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Old 10-13-2022, 06:05 PM   #1
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researching self-heating Li batteries

does anyone have experience with self-heating lithium batteries? obviously they are somewhat more expensive than non-heating versions but saves the trouble of removing them from the trailer and taking them inside to put on a battery tender when the trailer is stored (outside) for the winter.
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Old 10-13-2022, 06:43 PM   #2
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maybe so, maybe not.

i'm not an expert on this but my understanding is that the self contained heaters work off the incoming charge current provided by the converter. if the temperature is too low the BMS turns the internal heater on and does not pass current through to the battery until the heater warms up the battery. i do not know if it then turns the heater off once the battery reaches the desired minimum temperature. this keeps the battery from being damaged when charging at low temperatures.

they can be safely discharged to lower temperatures than they can be charged at. i do not know it the BMS will stop the discharge if the temperature gets too low. many lithium batteries appear to do this. i also do not know if the BMS can activate the heater using battery power if the temperature gets too low so as to avoid low temperature shut down. this would require that the battery supply power to the actual load and the heater simultaneously.

but even so it is my understanding that an unused battery can tolerate the cold as long as it is not being charged or discharged. so why take it out and put it on a battery tender? lithium is supposed to have a lower self discharge rate than FLA and there are tons of posts about people leaving FLA batteries out all winter.
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Old 10-13-2022, 08:56 PM   #3
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Originally Posted by faithie999 View Post
does anyone have experience with self-heating lithium batteries? obviously they are somewhat more expensive than non-heating versions but saves the trouble of removing them from the trailer and taking them inside to put on a battery tender when the trailer is stored (outside) for the winter.
If you are not going to use your batteries in temperatures below 32 degrees then you do not need the heaters. When you stop using your lifepo4 batteries for the season they can be stored outside in the cold.

But you need to store them at 60 to 80% charge and they should be disconnected from any parasitic draw . And definitely shouldn't be charged.

I have read that if not being used you should always store them at 12.8 volts. This makes them last longer. When you buy the cells to build a battery they are shipped at 3.2v. (3.2v x 4 = 12.8v)
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Old 10-13-2022, 09:44 PM   #4
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does anyone have experience with self-heating lithium batteries? obviously they are somewhat more expensive than non-heating versions but saves the trouble of removing them from the trailer and taking them inside to put on a battery tender when the trailer is stored (outside) for the winter.
Heated lifepo4 batteries are heated to allow the user to charge the battery at below freezing temps. I have never heard of anyone using the heated battery for storage purposes. If they did heat in a non-charging environment such as you mentioned, they would be using a lot of energy and could possible drain your battery.

I have 200AHs of heated battery and I look at it nothing more than an invisible fail safe system.
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Old 10-17-2022, 09:14 AM   #5
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Our non-heated Battleborn's will operate down to -4F (with reduced capacity). If the internal temperature of the batteries reaches 24F they will no longer accept charge. They can be disconnected and stored down to -15F.

If you mount your batteries inside low temperature isn't an issue at all. We camp all winter with no problems.
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