New Hope, Minn. (July 10, 2023) – Over the past few years, anglers have started running multiple graphs with 2D sonar, HD mapping, MEGA Imaging, 360 Imaging, and forward-facing sonar on huge, 10- to 19-inch high-resolution LCD screens. An on-the-water computer network communicating via ethernet and Bluetooth, but also connected via electrical wiring, today’s elaborate fish-finding systems present a huge amp draw and require lots of power.
Talk to tournament pros, guides, and other serious anglers, and they’ll tell you it’s been one heck of a ride trying to supply enough power to run the maze of screens, black boxes, and transducers. Seems like everyone has been through situations where voltage alarms appear after as little as a few hours, taking anglers off the bite, forcing them to drive around to recharge their house battery off the outboard motor alternator—if the batteries are even rigged correctly to do so…
Then it’s back to the garage or rigger to figure out the next step up in power to accommodate an actual full-day of fishing. Adding additional lead acid or AGM batteries—or even using smaller lithium batteries for bow electronics—typically leads to more frustration, failing to solve the power issue once-and-for-all.
Yes, a huge waste of time, when we’d all rather be fishing, our investment in modern fishing electronics working as it should, unhindered by voltage alarms and shut-offs before any of us are ready to trailer the boat home.
Here’s the good news: NORSK Lithium is proud to introduce a ONE BATTERY solution that powers multiple large graphs, black boxes, and transducers, while also supplying the cold cranking amps necessary to turn over giant outboards.
“The new NORSK Lithium 180AH 12V LiFePO4 Starting/House battery is the be-all, end-all battery solution for the angler struggling to power large sonar screens, while also working as a starting battery for big motors,” says NORSK Lithium Marketing Director, James Holst.
“It solves a huge problem – and that’s powering modern sonar screens that can draw 3.5 to 4 amps each. And that's before you even figure in black boxes and transducers. Non-lithium batteries simply cannot address the power issues today’s anglers face on a day-to-day basis,” adds Holst.
Holst continues: “This battery has the capacity an angler needs to fish sunup to sundown and never have to worry about low voltage alarms or units powering off.”
A fishing TV host and multi-media producer over the past 20-plus years, Holst has had his own issues supplying enough power to his fishing electronics along the way. With NORSK Lithium, however, he can finally run his dream rig—and fish for days on a single charge.
Holst explains: “I have my boat rigged with four Humminbird APEX 13s, a 12-inch Garmin, LiveScope, MEGA 360, and MEGA Live. I recently took a trip to northern Ontario and at no point on the 7-day trip did I have to recharge the new 180AH 12V Starting/House battery we’re launching at ICAST. In fact, it never got below 62% capacity. The alternator on my Mercury 400 Verado kept everything charged as we ran from spot-to-spot. I was like, ‘finally, we’ve solved the problem’.”
While most anglers are taking half measures and adding lead-acid and AGM house batteries, rigging ice fishing batteries on the bow, and making other poor attempts at providing ample power for today’s fishing electronics, he says this new NORSK Lithium battery is the “final mic drop” in power that anglers have been looking for—and in a ONE BATTERY format that acts as both Starting and House battery, thus cutting down required batteries on most boats from five to four.
“The new battery’s capacity is the most important thing,” offers NORSK Lithium’s Founder/Engineering Director, Derek A.
“Our new unheated and Heated Core 180AH Starting/House battery models accommodate the growing number of fish-finder screens being used on boats—and displays that are getting larger, brighter, and more power consumptive. Anglers are also running more of them. It used to be that anglers would run one or two screens; now it’s not uncommon for anglers to run three, four, or five graphs on a fishing boat. And nobody’s kept up with it on the power side, so it’s been a struggle for today’s anglers.”
NEW NORSK Lithium Exceeds Mercury Warranty Requirements
Besides supplying failure-proof power for today’s fishing electronics, NORSK Lithium’s new 180AH 12V LiFePO4 Starting/House battery meets and exceeds all of Mercury Marine’s warranty requirements for a starting battery.
Mercury Marine issued a performance bulletin in November 2022 that clearly spelled out their expectations for what a starting battery is supposed to do. NORSK Lithium took those specs and engineered a lithium starting/house battery combo that went above and beyond.
“Most of the lithium batteries on the market don’t even make an attempt to address Mercury’s warranty requirements,” notes Holst.
“NORSK Lithium’s engineering team started with Mercury’s warranty specifications and purposely designed a battery that far exceeds the requirements. Honestly, we’ve crushed them. Designed to run off any outboard alternator, engineering tested this battery in cars to ensure its reliability. Obviously, the larger the outboard, the more output you get from the alternator. At cruising speeds with my 400 Mercury Verado, my battery was receiving about 45 amps of charge current, which to a 180AH lithium battery isn’t that much, so I was able to recover a lot of energy quickly. So, you make a 20 minute run and you’ve got 45 amps inbound to recover juice quickly.”
NORSK Lithium’s Founder/Engineering Director, Derek A., adds: “As of now, Mercury is the only outboard manufacturer we know of that has issued a statement that spells out what a lithium starting battery needs to be able to do. We took their specs for lithium starting batteries and far exceeded them to ensure absolute reliability on-the-water.”
Derek A. concludes: “Today’s outboard motors are more power hungry with their fuel injection systems, power steering, etc. and everyone assumes that little, lead-acid lawn tractor batteries in the back of the boat are going to power everything. That’s simply not the case, but we’ve engineered the solution.”
NORSK LITHIUM’S 180AH 12V LiFePO4 Starting/House Battery
The new NORSK Lithium 180AH battery is ideal for the angler who wants to provide fail-proof power to multiple large HD LCD fish-finders, live imaging, and forward-facing sonar all day long – if not longer on a single charge – and provide the cold cranking amps (CCA) necessary to power big outboards.
NORSK Lithium batteries are manufactured under strict ISO 9001 standards to produce the highest quality, most reliable batteries on the market. Combined with industry-leading NORSK Guardian™ App and Thermal Core heating, that makes this battery suitable for year ‘round use. Ultimately there is no better battery available to today’s angler running sophisticated, power-consumptive fishing electronics.
SPECIFICATIONS
- Battery Type: Lithium Ion Phosphate (LiFePo4)
- Rated Capacity: 180AH
- Cold Cranking Amps (CCA): 1200
- Watt Hours: 2304
- Voltage Range: 10-14.6V
- Weight: approx. 55 lbs.
- Size: 18.9” (l) x 10.63” (w) x 8.19” (h)
- Lifespan: 4,000+ Cycles, 15-20 years
- Warranty: 10 Year + NORSK Guardian™ app technical support
MSRP: Unheated: $1,399.99; Thermal Core heating: $1,549.99