Battery Temps?

fueld26

I'm building a portable solar generator and I am using pelican cases for the components.  I have a separate case (Pelican 1440) for one of the batteries and I'm debating using the foam to hold it in place.  It would be nice to simply cut the foam to fit and drop it in, no brackets, no supports, nothing.  It would fit nice and snug and be awesome for portability, but I'm a little nervous about the battery temp on charge or draw down.  This will be a 6v in series system (12v total) fyi. 

Do they get hot enough to worry about the foam and case?

More importantly, would the foam cause the battery to get too hot and cause damage to the battery?

I will likely just do some testing and see, can always use the foam later, but I thought I'd see if anyone else has info on battery temps.

Thanks for putting up with newbie questions! 

-Steve

vtmaps

A lot depends on the type of battery and the ambient temperature.  In the winter I insulate my batteries, but that would be a costly mistake in the summer.

Some batteries (AGM, LiFPO4) make less heat than others, so that might be a consideration.

--vtMaps

fueld26

I'm running Deka AGM's.  I'll just have to do some experimenting I suppose.  Thanks for the info, I guess I hadn't really thought about cold weather performance though, might be worth setting up the foam to use in cold conditions.  

CALLD

The size and weight of your battery bank can have a huge effect on how it behaves with regards to temperature. A large battery bank can weigh as much as a car and as such has a huge thermal mass. Such a large thermal mass takes a huge amount of energy to heat it up and also needs to shed just as much to cool it down. In other words a battery bank doesn't easily heat up or cool down, even when insulated unless it is being charged or dishcharged rapidly or being cycled deeply. My batteries seldom see a temperature swing of more than 3 degrees over the day and the only way I see a bigger temperature rise is if they get deeply discharged and then recharged rapidly. In my experience ambient temperature has the biggest effect, small batteries get hotter and charging algorithms with temperature compensation usually keep everything just fine.