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Low Temp LiFeP04 and Interview with battleborn CEO


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#1 makalutoo

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Posted 11 October 2020 - 05:39 PM

I stumbled across  this interesting interview with the CEO of battleborn batteries, he really knows his stuff!

 

 

https://www.youtube....bed/ywn-vBjKblI

 

I am in the market for a lithium battery and I am interested in some of the newer low temp batteries that have internal heaters.  I see a couple of different manufactures offer them. Relion, LifeBlue, maybe Battleborn?  Anybody know of any other ones? 

 

The video talks a-lot about low temp charging.  I thought that charging below freezing was a hard no on LiFeP04 batteries, but battleborns will charge down to 25F.

 

Anyway,  I'll be in the lesser 48 this winter, so it is a great time for me to get a new battery, since shipping batteries to Alaska can be difficult. I am planning on using one of my old batteries as a starting battery for my Tacoma, since it was struggling last winter.  Plus it will be good to remove battery weight from the camper.

 

Here is some info from the Lifeblue site on how the heating works.

 

+++++

Irreversible damage can happen to any Li-ion battery that is charged when frozen.
LiFeBlue PCLT and HCLT model batteries have an internal heater and controller that is managed by the BMS.

How It Works
When you begin to charge the battery and the cell temperature is below 26°F, charge current is diverted to the heater and cell charging is inhibited. The Event page will display "Low-Temp when charging”.
After the cells reach a safe temperature to begin charging, current is redirected to the cells.
No current for the heater is taken from the battery during Standby or Discharge modes.
Each battery in parallel requires a minimum amount of power for the heaters.
The heater will attempt to power on but if current is too low, the BMS will start a 5 minute delay and then retry.

This will continue until the following power levels are available to each battery:
12V100Ah: 78W (about 6A)
12V150Ah: 96W (about 8A)
12V200Ah: 128W (about 10A)
12V300Ah: 192W (about 15A)

Standard Batteries
All other LiFeBlue Battery models have freeze protection built in. If the cells are below 26°F, charge current will be inhibited until the cell temperature is safe to recharge.

 

 

Thanks for all of your input!


Edited by makalutoo, 11 October 2020 - 05:51 PM.

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#2 Vic Harder

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Posted 11 October 2020 - 06:47 PM

wonderful interview.  thanks


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#3 makalutoo

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Posted 12 October 2020 - 02:52 PM

I got a response from battle born:

 

Thanks for reaching out to us and for your interest in our new products. 

At the moment there is no specific release date but there has been talk about
getting them out this winter. I would be surprised if they didn't come out before the
end of the year. 

Let me know if you would like to use our standard batteries with the external heating wraps...

 

I wonder how the external blanket ties into the battery management system? I did not see any info on their website that describes it at all.  Does anyone use a lithium battery with external heating for the winter?

 

Thanks 


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#4 Vic Harder

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Posted 12 October 2020 - 05:59 PM

I'd be interested in this too.  


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#5 makalutoo

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Posted 12 October 2020 - 08:26 PM

Here is a link that I just found to their heating pad.  

 

After a quick read of the description, it does not look like it is an ideal solution for me at all, since it runs off of an external tempurture switch.  I like the idea of internal heaters that run when the core battery temp is too low. 

 

https://battlebornba...2/?afmc=rvt_01/

 

This is a heat pad that provides uniform heat and is sized for our BBGC2 batteries.

It has adhesive that sticks directly onto the case, wrapping around the battery. It runs off of 12V. This can be off the battery itself, or another 12V source, like engine alternator. It takes a total of 30W of power, when it is on, so it can run for about 40 hours off of a full battery without a charging source.

Included with the heat pad is a temperature switch that turns the pad on when the temperature falls below 35 degrees Fahrenheit or 1.6 degrees Celsius, and stays on until the temperature rises above 45 degrees Fahrenheit or 7 degrees Celsius. This ensures that the heat pad is only on when needed.

Free Ground Shipping in the US.

Email us info@battlebornbatteries.com for more information or technical questions.

 

Here is a link to another forum that has a whole thread on this issue. I will gladly delete it if it is against the rules to post it.  It is a long thread but has some interesting discussion, i skimmed most of it.

 

https://diysolarforu...temperatures.5/


Edited by makalutoo, 12 October 2020 - 10:26 PM.

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#6 Bigfoot Dave

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Posted 13 October 2020 - 06:02 PM

check out Dakota Lithium batteries.

Enjoy the day, Bigfoot Dave


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#7 makalutoo

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Posted 13 October 2020 - 06:12 PM

Thanks Dave,  I checked their website out and it does not appear that they have a low temperature charging solution.  Glad to see another lithium battery option.

 

Take Care,

Chris


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#8 kmcintyre

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Posted 14 October 2020 - 12:38 PM

Just build your own.  I built one 120ah, bms, etc. for about $375.  There's a thread in the forum somewhere.  It doesn't have the "heating" part though :-(


Edited by kmcintyre, 14 October 2020 - 12:43 PM.

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#9 Vic Harder

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Posted 14 October 2020 - 06:57 PM

I'd like to add heating to my BBorns.  Temps are below freezing now, and when the camper sits for a few weeks without using it, it sure would be nice for the solar to be topping up the camper/truck batts.... 


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#10 Happyjax

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Posted 14 October 2020 - 07:29 PM

Vic if you are home just put a space heater on them to get them up to 35-40 degrees and let the solar charge them. If you are not using them I would not keep them topped off. My understanding is they do better at about 50-60% charge when being idle.... Others might know more about how the cold weather would affect that:)


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