LiFePO4 - SOK or Renogy.
Not looking for a big bank or high charge/discharge currents. Don't need charging below freezing. In Canada things become difficult/expensive. Narrowed down to these 2: 1)SOK, 100AH, $CAD 975 ...
Forum Discussion
BFL13 wrote:
"With the low-temperature RELiON RB100-LT 100Ah battery, it takes about an hour to warm from -20°C to +5°C before charging begins"
None of the LFPs can be charged below freezing. You have to warm them up first (off grid that means with the LFP capacity remaining before you turn on the heater--so don't go too low or you can't get back)
On "3x faster" people still believe that? Yipes! The above quote is missing important numbers, such as the starting SOC, the charging amps, the size of the battery bank, and what 100% means wrt the BMS, so it is meaningless.
Hi BFL13,
I just happened to watch a video test on one of the batteries with a built in heater today 2021 03 08.
The battery monitoring system shut down charging when the battery was in a freezer at -18 C. It diverted the charging energy (from shore power, or generator) to the heaters. The heaters drew about 9.4 amps. It took 90 minutes for the battery to start accepting charging. The charge rate was a tiny bit over 1 C. The jar was rated at 150 amp-hours, and was able to deliver 150 amps.
It would have been nice to know if the battery could have "warmed" itself up using stored power. 9.4 amps for 90 minutes should be possible.
Unfortunately it doesn't solve my problem, which is getting from -40 to 0 C. That would take considerably longer if the batteries were "cold soaked".
