[RE-wrenches] Winter Battery Maintenance

[RE Ellison]

Everything mentioned so far works well however, if you're using a charge controller with an auto equalize function.

Turn it off!

I had a friend who has left his system over the winter for years with no issues and he shut his inverters off one year got back to the batteries being boiled dry

After a lot of looking I figured out that it had gone into auto equalize and since the available sunshine per day was so low that it just kept trying all winter long to equalize the batteries

There was a battery replacement in his future relatively quickly!

It was an expensive lesson and I have since gone to all of the systems similar to that that I have installed over the years and shut off the auto equalize

It's not an issue if somebody's around but they were gone for like five months and it was not a good outcome

This particular system had three charge controllers,
A combination of MX 60 and FM 60s I believe

Just my thoughts,
Bob ellison





> On Apr 30, 2016, at 12:43 PM, toddcory at finestplanet.com wrote:
> 
> 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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