I am looking to mount my solar panels on an uninsulated pole barn about 30m from my house.

Does it make more sense to route my 48V dc lines to my climate controlled house or should I build a climate controlled space for just my solar inverter/batteries in my barn?

Are there any off the shelf containers for battery storage? Like a chest freezer designed to keep the interior at 15c?

The system will be hybrid grid tied with about 7kwH of battery capacity. My house is very shaded, but the pole barn is not. That is why mounting panels on the house is not an option.

Conclusion: After reading all your input I think I’m going to build a tiny room in my pole barn with insulation and a ductless mini split in there to maintain a stable temp/humidity over the year. It’s a headache, but it’s going to be cheaper than giving up 25% of my power to DC resistive losses or killing my battery’s life.

Thanks for everyone’s input.

  • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
    0·
    12 days ago

    Lithium based batteries will perform poorly if they get too cold. How badly depends on the speceific chemistry but all will take a hit.

    Depending on how DIY you’re going, you may want to look into Sodium Ion batteries. They are much much more tolerant to cold and still have full performance down to -40 degrees C.

    • sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyzEnglish
      0·
      12 days ago

      From the little I’ve seen, Sodium batteries are far more temperature tolerant, but that comes with a significant hit to efficiency. Might not be worth it vs just insulating.

      • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
        0·
        12 days ago

        but that comes with a significant hit to efficiency

        Efficiency in what regard? Size efficiency? Sure. They are physically larger but not like quadruple in size, but its rare that fixed battery has tight size constraints where higher density Lithium solutions shine.

        Might not be worth it vs just insulating.

        Likely need more than insulating, but even needing heat generation depending on OPs latitude.

          • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
            0·
            12 days ago

            I hadn’t looked this up before ,but you’re right on this. The difference isn’t huge though, about 5% apparently.

            • Sodium Ion RTE 85 to 92%
            • NMC (Lithium) 88% to 95%
            • NCA (Lithium) 90% to 95%
            • LFP (Lithium) RTE 90% and 97%
            • sin_free_for_00_days@sopuli.xyzEnglish
              0·
              12 days ago

              It’s not a deal breaker usually. Costs should drop pretty quickly, and I’d imagine efficiencies should improve as well. Certainly better for the planet than Lithium batteries. I’ve only looked into it because my situation is pretty weight/efficiency biased. Might have to plan on another panel to offset the loss, or it might be acceptable for someone’s use case. It’s just something to be aware of if someone is going that way. I shouldn’t have to update my situation for a few years, so I’m hoping to go the sodium route when the time comes.