I think in your circumstances, I doubt if you will get a notable benefit for having heaters.It would still have to be very close on price difference for me to go for anything more than a basic, dumb battery based on my own experiences and usage.
Good question. And I have no doubt there will be the odd one or two early/bargain ones that have a more standard BMS rather than a 'specialist' one. But any decent battery with internal heaters should never use battery power to drive the heaters. there is no point as even though the battery cannot be charged under Zero C, it can still be used down to -20C, so if no charging available, no need to warm the battery up.
@Sonar you have to take into account location of battery, how you use the van etc. Mine are under a bench in the habitation area and I am in the van most of the time. If its cold I have heating on so internal (and battery) temp will be good to charge. If van was left empty with no heating but plugged into hook up say at home you won't want basic battery. If you are like me they are fine BUT always check prices, if the same battery was up to a hundred pounds more than the basic one I may be tempted although probably need to be closer on price lol
£300 was total cost cells circa £240I have just bought..200amp continuous BMS with BT module,heater control and two battery tempsensors +. 1 sensor for heat pads,looks and feels very well built £50,2 X heat pads under£10 the pair,4 X 320 ah batteries along with cable/crimps etc just over £300..not only bought for price but will give the opportunity to replace BMS/heaters/BT module/cells in the future should any fail
sounds like a good option there. notably more expensive than the supercheap BMSes fitted in the cheapest batteries, but worth the extra expense.I have just bought..200amp continuous BMS with BT module,heater control and two battery tempsensors +. 1 sensor for heat pads,looks and feels very well built £50,2 X heat pads under£10 the pair,4 X 320 ah batteries along with cable/crimps etc just over £300..not only bought for price but will give the opportunity to replace BMS/heaters/BT module/cells in the future should any fail
Do lead acid batters suffer the same…
Thanks for the information .The claimed lead acid battery capacity i.e the advertised C rate is measured at 25c
Once you get down to 0c the rated capacity reduces by about 20%
They don’t fall off a charging cliff like lithiums do below 0c but you are effectively having to put more charge in , in relation to what you get out the colder they get.
My personal preference would be a lead/lithium hybrid but all the solutions I have seen have been flaky or stupidly expensive and none have sufficient long term (if any) reviews either!
Had a reply they say 4 in series ? I am fairly sure they mean parallel,as according to the data sheet it is not suitable for series connection ,I have asked for confirmation
The claimed lead acid battery capacity i.e the advertised C rate is measured at 25c
Once you get down to 0c the rated capacity reduces by about 20%
They don’t fall off a charging cliff like lithiums do below 0c but you are effectively having to put more charge in , in relation to what you get out the colder they get.
My Lead/Lithium Hybrid setup has been working flawlessly since I set it up around 3 years ago. Not expensive and not flaky.My personal preference would be a lead/lithium hybrid but all the solutions I have seen have been flaky or stupidly expensive and none have sufficient long term (if any) reviews either!
I can't think of a scientific reason why paralleling batteries would be limited at all, let alone to just two. As long as the connecting up was done sensibly/correctly the number of parallel batteries should be limitless. Would love to hear why they stipulated that figure .
It is quite common to see a number quoted for max battery count in series and/or parallel.I can't think of a scientific reason why paralleling batteries would be limited at all, let alone to just two. As long as the connecting up was done sensibly/correctly the number of parallel batteries should be limitless. Would love to hear why they stipulated that figure .
IF you get a meaningful response I'll be surprised David!It is quite common to see a number quoted for max battery count in series and/or parallel.
As an example, the manufacturer Poweroad (in China) have the 'Infinity' range, in which a key feature is you can connect an unlimited number of batteries in parallel. However the same company also have a 'Linc Base' model that can be wired in the configuration as 4 in series or 2 in parallel.
I don't know WHY there are these limits, but when I see a company having two different products, one with a stated limit and one without, there must be a genuine and specific reason for it - but I too would like to know the logic behind that
I used to have a couple of these Infinitys and have installed a few. If I can find the address (it is on my old Outlook system) I might send the tech guy from Poweroad in China I know to see if he can give me some info on this.
If you do a search you will get the following answers:IF you get a meaningful response I'll be surprised David!
But here's hoping
You'll have to dig deep on the net and into white papers to find the facts but the 'dont charge below zero ' mantra is actually a very blunt instrument to battery charging safety.My take on this is that cold isn't an issue.
My setup is a hefty deep cycle AGM bank and a single 100Ah lithium in parallel with them, though monitored separately. It has worked a treat for several years. Generally the lead acids sit in the background, letting the lithium do all the hard work, but stepping in when it runs out of capacity.
Charging is by solar (200watts of panel) or by B2B (40 amps or so).
The lithium battery is inside the insulated, heated envelope of the vehicle.
In theory, although the solar would not put out enough power to damage the battery on a frosty winter's day, the B2B could do just that.
In practice, it has never turned out that way.
If I need to drive the vehicle when the weather is below freezing, I turn the heating on long before.
If there was a time that this was not possible, I could switch the b2b circuit off, or pop a cable off the battery.
In several years, I've never had occasion to do either of these things.
Manufacturer of mine state 2 in parallel and 4 in serial configuration so they may mean what they say. I assumed it was something to do with the BMS as I can't think anything else would care.Had a reply they say 4 in series ? I am fairly sure they mean parallel,as according to the data sheet it is not suitable for series connection ,I have asked for confirmation