Disable SOK heat pad?

[Seabee John]

Has anyone done and/or how do you disable (or disconnect) the heating pads from a SOK 12v 206ah battery?

Since the SOK battery box cover is removable, I figure the heaters can get unplugged from the BMS.

All of my batteries are SOK non-heated so I don't have anything to go by. I looked at Will's video where he tore down a SOK and the heaters look plug and play. I did contact SOK directly and they said the heaters can be disabled/unplugged but didn't offer any insite otherwise.

With the heaters unplugged would the low temp charging protection kick in at 32F instead of turning on the heaters??? Or would the charging continue as the BMS would try to engage the heaters...instead of activating the low temp protection???

Thanks.

 

[robby]

If it's designed properly then just disconnecting it should do the trick.
The low temp shutdown should still work if it got too cold in the cabinet. It is just that the Battery will keep on waiting to charge and will keep seeing that the temp is below freezing until the ambient temp gets warm enough.

 

[deminimis]

Yes, you can. It's easy. Now, if you'd like to sell those SOK heating pads, I'm your guy. My marine battery did not come with them (I miss-ordered). My batt gets too cold in our boat, shuts off, drains, then I have to go through the whole brining it back to life process. (I know I can pull the battery before things go sideways, but...).

 

[Impatient]

Newb answer probably worth less than $0.02:

Isn’t there a toggle on the Bluetooth app to turn heat on or off? (Or is it just an indicator of on/off?)

My 12v206ph is in transit from SOK, so what do I know. Typical me: buy first, then ask questions later.

 

[AnotherOffGrid]

Guaranteed solution:

Unfortunately, its not a plug-in connector, so I had to resort to bending it back and forth to break the connection and then trimming the silicone off (circled in red). The exposed wiring on the heating pad were then covered with electrical tape (circled in blue)

 

[pete75]

I have a problem that the bms units are programmed incorrectly and always below 0 degrees they heat each other. They also turn on every 7 minutes for about 10 seconds and then disconnect themselves. I've thought about opening the case and cutting the heater wires and installing a circuit breaker in between Does anyone have experience opening these cases? At the same time, you could even change the bms units. The current units are the same as the ones used by the vision, so are they otherwise good? It's a 12v 200ah battery. Is the bms unit on top of the cells, or somewhere at the side of a case?

 

[deminimis]

Here is the latest BMS board. The 3-pin JST-PA connector is for the heater pads. Easy to disconnect. The black wires permanently attached to the board with white adhesive/sealer are for the temp sensor. This is for the 206AH Sok battery.