Anyone else had grief with Fogstar Drift cells and low-temperature cut-off?

Picked up four 280Ah Fogstar Drift LiFePO4 cells back in autumn to build a 12V 280Ah bank for the narrowboat. Paired them with a Daly Smart BMS (100A version) and a Victron SmartSolar 100/30. All wired up nicely, top-balanced before first use, everything looked great.

Problem started in January when we had that cold snap — overnight temps on the cut dropped to around -4°C inside the engine bay where the battery box lives. The Daly was cutting out at about 5°C on the low-temp protection setting, which is fair enough, but I'm now wondering whether that threshold is too conservative or actually about right for Drift cells specifically. Fogstar's own docs are a bit vague on the minimum charge temp.

Has anyone pushed these cells colder than 5°C during charging without issues, or is the cut-off genuinely protecting them from real damage? Also open to suggestions on insulating the battery box — currently just 25mm Kingspan on the sides but nothing underneath. Wondering if a small heat mat on a thermostat would be overkill for a boat that sits unoccupied most of the week.

Mine cut out mid-January doing exactly the same thing — turns out the Daly's low-temp threshold was set aggressively from the factory and the Fogstar Drift cells are perfectly fine down to about 0°C for discharge, just not charging. Worth connecting via the Daly app over Bluetooth and bumping that charge cut-off temp down to around 5°C rather than whatever pessimistic nonsense it ships with. 🌡️

Same issue hit me last winter with my static caravan setup — not Fogstar cells but similar Daly BMS behaviour. The low-temp cut-off was triggering even when the cells themselves weren't actually cold, because the NTC sensor placement was rubbish. Mine was cable-tied loosely near the terminal rather than flush against the cell body.

Re-positioned it with some thermal paste and a bit of kapton tape directly onto the cell casing and the phantom cut-offs stopped immediately.

@SaltyMechanic is right about the threshold being set aggressively from factory — worth checking via the Daly app, but I'd sort the sensor contact first. Misleading readings make any threshold pointless.

Worth logging actual cell temps with a cheap probe thermometer overnight to see what you're actually dealing with before changing BMS settings blind.

Has anyone tried adjusting the low-temp protection threshold in the Daly app specifically for LiFePO4 chemistry? I'm in a similar situation — planning a 280Ah bank for my narrowboat and the Daly Smart BMS is on my shortlist, but I'm now second-guessing it after reading this thread.

What temperature did yours actually cut out at? I'm trying to work out whether it's a default setting issue or whether the Daly genuinely struggles to distinguish between "cold but safe" and "too cold to charge."

Also wondering if a Victron BMS or the JK BMS would handle this more gracefully — seems like the JK gives finer control over the parameters. Anyone running JK with Fogstar Drift cells on a liveaboard setup?

Hey @DorsetSolar, worth knowing that LiFePO4 cells like the Drifts are actually quite tolerant down to around 0°C for discharge — it's charging below that threshold that causes real damage. So if your Daly is cutting off discharge unnecessarily early, you've likely got some headroom to lower that protection value.

@PaddyDixon — yes, absolutely adjustable in the Daly app. Look under "Protection Parameters" and you'll find separate settings for charge and discharge low-temp cut-offs. I'd leave the charge protection conservative (around 5°C) but you can reasonably set discharge protection lower, maybe -10°C for LiFePO4.

On a narrowboat you're also dealing with damp air affecting the temperature sensor readings — worth checking the sensor is making good contact with the cell casing rather than measuring ambient air. Makes a surprising difference.