A control device for a battery storage device, which is equipped with components of the electronics system, e.g. battery management system and current measurement shunt, and with components of the electromechanical system, e.g. in the form of relays, fuses, bus bars, and plug connectors, and is accommodated in a closed housing. In order to create a control device in which a predetermined service life can be reliably achieved even without an oversizing of components, it is proposed for the closed housing to be embodied to form a free and/or forced convection, it being possible for the convection to balance out temperature differences inside the housing and throughout the control device.