Best place for PV inverter and battery?

EricMears

yp70479 said:   .  . .  - just need the "Worlds strongest Man" to get the battery up there!

You might also need a structural engineer to confirm loft floor will take the weight !

Reed_Richards

I have my inverter and my battery in my loft.  They have been up there for 3 years now will no problems or ill-effects that I have noticed.

EricMears

Reed_Richards said:

I have my inverter and my battery in my loft.  They have been up there for 3 years now will no problems or ill-effects that I have noticed.

But are your batteries so heavy that you needed the "Worlds strongest Man" to get them into the loft ?

ABrass

EricMears said:

Reed_Richards said:

I have my inverter and my battery in my loft.  They have been up there for 3 years now will no problems or ill-effects that I have noticed.

But are your batteries so heavy that you needed the "Worlds strongest Man" to get them into the loft ?

It was probably just a bit of a stretch for him

Reed_Richards

EricMears said:

Reed_Richards said:

I have my inverter and my battery in my loft.  They have been up there for 3 years now will no problems or ill-effects that I have noticed.

But are your batteries so heavy that you needed the "Worlds strongest Man" to get them into the loft ?

My battery is about the size of a small suitcase, not as wide.  I have never lifted it myself, it was put in by the installers without the need to enlist the aid of my friend Ben.

Solarchaser

Batteries are heavy, but not as heavy as an average adult male, so you shouldn't need reinforcing in the loft

yp70479

The battery weighs 54kg. So it seems really heavy to my spaghetti arms!  But the new Give Energy batteries have a carrying handle to help with moving them, so i reckon two strong men should be able to man-handle it into the loft. I've got a house built in the 1950s so I think the rafters and joists are pretty strong. I weigh more than the battery and they haven't collapsed while I've been in the loft yet!
 I've been looking around down stairs, but can't really find an unobtrusive place where I could put the battery and AC charger together (the ACcharger needs 40cm gaps around the sides for cooling). I could at a push fit the battery under the stairs but there is no where for the charger. Or the battery could go in the utility room, but because of the units and work top there isn't room to mount the charger and battery units above each other like I've seen in the pictures. I don't know if the charger and battery can be put in different locations (e.g. charger in loft, battery understairs). Does any one have any experience of this? This is looking more and more as though they will all have to go in the loft.

gefnew

Shorter the cable runs, the losses are less and the conductor cable may then be smaller diameter.

1961Nick

Put some cross beams in to spread the weight over a few rafters - 40 x 120mm across 4 rafters or load bearing wall will make a strong platform that shouldn't deflect over time.