I got an incredible deal on used batteries. A storage guy had 10 AGM "High Rate Max" batteries, 12V. 78 A/hr each that somebody had bought surplus from a cell phone maintenance company and dumped at his place. I asked him if he'd sell them - he said "yes, I was going to take them to the battery recycle place, they offered me $12
This thread has drifted into batteries so how do you guys keep from charging lithium batteries at temperatures below freezing? My understanding is that lithium batteries are destroyed if charged below freezing.
That is an important consideration if the couch is going to be left unoccupied. As to preventing damage that is generally the job of the battery management system, some charge controllers also have a temperature input. Even on a poor solar day you generally get some power which should first go towards warming the batteries.
I don't have solar on my bus and probably won't have solar on my bus, but I do have batteries. It is possible I might buy lithium batteries the next time around due to lighter weight and high DOD. Low temperature last winter was -30F. I keep my bus plugged in so the AGM batteries get charged as needed all winter long. I cover the bus over the winter so any solar panels wouldn't charge anyhow.
Getting back to that video of the sliding array, while pretty slick it doesn't strike me as particularly robust. No, what I was thinking about should be better able to resist wind loadings without damage, and would have some capability to adjust tilt. Also, any sliding mechanism is inherently more troublesome than a hinged array.Think tri-fold brochure. It all folds flat but hinges open to the preferred position, the cells protected inside in the transport position.Jim
I don't like anything sitting for months that requires power or heat to keep something from getting damaged due to cold. What happens if the power goes out or the heat source fails?