Trolling motor battery

[Vanalien]

It's almost boating season here in Minnesota, and the battery I've been using the past 7 years was not holding a charge well toward the end of last season. It's just to power the trolling motor to get from the dock maybe 50 yards before putting up the sails, and then to get back to the dock after taking the sails down.

The old battery is lead-acid and at 50 lbs, kinda heavy. I see there are now lithium ferrous oxide batteries that are about 1/3 the weight and allegedly last 3 times as long. At first glance--seeing lithium in the name--I was skeptical about safety, but having read just a little, it's supposed to be more stable and safe than lithium ion.

Do you guys know something about LiFePo4 batteries? Any specific brands that you would recommend or stay away from? Recommendation of other options? I don't like lugging that old lead-acid battery up the hill to the house to charge it every month or so.

[GreenLake]

There are several people who do reviews of cheap-ish LiFePo batteries on YouTube.

There's one retired electrical engineer I've followed for this, his channel name is now "Clarke's adventure". There's a mix of things on his channel, but he's done a number of teardowns of the more inexpensive batteries out there. Not the worst place to start. I get the sense that he generally knows what he's about, but I haven't scoured the net for other sources. If you like one of the ones he did a video about, you could do worse than get that one, but I can't guarantee that he's fully covered the market. He's not he only one out there, but at some point, you need to act before you get into analysis paralysis. Where to make the cutoff is up to you.

Get a charger that is designed for them, and LiFePo4 batteries will like get you better service live than Lead Acid, for less weight and more capacity (they tolerate deep discharges better).

Good luck!