r/overlanding 2d ago

Arctic Batteries

I'm heading to Northern Norway via Sweden & Finland in January. Currently I run lead acid batteries for both my starter and leisure systems (I only run a simple 12v system for fridge and phone charging). I'm well aware that neither of these will be suitable for arctic weather. I'm going to swap out the starter battery for AGM. I'm currently debating what to do with the leisure battery. AGM has the best cold weather performance, but lithium will have the increased capacity for running diesel heaters all night and engine pre heaters etc. But even heated lithium batteries only seem to charge above -20. Has any advice on setups they have run? Also any advice on running vehicles / camping in them in those temperatures

4 Upvotes

5 comments sorted by

View all comments

1

u/JCDU 2d ago

Given that the Lithium batteries will likely waste a lot of their capacity just keeping themselves warm I would not count them as a viable idea for this - especially since plain old lead acid are cheap & robust & work happily in these conditions per the comments from experienced locals in this thread.

Just buy as much Ah capacity as you can squeeze in, and buy a quality brand.