Anyone using these batteries (Dakota)?

[BUCKSKI]

Wonder if anyone has some feedback on these batteries?
https://dakotalithium.com/product/dakota-lithium-12v-7ah-battery-69/comment-page-4/#comments

Thinking of using them in my old Vex?

[RuttNutt]

Wow! 11 year warranty and for $49 you can get a solar panel to recharge it? Very intriguing! 

[BUCKSKI]

Wow! 11 year warranty and for $49 you can get a solar panel to recharge it? Very intriguing! 

 glad you got the two battery info. My sons have an older vex so it works out.

[HWeber]

Vexilar, marcum, and energized outdoors would get my money before Dakota. All similar quality.

[BUCKSKI]

have you tried them Weber?

[DR.SPECKLER]

Ive got a dakota and a amped.had problems with both.dakota replaced under warranty with some persuasion.my amped losing almost all volts until dead while sitting unhooked for a few months is worrisome.my new dakota stay full charge sitting all year.im thinking all lithium battery are cheap china.

[HWeber]

They are all made an China, as mentioned. The 11 year warranty from Dakota is crap if you read it.  I have a few amped batteries haven't had any issues. They all work buy whichever you can get a deal on

[pmaloney86]

I can't say that I've used anything else but I'm impressed with my DL.  I have the 54ah for my trolling motor and can run a 55lb thrust trolling motor for hours at full speed.  I also ran into issues trying to obtain a battery box which I was specifically told was not back ordered only to come find out it WAS back ordered.  I told them my displeasure and the battery box was sent to me once off back order for $0.  That alone will make them get my future business.

[Hardwater2]

I’ve been using the Dakota batteries for two years now with no issues. Both the 7ah and 10ah. They definitely don’t weigh that much. This will be my 3rd winter on them.
Serious longevity is yet to be determined…

[Skywagon]

I have 4-12 volt 10 amp Dakota batteries, two are 3 years old, the other two are a couple of years older than that, I have never had a problem with them.  The amped guy used to post on all the sites knocking Dakota (his competition), very unprofessional, even though he is now an advertiser on this site, I will never buy any of his products.

[Hardwater2]

I have 4-12 volt 10 amp Dakota batteries, two are 3 years old, the other two are a couple of years older than that, I have never had a problem with them.  The amped guy used to post on all the sites knocking Dakota (his competition), very unprofessional, even though he is now an advertiser on this site, I will never buy any of his products.

Yeah, that never looks good for either one.
I’m definitely happy with them so far👍

[Van_Cleaver]

I use a Dakota 7ah on my Vex. A lot easier to tote and no problems but this is only the second season so time will tell.

[bigbucky1]

Check this out

[BUCKSKI]

I have 4-12 volt 10 amp Dakota batteries, two are 3 years old, the other two are a couple of years older than that, I have never had a problem with them.  The amped guy used to post on all the sites knocking Dakota (his competition), very unprofessional, even though he is now an advertiser on this site, I will never buy any of his products.

Yeah watched the video and he seemed knowledgeable, but definitely bias. How will the cells rub with all the bathroom caulk? Man I wish I could determine the quality of caulk by just looking at it?
Those who fish them and had some feedback THANK YOU.

Been a few years since I have been active here, I now recall why.   

[gofishin]

You should watch the rest of his videos, he is tearing apart all kinds of different brands and giving (his) opinion on the build quality. If you watch the Dakota videos, the battery made in the USA was junk but now they are made in China and they are actually made better than the ones in the USA. I think it's a pretty good series of videos and actually gives you some knowledge of what some of these batteries are made of.

[BUCKSKI]

Yes he was informative and seemed to know his craft. Did seem like he was leaning in one direction from the start.

[Kevin23]

Vexilar, marcum, and energized outdoors would get my money before Dakota. All similar quality.

All three of those are just rebranded china batteries, same ones you can get on amazon under any brand for near half the price. All lithiums are just battery cells with a BMS attached, you can go expensive and try the warranty game if one fails or you can just buy cheap on amazon and try to take the best care. I bought a 7ah off amazon for $35 and if it lasts the year i will be pleased, two years and i will be happy as can be, and anything more than that I will be amazed. Its literally $9 more than a typical SLA i would buy... I have ice lures that cost more than that.

IMO buy cheap off amazon and if it fails within the return period you can return it. Beyond that chaulk it up as yearly costs... Especially for just using on an old vexilar

[ice dawg]

I watched his video where he tested the Norsk 15 Ah lithium ion battery and he said it would only run a helix 7 for somewhere around 10 hrs or so. Someone else put out a video where he tested this battery with a helix 7 and it ran for more than 18 hrs. It cuts the current usage in half if you run with the brightness setting on 5 instead of 10 according to another test using a Helix 7.

[HWeber]

All three of those are just rebranded china batteries, same ones you can get on amazon under any brand for near half the price. All lithiums are just battery cells with a BMS attached, you can go expensive and try the warranty game if one fails or you can just buy cheap on amazon and try to take the best care. I bought a 7ah off amazon for $35 and if it lasts the year i will be pleased, two years and i will be happy as can be, and anything more than that I will be amazed. Its literally $9 more than a typical SLA i would buy... I have ice lures that cost more than that.

IMO buy cheap off amazon and if it fails within the return period you can return it. Beyond that chaulk it up as yearly costs... Especially for just using on an old vexilar

That was more or less my point. Dakota is no better than anyone else and charges a premium price when compared to the others I mentioned. Hard to convince folks to buy the amazon batteries but that'll be my next purchase.

[Subway4X4]

I have ten DL 10AHr batteries I bought 3 seasons ago when I decided to learn how to fish. They are parallel wired in three different configurations:
5 x 10 AHr for my Minnkota 45# trolling motor for my big fishing kayak.
2 x 10 AHr for my Garmin UHD 93SV and GT56 UHD for my small fishing kayak
3 x 10 AHr for my Garmin 93SV+ and LVS32 Livescope. It’s installed in a Summit Shuttle, which allows me to switch from ice to open water on the fishing kayak. 

Not. A. Single. Issue with my Dakota Lithiums.

[ice dawg]

You should watch the rest of his videos, he is tearing apart all kinds of different brands and giving (his) opinion on the build quality. If you watch the Dakota videos, the battery made in the USA was junk but now they are made in China and they are actually made better than the ones in the USA. I think it's a pretty good series of videos and actually gives you some knowledge of what some of these batteries are made of.

I think he said DL batteries are assembled in Minot, ND, but when he turned it over it had a made in China sticker on the bottom. Kind of confusing.

[HWeber]

I think he said DL batteries are assembled in Minot, ND, but when he turned it over it had a made in China sticker on the bottom. Kind of confusing.

They use to be made in ND, now are made in China. Dakota still has the flag on their website implying they are made in USA but they are not

[Kevin23]

I have ten DL 10AHr batteries I bought 3 seasons ago when I decided to learn how to fish. They are parallel wired in three different configurations:
5 x 10 AHr for my Minnkota 45# trolling motor for my big fishing kayak.
2 x 10 AHr for my Garmin UHD 93SV and GT56 UHD for my small fishing kayak
3 x 10 AHr for my Garmin 93SV+ and LVS32 Livescope. It’s installed in a Summit Shuttle, which allows me to switch from ice to open water on the fishing kayak. 

Not. A. Single. Issue with my Dakota Lithiums.

Soo you spent $500 to make a 50ah battery that has a max discharge of 20A for your trolling motor? I have the chart for the 45# endura that says on half power it draws 20A and max power 40A (I assume all MK 45# motors are the same). What good is a 50AH battery rig that cost 30% more than a drop in replacement 50A, and that you can only use your motor at half throttle with? I bought Ionic 50AH lithium batteries for $350, with same pro rated 11yr warranty, bluetooth monitoring, low temp charging protection, and can discharge 50A continuous.

I am seriously confused

[lazyMlazyK]

All three of those are just rebranded china batteries, same ones you can get on amazon under any brand for near half the price. All lithiums are just battery cells with a BMS attached, you can go expensive and try the warranty game if one fails or you can just buy cheap on amazon and try to take the best care. I bought a 7ah off amazon for $35 and if it lasts the year i will be pleased, two years and i will be happy as can be, and anything more than that I will be amazed. Its literally $9 more than a typical SLA i would buy... I have ice lures that cost more than that.

IMO buy cheap off amazon and if it fails within the return period you can return it. Beyond that chaulk it up as yearly costs... Especially for just using on an old vexilar

Which Li battery/batteries did you get off Amazon?  And, is there a recommended charger for them?

[Kevin23]

Except that each "brand" uses different BMS tech within the battery that is not compatible with just any 3amp lithium charger.

Huh? They almost all use the same $3.00 BMS, obviously some have different brands but they are all set to the same basic parameters because they all use the same type of cells. Any charger that can ouput 14.6v will charge the battery identical. I personally use a noco genius 1. BMS doesnt know what charger is hooked up, all it does is ballance the cells, let them take power until their voltage reaches cutoff, and keeps the pack from being discharged too low.

[Kevin23]

Which Li battery/batteries did you get off Amazon?  And, is there a recommended charger for them?

I bought howell energy. You need a lithium charger, one that outputs 14.6v. I use a noco genius1 for all my 12 and 6v charging, it has a lithium mode.

[Subway4X4]

Soo you spent $500 to make a 50ah battery that has a max discharge of 20A for your trolling motor? I have the chart for the 45# endura that says on half power it draws 20A and max power 40A (I assume all MK 45# motors are the same). What good is a 50AH battery rig that cost 30% more than a drop in replacement 50A, and that you can only use your motor at half throttle with? I bought Ionic 50AH lithium batteries for $350, with same pro rated 11yr warranty, bluetooth monitoring, low temp charging protection, and can discharge 50A continuous.

I am seriously confused

Ummm. ..I’m going to attempt to unconfuse you.

1. I paid $55 for each of my Dakota Lithiums 10 AHr three years ago. They were on 20% sale at the time and then I stacked two different promo codes to get that $55 price, including no sales tax and free shipping and a free t-shirt. They were such a great deal, that I bought ten of them and scored ten t-shirts. That makes a grand total of $550 all in for all 10 units. Or $275 for the TM 50 AHr battery setup. As a fishing noob that started three years ago, this was what was available at the time, for a reasonable price.

2. My bow mounted MinnKota PowerDrive trolling motor is mounted on a pedal driven plastic kayak. So yes, I run less than 40-50% during an all day kayak bass fishing tournament because I use the pedal drive a lot. I worry about enough battery juice only when I engage spot lock in deeper water in windy conditions. But not a huge concern because I usually fish shallow and I can engage one or two of my PowePole Micro anchors (they have their own Lithium batteries.)

3. The 30 AHr power supply to my UHD 93SV, Livescope LVS32 and GT54UHD transducers is more than enough for my fishing electronics. But a TM connector pigtail is wired in as a back up “get me home supply” for the trolling motor. I’ve never had to use it as a backup, because as I mentioned, I have not needed to with my usage of the TM.

I have no affiliation with Dakota Lithium. The next battery I will buy will be something that’s financially feasible (on sale, cheap, etc.) but it will be a lithium battery or ten… it might even a fancy one like yours: Bluetooth, BMS, continuous high amp discharge, etc. 

I hope I unconfused you.


5 x 10 AHr powers the MinnKota 45# PowerDrive and ProNav GPS with Spotlock
3 x 10 AHr powers the Garmin Livescope and GT54UHD
2019 BlueSky Boatworks Angler 360



2 x 10 AHr powers the UHD 93SV and GT56UHD
2021 Hobie Outback



3 x 10 AHr powers the Garmin UHD93 SV, Livescope and GT54UHD. This unit transfers between the Blue Sky 360 and ice fishing duties. 

[Kevin23]

I wasnt confused, i had it exactly as you explained. You are under untilizing your trolling motor because your homemade battery pack is not appropriate for the motor. You could get a china 50ah for less than $250 and it will have the appropriate discharge to handle a trolling motor on more than 40-50%. You are simply making due is all, like buying a f350 and putting donut tires on it to go only to the grocery store. Hopefully nobody with a boat sees that and decides to make a similar pack without knowing the amp draw limitations. Would be unfortunate to hit some strong wind and crank up your TM only for it to shut off every 3 seconds

[Kevin23]

That sounds like something from a company selling you a charger. Thats simply not how it works. If your charger outputs 14.6v it will charge any 12v BMS LiFePO4 battery on the market.

[remyjames23]

I run Dakota Lithium for the warranty. I have a 54ah for my boat and a 10ah for ice fishing. Don't buy them unless they are on sale. I have dealt with the customer service and they are helpful and responsive. I do not doubt I am getting essentially the same battery as all the Made in China batteries on Amazon, but my logic is....I can spend $85 on a Dakota 10ah and know that I will have it for 11 years because of the warranty (I don't misuse them so they are covered for defects), or I can spend $45-50 on a 10ah battery that is probably the same but has no warranty or customer service. I used to buy cheap amazon 20v lithium batteries for my dewalt tools, after a year or two most had ended up failing and I use the Dewalt branded ones with no issue. I like the security of the brand, but then again if the cheaper gamble pays off I'm the one looking dumb for spending double.