For use at temperatures below 0 °C (32 °F), we recommend lithium batteries. Lithium batteries work much better at low temperatures compared to alkaline batteries.
As you can see, then the capacity of alkaline batteries strongly reduce when going below 0 °C (32 °F).
We recommend the Energizer Ultimate Lithium AA battery for very low temperatures. More information can be found here:
- Energizer Ultimate Lithium – Product Website
- Energizer Ultimate Lithium – Product Datasheet
- Energizer Ultimate Lithium – Handbook and Application Manual
Discharge Profiles
The downside with lithium batteries is that they have a different (and less linear) discharge curve than alkaline. Unlike alkaline, determining the remaining battery life by measuring the voltage is difficult, as the voltage drops immediately when the capacity has been used.
As you can see on the graph above, then the voltage drop of lithium batteries is very steep, and it is therefore very hard to determine when the battery is at its end of life. Consider this when using lithium batteries instead of alkaline batteries.
For general use, we recommend using high-quality 1.5 V alkaline batteries. With alkaline batteries, the system can tell how much battery life remains by measuring the battery voltage, as the discharge profile is more linear towards it’s end of life.