superdiy Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 I have an idea and would like some opinions. The temperature in my garage, where my batteries are located, varies between 27 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viceroy Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 I've also been thinking about battery cooling, but nothing so dramatic. Basically just fans venting to the outside near the batteries, so the garage doesn't get so hot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superdiy Posted January 19, 2016 Author Share Posted January 19, 2016 The problem is that it is much hotter outside than inside the garage - in my case fans will just not cut it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viceroy Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 I have the opposite problem. My garage interior is way hotter than the outside ambient temps, and currently the only way I have to avoiding that is to leave the garage door open about a foot, but that's just a security risk. I like the idea of running a small AC to cool the batteries (and the inverters come to think of it), but the added load on the system is not appealing at all. ___ 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superdiy Posted January 19, 2016 Author Share Posted January 19, 2016 I don't think the batteries themselves get very hot if they don't work that hard, and therefor if they are in a rather small "sealed" enclosure you should not have that much of an additional load to keep them to 25 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superdiy Posted January 19, 2016 Author Share Posted January 19, 2016 Another option is to maybe use peltier modules, since they got a lot cheaper lately, but I'm not sure how energy efficient they are compared to a refrigeration compressor. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superdiy Posted January 19, 2016 Author Share Posted January 19, 2016 As usual, I'm not the first: http://tccs.co.za/index.php/tec-peltier-cooler Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Hobson Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 I am going the A/C route. The fact that my desk is right next to my battery bank and I will benefit too make this an easy decision. I am also looking for extra load on the very sunny days and it might as well be an AC. superdiy 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 In the garage, with an AC, the entire garage temp will make the AC work all the time. I like the idea of a 2nd hand chest freezer. Especially of you can make it stay at 25deg C all the time. Just remember to make sure no hydrogen builds up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superdiy Posted January 19, 2016 Author Share Posted January 19, 2016 In the garage, with an AC, the entire garage temp will make the AC work all the time. I like the idea of a 2nd hand chest freezer. Especially of you can make it stay at 25deg C all the time. Just remember to make sure no hydrogen builds up. No way I'm going to cool the entire garage - it will be a small, well insulated battery housing/box only. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 19, 2016 Share Posted January 19, 2016 No way I'm going to cool the entire garage - it will be a small, well insulated battery housing/box only. Exactly ... 2nd hand chest freezers have all the insulation you need. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 I am going the A/C route. The fact that my desk is right next to my battery bank and I will benefit too make this an easy decision. I am also looking for extra load on the very sunny days and it might as well be an AC.The way to go for you no question... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
viper_za Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 I am going the A/C route. The fact that my desk is right next to my battery bank and I will benefit too make this an easy decision. I am also looking for extra load on the very sunny days and it might as well be an AC. Makes me think of moving the bank into the house for A/C motivation Chris Hobson 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 20, 2016 Share Posted January 20, 2016 I did that as a matter of fact ... AC and batts all in my office. Batts are in a cupboard with a temp sensor and you can see them getting close to 30deg C if the AC is off. Just now need to get a AC with a inverter that I can run it off the 1600VA inverter also. Wish I knew about inverter AC's back when I had the aircon installed. Side note: If I had more panels, with a larger inverter, I can save monies on expensive AC / Fridges et al, just throw panels at the problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wetkit Posted January 21, 2016 Share Posted January 21, 2016 Thing is, will the extra energy used to keep the batteries cool not cost you more in the longer run??? Peltiers and AC uses loads of power, so what do we have that is free? Well, generally our municipal water is cold and does not cost too much. So why not put some radiators around your batteries. Everytime somebody opens a tap, the municipal water runs through the radiators cooling the batteries. Anybody heard of geothermal heating/cooling? Basically you install miles and miles of piping under the ground, say 2m deep. This deep under it should stay cool in summer and "hot" during winter. You now circulate this water with a small pump in a closed loop. Coupled with a heatpump it can provide cooling in summer and heating in winter. I'm sure a small homemade system should work well for keeping batteries cool. Hardest part would be to get radiators to suite the batteries. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superdiy Posted January 21, 2016 Author Share Posted January 21, 2016 Thing is, will the extra energy used to keep the batteries cool not cost you more in the longer run??? That is a burning issue, but I'll experiment a bit if and when I receive my peltiers. Well, generally our municipal water is cold and does not cost too much. So why not put some radiators around your batteries. Everytime somebody opens a tap, the municipal water runs through the radiators cooling the batteries. That is a good idea. For some people it might work. Unfortunately nobody is home during daytime, so it won't work for me. Once everyone is in bed the water will also stop flowing. Anybody heard of geothermal heating/cooling? Basically you install miles and miles of piping under the ground, say 2m deep. This deep under it should stay cool in summer and "hot" during winter. You now circulate this water with a small pump in a closed loop. Coupled with a heatpump it can provide cooling in summer and heating in winter. I'm sure a small homemade system should work well for keeping batteries cool. Hardest part would be to get radiators to suite the batteries. I'm aware of that - unfortunately not an option for me either - where I stay we don't have any soil below about 500mm, only round river rocks - rocks against rocks against rocks. A few years ago I got a construction company to add a double garage and living area to our place and they had to dig approximately 1.5m deep to get to the level of the road (sloped plot) and on day 1 they broke 3 digger loaders. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superdiy Posted January 22, 2016 Author Share Posted January 22, 2016 That is a good idea. For some people it might work. Unfortunately nobody is home during daytime, so it won't work for me. Once everyone is in bed the water will also stop flowing. So yesterday evening we took a dive in the pool at around 22:00 and then showered afterwards - we only used cold water in the shower, but the water felt warmer than the pool water. So this morning when we took a shower again, we again only used cold water and it still felt luke warm, so I decided to go measure the water temperature with my digital thermometer and the reading was 28.6 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Noobie Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 Anyone though of using an evaporative cooler? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 22, 2016 Share Posted January 22, 2016 One thought jumps to mind: Condensation in the garage at night? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
superdiy Posted January 25, 2016 Author Share Posted January 25, 2016 Anyone though of using an evaporative cooler? As the name suggests an evaporative cooler works on the principle where water evaporates and causes a cooling effect. Unfortunately as the water evaporates, the air becomes more saturated / humid and the less evaporation and cooling will occur. For an evaporative cooler to continue to work effectively, you have to add or replace the surrounding air with dryer / less humid air on a regular basis. In very humid areas those coolers will also have less of an cooling effect compared to when they are used in dryer / less humid areas e.g. Durban vs. Karoo. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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