Lipo bilge pump batteries

[philcanoe]

Anyone tired insulating their batteries to extend winter time usage?

Like maybe hidden inside their saddle-or-bulkhead, or perhaps in some sort of small micro-cooler, or just maybe some type of large mouth thermos. Just a passing thought, but if cold is a factor it might be cheap help. Would imagine any trapped heat from discharge would be an added benefit, especially if able to keep waterproofed and area closely limited to battery size.

[Todhunter]

I'm not saying it isn't an issue, but I have never personally experienced cold causing my battery to under-perform. My battery is in a Pelican 1010 case, and is about 6" off the floor of the canoe on the back of my saddle between the airbag and saddle.

I also used to have a NiMH 5000 mAh 12V battery that worked great. It was in a Pelican 1030 case - a little bigger and heavier than the Li-Ion. The Li-Ion is $29 more.

[Wendy]

Matt, Can you show us a link of the LiPo you are using?

[h2sk1]

I'm really just trying to get a general idea of what everyone is using and a ball park on how long a charge last. My experience with lipo batteries comes from playing with RC cars. Here's the battery I was looking at, but it looks like it may be over kill based on what you guys are using.
http://www.all-battery.com/148volt-5800 ... ack-1.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

For the ones using NIMH and SLA, in general how long will a charge last and what kind of overall life do you get from your packs? 1 season, 1 year ect. How long before you notice a decline in performance?

This is overkill -- 5.8Ah will last more than a day, and for most people, more than 2 days. The 2nd spec I looked at is the continuous discharge of 6.1A. Also overkill. Most pumps only need 3-4A continuous, but tonnes of current for startup. LiPo does WAY WAY better in this regard than LiIon, but not as good as SLA batteries.

Still, I'd consider getting a protection 'fuse' called a polyfuse. These will ensure you don't kill your battery and protect against fire or explosions causes by short circuits. I purchase these from digikey but I think you can also buy them from batteryspace.com.

http://search.digikey.com/us/en/product ... ND/1985471

[Todhunter]

Matt, Can you show us a link of the LiPo you are using?

Wendy - I am not using Li-Po...my battery is Li-Ion. Here is the link: http://www.all-battery.com/li-ion186501 ... leads.aspx" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

Also - I edited my above post. The cost of the Li-Ion I use is $77, then you have to buy the charger for $22. The NiMH I used previously (which you can see here) is $70 but comes with a charger

[Wendy]

Thanks Matt!