Cooling the batteries

Dave Angelini

Thanks Marc! The better half is driving this search and while we both hope this can wait 5 or more years, it is prudent to have a plan.

WaterWheel

Going up into the 90's this week so I refilled the water box today for it's third summer of operation.        With the aquarium water chiller set at 66 degrees and running 5-6 hours a day throughout the summer the batteries always stay below 78 degrees in the hot garage with it's metal roof and no shade.
Just posting this post to let new people know this thread exists in case they are also looking at their batteries getting way to hot during the summer.

Marc Kurth

WaterWheel said:

Going up into the 90's this week so I refilled the water box today for it's third summer of operation.        With the aquarium water chiller set at 66 degrees and running 5-6 hours a day throughout the summer the batteries always stay below 78 degrees in the hot garage with it's metal roof and no shade.
Just posting this post to let new people know this thread exists in case they are also looking at their batteries getting way to hot during the summer.

Excellent feedback! Thank you.

Dave Angelini

How do you keep them warm in the winter when you need them the most?  Do the reverse? I would think a metal shed would get pretty cold back east? Or, maybe not an issue if you are grid tied? Just curious?

WaterWheel

I'm in Northern GA so rare for the outside temps to drop below 20 for more than a few hours.      The garage is double walled (Hardie-board siding, plastic wrap, plywood layer, studs, and heavy paneling for the interior wall)  and has a ceiling below the metal roof with thin metal roll up doors.          Generally during the winter the garage stays 15-20 degrees warmer than the outside tempature.      If I close the top of the battery box the batteries rarely drop below 60 degrees in winter.       The battery box has an exhaust fan that exhausts to the outside that comes on when the battery voltage gets above 57v. 

Dave Angelini

Thanks for the info! You ever think of using a water wheel to move the water    I have seen the ones you build !

WaterWheel

Kinda hard to fit one in the garage.  

WaterWheel

Just an update on the chilled water box.     It's been a few years since I last posted on this thread and I'm not a very active member on this forum.

It's been 6 years since I put a new set of batteries in a water tight box located in my hot garage and hooked a fish aquarium water chiller to cool the water the batteries sit in.        This chilled water bath system is only used about 6 months a year and drained during the cold months.

Average daytime temperatures the last month have been in the low 70's in the morning and low 90's during the day but inside the garage is much warmer with the doors shut while I'm at work.     Before the water box every summer the batteries wouldn't cool down enough to dissipate all of the previous day's heat and be a bit warmer morning after morning to the point where they were over 100 degrees in the morning so I built the chilled water box when I got a new set of Rolls batteries.

6 years later and the lowest SG I'm seeing on the batteries when fully charged is 1.256 and no cells are requiring extra water so the batteries are aging gracefully.     Late afternoon and 92 degrees outside now and the water temperature in the box is 70 degrees and the batteries are showing 76 degrees.

BB.

Nice to hear the active cooling of FLA batteries is working efficiently and well.

-Bill