Battery Thermometer

firefly
firefly Solar Expert Posts: 66 ✭✭
Can someone recommend a good battery thermometer, that is available in Canada.

Cheers
Steven M.

Comments

  • Ralph Day
    Ralph Day Solar Expert Posts: 1,019 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Battery Thermometer

    I just use a candy thermometer. It's measuring at the low end, but it fits in the battery fill hole.

    Ralph
  • BB.
    BB. Super Moderators, Administrators Posts: 33,433 admin
    Re: Battery Thermometer

    Just watch using any sort of metal stem thermometer--They can short the battery plates (all sorts of no-fun can occur).

    I looked up photography (dark room) thermometers, but they are not as popular these days--for some reason. :p

    You might try to get an IR thermometer (not too expensive these days)... Probably close enough for government work. Safe. And very quick to scan batteries and connections looking for hot spots.

    -Bill
    Near San Francisco California: 3.5kWatt Grid Tied Solar power system+small backup genset
  • gww1
    gww1 Solar Expert Posts: 963 ✭✭
    Re: Battery Thermometer

    Bill
    Thanks for mentioning not to use metal to check the temp. I was going to use the clamp meter tester.

    gww
  • PNjunction
    PNjunction Solar Expert Posts: 762 ✭✭✭
    Re: Battery Thermometer

    I like the point n shoot handheld IR meters too. Mine even came with an little laser/led to make it easy to pinpoint the aim.

    It came in handy when I was trying to revive an old agm in 95F weather, and caught one cell in my 6-cell 12v battery going waay hotter than the rest - so avoid thermal runaway I caught it early I suppose and just recycled the battery rather than spend any more time on it. Also handy for spot-checking interconnect wiring, and a loose terminal lug. Pretty handy to have.
  • niel
    niel Solar Expert Posts: 10,300 ✭✭✭✭
    Re: Battery Thermometer
    PNjunction wrote: »
    I like the point n shoot handheld IR meters too. Mine even came with an little laser/led to make it easy to pinpoint the aim.

    It came in handy when I was trying to revive an old agm in 95F weather, and caught one cell in my 6-cell 12v battery going waay hotter than the rest - so avoid thermal runaway I caught it early I suppose and just recycled the battery rather than spend any more time on it. Also handy for spot-checking interconnect wiring, and a loose terminal lug. Pretty handy to have.

    i'll second this.
  • Blackcherry04
    Blackcherry04 Solar Expert Posts: 2,490 ✭✭✭
    Re: Battery Thermometer

    I made the " Bat Temp " to take the guess work out of knowing the battery Temperatures after I found the the RTS and BTS were as much as 10 deg off from the actual temperatures. Knowing the electrolyte is what I go by.

    Attachment not found.