Are USB power banks safe in hot weather?

ScottinLA

New Member
Joined
Jan 15, 2018
Messages
20
Reaction score
5
Country
United States
Hello,

I'm thinkin about installing dash cam via USB powerbank.
Since I'm planning to use it not only while I'm driving, but also while I'm parked
(basically 24 hrs once I put it in my vehicle, then I will switch it to another USB powerbank for a day while the previous one is getting recharged)
I'd like to know if this is safe to do so. I live in Southern California and it's easily gets up to 100F outside in the summer time.

If this is not safe to do so, would Cellink battery be safe? or safer at least?
I'm kinda afraid of hardwiring anything (dashcam or cellink battery) to my car because it might mess up my car's battery.
But, I wouldn't also want to burn my car because of this possible fear.

Please advise and thank you in advance.
 
Last edited:
It's depends on where in the cad you will leave (mount) your powerbank. Measure temperature in your glove box. If it's below powerbank maximum operational temperature then it's should be safe place.

Sent from my VKY-L29 using Tapatalk
 
It's depends on where in the cad you will leave (mount) your powerbank. Measure temperature in your glove box. If it's below powerbank maximum operational temperature then it's should be safe place.

Sent from my VKY-L29 using Tapatalk

Thank you, I will check that.
Are lithium-ion power bank safer or are lithium-polymer type safer? (in general?)

BTW, I think trunk would be the best place to keep the power bank since it is the coolest?
 
Last edited:
BTW, I think trunk would be the best place to keep the power bank since it is the coolest?

I think yes, besides many (most?) trunks have vents which should help to dissipate heat which has built up inside trunk from direct sun to the trunk lid. I haven't done any measuring tests to compare trunk vs glove box temperature, just my logical thinking.
 
On hot days in the summertime when I want to use my power banks I put them under my front seats. Usually, it's much cooler down there than any other place inside my vehicle's cabin. I'll crack the windows open a bit too and sometimes partially open the rear glass window panel in my pick-up.
 
On hot days in the summertime when I want to use my power banks I put them under my front seats. Usually, it's much cooler down there than any other place inside my vehicle's cabin. I'll crack the windows open a bit too and sometimes partially open the rear glass window panel in my pick-up.

Thanks for the tip!
Do you mind sharing how hot in your areas during the summertime?
 
Thanks for the tip!
Do you mind sharing how hot in your areas during the summertime?

I live in New England where it's not all that bad but on some summer days it can reach up into the high 90's. I also have a dark blue vehicle and that can exacerbate the heat issues.
Although high temperatures will stress 18650 lithium-ion battery cells, they tend to work more efficiently when they are warm. Lithium-ion batteries should not be subjected to extended periods of very high heat and vibration (like in cars) but the general rule of thumb is that they can tolerate being discharged at temps up to 140º F. High heat will shorten their lifespan though. Personally, I try to never let them get that hot (although they have occasionally ) and when I do run them in warm weather I take precautions with ventilation and don't run them for extended periods of many hours at a time. As I live in a rural area with a relatively low crime rate I can take the chance to leave my windows open a bit when I'm in town but to be honest, I'm not quite sure if I would try to run a battery bank in a completely closed vehicle for 24 hours at time in a hot climate. I assume considering your handle that you live in LA where I don't imagine leaving your windows open a couple of inches on a hot day is a viable option.

BTW, I've been using two 20,000 mAh power banks to run four dash cams in my vehicle for between about two and six hours a day for four years now on an almost daily basis and they work great. The oldest power bank will be four years old in March and the other will be three years old in March. They both have plenty of life left in them but the newer one developed a connectivity problem with one of the USB ports and so I recently took it out of service. They've taken a lot of abuse, all on all. If you use common sense and engage in good charging practices a good quality power bank should last a good long time even if you do use it in the kind of conditions we are talking about. And recently manufactured power banks from name brand companies tend to be safer than they were a just few years ago.
 
Last edited:
Buy one, or two, of these instead:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/B073QQPKVY
They are not expensive, they're basically a standard power bank but use a much safer chemical composition which won't catch on fire or explode. It's also better because they accept more charging cycles without loss of capacity, the biggest thing though is that they are able to withstand the heat and the cold. In fact, if they get quite warm in the sun they will actually have an increased capacity because of the increased conductivity of the chemicals. I really see no reason why not to use them in favor of more dangerous chemical compositions. The only downside to these, as far as I can tell, is that they are a bit heavier than other Li-Po banks but while that's a downside if you want to carry it in your backpack around town it's really not a problem if it's sat in your glove box.

I'm using two of these in tandem just how you describe. I've only had them a week but I'm very happy with them so far.
 
I live in New England where it's not all that bad but on some summer days it can reach up into the high 90's. I also have a dark blue vehicle and that can exacerbate the heat issues.
Although high temperatures will stress 18650 lithium-ion battery cells, they tend to work more efficiently when they are warm. Lithium-ion batteries should not be subjected to extended periods of very high heat and vibration (like in cars) but the general rule of thumb is that they can tolerate being discharged at temps up to 140º F. High heat will shorten their lifespan though. Personally, I try to never let them get that hot (although they have occasionally ) and when I do run them in warm weather I take precautions with ventilation and don't run them for extended periods of many hours at a time. As I live in a rural area with a relatively low crime rate I can take the chance to leave my windows open a bit when I'm in town but to be honest, I'm not quite sure if I would try to run a battery bank in a completely closed vehicle for 24 hours at time in a hot climate. I assume considering your handle that you live in LA where I don't imagine leaving your windows open a couple of inches on a hot day is a viable option.

BTW, I've been using two 20,000 mAh power banks to run four dash cams in my vehicle for between about two and six hours a day for four years now on an almost daily basis and they work great. The oldest power bank will be four years old in March and the other will be three years old in March. They both have plenty of life left in them but the newer one developed a connectivity problem with one of the USB ports and so I recently took it out of service. They've taken a lot of abuse, all on all. If you use common sense and engage in good charging practices a good quality power bank should last a good long time even if you do use it in the kind of conditions we are talking about. And recently manufactured power banks from name brand companies tend to be safer than they were a just few years ago.

I researched and found that using LiFePo4 powerbank would be the safest way as far as the heat is concerned.

Using 2 Lifepo4 powerbanks would be good practice, much cheaper i believe.

The only problem is that i need 12v output to use my dashcam.
Is there Lifepo4 powerbank with 12v female socket? I found the car jump starter one like this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/B01LSISK90it seems a bit expensive though.

Would 12v/5v adapter a better idea?
I mean, are these safe or doable? electrically?
 
Buy one, or two, of these instead:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/B073QQPKVY
They are not expensive, they're basically a standard power bank but use a much safer chemical composition which won't catch on fire or explode. It's also better because they accept more charging cycles without loss of capacity, the biggest thing though is that they are able to withstand the heat and the cold. In fact, if they get quite warm in the sun they will actually have an increased capacity because of the increased conductivity of the chemicals. I really see no reason why not to use them in favor of more dangerous chemical compositions. The only downside to these, as far as I can tell, is that they are a bit heavier than other Li-Po banks but while that's a downside if you want to carry it in your backpack around town it's really not a problem if it's sat in your glove box.

I'm using two of these in tandem just how you describe. I've only had them a week but I'm very happy with them so far.

Thx. This is actually the only portable powerbank with LiFePo4 that I could found.
Others were gigantic ones with much more higher price...
Would be nice if i had more options..
 
Thx. This is actually the only portable powerbank with LiFePo4 that I could found.
Others were gigantic ones with much more higher price...
Would be nice if i had more options..

I saw a couple of bigger ones too. There's a 12v one I think it was on kickstarter. It was expensive but did everything.
 
I researched and found that using LiFePo4 powerbank would be the safest way as far as the heat is concerned.

Using 2 Lifepo4 powerbanks would be good practice, much cheaper i believe.

The only problem is that i need 12v output to use my dashcam.
Is there Lifepo4 powerbank with 12v female socket? I found the car jump starter one like this:
https://www.amazon.com/gp/B01LSISK90it seems a bit expensive though.

Would 12v/5v adapter a better idea?
I mean, are these safe or doable? electrically?

I agree that LiFePO 4 seems to be an attractive option for powering dash cams in a car since theses batteries have a better safety profile. So far though, the only one on the market is from Tqka, a little known Chinese company. Time will tell if it is a reliable product that performs as advertised. Hopefully, we'll be seeing more LifePO4 power banks coming to market soon.

There are quite a few lithium-ion power banks on the market these days that have 12 volt output, so you might consider one of those. Despite the concerns about battery safety, the fact is that the current rate of lithium-ion battery failure is less than one in 10,000,000. The chances of a properly maintained quality power bank catching fire are rare. Also, products like power banks usually tend to fail during the charging process not when they are discharging but obviously leaving them running in a hot car is stresfull to the cells and one should do so with caution. Now that I've been successfully using lithium-ion power banks in my vehicle for four years I feel more comfortable with the concept than when I first started.

You'll find many 12 volt power banks to consider here:
https://www.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?url=search-alias=aps&field-keywords=12v+power+bank
 
Schumacher Electric sells a car jump starter that is based on Lithium Iron I believe... The box says something to that effect. It's sold at Lowes. It has a 12V output and a USB ouput. But I tried it for powering a camera and found that it turns itself off when it's about 60% drained, or maybe on some timer.
 
Back
Top