Choosing the Right Lithium Battery for You

The lithium battery revolution is here, and more companies are selling this power source for marine applications. The dizzying number of brands, sizes, and voltages of batteries has become complicated, but it doesn't have to be, according to California tournament angler Frank Ono.

Ono was one of the first to work with California-based Bioenno as they dipped their toes into the marine market, working as a field tester and coordinator of their testing program long before selling their first lithium marine battery. This experience taught him quite a bit about the benefits of lithium batteries in your boat, including vast weight reductions, more reliable power and longer battery life. Since then, Ono has learned more about the power source and what makes Bioenno stand out.

The Demands of the Marine Environment

Ono, an engineer by trade and schooling, started working with Bionenno in 2019, first as a field tester after meeting them at the ISE show.

"They decided to approach the marine market after years of working in ham radio, solar, and customized batteries for the military," he began. "They asked me and my team partner to test the batteries, and we had a couple of failures in the first year from those first batteries. We learned that marine usage has so much more vibration and impact. When your boat goes airborne or hits waves, it stresses batteries tremendously."

Ono said the team cut the failed batteries open and found a better way to solder and make them waterproof to make the batteries better. "At the time, they didn't even have a product for sale until we had the opportunity to test it out," he said. "I ran the field testing program and used not only bass anglers like myself but friends who run big aluminum boats in the rivers or jet drive boats for fly-fishing. This helped to test out various scenarios to make a better product."

What Batteries to Buy?

Everyone's boat setup and usage differ, so Ono advises using what works for your boat, your needs, and your budget. He prefers a 36V, 50Ah LFP Battery for all his trolling motor needs.

"Instead of having three 12-volt batteries to power my trolling motor, I switched to one 36-volt battery," he said. "Instead of having three in there, I can use just one and save the space of two batteries. I also run a second 36-volt battery and have them rigged in parallel as a redundancy if there was a problem or I did something to one of them. With three 12-volt batteries, if one fails, my trolling motor won't run on a 24-volt system, so this works better for my needs."

There are many different battery options and prices and the choice is up to you, although Ono shared that lithium is substantially stronger than lead acid or AGM batteries you may be using now.

"The thought would be to replace what you have for amp hours with the same thing with a lithium battery," he began. "You might already have a lead acid 100Ah battery, but the reality is that you can only discharge 50 percent of that before damage, whereas lithium is much better in how much power it can harvest and will stay constant until you are out of capacity."

Warranty, Support, and Safety

A product is only as good as it is still working at the highest level, and thankfully, lithium batteries last much longer than standard AGM and lead acid marine batteries. Still, a warranty offers peace of mind if anything ever happens with your lithium batteries. Many lithium manufacturers offer healthy warranty programs, but Ono shares that Bioenno offers an astounding 20-year product warranty.

"Through their research, Bionenno has been able to calculate based on the habits of boat owners how many charge cycles their products will last," he said. "A battery's life is based on the number of charge cycles it can take and the capacity will then diminish over time. They offer a 20-year warranty, which no one else has, or they haven't been in the market long enough to test and see if they could offer that."

Aside from the warranty, having a reputable company makes a difference when making such a big purchase. Unlike many new entrants, Bionenno is based in Santa Ana, California, and has been in business since 2010.

"There are no less than 25 new lithium battery companies and many of them are manufactured in China, where with Bionenno, everything is assembled and distributed right here in California," said Ono. "If you were to have a problem with one of the other batteries, would you ship it back to China? There is a reason why their prices are lower: they do not have support here, and you might not even get a response about your warranty."

Lithium batteries have also made great strides in safety, and Bionenno and other leaders have learned from others' mistakes to make their batteries safer.

"Years ago, some pro anglers using lithium batteries would use the wrong charger and cook their batteries, and then the boat or the battery boxes would swell," he said. "The batteries now are much safer, and companies like Bioenno looked at the trends with failures and analyzed how to fix them."

Bioenno has several features to prevent overcharging, over-discharging, and short circuits for safe operation.

Lithium batteries haven't been around long in the boating world, but they've already made considerable strides in becoming better and more efficient. If you want to switch to lithium batteries, research your needs and choose batteries from a reputable brand.