Allied lithium 48v 150ah

[augiedoggy]

Originally Posted by Pat911

Heated pads inside the battery itself, surrounding the cells, but usually only for charging purposes.

Plug the charger in and if temp is below freezing the heaters will switch on, bringing the cell temperature up. Once the temperature is above freezing, charging starts. Power for heaters is taken from the charger and temperature points described above will vary slightly between manufacturers. So may be +2c as opposed to 0c to build in a margin of error.

I installed a couple heating pads in my 12v 230ah rv battery pack and found I have no real practical use for it so didnt bother with it on my golf cart pack...I mean I wont be driving my golf cart in the snow, nor do I use my pop up camper in freezing temps so..
If I used it for hunting that would change things though.

One thing I did recently do is install a voltage switch which turns my active balancer on once my cell voltage goes over 3.37v and turns it back off if it drops below this..

[dundeebarnbuggy]

Originally Posted by Pat911

Heated pads inside the battery itself, surrounding the cells, but usually only for charging purposes.

Plug the charger in and if temp is below freezing the heaters will switch on, bringing the cell temperature up. Once the temperature is above freezing, charging starts. Power for heaters is taken from the charger and temperature points described above will vary slightly between manufacturers. So may be +2c as opposed to 0c to build in a margin of error.

That sounds promising sir but do you know how warm the heater[s] will get the pack while charging? If they get the pack up to 70 or 80 degrees that might be enough with a WELL insulated pack to keep it performing decently for the 16 hours or so it is off the charger. Adding heating pads/blankets to the outside of the pack in an insulated and fully enclosed box [to keep out water and snow] creates it's own set of issues for me, mainly having to include proper thermal switches to prevent a really good fire if the pad's thermostats fail or weld on. I know it can be done, but it's got to right, [already had one barn fire and no it wasn't electrical, arson actually]

[augiedoggy]

Originally Posted by dundeebarnbuggy

That sounds promising sir but do you know how warm the heater[s] will get the pack while charging? If they get the pack up to 70 or 80 degrees that might be enough with a WELL insulated pack to keep it performing decently for the 16 hours or so it is off the charger. Adding heating pads/blankets to the outside of the pack in an insulated and fully enclosed box [to keep out water and snow] creates it's own set of issues for me, mainly having to include proper thermal switches to prevent a really good fire if the pad's thermostats fail or weld on. I know it can be done, but it's got to right, [already had one barn fire and no it wasn't electrical, arson actually]

These have been on the market for years now and they are not dangerous. At least I've yet to see an accident or damage reported on one anyway.
Theres no reason for the insulatlion you speak of as the heater are there for the foremetioned reason to prevent plating damage from charging in freezing temps not to heat the battery to 70 degrees. They likely only heat the battery to to 10 degrees or so as anything over 5 degrees will accomplish the job.
They use the low watt density silicone heating pads like you would find in a heated vest. They are typically sold for RV or off grid solar applications. They do not heat the batteries unless the battery is hooked up to a charger and it's below freezing

[dundeebarnbuggy]

If it only heats the battery a little above freezing when charging, a couple of hours off the charger the [bare] battery will be down to almost ambient temps which here vary from just below freezing to 15 below F which according to the specs [if I am interpreting them right] is below their safe discharge temps.

[gable74]

Another video showing all three options and specs.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dxHTfQrwuIE

[DaveTM]

Huh….I didn’t know that. I’ve not seen such a battery for sale, but then, I’ve not searched for them either.

I hunt in Pennsylvania and the temps (in the fall\winter) can be anywhere from 60degrees to 15 degrees. I do not have any type of heat source keeping my battery pack warm. OTOH, I'm usually out for only a morning or evening "session" lasting at most, 5 hours.

My cart is kept in a heated garage so charging is not an issue.

I've often considered using a 12V "mini" fan type heater and enclose my battery box (easy to do) and run the mini heater off of my 12V Marine battery. But I get all the performance out of "what I need" now, so I see no reason to do this.

However, if the cart was out for a 10+ hour day in below 32 temps, I'd likely consider some sort of battery heater.

FWIW

[Volt_Ampere]

Discharging Lithium at low temps is not a damage issue. You lose tons of performance though. It's really only charging that you have to worry about unless you plan on running your golf cart in Antarctica. :-) While running on cold weather, your battery will self heat somewhat due to the high internal resistance.

[augiedoggy]

Originally Posted by Volt_Ampere

Discharging Lithium at low temps is not a damage issue. You lose tons of performance though. It's really only charging that you have to worry about unless you plan on running your golf cart in Antarctica. :-) While running on cold weather, your battery will self heat somewhat due to the high internal resistance.

I agree. I have noticed the self heating in the small amount of testing ive done just running my cart up and down the streets in my neighborhood. The other day it was 6 degrees celcius inside my pack when I startd off and 11 degrees when I pulled back in the driveway after just going around the block twice at 20mph. I intentionally did this to heat the pack because I wanted to test the solar charging and even though 6 degrees should be fine I figured the extra heat could only help.
Ive found this touchscreen interface for the battery info handy although im sure the geek in me finds it more useful than most.

I cant wait for warmer sustained temps as Ive only been able to test in cold weather so far and it does take a couple days for the battery to acclimate to ambient temps. so far we get one day of temps in the 50s and the next in the 20s.

[gable74]

I plan on picking up the 150ah version of this battery sometime the end of next week. I will keep you posted.

[cre73]

Sorry if missed it, but what is the price? Order online?