Cold Weather

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mattcarr
Posts: 389
Joined: Sat May 12, 2007 2:27 pm
Location: Hampshire

Cold Weather

Postby mattcarr » Thu Oct 20, 2011 1:20 pm

The cold weather is finally hear. My car has not had much use in the last few days and has been sttod on the driveway. I used it this morning and noticed that the battery voltage sagged alot more than usual under heavy load. I take it that this is fairly normal for cold lithium batteries. I have to say that one m return trip they were not sagging quite as much - perhaps they had warmed up a bit from being used.

I have noticed that there is no heating on the battery boxes in my car. Do you this that this is something I should look at getting?

Cheers

Matt

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retepsnikrep
Posts: 1387
Joined: Sat May 26, 2007 4:50 pm
Location: North Yorkshire England
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Re: Cold Weather

Postby retepsnikrep » Thu Oct 20, 2011 3:43 pm

Yes they will be affected by the cold weather but they will last longer from a calendar life point of view.
All the chemical reactions slow down.

Yes they will warm up under load. The older types of cells were even worse.

I used to have a well insulated battery compartment in my Solarvan with electric blanket wires under the cells and fan cooling etc that worked well. Keep them about 20C for reasonable performance or 35-40C for a bit more zing. :)
Regards Peter

Two MK1 Honda Insight's. One running 20ah A123 Lithium pack. One 8ah BetterBattery Nimh pack.
One HCH1 Civic Hybrid running 60ah A123 Lithium pack.

GregsGarage
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Joined: Tue Apr 01, 2008 5:27 pm
Location: Galashiels, Scottish Borders
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Re: Cold Weather

Postby GregsGarage » Thu Oct 20, 2011 10:17 pm

I am pleased so far with the cold weather performance of my cells. Yes they sag a bit more when cold, and once they warm up a bit you get a bit more zing. I connect the charger straight after driving while the cells are still warm as most cells shouldn't be charged below freezing. I was getting around a 60 mile range in the summer, and even with the cold and running a 1.5kw heater off the pack I still have a good 40 mile range at least.
Greg Fordyce

Daewoo Matiz
http://www.evalbum.com/4191


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