EG4 6000XP + EG4 Wallmount Batteries in utility room

[barrymichels]

I have a 10'x4' utility closet in my garage. That's where my main panel is. There's enough room for 4 of the EG4 Indoor wall mount batteries and 2 6000XP's will provide plenty of power for my home. I have over a year of historical consumption data I've collected in preparation for going solar. The only thing I need to change is add a soft-start to my AC unit to bring the 65-75A spikes down to something more reasonable. My roof is 30 years old, so solar is not going to happen for now. But, I'm on a ToU plan. Batteries will save enough money to offset the cost of the system. I can add solar later once I get a new roof, or can talk my wife into putting in ground-mount solar.

Here's my question... the utility room is not conditioned. I assume heat will kill the inverter over time. Will a vent to bring in fresh air and exhaust hot air be enough to keep the units happy when I'm bringing in 100 degree air? Or, will I have to install a mini-split in that little room? I'd rather not do that. One alternative is to tee off my bathroom AC supply vent on the other side of the wall to provide cool air to that closet. The operating temperature of the 6000XP is 113F. How hot is too hot for the longevity of the unit? The 18Kpv says it will derate to protect itself. I didn't see a similar statement in the 6000XP manual.

I've been tracking the temperature in that room over the last week. During the 99+ degree days we had recently, the temperature in that room reached 93F. I'm sure it'll go hotter than that once equipment is added. The garage can reach over 100. During the summer, I open the windows to provide some relief, but it's not much.

During winter, the garage never gets below freezing, so I'm not worried about low temps in there.

 

[barrymichels]

Maybe one of these might be enough to take the edge off (below 85 or 90). And I won't have to punch a hole in my brick or hang a condenser outside.

Amazon.com

During the hottest part of the day, my house draws between 5,000 and 6,000 watts. I plan on having that come from the batteries. Not sure how much heat that conversion generates.

 

[green-river]

If you get one of those portable AC's you'll have to worry about where to drain the drain hose. If you get a small mini-split, you'll have to also pipe the condensate line somewhere. Probably easier and less plumbing work to just to tee off the bathroom vent. I've been considering a lot of the same things as I go back and forth between putting the same system in either the garage or basement. Congrats on putting the plan in motion! I'm about to do the same with 6000xp's + indoor powerpro's as grid backup then and add solar later.

 

[Eric2992]

How hot is too hot for the longevity of the unit? The 18Kpv says it will derate to protect itself. I didn't see a similar statement in the 6000XP manual.

The inverter is probably not likely to shut down if it's just a degree or two above the recommended temperature. However, it's strongly advised to maintain room temperatures below 113°F to prevent overheating issues that could lead to the inverter shutting down.