Battery box insulation?

[tbar123]

I started my truck Wednesday at 32 degrees. Started fine a bit slow but still cranked and fired up. I went out today (22 degrees)to bring her home and the batteries don't have enough to get a good crank.So I'm going out again to charge the batteries . So I got to wondering if there is some way of insulating the battery box to keep it just a bit warmer.
I was thinking of the pink foam board 3/4" thickness
I also thought of just standard styrofoam.
Any thoughts? or anybody do this before with good results?,bad results? Thanks for looking and as always any and all advice is appreciated!

 

[Suprman]

Get a pulse trickle charger. I use the Bosch C7 I have a slave connector on the end makes it very easy to use. Your batteries will thank you.

 

[Alexsha]

Isn't it better to charge the batteries individually than together over the slave plug?

 

[Suprman]

If you leave something on and they are stone dead and you dont have a good 24 volt charger then yes. If they are charged and you are just maintaining them then its fine to trickle charge them at 24 volt thru the slave port.

 

[doghead]

What would you accomplish by insulating the battery box?

Just how long do you think you could hold the heat of your batteries in for?

 

[tbar123]

By insulating the box, or getting the batteries off a material that holds heat or cold(in this instance ) well, it would keep the batteries a bit warmer . Like I said at 32 the truck started, at 22 it did not. my train of thinking was if I was able to get those batteries off that cold steel and onto a warmer insulator like pink foam board and completely enclose that box it would keep the batteries for a longer time in the cold.I didn't really think that the batteries would keep themselves warm ,but to keep the cold out. By doing so the truck should have at least one good 3-6 second crank over none at all! It was just a thought. Maybe it was a crazy thought, but had to pose it to see what the communities thoughts were!

 

[tim292stro]

Insulation only slows the movement of heat, it doesn't stop it. In thermodynamics, heat is always lost to cold, so you aren't holding cold or hot so much as changing the influence of where your heat is lost to and how fast. Your house is warm because there is a heater running every so often - this newly generated heat is then lost to the outside through the walns, windows, and doors.

A heater pad between the battery tray and the batteries would help, but you need power. If you have power, you might as well run a block heater too. A warm engine is a happy engine

 

[74M35A2]

Any battery insulation device will not do anything against the cold overnight. After about 8 hours of not running, every inch of the vehicle will be at ambient temp, regardless.

How old are the batteries? If they are over 5 years, or ever allowed to sit discharged, then they are likely not up to snuff. Also, what state of health is the engine in? Winter grade diesel fuel? 10 degree drop in the cold is a big difference in cold starting a compression (heat) ignition engine.

 

[Artisan]

How about putting a heating pad under then like one we were all subjected to at one
time or another when kids? Slip it under the batteries and simply plug it in, along w/
your 110V block heater, and set it to turn on 1 hour before you wake up each day?

 

[lindsey97]

block heater is the best way to go. I have them on my dump trucks, bulldozers, pickups, and my m923a1. a block heater will make a world of difference.

a trickle charger is also a good investment, works best for long term storage of vehicles or to keep the batteries topped off in the wintertime.

 

[tim292stro]

Another thing, the more discharged a lead acid battery is, the less free acid is in the water - less acid means higher freeze temperature.

A 12v car battery has 6 cells. State of charge for lead acid usually runs 2.1v per cell @ 100%, down to 1.95v per cell @ 0%. This is measured with no loads. anything over 2.2v per cell will charge a lead acid, you need to be careful with maximum charge voltages as you can boil off the water killing the battery - the charge voltage with the alternator running should be "right", not high or low.

 

[Karl kostman]

Insulating the battery box will do nothing to help your starting situation, if you put a heated pad under the battery then insulate it that would be a good start! But if you put a small charger on the battery and you had a block heater on the engine you would then be GOLDEN! Block heaters are a gift from GOD in my book!
Good luck
KK

 

[Artisan]

Last time I looked Alex had plenty of block heaters at http://www.idahomotorpool.com/
Idaho Motor Pool

Tell him I sent you