Keeping Lithium Battery Warm in Winter

[rod_vw]

Please excuse me as I know this has been covered before but I cannot find the thread.

I have a Roamer 230S3 Lithium battery installed and am wondering what others have done to ensure that such an installation is kept within operating temperature in winter.

The battery is mounted on an insulated floor and the sides of the vehicle are well insulated but it is located as far from any heat source as it could possibly be. The vehicle is parked in the open when at home, EHU not viable.
Electrical installation of a heat pad with thermostat etc. if necessary is not a problem to me, it's just the opinions and resolutions that others have used is what I am interested in.

Rod

 

[Tombola]

if its not being used or charged at less than zero its will be fine.

when in use Id imagine you are using the van so would be above 0 degrees which is the temp at which it will take a charge

 

[Lenny HB]

Where are you planning on going as you can use them down to -20°C.
It is charging you need to be careful of don't charge them below zero preferably 4°C

 

[Guigsy]

Generally it's a non issue.

If you're using the van, even in a double floor, it'll be above 5C. Or your tanks would be frozen.

If it's in storage, you just need to make sure it doesn't get charged when it's too cold. If you've got a BMS that has cold temperature protection, it'll block itself from being charged.

Then, the next worst case is it runs out of juice because it's been too cold to charge for an extended period. But again, the BMS should shut it down before it discharges too deeply, which itself wouldn't damage like it would of it was a lead acid. Leaving it discharged for long periods will slowly degrade it, but it's probably not going to make a massive difference in the grand scheme of things.

 

[rod_vw]

Where are you planning on going as you can use them down to -20°C.
It is charging you need to be careful of don't charge them below zero preferably 4°C

Thanks Lenny, yes I am aware that it's OK down to -20°C and that it's own battery management will preclude any damage by charging at below 4°C. I would like to be able to jump in it any time and be sure that the battery is warm enough to accept charge if required.

Tombola the van is nearly our every day vehicle so can be called upon at any time not necessarily for overnight but would usually have some leisure side current consumption. I'm intending to supplement the Truma 4e with a diesel blown air either Eberspacher, Webasto or Autotherm, that's a bit 'belt & braces' I know but the fitting cost will be nil just the hardware to pay for. I do have 200W of solar on the roof but at this time of year that doesn't add much even on a 'sunny' day.

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[BryanW]

I have a Roamer 320smart3 which is located under the sofa on 50mm insulation and surrounded by 25mm insulation so far in an unheated van the lowest temperature shown on the app is 4c. when I spoke to Steve at Roamer he said it was no problem to charge from my solar panels down to 0c. I use a battery master to maintain the starter battery from the hab battery as both the Mercedes alarm and the Growler are powered from starter battery. They also don't recommend heat pads because it can cause uneven heating inside the battery.
Just passing on info given to me by Roamer

 

[Dolmen]

Thanks Lenny, yes I am aware that it's OK down to -20°C and that it's own battery management will preclude any damage by charging at below 4°C. I would like to be able to jump in it any time and be sure that the battery is warm enough to accept charge if required.

Tombola the van is nearly our every day vehicle so can be called upon at any time not necessarily for overnight but would usually have some leisure side current consumption. I'm intending to supplement the Truma 4e with a diesel blown air either Eberspacher, Webasto or Autotherm, that's a bit 'belt & braces' I know but the fitting cost will be nil just the hardware to pay for. I do have 200W of solar on the roof but at this time of year that doesn't add much even on a 'sunny' day.

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As EHU is not practical, and you want to charge it at any time, your options are pretty much limited to insulation on the few days a year it is necessary. You asked what others do, I do nothing, if it is too cold to charge it doesn't stop the 230ah's being useable, by which time the van is warm enough for the battery to start charging.

 

[rod_vw]

As EHU is not practical, and you want to charge it at any time, your options are pretty much limited to insulation on the few days a year it is necessary. You asked what others do, I do nothing, if it is too cold to charge it doesn't stop the 230ah's being useable, by which time the van is warm enough for the battery to start charging.

Thanks, I think you have convinced me that no heating will be necessary and in light of what BryanW has reported from Roamer it's not advised any way.

Rod

 

[the1andonly]

If you have a Victron BMV712 and like belt and braces you can use the inbuilt relay to control a SSR based on a temperature measurement (not just rely on the BMS). The SSR would be inline with any charging method. I use such a method to control based on SOC and have summer and winter profiles for the BMV. with a simple switch you could have 3 profiles Freeze (switch to temp sensor read temp), other times(read SOC limit to 80%), high demand (read SOC limit to 100%) Hope this makes sense. (would need to investigate but you may not need to have a physical switch for the temperature sensor may just be software selection.)

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[Spriddler]

How do owners of EV's in cold climes (e.g. Canada, northern Scandinavia etc.) recharge their cars when out and about? Presumably they can charge them at home if parked in a warmed +4 deg garage.

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[St3v3]

How do owners of EV's in cold climes (e.g. Canada, northern Scandinavia etc.) recharge their cars when out and about? Presumably they can charge them at home if parked in a warmed +4 deg garage.

The batteries will warm themselves. If flat, from the charger before actually charging.

Same as decent lithium leisure batteries.