Battery care for summer camp

15 Posts
Mar 20, 2009 12:19 am
Battery care for summer camp

I am planning on installing a small off-grid 500w PV system in my summer cottage in Maine.  My question is about batteries.  Since the building is unheated and uninsulated, and used just in the summer, what is the best way to deal with batteries?  AGM's and disconnect over the winter?  Or any type with a trickle charger? 
 
220 Posts
Mar 21, 2009 05:20 pm
Re: Battery care for summer camp

 hi james,

 i can share some thoughts on how i might go about what you are shooting for. i lived for several years when i was a kid at the base of beautiful mount katahdin. can still remember being amazed to look up in july and see all that snow. can also remember making a few bucks in the winter shoveling off the roofs of local mobile homes in a nearby park.

 when choosing the makeup your pv array (assuming we are going to leave it in place)(rooftop?) we might want to consider a nice small framed module in the smaller wattage range over some of the larger 200 watt ones for loading reasons.

 for the winter i would decomission the array and pull ~100 watts of pv out and mount it on a south facing wall making up a small winter array to maintain my bank. not sure what your planning on for a battery bank size. but even the limited output of this small vertical array should keep our battery bank in float for the winter.

 agm's are great if you can swing it. but the workhorse of most stand alones is still the floodies and a quality battery with plenty of water room toped off in the fall should do fine, i should think.

 i would stick with a good quality charge controller with temp correction here and tend to stay away from a shunt type controllers with this application.

 should be able to knock up, scrounge, or buy some kind of battery box. a charged and "tickled" battery will handle the cold fairly well. we just won't have our rated capacity until it warms back up in march.

 just my opinions here..

good luck, dave
 
Mar 22, 2009 07:19 am
Re: Battery care for summer camp

I like David Ames ideas but you'd be losing almost half the potential of the PV system.
Its a shame you can't make it all portable and "plug it up" at home or cabin.
From basic,
http://www.austinsunandwind.com/trailer_html_5882de50.jpg
to extreme,
http://www.portawatts.com/truck%20power%20rig%20portawatts%20lres.jpg
and somewhere in between?
http://www.truenorthpower.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=61&Itemid=24

Just another alternative.
 
15 Posts
Mar 25, 2009 07:40 pm
Re: Battery care for summer camp

Since trickle chargers on an unattended battery would not be good for the long term health of the battery, I wonder if it would be wise to leave a small load on in the winter to 'work' the batteries.  Maybe a light or two? 

Are there any charge controllers that have a programmable energy 'dump' to deplete the batteries every so often when unattended?

Thanks for the suggestions so far.

Jim

 
220 Posts
Mar 27, 2009 03:41 pm
Re: Battery care for summer camp

 jim,

�  sure, that might be doable to use some of that power while you are away staying warm for the winter. a few low wattage led's setup as dusk to dawn or a few other fun things come to mind.

 how about an automatic game camera to record any visitors you may have while away?

http://www.nativeoutdoors.com/scoutingcameras.html?gclid=CNCembLrw5kCFR7yDAodTEffvA

 or a cool data recording weather station?

http://www.sales-innovations.com/cart.php?m=product_list&c=28&adTrack=Y&adsrc=AdWords&ad=adwords&gclid=CNnciNXrw5kCFSHyDAodoH31uQ

 your right about leaving a battery on a trickle charger but with a solar float/trickle we give the battery a nice break in between charge cycles. and in effect we are cycling the battery ever so slightly.

 i'm beginning to think i need a cabin in maine!

kind regards, dave
 

Disclaimer and Disclosure

The Alternative Energy Store, Inc reserves the right, within its sole discretion, to refuse or delete any posting or portion thereof, or terminate or block the access to this forum.

The opinions and statements posted on this forum are the opinions and statements of the person posting same, and do not constitute the opinion or act of the Alternative Energy Store, Inc (AltE). The Alternative Energy Store, Inc does not endorse or subscribe to any particular posting. No posting shall be construed as the act or opinion of the Alternative Energy Store, Inc.

Click here for BBB Business Review

McAfee SECURE sites help keep you safe from identity theft, credit card fraud, spyware, spam, viruses and online scams
Desktop Website | Mobile Website

Share

Click on an icon to share! If you don't see the method you want, hover over the orange "+".

Feedback

What can we do to help you?

Please enter a summary
Sorry, the copyright must be in the template.
Please notify this forum's administrator that this site is using an ILLEGAL copy of SMF!
Copyright removed!!