Im a bit concerned but a crew member left a vertex radio with a lithium-ion battery in the ambulance overnight when it was really cold the other night and the radio wouldn't power back on. The battery wasn't dead by any means as the radio had been fully charged the night before and the radio was off. However our onboard motorola xts3000 with a lithium ion battery powered on just fine. Was wondering if extreme temperature has anything to do with it or if we just have a defected battery. The battery is only 4 months old, so it's relatively new.
The radio did eventually power on once we brought it inside and charged it up again.
Your thoughts?
How cold was it?
Were both radios turned off at the time? Were they stored in exactly same location in the vehicle? Was the XTS in a charger or vehicular adaptor?
The cold really does slow down the chemical reaction in the battery. If the radio had been left on overnight, the small current drain would have kept the chemical reaction going.
It is possible that Motorola is using a better formulation for their lithium ion batteries. A typical operating range (For Radios), is minus 30 Celsius. However it bears looking at the specs for the particular models and batteries used.
All things being equal, the reduced capacity of the battery may have a different result on different radios. If the Vertex draws a large current spike when turned on, it's internal circuitry may fail to operate if the voltage sags, while the Motorola might have a softer turn on surge current, or its microprocessor more resistant to voltage sags.
Check the specs for the equipment, and check the temperature extremes for that night to see if the radio specs were exceeded.
It is common instructions for Artic explorers to store batteries close to their bodies.
Whatever you do, in the future, you should resist charging a battery that is frozen as it can be damaged.
Sent from my SM-T350 using Tapatalk