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My lithium battery bank died at a dig site in Nevada after 14 hours

It was 112 degrees in the shade and the backup power for the ground-penetrating radar just quit, so I spent the next 3 hours babysitting a gas generator, has anyone else had gear fail mid-survey and had to jury-rig something on the fly?

2 comments

2 Comments

troy_wilson824d ago

Wet towel in a cooler? That's just asking for condensation to short something out. I've seen more gear die from moisture in the desert than from heat. And burying batteries in dirt? Sure, if you want to deal with sand getting in every connector and vent. The real issue is you didn't have enough reserve capacity for the site conditions, not that the batteries didn't handle the heat. Maybe the radar setup was drawing more than you calculated. That generator you babysat probably saved the whole survey.

cole_robinson24d ago

112 degrees in the shade" is doing a lot of heavy lifting there. That heat kills lithium cells way faster than most people expect, and it's not just the voltage drop, it's the internal resistance spiking. Next time, try burying the battery bank in the dirt a few inches or wrapping it in a wet towel inside a cooler. Evaporative cooling works way better than you'd think in desert heat, and it bought me an extra 3 hours once on a job. Also, those cheap 12V car fans aimed at the cells can make a bigger difference than a bigger battery. Just a thought from someone who's cooked a few packs himself.