arrière est très efficace. sans la planche le moteur a tendance à "sous-mariner" sous le bateau.

[@davidjerome4689]

@@MrFredsDIY c est également mon ressenti Je vais en faire une également Quelle épaisseur votre planche ?

[@MrFredsDIY]

La planche que j'ai utilisée mesure environ 10 mm. Il s'agissait d'un morceau de revêtement de sol stratifié. Résistant à l'eau, mais pas étanche. il y a plusieurs années, j'ai utilisé la même méthode sur un autre bateau et cela a duré cinq saisons. Bonne chance pour votre projet!

[@heitorq7795]

When you discharge fully as you are doing, you really cut into the lifespan of the battery. On an emergency, I would have no choice but to fully use a battery, other wise, I wouldn't get bellow 80% on a lifepo4 battery, Get a battery box and install a battery monitor, such as the AiLi Voltmeter. You can use the monitor to decide optimal speed based on power consumption. In my boat, I only gain .5 mph if I go full power, while using almost twice as much power than the lower speed. But I could only calculate that with the monitor.

[@mikefulton9682]

I thought the whole point of getting a Li Po battery was that you can discharge them more than 50% without compromising battery longevity? I know with a SLA you're not supposed to discharge below 50% but I see lots of Li-Po batteries advertised that they can safely be discharged to 0%.

[@thegooniverse495]

Electric motors are not as efficient at max output. It makes me wonder if you can get significantly more time at a lower setting.

[@MrFredsDIY]

I would imagine you are correct. The test I did for this video was to test or along the lines of a “maximum use” situation.

[@davidjerome4689]

Bonjour Quelle puissance votre moteur bateau ?

[@MrFredsDIY]

Approx 61 N·m

[@davidjerome4689]

@@MrFredsDIY 61 lbs c est ça ?

[@ericklein5097]

Holy crap you way overpaid. 100Ah’s are going for $230 on eBay now. Brand new. Redodo/LiTime/PowerQueen are all the same. Same cells, same BMS, same box. The included literature is all the same as well. Just a different sticker. I suspect TimeUSB might be from the same factory as well although their lineup is not identical like the previous 3. The budget market has really come down to those 4 with a few others in the $250-$300 100Ah 12V market. I’ve noticed sizes under 100Ah tend to be insanely overpriced which is silly. They mostly use AGM boxes, they all mostly use prismatic cells in the 100Ah+ category and they all use a very similar basic BMS that can be had for under $20 for a 4S 100A version. A quality JBD without Bluetooth will be about $40, the Bluetooth version will be $55. The smallest of the bunch 7-20Ah seem to use cylindrical cells which is good for being robust but not as great on the weight and size aspect.

[@user-fv6tf2ef2b]

Hello .mo way .if you open the 3 batteries that you say ,you willl see that they so different

[@jacktheripper-hp9tx]

take that 120 volt chinese braker and throw it in the trash and go get some fuses

[@G1ZQCArtwork]

Q, Why do you pronounce this as Baddery or Badderie.? When it is a Battery.!

[@nevadadesertrat267]

What a joke Why waste my time if you are leaving out important info. As in how many amps was that motor drawing and how many amps charging? NDR