GivEnergy equipment and experiences?

[Moxi]

to the grid i suspect, wont you be better of with a 20W tube heater nestled next to the batteries to keep them above 2 degrees, uses power but not as dramatic as charging and discharge at high power to "warm" the battery - that sounds like a work around by the manufacturer with the customer picking up the bill to cover an oversight in the manufacturers system,

Moxi

[AE-NMidlands]

Those were my thoughts too, but I think I will enable it and see how it goes. Recently the batt has only been as low as 7 degrees at midnight, hung around that until it started charging at 2 am when it goes up by about 6 degrees. I look at the account meter data every few days anyway (and the inverter's current "report" of the meter data sometimes) so I have a way of seeing what is happening before too much damage is done.

I have got a pair of "black" heater bars somewhere, I think. I might even have a thermostat somewhere too, but might have to buy one. The only trouble is that there is no obvious mains socket anywhere near it!

[Moxi]

Doesnt the inverter have an auxiliary power socket ? or are the batteries remote to the inverter? My batteries sit in a plastic shed outside, its been minus two to three for a few nights but because the battery is discharging up till the overnight charge point and then charging hard its generally been ok for temperature, it still has the 20 watt tube heater on too but it doesnt seem to reach the thermostatic switch point very much. I do have two layers of insulation in the shed, one lot around the battery enclosure and one around the shed walls and thats a massive help in summer and winter alike.

Moxi

[AE-NMidlands]

Doesnt the inverter have an auxiliary power socket ? or are the batteries remote to the inverter? My batteries sit in a plastic shed outside, its been minus two to three for a few nights but because the battery is discharging up till the overnight charge point and then charging hard its generally been ok for temperature, it still has the 20 watt tube heater on too but it doesnt seem to reach the thermostatic switch point very much. I do have two layers of insulation in the shed, one lot around the battery enclosure and one around the shed walls and thats a massive help in summer and winter alike.

Moxi

The inverter is right over the battery and does have UPS output terminals, I guess I could DIY hard-wire a socket/thermostat and heater into them. I'll mull that over - and start looking for those heaters!

[AE-NMidlands]

[Cross-posted from the (Scrambled) Intelligent Octopus Go thread]
Givenergy's / Octopus' control of my battery is still corrupted. It has settled down to charging up to 78% (but today it is at 89%) from midnight then freezing. All the house load comes from (and surplus solar goes to) the grid until 2.30 pm, when it wakes up and feeds the house until midnight... No 2 a.m. cheap rate import, no drawing from or pv boosting of the batt during the first 1/2 of the day... It's costing me!

So far I have had warm words from the 2 organisations but nothing better. I think all this started at the Savings session on 12/2 when I guess their Intelligent Flux tariff tried to take part on behalf of the customer, but they a) didn't allow for non Intelligent customers and b) made a major cock-up in linking the systems.

[Stinsy]

I've heard of people stacking some PIR around their batteries in winter. Batteries get warm in normal use and take a long time to cool down so just keeping more of that heat in is a good strategy.

A resistive heater seems to me to be sacrilege!

[AE-NMidlands]

I've heard of people stacking some PIR around their batteries in winter. Batteries get warm in normal use and take a long time to cool down so just keeping more of that heat in is a good strategy.

A resistive heater seems to me to be sacrilege!

I agree, and in fact the self-heating hasn't been needed even in the bitter cold of January. I imagine the house's evening demand kept the battery slightly warm and then the 2 a.m. charge would have pushed the temperature right up, leaving it to drift down until the morning current draw would push it up again.
However our friends who are building batteries for outdoor plant rooms do seem to be incorporating thermostats and heaters, so I see it as a sensible precaution. I suspect that rather than put extra gubbins in - all with its own carbon footprint - a brief discharge to the grid followed by a similar recharge might be a sensible way of achieving the same effect.
An insulated cover might be a good idea for the winter but it's got to be collapsible for summer storage as heat dissipation gets necessary then, for the inverter anyway.
A