Trolling motor batteries

[Squatch]

I haven't jumped on the lithium bandwagon yet. I have one for my garmin fish finders, but still use lead acid for my trolling and cranking batteries. People might not believe me but I have had great luck with the Walmart brand marine batteries. The last ones I had were 7 years old by the time they died. I can buy 2 if not 3 batteries for the price of one lithium. Right now they have worked great for me so not ready to spend the extra money. Guess I'm either old fashion or a cheap scape, but as long as they keep working as good as they have, see no reason to change.

[gb1234]

Thanks for all the replies.
I found out Li Time handles the warranty for Ampere Time. So they are supposed to ship me a new battery once they receive mine. And I'll ship mine once they mail me the label. They're mailing that now after several emails - which took 18 hours between replies.
I'll be off the water for maybe a couple weeks but at least it won't cost me anything. At least that's the plan. We'll see how it turns out. Meanwhile, I will probably never know what happened to my battery or if I could have prevented it. Should I not have laid it on its side? Should I have disconnected them from their series connection while charging? It remains a mystery.
While waiting for Support to reply, I looked up the brands mentioned here, plus a few others. These are all 100 Ah. I tried to compare apples to apples but some brands don't make them without Bluetooth or without heaters. Others won't tell you if they have a waterproof rating. One of these is actually "not in stock" at the moment.

It's amazing how much the prices vary. Maybe some are built better but you wouldn't know it by their web sites. Maybe some have better service, but they mostly look the same on paper.
Studying LiFePO4 more these past few days, I'm shocked that the individual cells inside can so easily become unbalanced, preventing full charge and full usage. I think that's what happened to my Ampere Time. One of the brands above includes a balancing circuit. However, it doesn't say whether it is passive or active. In general, you would have to use a heat gun to open the battery case, and use balancing circuits and a special charger to rebalance cells. It takes hours and leaves your battery less waterproof and certainly out of warranty.
LiFePO4 provides much more power than lead - and I use it all when I troll - but there's a lot to be said for the simplicity of lead. Hopefully the internal circuitry of LiFePO4 will improve. Certainly, if I had to do it all over again, I would get a model with Bluetooth monitoring. Then at least I would know for sure if the cells are out of balance, not that there is anything I could do about it.

[Ole fisherman]

Prices have recently changed do to all the Tarrif crap. I see my battery has gone up almost 50 bucks from what I paid 6 months back.

[gb1234]

My battery is down $100 (30%) from what I paid 2˝ years ago.

[jdeezay74]

i use 2 back up sump pump sealed gel cell batteries from menards for the price i couldnt go wrong. i also use a nico smart charger there are two in series for a ghost at 24v. im on five years now no problems.

[Ole fisherman]

My Wal-Mart starting battery is going on 7 years now with no signs of weakening. The house battery was replaced last season at 6 years of age. Trolling batteries (2) were replaced this spring ( 6 yrs) with one 140 ah lifep04 battery ant it runs almost twice as long as the two agm batteries from walmart.

[gb1234]

Update on my battery experience...
1. It took exactly 2 weeks since I emailed Li Time Support until I received a replacement battery.
2. I asked them what can be done to prevent the internal cells from becoming unbalanced and they claimed the BMS would do that. That's not true because the BMS didn't do it for the battery I returned - unless the replacement battery has an updated BMS.
3. Interestingly, I see that Li Time now offers a "TM" version of their 100 Ah LiFePO4 battery. (TM stands for Trolling Motor). It has the same specs as my battery, except its BMS allows a greater amperage pull for a short time. This tells me the start up of an 80lbs Minn Kota probably tries to draw more current than a standard BMS will allow.
So, if I had to do it all over again, I would buy a battery that allows these short-term higher draws. I would really like one with Active Balancing, but no one advertises that feature at this point.

[Ole fisherman]

My guess is you jyst got a bad one....no matter who, a bad one can show up on ocassion. When I bought my look from TimeUSB, I called them, discussed exactly what I wanted to do with my particular trolling motor and how much power I wanted from a battery. They recommended the battery and charger, which I bought. No problems and I am amazed at how well it works. Let us know how this new one works out...