LFP Battery Temperature Limits: What Sailors Need to Know Before Charging

LFP batteries tolerate a wide operating range, but charging below freezing and prolonged heat can sharply reduce performance, life and safety margins.

By
Stephen Burnage
-
0
A silicone heating pad lines this stackable Seplos LiFePO4 battery box. This is how internal heaters keep cells above freezing before charging begins.(Photo/ Seplos)

A new Lithium Iron Phosphate (LFP) battery is sold as having a stated storage capacity, such as 100-amp hr. In practice, however, there will be a footnote to that figure stating that capacity is measured at an optimum temperature, usually quoted as 25 C (77 F).

To continue reading this article or issue you must be a paid member.
JOIN NOW

Join Practical Sailor

Get full access to Practical-Sailor.com – more than 4,000 articles – for just $34.
Join today and save 42% off our full price.
Already a member?
| Forgot your password? | Activate Web Access
Stephen Burnage
Stephen Burnage
Stephen Burnage is a full-time cruiser, having retired in 2017. He left Vancouver, Canada and headed south for warmer climates, on his 1975 Cal 34 sailboat “Moonrise”, in 2018. Since then, Stephen, Moonrise and occasionally his wife Anita, have cruised the West Coast of North and Central America. They are presently in Boca Chica, Panama. Stephen originally trained in the UK as an Electrical Technician Engineer and then proceeded to have a forty-year career, managing high voltage electrical systems around the world. Career highlights include building new power infrastructure on six continents; writing a comprehensive paper on how the North American Power Grid operates (and needs to be rebuilt) and; later, owning and operating his own renewable energy business. Stephen is a joint Canadian and British national and a resident of Chile, with an extended family across the world.

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR