chilly2
New Member
- Joined
- Sep 14, 2021
- Messages
- 152
Hello!
I have four 12v LiFePO4 batteries in series for 48v stored in an attached and insulated garage. A battery balancer was installed about six weeks ago and has kept them within .1 to .2v of each other. The charge controller the batteries are connected to has a low temp cut off which I tested in ice water. It works. They are connected to a Victron smart shunt, and there is also a portable Bluetooth thermometer beside them.
It has been significantly below freezing in my location recently and the batteries have acted strangely.
- The smart shunt reported a high voltage (57.6v) early on in the day. This never normally happens.
- The batteries were only accepting a couple of amps, though the array was able to provide plenty.
A voltmeter check while charging was going on showed the battery terminals at 14.6v, 13.3v, 14.5v and 14.5v. With the clamp meter I could see the balancer leads to the 13.3v battery were pushing about 4 amps into it.
It's above freezing now (42F) so I plan to just leave the batteries and balancer alone and see if they equal out.
How can I avoid this in future? I'm assuming a heat mat of some sort. Can you recommend any? I'm thinking if I can run it from a smart plug I can trigger it when the temp outside is reported as 32F or worse. I saw some pads on Amazon but they all allegedly got burning hot to the touch, which doesn't sound good.
Penny for your thoughts.
I have four 12v LiFePO4 batteries in series for 48v stored in an attached and insulated garage. A battery balancer was installed about six weeks ago and has kept them within .1 to .2v of each other. The charge controller the batteries are connected to has a low temp cut off which I tested in ice water. It works. They are connected to a Victron smart shunt, and there is also a portable Bluetooth thermometer beside them.
It has been significantly below freezing in my location recently and the batteries have acted strangely.
- The smart shunt reported a high voltage (57.6v) early on in the day. This never normally happens.
- The batteries were only accepting a couple of amps, though the array was able to provide plenty.
A voltmeter check while charging was going on showed the battery terminals at 14.6v, 13.3v, 14.5v and 14.5v. With the clamp meter I could see the balancer leads to the 13.3v battery were pushing about 4 amps into it.
It's above freezing now (42F) so I plan to just leave the batteries and balancer alone and see if they equal out.
How can I avoid this in future? I'm assuming a heat mat of some sort. Can you recommend any? I'm thinking if I can run it from a smart plug I can trigger it when the temp outside is reported as 32F or worse. I saw some pads on Amazon but they all allegedly got burning hot to the touch, which doesn't sound good.
Penny for your thoughts.
