Quote:
Originally Posted by 1der
I think of rigs that are parked outside in the cold temps even with Li batteries mounted inside. How do you charge those or keep them topped off? Great if you live in SoCal but not so easy if you live in MT.
If you winter camp/ski out of your rig, there are lots of environmental factors to consider.
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Good question. Every battery does more poorly in cold, but lithiums can be destroyed by charging when cold, as you note. The BMS prevents that. I don't camp in areas where it's sub -32 inside my van when I'm driving, which is when I'm charging them (discharge below freezing is not a problem like charging, although as with others performance degrades. Since LiFePO4s charge so much faster than my old AGMs, I can pretty much add 100Ah in a 3 hour drive to the next campsite.
When I've sat for a few days again generally if the sun can power my charger then it heats up the van above 32 inside and I can charge.
Others I know use heaters for them. Again, since they can charge up much faster the penalty of using some power to heat them is compensated for.
There's a battery type out there with silicon dioxide that supposed performs much much better in very cold temps. Called "lead crystal" in Australia. Sold in Canada too. Not sure about their power output, charging, etc though.