question about cold weather and batteries.

deacon

deacon

minor bike philosopher
I use several sets of Lead acid batteries at the moment. I jumped on my trike and took off for the only ride I had made in several days. The batteries had been sitting in the cold shop for a couple of weeks most likely. I did not have the charger on them. Never occurred to me that they would be discharged but I found out a couple of miles into the ride that They were down by about fifty percent. I would have put it down to forgetting to check the charge but they both were down.

I got to my driveway on the return trip and both packs were dead as my (self moderated)

Anyway my questions is this. I know lead acid suffers from the cold. We all know that but does lith or nimh suffer as well. I usually leave a couple of battery packs hooked to the charger in the winter so they start at full charge does this work with lith or nimh.

Thanks for the help...
 
the answer came in the form of a study of the leaf which uses lith batteries. There is a significant range difference after the high temp of 70 degrees or the low of 60degrees the same is true of sla the temps my be different but they are there. its called the goldilocks zone lol.
 
I have read where the ebike kids up north reported their li ion batteries performed not so good in the cold.

Being in South Florida I sure don't know. :)

Remember buying a lot more batteries for the cars when I lived in Ohio. That's for sure. :)
 
yeah I live in moderate north carolina but we stay around 40 for a high this time of year. It is heck on SlA batteries for sure. It has cut useful range from 5 miles to 2.5 on the same set of batteries. Looks like I'm going to have to reconfigure my backs for more distance.

Sounds like a good job for a winter's day. I'm saving my pennies I may go for the lithium someday. I have to wear out the sla. But this winter should do it.
 
Hey everyone been some time since I've been on these forums but I am also experimenting with cold weather e-bikeing over here http://industrialphreak.blogspot.com/2014/02/ebikes-in-winter.html

I am using a set of three 12v 20Ah gell cells in a 36v series setup.

There are a couple issues here as I've had the kit for a few years sitting in my garage for a few years and only now re-assembled them on my new beach cruizser frame.

I went for a ride on this Saturday with no insulation and was barely able to get half around the block on throttle alone resorting to adding some pedal power to get my butt back to the apartment.

Last night I had a idea to add some insulation and some heat in the form of a old insulated lunch bag and two iron oxide hot hand warmers. Today I took a ride after leaving the bike on the charger over night and was able to increase my milage almost 3x fold before having to resort to adding some crank power.
 
I honestly never even considered that. I rode my bike hot off the charger and it does better. Even a couple of hours in the cold kills it pretty quick. Much less than a mile.
 
Deacon, do you mind if i ask about the average temperature in your neck of the woods?

I also think it doesnt help these cells have been sitting for a few years before I got back to working with them. Do you know of any good way to bring back some life force to them? I've seen quite a few youtube guides about popping some tops and topping them up with epson salts and distilled water. Do these things really suffer from sulpher buildup?
 
I n ever tried the chemical treatment. I hear it works but i have no idea from personal experience. the average this winter is probably close to forty degrees. I ride at minimum of 35 degrees. I look like one of those alaska homesteaders I', so insulated. That twenty mile and hours headwind from the bike makes it seem really cold./
 
The cold slows down the electrochemical reactions in the batteries so you will get bad performance out of most types of batteries when they are colder than their designated operating temperature. Wet cell lead acid batteries tend to do better than gel or polymer batteries in the cold and that's why they are preferable for starting cars and trucks in cold climates. They all perform weaker when cold though, its a crappy fact of chemistry unfortunately.
 
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