What's that 12v battery you have all be raving about?

[bus kid]

I have had this one for a while now.

http://www.kayakfishingsupplies.com/...BATTERY/Detail

[BrokeLoser]

Originally Posted by bus kid

I have had this one for a while now.

http://www.kayakfishingsupplies.com/...BATTERY/Detail

The one I have that went bad is also a GPS. It lasted two years without issue so I'm not opposed to getting another; I just thought I read somewhere here about a brand that everyone was talking about and something about a group buy? I could me mistaken though.

[bus kid]

The group buy I think you are referring to was for Lifepo4. If I remember correctly it was Greg Andrew that was the point of contact. Hit him up or Jorge.

see Jorges post here #18

http://www.bigwatersedge.com/bwevb/s...ighlight=solar

Have you been out to NPH lately?

[YakMedic]

Bioenno is the brand I use. It is a LiFePo4 battery its a pricey investment but it lasts so much longer than SLA batteries. I used to have 12v10a batterries die in 6 hours. With my bioenno it lasts days

[BrokeLoser]

Originally Posted by YakMedic

Bioenno is the brand I use. It is a LiFePo4 battery its a pricey investment but it lasts so much longer than SLA batteries. I used to have 12v10a batterries die in 6 hours. With my bioenno it lasts days

SHEESH!
I'm sure it's been talked about a bunch but at $150+ I can buy a lot of those 12v 10ah Chinese specials that have been lasting me about two years. I found them for $23 each...Mine have always lasted atleast a full day on the water.

How do you guys justify the cost difference?
Weight?
Do they last six times longer? (12 years)

[BrokeLoser]

Originally Posted by bus kid

The group buy I think you are referring to was for Lifepo4. If I remember correctly it was Greg Andrew that was the point of contact. Hit him up or Jorge.

see Jorges post here #18

http://www.bigwatersedge.com/bwevb/s...ighlight=solar

Have you been out to NPH lately?

Bingo...that's it Bus...Thanks!
I haven't been out of NPH in awhile....you?
I've been taking the boat out more often than the yak...been going south to the islands.

[bus kid]

Originally Posted by BrokeLoser

Bingo...that's it Bus...Thanks!
I haven't been out of NPH in awhile....you?
I've been taking the boat out more often than the yak...been going south to the islands.

I was out a few weeks ago up north on the yak been spending too much time boating as well.

[danjor]

LiFePo4 is the name with correct capitalization. Aka "lithium Iron Phosphate"

LiFePo4 Advantages
about 1/2 weight of SLA Battery
constant voltage threw out discharge cycle, makes better finder readings
Unlike SLA amp draw doesn't affect use able ah
Faster charge times
If taken care of more than 20k charge/discharge cycles = a ton of fishing trips

Disadvantages
Expensive about 5x cost of SLA
Depending on "C" raiting can shock the living daylights out of you
Needs a cell monitoring circuit to keep from over discharge
If over discharged battery dies, period
Needs a special charger

SLA aka "Sealed Lead Acid"
Advantages
Cheap around $20 for a Chinese 12v 10ah
Forgiving with overdischarge, just stick on a trickle charger

Disadvantages
Heavy, oh yea heavy
Voltage sag
Amount of current draw affects useble Ah
Can last 2 weeks or 2 years who knows

In my opinion the LiFePo4 are the superior battery and even with the higher cost if you put it in a pelican case with circuit management board and a good charger the batter will last as long as 10+ years with maby 10% ah loss over that period if properly taken care of and just for the reason of no voltage sag it is worth the investment! So as long as you take care of the battery it will take care of you.

[Fiskadoro]

Originally Posted by danjor

LiFePo4 Advantages about 1/2 weight of SLA Battery constant voltage threw out discharge cycle, makes better finder readings Unlike SLA amp draw doesn't affect use able ah
Faster charge times If taken care of more than 20k charge/discharge cycles = a ton of fishing trips...

There you go.

The constant voltage throughout discharge cycle is a huge advantage. A SLAs voltage drops as it discharges, which means your finder has less and less voltage or power to run on the longer you run it on a SLA. First few hours they are fine but over time the performance starts to degrade.

LiFepo4 and NIMH batteries have constant discharge which means the voltage stays the same until they run out of power. Effectively this gives you about a third more functional hours for your fishifinder on the same amount of amp hours.

The reasons you list are the exact same reasons I went with a NIMH back in 2008. LiFePo4 sounds great but until I kill my current NIMH battery there is not much point in changing to anything else.

You got it right. Those are the advantages to the better batteries, and it is worth the extra cash if you take care of the batteries and keep them going for the long term.