[RE-wrenches] Winter Battery Maintenance

toddcory at finestplanet.com toddcory at finestplanet.com
Sat Apr 30 09:43:57 PDT 2016


i built a system for a friend's seasonal (summer) off-grid residence in alaska. 
 
my instructions were simple: 
leave the pv input & cc output breakers "on" and the load breakers (inverter, dc sunfrost etc) "off". 
 
there was never a problem with winter freezing (even at -40f) until one year when he accidently left the inverter's breaker on. even with no load, the inverter's idle current drained the batteries and they froze. he only made that mistake once.
 
todd
 
 
 
 
 
On Saturday, April 30, 2016 8:13am, "Solar" <dahlsolar at gmail.com> said:



> I do systems like this every year. (-45F winter temps). Use quick connects and
> train the customer on the batteries and their maintenance. Find bats with freeze
> points that match your area. I typically mount the modules at 90degree so snow
> never covers the array/module.
> 
> I always recommend removal. I've thought about temp controlled incandescent lamp
> with a timer in a battery box for really cold nights.... Haven't got around to
> working through that design.
> 
> I'm interested in the real seasoned off-grid installers thoughts about this.
> 
> Jesse Dahl
> 
> NABCEP PV Installation Professional
> IBEW Local 292 - Electrician
> Electrical/Solar PV Instructor - HCC
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
> > On Apr 30, 2016, at 9:07 AM, AE Solar <autonomousenergies at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> >
> > Hey Wrenchers,
> >
> > A friend wants a very small battery set up at hunting cabin (like under 1kW).
> It will only be used in the warmer months. I'm wondering what you all recommend
> for the batteries over the winter. I assume the ideal situation would be that they
> would be disconnected and brought somewhere warm for the winter (the cabin will be
> subject to below freezing temps)??
> >
> > So long as they go into the colder months with a full charge is it alright to
> leave them hooked up? I don't think the friend will be savvy enough to
> disconnect/connect them every year and I don't feel like having to go out there
> every season for them.
> >
> > Thanks for any thoughts.
> > Adam
> >
> > Adam Katzman
> > Autonomous Energies
> >
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