Victron Lifepo4, too cold to charge ?

[Ridgeway]

Noticed that my leisure batteries weren’t charging a few days ago, thought i hadn’t plugged everything in correctly and left it set up in the right mode. Went back today and noticed the same so connected to the Victron App and got a low temp warning on one of the batteries (code A-SL22) which indeed suggests this interrupts the charging process. The strange thing is 2 of the batteries are showing they are at 6 degrees whilst the one that has the error code is showing at 5 degrees.

I had thought that you could charge down to zero degrees ?

I am assuming that the threshold on mine are 5 degrees a that’s probably the factory setting but wondered about lowering it just temporarily to say 4 degrees if that possible or safe to do so ?

Plan B will always be to go out in the van for an extended spin, warm things up etc. Weather is warning here now over the coming days but hasn’t been above zero for over a week (has been -8 at times).

 

[AdrianChen]

At zero there must be less than 0.05c charge but best no charge at all - between 5 and zero I think the charge must be pretty small, but can't remember the percentage of C that is acceptable, certainly no fast charging - at 4°c I would be happy enough for a small current - the battery will warm quite quickly, then you can go up. Mine went up by 5 degrees between sunrise and midday with solar peaking at 6amps charge at the midday peak.

Most suppliers I think cut off at 5°c to avoid any issues with a healthy safety margin, so 4 will be ok I think - but best not push them too hard.

 

[Pausim]

At zero there must be less than 0.05c charge but best no charge at all - between 5 and zero I think the charge must be pretty small, but can't remember the percentage of C that is acceptable, certainly no fast charging - at 4°c I would be happy enough for a small current - the battery will warm quite quickly, then you can go up. Mine went up by 5 degrees between sunrise and midday with solar peaking at 6amps charge at the midday peak.

Most suppliers I think cut off at 5°c to avoid any issues with a healthy safety margin, so 4 will be ok I think - but best not push them too hard.

This is the table Roamer give with their latest range of batteries.

It equates to a charge of 20% of battery capacity at below 10°C and 10% below 5°C. The under temperature charge protection default setting is 0°C with reset at 5°C.

 

[AdrianChen]

This is the table Roamer give with their latest range of batteries.
View attachment 995846
It equates to a charge of 20% of battery capacity at below 10°C and 10% below 5°C. The under temperature charge protection default setting is 0°C with reset at 5°C.

Thats good to see - means Solar is unlikely to be an issue at all, even if the sun was to come out fully. My b2b would be ok as well. Full blown EHU 120amp not so good, might drop that down a bit since overnight stops with ehu don't really need it!

 

[Gromett]

Noticed that my leisure batteries weren’t charging a few days ago, thought i hadn’t plugged everything in correctly and left it set up in the right mode. Went back today and noticed the same so connected to the Victron App and got a low temp warning on one of the batteries (code A-SL22) which indeed suggests this interrupts the charging process. The strange thing is 2 of the batteries are showing they are at 6 degrees whilst the one that has the error code is showing at 5 degrees.

I had thought that you could charge down to zero degrees ?

I am assuming that the threshold on mine are 5 degrees a that’s probably the factory setting but wondered about lowering it just temporarily to say 4 degrees if that possible or safe to do so ?

Plan B will always be to go out in the van for an extended spin, warm things up etc. Weather is warning here now over the coming days but hasn’t been above zero for over a week (has been -8 at times).

Worth turning the heating on for a bit before attempting to charge?

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[Pausim]

I took my van out for a run just before Christmas when the cell temperature showed 6°C. I pulled the fuse on the 50A B2B leaving only the 25A B2B running which kept the charge rate for my 230Ah battery within limits. When cold Roamer recommended warming the air around the battery and letting it warm up slowly because the cells don’t warm up evenly if heated too quickly, there is then a risk of damaging the cold bits of the cells. The Roamer guy is not a fan of most heated batteries and this is one of his reasons, though he does say the principle is sound if you can be sure of even heating throughout the cells.

 

[Raul]

Theres always two settings for low temp cut off: first is low temp protection that kicks in and stops charging, second is low temp cut off release, this value needs to be higher than the cut off by 1C deg minimum.
So, if you lower the cut off to 4C deg then the release will be at 5C and allow charging. Of course, as mentioned above, a low rate to start with, as the battery warms up from inside due to charging, it will accept more current.
But also a bit of heat ( few mins heating on) helps as well.

 

[Ridgeway]

Worth turning the heating on for a bit before attempting to charge?

Yes that was my initial thought too, just wasn’t sure how to run the Alde system without water in it although I’m pretty sure it can be run as heating only which would be ideal for this purpose.

A job for tomorrow me thinks, thanks all.

 

[Peavy]

Yes that was my initial thought too, just wasn’t sure how to run the Alde system without water in it although I’m pretty sure it can be run as heating only which would be ideal for this purpose.

A job for tomorrow me thinks, thanks all.

I have learnt in this trip that the heater in the Truma 4 can be used without water in the system

 

[AdrianChen]

Yes that was my initial thought too, just wasn’t sure how to run the Alde system without water in it although I’m pretty sure it can be run as heating only which would be ideal for this purpose.

A job for tomorrow me thinks, thanks all.

The heating will work fine without water in the tank, since it will still have plenty of coolant

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