Solar edge battery doesn’t like the cold

[Pocster]

A PowerWall I believe has a heating / cooling system built in .

My SE battery is outside and it would seem when sub zero it simply won’t charge to 100% - nearer to 75%
I could build a ‘shed’ type affair over it but not convinced that will keep it warmer . Maybe a ‘cover ‘ made of osb lined with PIR ? 
Any other suggestions ? 

[billt]

If it's a Lithium battery it shouldn't charge at all below zero, it'll seriously shorten the life.

 

Mine are outside and they were switched off over the last few days. I might use a couple of those vivarium/propagator heat pads under them with a thermostat. Even an insulated cover won't stop the freezing in the weather we've had recently, you need some heat.

 

You could take the view that the number of times that you get sub zero temperatures aren't worth the effort of protecting against.

[Kelvin]

Doesn’t it cover operating temps in the manual? If it doesn’t have active thermal management I’d expected it to have a temperature probe so that it stops/regulates charging outside of the operating range especially if it’s externally installable. Maybe this is what it’s doing and why it’s limiting the SoC of charge to 75%. If so it should also limit DoC. 

Edited December 19, 2022 by Kelvin

[Pocster]

1 hour ago, billt said:

You could take the view that the number of times that you get sub zero temperatures aren't worth the effort of protecting against.

Yeah I did wonder that . It’s happened every day In December ( so far ) bar 2 nights . Just bugs me to ‘lose’ 2kwh of off peak storage and so end up grabbing it at peak rate . 7.5p off peak to 41p peak . Physco thing I think also .

[Pocster]

1 hour ago, Kelvin said:

Doesn’t it cover operating temps in the manual? If it doesn’t have active thermal management I’d expected it to have a temperature probe so that it stops/regulates charging outside of the operating range especially if it’s externally installable. Maybe this is what it’s doing and why it’s limiting the SoC of charge to 75%. If so it should also limit DoC. 

Yeah -10 to 50 is its “ operating range “ . We’ve certainly not been down to -10 . 

[Thorfun]

41 minutes ago, pocster said:

Yeah -10 to 50 is its “ operating range “ . We’ve certainly not been down to -10 . 

install them in your basement. I've heard it's the done thing. just keep them off the floor in case of flooding events!

[Pocster]

2 minutes ago, Thorfun said:

install them in your basement. I've heard it's the done thing. just keep them off the floor in case of flooding events!

Little bit late for that . Basement is living space - so not really feasible anyway .

[Kelvin]

Yes but the water would help put the fire out when they burst into flames

[Miek]

Lithium can discharge at -10C but usually cannot be charged below 0C. 

 

A pipe freezing protection kit which comes on below 2C could possibly be used to fashion some kind of heater, but probably not worth the hassle 

 

[SteamyTea]

2 hours ago, pocster said:

2kwh

kWh you (expletive deleted).

[Pocster]

3 hours ago, SteamyTea said:

kWh you (expletive deleted).

Don’t give a (expletive deleted)