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, toddc...@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" <dahlso...@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 <autonomousenerg...@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 > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > List sponsored by Redwood Alliance > > > > > > List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > > > > > > Change listserver email address & settings: > > > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > > > > > List-Archive: > > http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html > > > > > > List rules & etiquette: > > > www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > > > > > Check out or update participant bios: > > > www.members.re-wrenches.org > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > List sponsored by Redwood Alliance > > > > List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > > > > Change listserver email address & settings: > > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > > > List-Archive: > > http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html > > > > List rules & etiquette: > > www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > > > Check out or update participant bios: > > www.members.re-wrenches.org > > > > > > > > Sent from Finest Planet WebMail. > _______________________________________________ > List sponsored by Redwood Alliance > > List Address: RE-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org > > Change listserver email address & settings: > http://lists.re-wrenches.org/options.cgi/re-wrenches-re-wrenches.org > > List-Archive: > http://www.mail-archive.com/re-wrenches@lists.re-wrenches.org/maillist.html > > List rules & etiquette: > www.re-wrenches.org/etiquette.htm > > Check out or update participant bios: > www.members.re-wrenches.org >
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