tjb616

Have to agree there.

Maybe a silly question, but is the battery being drained by the cold, or does it just struggle to operate in cold temps? In other words, does bringing the temp of the battery back up after it has been cold bring it back to life, or does it need to be recharged?

Regardless, on the odd occasion that you are parking it somewhere cold overnight and you're concerned, it doesn't take 5 minutes to remove it and bring it into your hotel/cabin/friends house with you.

kos11-12

Agreed , remove it from the car to a warm room is the way to go, it will take 2 minutes , I 'll stick the small lithium charger in the boot too,
To confirm ; I never had any issue starting from my underground garage, or in the summer even left park for 3 weeks,
Guessing it's the cold temperature that does affect the cranking power ....

PhatPhlatSix

That is correct, the battery goes into "hibernation". However it is easy to get it out of hibernation whilst in situ - just turn on the lights. The more current passes through, the more it self heats and it'll soon be at normal power output level again.

JackOlsen

From 'BatteryStuff.com'

Tips for LiFePO4 Battery Performance During Cold Weather

Cold weather doesn’t stop me from riding and it shouldn’t stop you either! In general LiFePO4 (Lithium Iron) motorcycle and ATV batteries are a moderate climate power source, but they can be used in some cold weather conditions with a little bit of knowledge. Let’s take a look at LiFePO4 powersport batteries and cold weather performance.

LiFePO4 batteries have an operating temperature down to about 0°F and we’ve heard of people using them at temperatures below this. We’ve even tested them ourselves right out of a freezer, and they worked, but that doesn’t mean they will always work! Most customers can start their vehicle on the first try when above 20°F if you keep in mind some cold weather starting tips.

Warming the LiFePO4 Battery Before Starting Your Vehicle

Once temperatures start to reach the mid-40s it is often helpful to warm the battery before starting. This doesn’t mean you need to wrap your battery in an electric blanket, or take a blow dryer out to heat up the battery! Instead we suggest running your headlights, running lights, or an accessory such as the radio for 30 seconds prior to starting your ATV.

This simple procedure will cause the passing of ions in the battery membrane, which effectively starts to heat the lithium in the battery thereby increasing the battery’s performance. Headlights are always the best option as they take a good amount of amperage to run and will heat up the battery quicker. You may need to increase the warming time to a couple of minutes if you have some low energy LED lighting on your vehicle.

Why will this help? LiFePO4 batteries typically have a simulated CCA test done at about 70°F because of their nature and the need for the lithium to be warm in order to perform. A normal lead acid battery CCA test is done at 0°F and shows how the battery will perform at extreme temperatures right from the get go.

In general, the more you pull from a lead acid battery, the weaker it becomes. Lithium motorcycle and ATV batteries are not meant for extreme temperatures, so the technology is different, and in a way it is the reverse of the typical lead acid battery that your application came with.

Let me explain. In LiFePO4 batteries the lower the temperature the higher the resistance is in the battery, and the higher the resistance the lowers the available capacity is in the battery. This means in lower temperatures the cutoff voltage to start the vehicle may be too low given the batteries available capacity. By running your headlights or accessories it will warm the lithium in the battery thereby lowering the resistance. Less resistance equals an increasing capacity, which increases the voltage under load, and allows you to start your vehicle.

At about 0°F you are at the bottom operating temperature range of a lithium powersport motorcycle and ATV battery. In order to get your vehicle to start at these low temperatures, you may need to run the headlights or accessories longer in the vehicle, but not too long. We suggest running them for about a minute, and then attempt to start the vehicle.

Keep in mind that if the first attempt to crank the vehicle over fails, the amperage pulled by the starter helps to heat the battery even more and the second attempt will perform better than the first. You may need to pause briefly between attempts in order to give the lithium a chance to warm. Several attempts to crank over the vehicle may be required the closer you are to 0°F, so do allow for those brief pauses, which will allow the battery to heat up.

ras62

Excellent info gents. Cheers.

kos11-12

JackOlsen
Very interesting info , It all make sens , Thanks

911Jetta

Just saw this thread too. (hard to know which to post to, sorry for the redundancy...)

Posting here also because I just installed the battery and now the weather has changed as Winter sets in.
_____________________________________________


Just joined the club. Wow is it lightweight and SMALL.

Made a simple metal bracket that ties into the current battery holder tie down bolt. All cables remain stock, so I can put a big boy back in there if this doesn't workout.

The current terminal posts are too short and a bit narrow, so I'm going to add some terminal shims to get better contact.
Starts maybe a half second slower than before.







A new test begins. Cold temps coming...

HiWind

hey guys ... so a reasonable time has passed ... how R these Deltran 480CCA batteries working out?

Interested to hear as I'm a bit wary of the 65% [5 star] and 15% [1 star] ratings and comments on Amazon .. especially the <18mos failure comments ... but I know that if you don't use your cut-off and your trickle chargers etc.. these (as well as lead) can be a problem in 'weekend'/fair weather drivers anyway

In short (haha!) what say ye?

JackOlsen

I have just shy of three years on mine. I've accidentally allowed it to fully discharge several times -- it's always charged right back up and is working great. I don't use a cut-off, but frequently leave it on a trickle charger.

Three years later, the price is still right around US$200. I wish it would come down -- then this would be a complete no-brainer for guys in warm climates.

kos11-12

Hi Jack,
Just purchase this one, to replace mine,
I am intrigued you manage to re charge yours , how low did it got too, how many times ?
apparently under 6 volt means a cell is broken resulting a damaged battery....
I had a similar battery for 3 years, from Landport that was recently damaged, it went as low as 5.6 volt, I tried several times to charge it with my Lifepo4 charger, but no luck,

JackOlsen

When it first happened to me, I thought I had ruined the battery by allowing it to completely discharge. And who knows, I might be shortening its life by occasionally having this happen. But like you, the charger that is specific to the LiFeP04 wouldn't charge it. So I tried my conventional charger set in the 'start' mode -- this is the mode designed to immediately provide enough amps to crank the car over, not to charge the battery. This allowed me to get the car running, at which point (I think) the battery had enough of a start (either from the charger or the alternator) that it had enough volts that the trickle/LiFeP04 charger would work again.

As I said, this has happened several times (my own fault), but the battery continues to bounce back when I use another power source to get the car running.

kos11-12

Interesting info, thank you !
I still have the old battery, maybe I have a chance to save it then, (I have a conventional charger, a CTEK XS 0.8 )
To resume; you used a conventional charger and then top up with the Lifepo4 charger,

mine was working great, the guys at the paint shop forgot to cut the battery, I have a proper cut off switch fitted...

JackOlsen

I think I've done it two different ways. My charger has a 'start' rather than 'charge' setting, where it jumps up to 55 amps in order to immediately start a car. I've used that to connect to the battery and start the car, at which point the alternator put enough power into the battery to get it up to the minimum voltage where the LiFeP04-specific charger would work. But I'm pretty sure I've also simply switched to a conventional charger to bring it up from dead to having enough power to work with the LiFeP04-specific charger. In your shoes, I'd probably try that. Connect the conventional charger, let it charge for 15 minutes or half an hour, and then check to see if there's enough voltage in it for the correct charger to work again.

You've got nothing to lose, right? That's how I saw it when I flattened mine out the first time.

HiWind

thanks Jack! Yes for our warmer climes they look great ... I think the problem with regular or smart chargers that are built for Lead batteries is the desulphation cycle to be avoided on Lith Ion batts.

jack.pe

Ran mine for two years.. killed it by letting it go flat and now bought another. trickle charger i think not necessary as long as you have a cut out.. after all these batteries actually hold their charge longer than conventional ones and once the car is running the alternator should be providing all the power the car needs...