new battery needed

[lostbrit]

My trusty old vex battery has finally died, Tried to get a charge this week and nothing (it only last just over half a day last season) so I'm in need of a new battery for this season.  Are the lithuim batteries worth the money also what is the best standard 12v battery to buy 9ah, 10ah? I don't have a clue to be honest about this stuff but I did find out that my vex draws 200ma at 12v (what ever that means). Any instie would be great.

[DR.SPECKLER]

I use cheap 9ah batteries from ebay and get 5 to 10 years out of them.dont need to pay extra for a name.jmo.9ah come with a lot of vexes,some fl8se and other models come with 7ah but I go with 9ah for longer run time over the 7ah.all  vex models draw the same 200ma I believe.15 to 20 bucks..pretty cheap.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Get the highest ah you can the higher the ah the longer it runs. a 9ah will run your vex hours longer then a 7ah.

lithium vs regular battery....doesn't really change much for preformance.

Difference you will see in a Lead acid vs a lithium.
1. you will get about 500 charge cycles from a lead acid. Lithium about 2000 charge cycles.
2. lithium is lbs lighter then a Lead acid
3. over time when charging the lead acid you will slowly loose some capacity causing a shorter run time has the battery ages. The lithium won't have that.
4. You can find higher ah ratings in a lithium battery that fits the size you need vs lead acid.
5.lead acid battery price range of $14-$25........lithium $99-$150 price range.

I bought one lithium to try.....(dakota lithium) works fine, but not sure if it is worth the $75 more then the lead acid. Benifits really haven't made a difference for most part.

[Chris338378]

I wouldn't spend the extra money for a lithium battery because of the cost and they need a special charger.  My first choice would be a 12 volt 10 amp battery but if you can't find one I'd go with the 12 volt 9 amp battery, nothing wrong with them and is the original battery capacity it originally came with.  One thing I would also do is invest in a Battery Tender Jr, they're better than the chargers that come with flashers.

[Spider1]

I have both 9ah and 7ah batteries. I just pick them up whenever I feel I need one. I don't order them on line, I just find them at hardware stores, tractor supply has them, or even Wal-Mart. The 9ah batteries will last longer on a charge but I personally haven't used a full battery in a full days worth of fishing yet, 7ah or 9ah.

[Ice Surveyor]

Lithium batteries remind me of Yeti coolers.  Cool product, but we really don't need them, unless you like to spend the big bucks. 

[Raquettedacker]

If you have a Gander Mt  by you I would start there...

[lostbrit]

Thanks for the info, looks like a standard battery is the way to go.

[RStock521]

Another vote for standard.  Cheap and does the job.  Ebay or Amazon is also good to check. 

[Whytie]

I guess that makes me a one off. I went with a 10Ah lithium battery mainly for weight reduction when hole hoping and constant use without recharging. Did 30hrs on one charge when spending a long weekend without power on the lake. If the correct charger is used and turned off once complete you shouldn't have any problems. I bought my battery from clean republic and never noticed any power lose when the temperature was -20C during those 3 days.

http://www.electric-bike-kit.com/12v-lithium-lifepo4-replacement.aspx

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Lithium batteries remind me of Yeti coolers.  Cool product, but we really don't need them, unless you like to spend the big bucks.

True. However The lithium does more charge cycles. So yeah it cost $99 for my 10ah dakota lithium. But you'd go through 4 $25 lead acid batteries. so overall in the long run cost is the same.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

I guess that makes me a one off. I went with a 10Ah lithium battery mainly for weight reduction when hole hoping and constant use without recharging. Did 30hrs on one charge when spending a long weekend without power on the lake. If the correct charger is used and turned off once complete you shouldn't have any problems. I bought my battery from clean republic and never noticed any power lose when the temperature was -20C during those 3 days.

http://www.electric-bike-kit.com/12v-lithium-lifepo4-replacement.aspx

whytie a 10ah battery is a 10ah battery a new lithium vs a new 10ah lead acid will run the vex the same amount of time. Now a few years down the road when the lead acid looses some capacity, and the lithium doesn't you'd notice a run time difference

I believe clean republic makes the dakota lithium. When I bought my lithium I did it to get the 10ah, I couldn't find anything around for a 10ah lead acid. I do like it, But not enough to replace the lead acid batts in my other vexilars.

[Whytie]

whytie a 10ah battery is a 10ah battery a new lithium vs a new 10ah lead acid will run the vex the same amount of time. Now a few years down the road when the lead acid looses some capacity, and the lithium doesn't you'd notice a run time difference

I believe clean republic makes the dakota lithium. When I bought my lithium I did it to get the 10ah, I couldn't find anything around for a 10ah lead acid. I do like it, But not enough to replace the lead acid batts in my other vexilars.

You are right Agronomist_at_IA both batteries hold the same amount of charge at 10ah but how they discharge is the difference. A lead acid battery will start out with a charge of lets say 13V and by the end of an 8hr day the charge will drop to 12.4v. Where with a lithium battery will start with 13v and still be close to 12.9v or 12.8v after 8 hours.

I know with my marcum after being outside all day when using a lead battery I was turning up the gain as the day went on. With my lithium battery it was pretty much constant all day once the gain was set. So yes there are pro's and con's for both types of batteries.

Here's a good read on the battery differences.  http://www.altenergymag.com/content.php?post_type=1884

[Agronomist_at_IA]

You are right Agronomist_at_IA both batteries hold the same amount of charge at 10ah but how they discharge is the difference. A lead acid battery will start out with a charge of lets say 13V and by the end of an 8hr day the charge will drop to 12.4v. Where with a lithium battery will start with 13v and still be close to 12.9v or 12.8v after 8 hours.

I know with my marcum after being outside all day when using a lead battery I was turning up the gain as the day went on. With my lithium battery it was pretty much constant all day once the gain was set. So yes there are pro's and con's for both types of batteries.

Here's a good read on the battery differences.  http://www.altenergymag.com/content.php?post_type=1884

I gotcha.....I guess I never really notice the gain setting difference, because that is the one thing I change with my vex from hole to hole. I could see how a setting vs a dial would show that difference well.

[Gimper]

Charge time on a lithium is a lot less. So much so that if I forget to charge the battery the night before, I get a days worth of charge while I'm make and eating breakfast.

[Royalwapiti]

Do the lithium batteries take a different charger?  My son bought a lithium battery for his motorcycle---from Battery Tender and they threw in a Battery tender Jr charger,  but it said for lead and lithium batteries.  My older Jr doesn't mention lithium and I have the original package.  I figure it is  labeled for marketing purposes.

I can't imagine lithium would require anything different but they labeled it as such.

[Agronomist_at_IA]

Do the lithium batteries take a different charger?  My son bought a lithium battery for his motorcycle---from Battery Tender and they threw in a Battery tender Jr charger,  but it said for lead and lithium batteries.  My older Jr doesn't mention lithium and I have the original package.  I figure it is  labeled for marketing purposes.

I can't imagine lithium would require anything different but they labeled it as such.

I believe you can used a Lead acid charger on them but they wont get a full charge then. U need a lithium charger to fully charge them

[Gimper]

The short answer, it depends.

Some Lithiums are near enough to 12 volts that it doesn't matter, some (most) need a higher voltage charger because they are rated a higher voltage. I have several different batteries from different companies (It was a learning curve). The batteries I use the most now have a Battery Management System ( BMS ) built into them. This circuitry "shuts the battery off" if the voltage goes above 16 volts or drops below 8 volts. If the voltage does drop below the minimum, the BMS needs a voltage "kick" to turn the battery back on. Lithium batteries are made from smaller cells inside the battery. The BMS also distributes power to these cells so they will all top off. If one were to just throw a charger on a non-BMS battery, the charge could show 12 volts "fully charged" if only one of the cells in the battery were to reach full charge but the others could be much lower.

Either way, my batteries are actually closer to 14 volts at idle (shows 13.2 with full charge under load of my graph) so a 12 volt charger wouldn't top off the cells in my batteries.

I do have what turned out to be an expensive lithium 12 volt that even the battery manufacturer says can be charged with a traditional lead cell 12 volt charger, but after a few charge/discharge cycles will have uneven charges in the individual cells in the battery and run time suffers noticeably. That battery sits on the shelf for back up now.

Just cause a battery says "lithium" on it, don't assume it's great. Do your homework. A tip, stay far away from Lithium Ion Polymer batteries. Unless you really do like surprise fires. Also, make sure the Ah rating is NOT "equivalent to lead." They can try to put the numbers in their favor all they want with the argument that lithium holds it's voltage better (much better actually) but to label a 6 Ah battery at 18 Ah is just false advertisement in my book. Certainly the lithium I'm running on my trolling motor will get me much farther than a similarly rated lead cell ( or AGM, I'm talkin, this thing is a monster on power and weighs less than a third) only because half way thru the day the lead battery is coughing along at 9 volts and my battery has only dropped a half a volt. But when it comes to running graphs or comm equipment, when the well goes dry on either the lead or lithium, it's dry. More voltage isn't going to make the Vex see better so Ah rating means more. (Except on my bigger Humminbird, which starts to glitch bad at lower voltage).