one of my biggest worries with getting and or making my own lifepo4 is the batteries freezing and being ruined and i'm out 2000$-$4000$ but i think i might of found a solution if u use a Inkbird Dual Stage DV 12V Digital Temperature Controller with a 12v Facon 3" x 13" RV Elbow Pipe Heater Pad or other 12v heating pads will that work to keep your battery's from freezing? i'm to broke atm to test it out but wanted to share my ideal
i might of stumbled across a cheap way to add heat to your diy battery's
- Thread starter justison
- Start date
Heating pads come in lots of shapes and sizes and I find it useful to use low wattage ones to make sure they do not get too hot. Here are a few examples.
Ampster
Renewable Energy Hobbyist
efficientPV
Solar Addict
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Two words...heat spreader. You must use a thick aluminum plate and not attach to the batteries. If you are worried about $$$ use at least two controls. You can buy that control on aliexpress for $3.
Horsefly
Solar Wizard
I agree with what others have said. I'd add that using a low wattage heater is best. The OP is worried about ruining his battery with low temps, but if you use a high wattage / fast heating element, the side of the cells that are closest to the heat will heat up too fast, so that they are cooking before the other side is even warm. The heat spreader that @efficientPV mentioned will help, but focus on heating slowly. It will use less energy, and will keep your cells safe.
efficientPV
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Think redundancy if really concerned about cold weather. With one controller it may not work or get stuck on. With multiple, odds are one or more will work. If one stuck on, it may not be enough to cook battery. Stagger temps for more proportional heating like a PID controller.
Alkaline
Solar Wizard
https://www.sunfunkits.com/product/...r-heating-pads-for-prismatic-cells-270-304-ah
Cheap enough, but only works on 12v batts.
Cheap enough, but only works on 12v batts.
Horsefly
Solar Wizard
Most of the pads like this are 12V pads, but I used two in series on one of my 24V builds and it works great. But I only used 2 x 12W pads for the entire 8S set. These are 50W-100W each, which is too much heat.