Over the past several years, California pro Billy Hines has fished across the country on the FLW Tour and Tackle Warehouse Pro Circuit to top western trails like the BAM Pro Tour. He was also an early adopter of lithium batteries and has run them in his boats for six seasons. That real-world experience has shown him the difference lithium can make, and he's not going back to any other power source.
Volts and Amp Hours
Hines is a technical angler who admits to overdoing everything when setting up his boat. However, he also keenly understands electrical systems and how they affect boat performance. He pays close attention to the amp hours of his batteries, whether it's his cranking battery or his Bioenno lithium trolling motor batteries.
"I run two 36V, 30Ah trolling motor batteries and have them rigged parallel," he said. "That's a lot of amp hours, and that's the key with all batteries, whether it's the trolling motor batteries or the battery you use for cranking and running your electronics and accessories."
Aside from amp hours, volts are also important and every battery type will have the same amount of power for a 36V trolling motor system, but Hines said the key with lithium is how much longer it lasts.
"Voltage is voltage and if you have a 36V trolling motor, that is what you will get," he said. "The main thing lithium has done is that you have a 100-percent duty cycle until the power is done, unlike AGM batteries which go down in power throughout the day. It's not like the old days when I had to turn my trolling motor on high at the end of the day to get it to move. Battery technology has come a long way."
Bioenno has a 12V, 200Ah LFP Battery that you can use to run electronics and has plenty of power for multiple units and transducers. "You can run four graphs and have the same power moving through the system all day," Hines said. "The information is out there for how many amp hours each unit will draw, and you can do the math to calculate how long they will last. You will have brighter screens that aren't fading throughout the day if you have enough amp hours."
Charging, Mounting, and Support
Hines runs a Power-Pole MOVE trolling motor and utilizes their CHARGE battery management system, which can charge all battery types and charge the batteries on the run. As a result, Hines is almost always at full capacity.
"The CHARGE works perfectly and gives me a little juice as I run," he said. "When I get back in and plug in my batteries, they are almost always above 90 percent; it's crazy. Lithium batteries charge much faster and can fully charge in a couple of hours instead of taking all night, which is huge if you stay at a motel for a tournament and everyone is charged to the same plugs. All the guys have 100-feet extension cords with 14-gauge wire, and it's hard to pull and separate all that power and get a good charge."
Hines also makes battery trays to store all kinds of batteries securely, and they have become a must-have for anglers looking for a better solution. "I make them for all the different battery sizes, and they are all aluminum with stainless steel ratchet straps," he said. "Since it's all stainless or aluminum, there's no rusting. Everything is top-of-the-line."
Another benefit of lithium is its long life. Bioenno batteries have been in Hines' boats for the past six years, and they are still going strong for those who have purchased his past boats.
"I've been running them and have had absolutely zero issues, but the nice thing about Bioenno is that they have a 20-year warranty if something were ever to happen," he said. "When I sell my boat after a season, I keep the batteries in there, which are still going strong for the new owners. Lithium batteries cost more, but a good AGM battery will still cost you $250 to $300, and that's a two-season battery or at most three years, and you have to keep buying them again and again."
With so many lithium battery companies popping up, Hines says that anglers should research before making an important purchase.
"The downside with a lot of lithium batteries is that so many companies are coming out with batteries made in China that cost way less and then just throwing their company name on them," he said. "They have a lot of problems and give lithium batteries a bad name, which is what separates Bionenno since they have been around since 2010. It's hard to convince someone to spend more, but you really do get what you pay for here. Also, all Bioenno batteries are assembled, served, and sent from here in America."
Many bass anglers have already switched to lithium, and many more are contemplating the move. It's a big decision, but it can pay off with more power and better efficiency for your needs.
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