Suggestions for battery / inverter cabinet

Hi,

After reading a lot about insulating the battery I've decided I could do with a shed / cabinet to insulate the battery - It hasn't been too bad this winter with only a couple of times risking the battery going below 2C. Unfortunately the install is a bit awkwardly positioned and it's been 4 months now so I don't feel like I could call them back to make adjustments.

Anyone have any advice for how to hide / insulate this setup? The battery is annoyingly a bit above the window sill and a bit close to the fence which. Might end up being a bit of a hack job.

Thanks in advance

mhandy1 Hmm, that looks to be tricky. From the clearence requirements for the inverter, you won't be able to put anything above it and below the window so maybe something that justs goes in front and to the sides perhaps (with possibly a baseto reduce airflow?
Also, I'm not a builder nor have I insulated my batteries, but there may be complications if you cover up the air flow for the air brick underneath the inverter

Might be worth scanning the KB to see if your installer should have put some sort of rain cover over these in accordance with installation instructions.
Water and electricity dont mix.
I think people have posted about this. might need to do a forum search
https://kb.givenergy.cloud/

CW I'm pretty sure that GE will void the warranty on the clearance distances (window sill), if not the obvious splash/spray hazard from the tap onto the isolator switch.

Not really what the OP wanted to hear I know but "cabinets" are probably the last things to worry about....

Yeesh this definitely isn't sounding good... I'll see if I can find anything to take back to the installer... They seemed pretty keen to keep their review score good so if something isn't upto standard hopefully they can sort it...

Do you think having the whole system installed to the left of the window would be a workable solution?

mhandy1 as Vestas says, you are not going to like this but your installer has failed with (at my count) three different installation issues that will void your warranty:

• the inverter needs a rain cover as its outside
• it needs to be at least 3 feet above ground level
• there are minimum clearances that haven’t been adhered to

See the installation guide https://kb.givenergy.cloud/article.php?id=84&oid=1

There isn’t room on the left of the window either, too close to the fence.

Sorry

But to answer your question, yes a battery cover is worthwhile to keep the battery temperature up, once the cells get below 20 degrees C the charge rate (and possibly the discharge rate) is reduced.

And for the inverter, it doesn’t have a cold weather problem but it does have a hot weather problem. Many of us have fitted cooling fans for the summer to reduce the temperature inside them

geoffreycoan

Thanks Geoffrey, very informative. Hopefully armed with information I can get them to rectify, I do have another space to the right of the window which should have the appropriate clearances. Worst case I guess I might have to pay out of pocket to get the system moved.

mhandy1 Also your overpressure vent from the boiler is directly above the battery (less than 100mm) so that's another fail.....

Vestas Also your overpressure vent from the boiler is directly above the battery (less than 100mm) so that's another fail.....

Nice!. Boiling hot water straight onto the inverter!!

SteveCook In theory it shouldn't be an issue as the battery is IP65 rated and usually you don't get a lot of water (litre max) when a faulty heating system vents.

In conjunction with the rest of the install....the more you look at the photo, the worse it gets.

I can't help wondering what the black cable going into the gravel is. I do hope its not an earth spike for EPS as it isn't going to work looking at the drainage positions of the access cover and waste pipe. Unlikely you'll get a long enough spike in there without hitting footings and/or pipework & given the quality of the rest of the install I doubt they dug any holes to find pipes.

Its a very poor install - the flexible ridged conduit is a no-no at that height as well, should all be rigid conduit.

Was the installer MCS certified? If so then I'd get MCS involved if the OP gets no joy from the installer.

mhandy1 Is it worth posting a picture to the right of the window so that we can get some idea of clearances. I am afraid that it looks like it needs moving.

Rob

Vestas In theory it shouldn't be an issue as the battery is IP65 rated and usually you don't get a lot of water (litre max) when a faulty heating system vents.

Agreed, but I would not do it. If you were walking past when the heating system decided to dump, it would hit the battery and spray everywhere as opposed to down or against the wall (depends on how many bends fitted)

Rbor I suspect (from reflections in window) the other side of the window has a back door opening and given where the waste pipe/tap is then there's not a lot of options which don't involve a plumber.

A photo would confirm 🙂

SteveCook Nor would I but look at where the tap is in terms of spray problems 😉

Unfortunately I can't seem to upload images right now.

There is just over 1 metre width of space between the window and the door, which given the specs of the inverter and battery should be sufficient (250mm space either side plus 480mm for the battery / inverter) assuming they can be stacked on top of each other. The side of the house is a shared space so I can't place the inverter there, the front of the house has even less room.

Vestas The black cable going into the gravel is the line to the meter at the front of the house, there is gravel all the way around the back, side and front of the home which was used to hide the cable instead of tacking it along the side of the house.

Also the pressure relief has a cap on the end which directs any spray back towards the wall.

All in all this is stressing me out a fair bit... I didn't get around to calling the installer this week as my workplace has us back in the office full time now 🙄 They are MCS Certified / HIES insured / guaranteed and on GivEnergy's installer list (Which I know isn't super hard to obtain but...)

mhandy1 If they're MCS registered then involve MCS if the installer doesn't rectify the problem at their expense. MCS are good. HIES are a waste of oxygen, but since they're run by PV installer companies that's not surprising.

Edit - as he seems to be around at the moment perhaps @TheDragon (GivEnergy) could suggest someone at GE who would give their opinion on the install. In theory the installer should have sent photos of the install to activate the warranty but in practice this doesn't seem to be checked until a warranty issue arises.