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Small Cabin Forum / Off-Grid Living / Where to put batteries and inverter in weekend cabin
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buckybuck
Member
# Posted: 12 Dec 2015 17:22
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Trying to get some ideas here--those of you with weekend cabins that you're running on a couple of batteries and maybe a small inverter, where's a good place to put the inverter and batteries so they're convenient to get to but also out of the way?

MtnDon
Member
# Posted: 12 Dec 2015 17:40
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Where to put batteries depends, in part, on what type they are. Flooded lead acid, sealed lead acid, lithium..... FLA should be outside the living space. Sealed could be inside the living space but I prefer them outside the living space as they do pack an lot of energy that in a mishap would be more dangerous inside.

Inverter; close to the batteries. If the batteries are FLA then the inverter should NOT be in the same air space. If sealed batteries of some kind are used then the inverter and batteries could share the space. Inverters need cooling air so a sealed box is bad.

copperhead1971
Member
# Posted: 12 Dec 2015 19:02
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I would not put any large batteries in the living space,out side in a shed with wires running under ground to my trailer breaker box..i have the solar panels and batteries and inverter all together and have never had a problem,but my shed is not air tight and t works quite well so far,about 10 years now.. just remember DC power won't run as far or as good as AC power will .

offgridjunkie
Member
# Posted: 12 Dec 2015 21:52
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I run AGM batteries. I have two under a bench seat inside the cabin. Hooked them up to a nice MPPT Charge controller and a battery charger that I can run from the generator. Love the set up as it is all inside where they are warm and dry. In the winter, it freezes inside my cabin, so I went with the AGM for that purpose and a nice side effect is they do not vent.

NorthRick
Member
# Posted: 13 Dec 2015 12:47
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Mine are FLA and are inside. Not saying it is right but they've been in there for years and no issues. By being inside they warm up when we are there and using them. As most of us know, the capacity of most batteries, including FLA, diminishes as the temperature of the batteries drops.

copperhead1971
Member
# Posted: 13 Dec 2015 16:18
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Quoting: copperhead1971
wires running under ground to my trailer breaker box

I have been playing with solar and batteries for over ten years at the trailer and now have a cabin out in the middle of nowhere and will be using everything I learned to bring solar power to the cabin,closest hydro wires are about 2 miles away as the crow flies and I hold no thoughts of them bringing it close to me at anytime soon or ever...

pizzadude
Member
# Posted: 13 Dec 2015 23:54
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I pulled a 8x16' enclosed trailer into my lot.
The ladder rack on the top gave for a perfect location to mount my 3 230w solar panels. I keep my battery bank, cc, fuses, and inverter inside the trailer and ran power out of the trailer underground to the shack.
Don't think I'd do it much different if I had to do it again.

Borrego
Member
# Posted: 14 Dec 2015 10:52
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I'm planning on putting mine under my screen porch floor, it's raised off the ground about 3-4 ft. I've seen pics of big sliding drawers some people use or I'll build a shelf of some sort...

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