[ausev] Cold weather on lead acid batteries?

[Brian Lasseter]

On Tue, Nov 18, 2008 at 1:49 PM, Marc Kohler <mkohler at austin.rr.com> wrote:
> 2. Colder batteries need a higher charging voltage to get completely charged
> (so the charger may not be doing as much as it used to), therefore

Really?  Colder batteries need a higher charging voltage?  I'd never
heard of that issue.


> #1 and #3 can be resolved by adding battery heaters or insulating the box
> (if there is room).  Not common here in Texas.

Yeah... I wasn't really planning on heating the batteries or otherwise
doing anything about the situation... I was just curious if there were
indicators I could look for that my batteries might be giving out
quicker.


> 700W load just sitting around?  Seems like a lot.  What is pulling that
> much?

Yeah... that is a lot.    The power steering pump pulls 400W or so
just sitting around, and the cooling fans for the air conditioning
pull 168W.  The rest of it is general 12V car electronics being fed
from the DC/DC converter.  (I hope to make a switch on the A/C cooling
fans so that they are only on when the A/C is on soon.)


-- 
TTFN,
Brian "Lasso" Lasseter

"No Sane man will dance."   -Cicero (106-43 B.C.)