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Is this battery box acceptable?

deccody33

New Member
Joined
Dec 31, 2024
Messages
3
Location
TN
Temperatures generally stay mild in east Tennessee during the winter, however we do drop below freezing from time to time. I'm pretty new to the solar community so I'm learning. My understanding is lifepo4 batteries need mild temperature above 32°F to charge and this battery will be outside under a chicken run, of course the run is covered on top with roofing but the sides are wire. Battery will be protected from rain but temperatures as noted, do drop below freezing here. The bottom not pictured is also a piece of foam that the battery shipped with for packaging. The bottom piece of wood has two 7/8 cuts on both sides for airflow during summer months as temperatures then can reach 95°F. I plan on removing the foam during the warm months for airflow and probably add a fan later on if needed.
Will this setup work or do I need to rethink this?

Also battery will be mounted to a 4by4 post approximately 5 feet from ground
Thanks in advance for input
 

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I don't know if it will be good, but getting it outside now to test ASAP to gather data at the coldest time of year would be good, this way you'll know if you need to add a temp controlled heating pad. Not quite as well a technique to wait to gath4r data in July.


This is one way to construct it:
 
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Here is a little temp monitor and controller. Put the probe inside the insulation and you can monitor it or turn on a tiny heater pad.

Temp board.
 
What sort of loading and charging will this battery see?

Does the unit have low temp charging protection?
 
100 watt solar panel and a victron mppt 100/20. Battery has built in low and high temp protection. Load will be a 25 watt aquarium heater for chicken water and 2 wifi cameras and eventually some led lights and some more cameras. I'll probably add another 100 watt panel later on. Currently temp is 30F and snow.
 

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I would think with those constant loads your way undersized on the Solar. 100 watts might get 300Wh day, and your loads look to be ~1800Wh day ( 75W * 24h ). This doesn't even consider days with little to no sun.

St
 
I would think with those constant loads your way undersized on the Solar. 100 watts might get 300Wh day, and your loads look to be ~1800Wh day ( 75W * 24h ). This doesn't even consider days with little to no sun.

St
the tank heater doesn't run constantly its controlled by thermostat and the best i could find on cameras is 2.8 watts but i apprentice the feedback I am learning. What would you recommend on panels?
 
For the temperature in your area, you could add 30-40w incandescent light bulb in an attached insulated enclosure to the bottom of the battery box and have it on all the time or wired to a temperature sensor that would turn on when the temperature was below 35F. .

We used to put 100W light bulb in our chicken coups in NB, Canada that were not insulated to keep our coups above freezing to protect our chickens so a 30W bulb in a battery box will surely suffice in your area.
 
the tank heater doesn't run constantly its controlled by thermostat and the best i could find on cameras is 2.8 watts but i apprentice the feedback I am learning. What would you recommend on panels?
is it an AC or DC tank heater?

If AC, the inverter idle will kill you.

We use an AC heated dog bowl for our chickens, shuts off when temps are above 40-45 I think.
 
We tend to bring water in the house when its below freezing and put it back out in the morning.... Since we go visit the chickens anyways its not really an extra step. And they do not drink water when its dark anyways.
 
the tank heater doesn't run constantly its controlled by thermostat and the best i could find on cameras is 2.8 watts but i apprentice the feedback I am learning. What would you recommend on panels?

You need actual 24hr power values, not a guess. Cameras I use are much more than that ( standard IP security camera's ) and if you have night vision, the IR LED's use power.

As proposed, you would have best case 300Wh which is 12.5Wh per hour in a day. A 25 Watt heater will run 24/4 in cold / freezing temperatures, so best you start measuring your loads with an amp meter, build a budget and then that will determine what is needed for solar and battery.
 
100 watt solar panel and a victron mppt 100/20. Battery has built in low and high temp protection. Load will be a 25 watt aquarium heater for chicken water and 2 wifi cameras and eventually some led lights and some more cameras. I'll probably add another 100 watt panel later on. Currently temp is 30F and snow.
Btw if your loads are DC and low enough, you can use the victron load port to monitor daily Wh consumption.

A great way to determine if more solar is needed.
 

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