batteries in the cold



Status
Not open for further replies.
L

Lincoln Ross

Guest
May be setting up headlight soon for use in winter. Concerned that gel cell may not do well when
cold. Suggestions for dealing with this or other cheap types of batteries? I have some pretty fancy
chargers from other hobbies. My lithium ion batteries are too small, unfortunately.
--
Lincoln Ross NOTE ADDRESS CHANGE: [email protected]
 
Have a look at:

http://www.enteract.com/~icebike/Equipment/lights.htm

Lincoln Ross wrote:
> May be setting up headlight soon for use in winter. Concerned that gel cell may not do well when
> cold. Suggestions for dealing with this or other cheap types of batteries? I have some pretty
> fancy chargers from other hobbies. My lithium ion batteries are too small, unfortunately.
 
Lincoln Ross <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> May be setting up headlight soon for use in winter. Concerned that gel cell may not do well when
> cold. Suggestions for dealing with this or other cheap types of batteries? I have some pretty
> fancy chargers from other hobbies. My lithium ion batteries are too small, unfortunately.

Is there any way you could rig your light so that you can stash the batteries in your jacket? My
climbing headlamp has a cord so that the batteries stay warm- I can hang it around my neck so it
stays against my chest, or over my shoulder/neck so it stays in my armpit. Either way, it stays very
warm, and my experience is that my headlamp lasts something like three times longer than a headlamp
which has exposed batteries in frigid temps.

if you feel handy, im betting you could cut the cord and splice in a longer cord so that it would
reach your torso, and just sew a loop of nylon on to hold it around your neck. a little funky, i
imagine, but it makes a huge difference if you can pull it off (though perhaps your battery pack is
enormous. mine is only 6AAs)

anthony
 
I don't have the light yet. I have thought about stashing the battery in my clothes and about
insulating it. However, some types of batteries just don't have as much trouble with this, so I
thought there might be solutions I wasn't aware of. Just need 4ah lithium ion! For my electric model
plane that uses NiMH, a foam jacket keeps the batteries warm enough to run out their charge. But gel
cells are cheap.

ant wrote:
>
> Lincoln Ross <[email protected]> wrote in message news:<[email protected]>...
> > May be setting up headlight soon for use in winter. Concerned that gel cell may not do well when
> > cold. snip.
>
> Is there any way you could rig your light so that you can stash the batteries in your jacket?
snip
> way, it stays very warm, and my experience is that my headlamp lasts something like three times
> longer than a headlamp which has exposed batteries in frigid temps. snip anthony

--
Lincoln Ross NOTE ADDRESS CHANGE: [email protected]
 
> Lincoln Ross <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:<[email protected]>...
> > May be setting up headlight soon for use in winter. Concerned that gel cell may not do well when
> > cold. Suggestions for dealing with this or other cheap types of batteries? I have some pretty
> > fancy chargers from other hobbies. My lithium ion batteries are too small, unfortunately.

"ant" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> Is there any way you could rig your light so that you can stash the batteries in your jacket? My
> climbing headlamp has a cord so that the batteries stay warm- I can hang it around my neck so it
> stays against my chest, or over my shoulder/neck so it stays in my armpit. Either way, it stays
> very warm, and my experience is that my headlamp lasts something like three times longer than a
> headlamp which has exposed batteries in frigid temps.
>
> if you feel handy, im betting you could cut the cord and splice in a longer cord so that it would
> reach your torso, and just sew a loop of nylon on to hold it around your neck. a little funky, i
> imagine, but it makes a huge difference if you can pull it off (though perhaps your battery pack
> is enormous. mine is only 6AAs)
>
> anthony

You might consider the length of time outside as well. For a typical 15 minute one-way commute, a
gel cell doesn't lose all that much heat, especially inside the standard neoprene wrapper.

A two-hour mountian bike foray in real cold would of course be a different matter.

--
Andrew Muzi http://www.yellowjersey.org Open every day since 1 April 1971
 
In article <[email protected]>, Lincoln Ross <[email protected]> wrote:
>May be setting up headlight soon for use in winter. Concerned that gel cell may not do well when
>cold. Suggestions for dealing with this or other cheap types of batteries? I have some pretty fancy
>chargers from other hobbies. My lithium ion batteries are too small, unfortunately.

I have my gel batteries in the garage (no heating). No problem even when -20 deg. C. Have a 1++
hour commute and my 3.5 Ah 12 V battery have no problem in giving power to a 20 W halogen bulb
during the ride.

Jørn Dahl-Stamnes, EDB Teamco AS e-mail: [email protected] (remove nospam first)
web: http://spiderman.novit.no/dahls/
 
Status
Not open for further replies.