Battery Life and Low Temps
I have been having a ball up at Iris Meadow off of Rock Creek Road, Close to Mammoth Lakes, CA. It's the steeper side of the Sierras just East of Yosemite. It's a little known area comparably, but v...
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Thanks Don for the chart!
According to said chart, a 6 cell battery gasses at 14.34v, at 25C / 77F, while at 0C / 32F it gasses at 15.24v... so an extra 0.9 volts are required. A 13.8v 15a charger cannot even come close to the voltage required to charge a 130Ah LA battery at either of these temps.
One thing I have learned on this forum is that even a small increase in voltage can raise charge current significantly... I have seen this with my own eyes while closely monitoring several charge cycles. And I have learned that, in the context of charging while off grid, it is very inefficient to charge at anything less than a 20% charge rate; and inefficiency only increases exponentially as the charge rate is decreased. This is even more true at lower temperatures.
Yeah, yeah, we all have personal needs, some more than others, but why can't we just set aside our needs for a moment, and put the needs of our batteries first and foremost? Afterall, our batteries are the future! For without them...
ooopps, wrong speech. :0
According to said chart, a 6 cell battery gasses at 14.34v, at 25C / 77F, while at 0C / 32F it gasses at 15.24v... so an extra 0.9 volts are required. A 13.8v 15a charger cannot even come close to the voltage required to charge a 130Ah LA battery at either of these temps.
One thing I have learned on this forum is that even a small increase in voltage can raise charge current significantly... I have seen this with my own eyes while closely monitoring several charge cycles. And I have learned that, in the context of charging while off grid, it is very inefficient to charge at anything less than a 20% charge rate; and inefficiency only increases exponentially as the charge rate is decreased. This is even more true at lower temperatures.
Yeah, yeah, we all have personal needs, some more than others, but why can't we just set aside our needs for a moment, and put the needs of our batteries first and foremost? Afterall, our batteries are the future! For without them...
ooopps, wrong speech. :0
