Frostbite [RE-wrenches]

[Travis Creswell, Ozark Solar]

Joel,

I'm describing a system I use to keep my customers bathroom from freezing
since they don't want to winterize it.  They visit the cabin most often in
the winter.  I don't see how just keeping the batteries fully charged will
help to keep the pipes from freezing.

Albeit a rather complex system with several chances to completely fail but
since the customer refuses to allow propane in the cabin that's all I can
come up with.  It's worked for three winters but it's definitely the
opposite of the KISS method.  

Best,
Travis


-----Original Message-----
From: Joel Davidson [mailto:joeldavidson at earthlink.net] 
Sent: Thursday, February 16, 2006 10:33 PM
To: RE-wrenches at topica.com
Subject: Re: Frostbite [RE-wrenches]

Travis,
It's already been suggested to connect a steep-angle PV panel with no charge

controller directly to the battery bank to float charge the batteries. If 
the peak array amps is equal to 1% of the battery amp-hours and the battery 
bank is well insulated with 4" of styrofoam board all around, it should be 
ok for 3 to 4 months. More than that and I'd be concerned about loss of 
electrolyte.
Joel Davidson