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Dakota Lithium


eyeguy 54

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  • Official Fishing Report Team - MN

Totally understand the hype and some of the benefits on the lithium batteries. But honestly I haven't found myself pulling the trigger on one yet. And probably never will. I guess for myself I look at the prices versus rewards and I cant see the benefits worth it I might be wrong. I realize the guys with the LCD Marcums and the LCD Birds  require a lot of battery power and I see the rewards then but just not  for the standard old school dial guys.   I just find myself personally having no problems using a 9 amp 12 v standard battery in my Vexilar.  In fact I have 4 of them one of the extras I Run in my Elite 7 GPS on a blue box for navigation. 1 in my underwater camera 1 as a spare. As far as seasons I get at least 5 years or better off of them. At $19.99 at fleet on sale you cant go wrong. Call me Old school but I have a fishing room built on my house that I put my gear in every day or night when arriveing home, so  I've always made it a habit of charging my vex everyday as a priority. I know the longevity factor and  I realize weight has always been a bonus but honestly if I cant lift a VEX with the standard lead acid battery and  go hole to hole all day then maybe I need to hit the gym or weights a little harder or  find another sport. ?. Maybe some day Ill jump on board but as for now call me old school ?

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With this body every ounce I don’t have to lift is a plus ?. Like with the auger. So nice with the electric. Only one battery here so a few bucks invested was ok.  No way if I had four going would i have switched. Always always charged the old one after each outing. Great habit. This one hasn’t moved off 100 % yet but I still throw it on for just a bit. Will experiment maybe next time out and see what it does after two outings. 

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28 minutes ago, eyeguy 54 said:

 This one hasn’t moved off 100 % yet but I still throw it on for just a bit. Will experiment maybe next time out and see what it does after two outings. 

 

Wouldn't be surprised if the Vex gauge doesn't read the battery correctly, since lithiums have a flatter/higher voltage curve and those meters read the voltage, if my memory serves me right.   Or the Vex just has such low power draw its barely making a dent in it.  ?

 

 

 

 

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Very low power draw i am told on the fl18

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6 hours ago, eyeguy 54 said:

Very low power draw i am told on the fl18

Son has an FL28, buddy the FL18 both thought thier flashers were drawing too much current as there newer batteries died in a few hours. (Had bad batteries) Fl28 spec states 275 ma, I measured 287ma all options on. Fl18 spec at 200ma actual measured 208ma. I ran both units on new full charged 9ah batteries for 8 hrs. Fl28 batt was at 11.72 Fl18 11.97 at end of 8 he's. Calculated run time for a Fl18 on a 15AH battery is about 58 hours and Fl28 at 41 hours.

(15 ah  = 15,000 ma - 15,000ma ÷ 208ma x.8 = 57.69. The x.8 represents 80% due to cold temp, repeted power on/off etc.). 

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On 11/17/2019 at 5:00 PM, AlwaysFishing23 said:


I was able to get out for a bit today. Lake had good ice (5-6”) and was able to ice a few nice gills. I did get to drill about 20 holes with the drill/auger setup. Wow is all I can say. Butter smooth and FAST! Very nice, 20 holes and never dropped the battery down one bar. Just pull the trigger and go, no gas no pulling no mess. But I did have a lot of torque to deal with like I expected. The drill did great so I’m going to invest in the clam drill plate and a 6” lazer auger. I have the 8” lazer now so I should have a lot less torque and more holes per charge. As far I know from reading and YouTube the lazer auger (Hand auger) should bolt right on the plate without any other needed adapters? 

Correct 

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9 hours ago, papadarv said:

Son has an FL28, buddy the FL18 both thought thier flashers were drawing too much current as there newer batteries died in a few hours. (Had bad batteries) Fl28 spec states 275 ma, I measured 287ma all options on. Fl18 spec at 200ma actual measured 208ma. I ran both units on new full charged 9ah batteries for 8 hrs. Fl28 batt was at 11.72 Fl18 11.97 at end of 8 he's. Calculated run time for a Fl18 on a 15AH battery is about 58 hours and Fl28 at 41 hours.

(15 ah  = 15,000 ma - 15,000ma ÷ 208ma x.8 = 57.69. The x.8 represents 80% due to cold temp, repeted power on/off etc.). 

 

The Ice55 pulls 250mA per its website/spec sheet..  A unit with a big screen like the Ice Helix 7 w/GPS rated at 900mA.

Edited by CJH
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Stopped by Fleet Farm today, picked up new FL-8se. Super quit running. Tested current uses 200ma set at 20ft. Increases to 224ma with Gain set to max. Uses less power when set to deeper depth - 120ft only draws 150ma.

20191210_140030.thumb.jpg.b26a248e8d2adf0771bfafe43617f022.jpg

 

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may the vex force be with you. :)

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  • 2 weeks later...
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update. love the weight. The vex charger was not doing it right so I bought the Dakota charger for 20 bucks. man does it get hot!  

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You think it’s worth it Eyeguy 

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14 minutes ago, monstermoose78 said:

You think it’s worth it Eyeguy 

Yes indeed. Light as a feather

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I was about to purchase a lithium flasher battery for my FL20.  I spoke with a buddy who is a vexilar rep, sounds like they may be exploring that option for their flasher in the future.  He did mention that charging a lithium battery with the standard vexilar charger or a .8 amp charger can cause some issues.  Almost like reverse polarity issues.  I don't have a lithium battery, but if i were to purchase one it would be with a new charger.  

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  • 3 weeks later...

I have a two lithium. You do get more run time of out them. They run all the way down to about 5% before they quit. Your standard battery will start to lose power and then cut you off with some juice still left. You will want a new lithium charger, charging them on a regular charger can mess them up and give you false readings of it being full.

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I just ordered one of the Amped Outdoors batteries.  My Genius Smart Charger has a Lithium setting, which they said would work perfectly with it.  So if you have one of those, or something similar, that should work.  I'll find out one way or another!!

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