E-Cigs in the car with Michigan winter is coming

[old_geezer]

I'm wondering how much cold will hurt my battery? If I have one stashed in the glovebox of my car and it's -10F to 25F for a couple months can I still take it out and use it? I read on Physics Forums https://www.physicsforums.com/threads/effect-of-freezing-on-lithium-ion-batteries.345524 That a max charged battery will lose 5% of it's capacity FOREVER if it's frozen. If you freeze it at say 90% charge it won't be damaged. But for real world has anyone charged up an EGO, tossed in in their glovebox, and pulled it out after a couple months of ugly winter and had it work fine for a while? I'm using $11 fasttech 1300mAH twists so I don't care that much about it losing a little capacity, I just want it to be usable..

- Joe

 

[township]

The longest I have left them in the car was a work day. Probably single digits. But I always brought them in when I got home. Haven't a clue what would happen after a couple of months.

 

[jdrewry]

Most batteries list a heat/cold tolerance. You need to be careful about leaving them in prolonged cold.

 

[HMav]

I've had the wonderful opportunity to use lithium chemistry batteries in power tools in the NE winters. If you let the battery get cold as it would while sitting in the glovebox, it will give you extremely poor performance and limited life if you use it without warming it back up to room temp first.

batteries freeze at much lower temperatures than water, and fully charged batteries freeze at lower temps than dead ones.

Typical specs on min storage temp is somewhere around -20C. I wouldn't recommend keeping them below 0C (32F) for very long. You would be better off with a charger and a passthrough adapter for you car if you want something to leave in the glovebox, or a mod with passthrough capability.

 

[old_geezer]

I've had the wonderful opportunity to use lithium chemistry batteries in power tools in the NE winters. If you let the battery get cold as it would while sitting in the glovebox, it will give you extremely poor performance and limited life if you use it without warming it back up to room temp first.

batteries freeze at much lower temperatures than water, and fully charged batteries freeze at lower temps than dead ones.

Typical specs on min storage temp is somewhere around -20C. I wouldn't recommend keeping them below 0C (32F) for very long. You would be better off with a charger and a passthrough adapter for you car if you want something to leave in the glovebox, or a mod with passthrough capability.

See. I keep finding conflicting results. Thats why I was asking for REAL WORLD experiences. You say a battery freezes, here they say one can't freeze.

Li-Ion batteries are a non-aqueous type chemistry (they contain no water) and as far as I know are mostly made of up of solid electrodes and electrolytes, so below freezing temperatures should have no major mechanical effect on performance or life. A lower temperature will decrease performance but it will also decrease the discharge rate of the cell also. While high temperatures can kill a Li-Ion cell pretty fast, I don't think -40C+ temperatures will do any harm to something like a laptop or cellphone battery.
- Joe

 

[bcalvanese]

My question is... why do you have to leave it in your car?

 

[old_geezer]

I always have 3-6 spare FastTech 1300mAh twists in reserve. I'll charge up 3 and make sure they work well. Then I'll put all 3 in my glove box this winter in Lansing, MI. It will probably hit -15F. It will be below freezing for weeks at a time. I'll take one out at the end of November, December, and February and see how they do. I'm trying to think of a way to measure their capacity before and after the exposure. A real way, not button down on a blah coil. I have a few DMM's.

- Joe

 

[old_geezer]

My question is... why do you have to leave it in your car?

I like having an emergency spare. And a car one would be very handy. I keep my spare extra credit cards in my car. I'm always with my car. If I was a lady I'd say purse, but straight guys don't carry a purse. I tried drag racing once, but I can't run well in heels And I'm wondering if it's worth keeping one in my car in the winter? I don't have to. But I want to know if it will still work.
- Joe

 

[Racehorse]

Put them in an insulated bag like kids carry lunches in. Will keep the temp somewhat controlled.

I have a floating key container put out by army corp of engineers, it attaches to my purse, it is very thick-walled like a cooler.

 

[stevegmu]

Last winter we had a stretch of brutally cold weather and after leaving my ProVari in the car while at work until break- usually 4 hours, or so, they got so cold the e-liquid gelled and the ProVari wouldn't fire until they warmed up.