Hail call to DuBob or Mildog

[dubob]

I think I screwed up my new Lithiums by trying to charge them when it was around freezing last winter, didn't know at the time, but sounds like stuff freezes up inside and it's really not good to try and charge them in that condition...  One day my batteries seemed to drain in about 3-4 hours of steady trolling with them.  The next day after a charge, they seemed to go for 6-8 hours and never lost power, so I'm not sure if they are tweaked or if it has to do with my charging, but I'm using an auto Li charging cycle so I think it should be doing what it's supposed to... Anyway I sure hope I didn't ruin them and I'll start trying to use them more per mfg recommendations...  I read that LITime is supposed to have blue tooth monitoring, but I didn't see anything about that in my info that came with them...  Does anyone have tips on how to use that?  Thanks J

Jeff,


The Li Time batteries have a battery monitoring system (BMS) built into the case.  The BMS varies by battery and when it was manufactured.  The latest BMS will allow the battery to operate down to -4*F, will not allow charging below 32*F, and will Bluetooth to your smart phone with a downloaded free app from Li Time.  If your battery has the Bluetooth function, there will be a decal on the case that says ‘SMART’.

As to storing the battery in the boat over the winter goes, the general consensus would be that this is a bad idea.  Check out this link: Can You Leave Lithium Batteries in The Cold - Safety Tips. 
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To all y’all,

The biggest problem with lithium batteries is that most folks don’t understand that they are a totally different technology than lead acid/AGM technologies.  And since the price for lithium batteries can exceed the price of conventional batteries by as much as 10-fold, the cost of learning lessons the hard way can get expensive real quick.

If you have switched, or are thinking about switching, to lithium batteries for your marine applications, do your homework and research the technology.