Lithium Battery Terminology

[mikegalbicka]

Twice the life you can get down here. Good job.

 

[globalrider]

Twice the life you can get down here. Good job.

You should check charge voltage at higher temperatures. Is it overcharging?

True, every 8°C (14F) over the standard temperature of 25°C (77F) supposedly cuts battery life in half...so they say. We still see 90F up here.

But then our (car) batteries go through so much more current draw when it is -13F. Yet I get 14-16 years out of them.

 

[mikegalbicka]

We still see 90F up here.

Currently 90F or higher from 8 am until 8 pm with real feel about 115 mid-afternoon. Bet you don’t get that up there!

 

[etiennelau]

You should check charge voltage at higher temperatures. Is it overcharging?

True, every 8°C (14F) over the standard temperature of 25°C (77F) supposedly cuts battery life in half...so they say. We still see 90F up here.

But then our (car) batteries go through so much more current draw when it is -13F. Yet I get 14-16 years out of them.

Yes heat kills batteries. We only get 3-5 years with car batteries with temps in the 41c for weeks at a time. Heat causes the liquid in the batteries to boil out and dry out the internals, exposing the plates.

We laugh when those from up north tout how hard your batteries work when it's cold. As that's meaningless when compared to the heat.

 

[globalrider]

Yes heat kills batteries. We only get 3-5 years with car batteries with temps in the 41c for weeks at a time. Heat causes the liquid in the batteries to boil out and dry out the internals, exposing the plates.

True, but it could always be a matter of overcharging which causes the cells to gas and that is a huge no-no in a VRLA battery (AGM, GEL). That depends on the Temperature Compensation of the regulator and if it was chosen correctly for the operating environment. I have a Bosch chart showing various regulators showing different -X mV/°C. As for a conventional Flooded Lead Acid (FLA) battery, that can be overcharged for cell equalization/balancing. So it gasses a bit which can be topped up with distilled water. Exactly why I like them so much.

The only difference is there are owners up in the Northern states and above that only get 3-5 years out of a battery. So what excuse do they have?






And this is what ultra high temperatures (forget about ambient) do to a battery in a tank or other military vehicle. Hint, it is in a country with a lot of sand. Those batteries all had very short lives. Mainly Armasafe 6TAGM batteries.

 

[rhbike]

Yes heat kills batteries. We only get 3-5 years with car batteries with temps in the 41c for weeks at a time. Heat causes the liquid in the batteries to boil out and dry out the internals, exposing the plates.

We laugh when those from up north tout how hard your batteries work when it's cold. As that's meaningless when compared to the heat.

Outside air temp is probably moot. Most cars have the battery in the engine bay, which is going to be subjecting the batteries to high temps for the majority of the time the engine is running. My former Jag had the battery in the trunk (err, boot), as did some of the classic British sports cars.

 

[globalrider]

Got my new YUASA 53030 Yumicron Conventional Battery a couple of days ago. Filled it with the appropriate battery acid, let it sit for 30+ minutes and got the air bubbles out, topped it off to the MAX mark with more acid and slow-charged it at 1A. Sitting fully charged at 12.73V.

It'll be nice to get the old 1990 R100 GS running again.

 

[kbasa]

Got my new YUASA 53030 Yumicron Conventional Battery a couple of days ago. Filled it with the appropriate battery acid, let it sit for 30+ minutes and got the air bubbles out, topped it off to the MAX mark with more acid and slow-charged it at 1A. Sitting fully charged at 12.73V.

It'll be nice to get the old 1990 R100 GS running again.

I like to charge lead acid batteries overnight to get to a pretty full charge. Then, I top them off with electrolyte and charge them another 12 hours to get them to a reliable full charge. I usually get 6 or 7 years out of batteries with this implementation methodology.

I'd prefer not to add distilled water to the battery, especially early in its life, hence the fussiness about making sure they're completely filled prior to installation. It used to be that it seemed like even after the bubbles were removed, some of the electrolyte would get absorbed into the plates or something a little and I'd have to top them off. Not much, but enough that it seemed worth doing.

And I'm getting ready to buy a new battery for my RT, so I'm probably doing that set up in my near future.

 

[chadhargis]

9+ years out of a conventional battery is impressive. I've never had one last more than 5 years... most die at around 3.

Can I ask what battery you use for that kind of life span? I will definitely consider that next time my car battery dies.

I'm a huge believer in battery maintainers. I keep one on my motorcycle and generator all the time unless they are in use. My car gets put on a maintainer about once a month for maintenance or if I won't be driving it for several days.

My last motorcycle had the OEM battery it in which was 9 years old when I sold it. Still going strong. My Optimate maintainer kept it in great shape. My wife's car and my daughter's car don't get put on tenders (because they'd drive off with them hooked up) and I typically have to replace their batteries every two years or so....regardless of the quality of the battery.

My garage is fairly well temp controlled. There are no HVAC vents in the garage, but it is underground and never gets hot or cold regardless of the weather outside. The HVAC unit for the house is in the garage and it leaks enough air that it warms in the winter and cools in the summer. So my car, motorcycle, generator, and my wife's car all sit in basically room temperature air. But my wife's battery still doesn't last very long...because it's not on a maintainer.

My BMW R1200R lives on a Victron Energy battery maintainer. It also has a power supply mode for when I'm working on the bike and need the ignition on. I use it on my car too if I'm doing ECU programming. It's a very good battery maintainer. It's not cheap, but the best usually isn't.

 

[kbasa]

I'm a huge believer in battery maintainers. I keep one on my motorcycle and generator all the time unless they are in use. My car gets put on a maintainer about once a month for maintenance or if I won't be driving it for several days.

My last motorcycle had the OEM battery it in which was 9 years old when I sold it. Still going strong. My Optimate maintainer kept it in great shape. My wife's car and my daughter's car don't get put on tenders (because they'd drive off with them hooked up) and I typically have to replace their batteries every two years or so....regardless of the quality of the battery.

My garage is fairly well temp controlled. There are no HVAC vents in the garage, but it is underground and never gets hot or cold regardless of the weather outside. The HVAC unit for the house is in the garage and it leaks enough air that it warms in the winter and cools in the summer. So my car, motorcycle, generator, and my wife's car all sit in basically room temperature air. But my wife's battery still doesn't last very long...because it's not on a maintainer.

My BMW R1200R lives on a Victron Energy battery maintainer. It also has a power supply mode for when I'm working on the bike and need the ignition on. I use it on my car too if I'm doing ECU programming. It's a very good battery maintainer. It's not cheap, but the best usually isn't.

+1 on Optimate chargers.

 

[globalrider]

I'm a huge believer in battery maintainers.

There is one downside to them. It makes you believe you have a healthy battery because it starts your vehicle right after you disconnect it. You then park it for the day somewhere, the battery drains a tad and you are looking for a boost.

I use them when I store my vehicles, either during the winter or while away for a few weeks.