How does the weather affect your car battery?
Around the globe, we’re living in vastly different environments, from the tropics to polar regions, humid to dry, salty coastal areas through to arid grasslands. The continent of North America alone contains every climate zone. Vehicles, and therefore batteries are used in all these regions, so the battery copes differently to the climate.
Batteries operate over a wide temperature range, but extreme cold and high heat can affect performance.
Heat
A standard lead-acid car battery will operate between -20°C to 50°C (4°F and 122°F), but the best results come between 10°C and 30°C (50°F and 86°F). Heat is the enemy of the battery, and will fail quicker when exposed to heat for a long time.
A study carried out on North American Automotive Battery Failures studied those in Northern and Southern areas in North America. The results showed that batteries in warmer climate die sooner than in cooler regions. This was due to shortened cells and grid failures caused by sulphation. Lead sulphate crystals form in every lead-acid battery, but increasing heat increases the reaction rate, so more sulphate builds up.
Cold
Lead-acid batteries are more forgiving of the cold and sulphation will actually reduce in lower temperatures. However, when the temperature drops along with it can go the battery’s power output and its ability to accept a charge. Plus when it’s cold the load increases due to the increased use of lights and internal heating.
Also in winter, vehicles aren’t used as often and when a battery is left in a discharged condition or continually undercharged due to short trips, hard lead sulphates will begin to create, causing sulphation. This is why battery failure is a common problem for many vehicles during the winter.
Other weather elements
Most car batteries are encased and protected, so chances are damage from water or dust for instance, shouldn’t affect it. That said, salt water is corrosive, and if it reaches electrical systems it will eat through wires and metals. Battery casing is usually water-resistant, but terminals are exposed so moisture and humidity over time may cause corrosion.
Lithium (LiFePO4) batteries
A normal operational temperature range for a lithium battery is between -20°C to +55°C ( -4°F - 131°F), but these aren’t always safe temperatures for recharging. A compensating charger is needed if charging below 0°C / 32°F otherwise lithium plating may occur, where the ions move at a faster reaction rate and accumulate on the surface of the anode. This can permanently reduce a battery’s charging capacity, or even destroy the battery.
Solutions
When sulphation occurs, you need a charger that will also de-sulphate, or condition the battery. De-sulphation will attempt to restore the battery to full capacity, thus increasing its performance and durability. The process gently removes the build up of sulphates through vibration, restoring the plates to their full potential.
Our battery chargers feature a patented de-sulphation method, which effectively removes sulphur from the lead plates, thus reversing the negative effects that the battery is experiencing. Not only that, the Traction Direct Sulphation Recovery System allows for an automatic progression from de-sulphation to charging, so that the user doesn't have to remember to switch the battery from de-sulphation state to a charging state. This extra functionality is unique to Traction Direct and present in the MPL50 product.
For Lithium batteries you need a compensating charger designed specifically for LiFePO4. Both the MPL50-LI and SPIC-50 are specially designed to charge LiFePO4 batteries. The MPL50-Li is available with an optional temp sensing lead set allowing the ultimate in efficient charging and both have temperature adjusted charge profiles for safe Lithium battery charging.
Sources:
https://batteryuniversity.com/article/bu-806a-how-heat-and-loading-affect-battery-life
https://dcbattery.tech/charging_your_lithium_battery_below_zero/
https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/sulfation
https://batteryuniversity.com/article/bu-410-charging-at-high-and-low-temperatures