Just wondering for those of you who’ve used a couple of small case fans to keep the inverter reasonably cool in the hot weather, are the results better when placed above or below the heat sink . I have a bank of three on order and not sure best place to locate them.
Thanks
Mine are above and work fine keeping the inverter temperature <45C. It was difficult to site them below my Hybrid 3 due to the cables
BE careful of doing this, if the fans fail, they can actually hinder natural convection and make it hotter than without.
I have on an AC coupled, 3x120mm under, blowing up 12v fans at 5v. years old now, still going, brush the dust out once evey few months.
I have another 2x120mm just sat on top 45deg angle on a different hybrid inverter, fans have rubber feet, so sit fine, again blowing up, so drawing up th air. Not as effective, but ok
If properly ventelated, then there should be no need for fans. The larger inverters have them built in, as they are needed. But the smaller 6kw and below. Not required
Just worried in this weather that I’m getting too high
Richy999 Lucky you - I can't get inverter data any more (server error messages) so I have no idea what is going on with my hardware
TheDragon (GivEnergy) I open the door and listen out, they still going 😃 24/7 full speed.
Leeshore I think I will have the same problem. Are they blowing down or did you fit them to take the heat out.
Richy999 Blowing up so they pull the hot air away. I used to have inverter temperatures over 70c but now never get temperatures over 45c. They come on at 40c via home assistant.
My inverter is in our attached garage.
I got one of these radiator fan kits & fitted it at the base of the inverter cooling fins with the temp sensor above the inverter to sense the temp of the air rising up. If the air temp hits 35c the fans kick in & stop when the temp drops below 25c. I attached it to some home made brackets with the magnets that come with the kit for ease of removal for cleaning. Works quite well. In this warm weather the fans run all the time until late evening when the garage cools down a bit.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0CS338TM4?ref_=ppx_hzsearch_conn_dt_b_fed_asin_title_2&th=1
In general its best to assume a fan is designed to blow rather than suck - which means the intake for the fan should not be restricted or obstructed.
That means you mount fans at the bottom of the inverter and if they do fail then convection cooling isn't overly restricted.
If you were buying fans designed to suck then you'd know about it as they're a lot more expensive. Edit - and yes I know how that sounds 😃
TheDragon (GivEnergy) How hot is too hot? Our inverter hit 64 degrees today shortly after pulling nearly three kilowatts in the hottest part of the day.
The only time i see temps high temps are when i'm charging my battery, currently seeing 40 to 41
Rest of the time its around 31 to 32, i also have fans fitted
Winter time is like 28
pwdst Thats not too hot.
Discharge is the hottest function. Ive seen 80C before not.. Nto ideal, but wont cause harm
Just set up my over engineered cooling solution. Gone for a 30w solar panel with a Victron mppt box, 12v lipo4 battery and a small Amazon special 500w inverter. And some usb powered fans. It’s set up so that the inverter is powered between sunrise and sunset. The battery will get any charge it needs during the morning sun. And just to say the mains output from this set up is standalone and is NOT connected to the GE setup. I may be daft but no stupid. Will monitor consumption over the coming weeks/months and adjust/tweak if required. I have never quite hit 80 and even at max temp I can see no obvious dip in (GE) inverter output. More a fun project really.
Been running this setup for a couple of years now, fans run at low speed as running from a USB outlet at 5v instead of the rated 12v.
On top is better as you are accelerating cooler air from underneath the inverter and throwing it upwards where it wants to go - with the inverter design its partially sealed between the fans, inverter case and wall so creates a nice area to move the air through.
Inverter is in the roof on the West facing wall and it does get hot up there (albeit less than sitting in direct sunlight outside) but I don't see anything over 55 deg C inverter temp and that was during the last hot spell, usually nothing above 50 deg C.
Recently bought a 3D printer so will make up an actual fitting for the fans at some point so I can seal the fan plate to the top of the inverter which will force more air via the inverter instead of coming in around the edges of the fans.
