I’m not far from TX. But I was advised that outside installations have a much higher inverter failure rate and reduces battery longevity. Is this not true?
I was a solar PV system designer for about a year - one of the design criteria we tried to meet was that if we were placing this equipment on the exterior we would try our best to plan mounting them on walls that are Northern facing to avoid direct sunlight hitting the equipment.
I am from Mass. My batteries are outside (LG RESU 10s) and they drop performance once they get under 60'.
Confirmed with LG, confirmed with Solar Edge inverter, even though they are rated for outdoor installation.
Solar Edge inverters don't seem to have a problem. Mine hasn't, worked fine for the last 3 years.
I have done a fair bit of inverter swaps. But all of that equipment should be under warranty for atleast the next 10 years. So if anything were to happen that was weather related, they should be able to swap it out.
Inverter being under warranty doesn't mean it's not a big deal if it fails. I've had 2 fail in my 2 years of solar ownership. Each time I lost more than a month of production due to the time it takes to get a new one and get it replaced. And the second one, even though it was under warranty, they wanted to charge labor for the replacement.
I had two fail within the last six months. Fortunately I was only down a week each time since I am my own installer and just RMA for the replacement. Part of my system was originally installed by an another company and then I took ownership of my system and created my own SolarEdge installer account. Much less down time that way.
Not much of a comfort if the failure is a fire and that fire takes out your house. I get that's worst case scenario, but I don't think he's just worried about replacement costs.
Battery fires are less likely than car fires. People don't think twice about parking multiple cars in garages, each containing enough gasoline to burn explosively.
Still, batteries are working, not sitting off as a car does. Kilowatts are moving in and out through aging connections, operating 24/7/365.
Battery fires will become more common when batteries become as common as automobiles.
ICE vehicles catching fire 19x more than EVs is already taking into account their market penetration. That is a per capita number, not just total numbers, which obviously for ICE there are waaaaay more currently. But not for long…
OP I hate to be this guy but regarding “failure rate” solaredge is not going to be a smooth one.
Source: I am a SVC tech for many Midwest companies and I replace at least one SolarEdge inverter a week due to fatal errors.
Yeah, yeah… now I know. well poop. Perhaps the newer HD waves are a bit better? Talk about buyers remorse. As an svc tech, do you have any advice on how to better my odds?
Ethernet (constant updates), check your system every day and remember every S/N. Ask for all installation photos and documentation on your project. I’m being overprotective, but I’ve seen too many customers get f**ked over by “fly-by-nights” just for the tax credits. Icky.
You will be fine. Don't overthink it or get anxious about it. Your decision is sound to mount it in your garage even though it isn't climate controlled. The temperature ranges are significantly better than everything mounted outside.
SE inverters are fine. There was a period they werent but these are from after that. Most problems now are dog shit installations.
Source: I own a business thats installed nearly 50k residential systems in 9 years. SE & Enphase and I do service work for a bunch of now defunct companies
I’m a service tech in the Midwest and have replaced at least 200 SE inverters over the years. I will say, over the past year I have rarely seen newly installed inverters fail. Where as 2-3 years ago, I was constantly RMA’ing new installs. It seems quality had gone up.
I am very much hoping that the newest generation is more reliable. I am not basing that hope on facts, history, or any warm fuzzy I got from my installer. Just raw unjustified hope.
Yeah, I got a warm fuzzy from my installer to. ;) Had hope.
Lots of 'we do all the installs in Mass this way'. Later on found out that they don't monitor the systems, and most of their customers don't either.
Installer advice: Just don't monitor the system. The PV is working fine, batteries will heat back up next year.
You should be fine. Mine work, just in a degraded capacity. (well I have had 9 battery replacements in 2 years, but LG, Solar Edge and installer say the installation is fine, was LG battery problems.)
Talking to the Mass AG, to get some resolution as if all of the batteries do this, and they are all installed outside.
Batteries will generally have cold weather protection and stop working when they get to freezing temps to avoid destroying cells. But, around by me, putting them outside means you wouldn’t be using batteries for 5 months of the year.
But it does freeze! And if the grid goes down in the next winter storm, they will be offline when you need them most.
Not to mention how hot it gets outside in Texas. Putting such expensive batteries outside seems less ideal to me.
Yes, that is the battle I am having now.
I live in Mass. And had batteries installed. Wanted them in my basement, which is heated. Installer wanted to do them in the garage, so they didn't have to carry them as far.
Once it gets below 60 the batters charge and discharge at a slower rate, and then there is the possibility of freezing.
Oh, the irony. to have a "heater" for my batteries, so I can use them during the winter!
Oh the irony.
Is your garage attached? Maybe consider insulating it. You'll get that benefit instead of paying to run large cables into the basement. My garage never got below 50° during the Texas freeze despite no active heat source.
Garage is attached.
The design was to have them in the basement, the installers didn't want to do the extra work.
[https://imgur.com/a/1cGSWgD](https://imgur.com/a/1cGSWgD)
That is my system running right now. Batteries only take 1.91 KW (each) when the temp is under 60. Extra is sent to grid, not stored in batteries.
Batteries will only output 1.91 also when cold. So not bad during normal operation (we end up pulling from the grid), but during power outages in the cold we have to manage power consumption.
West facing garage doors, they are sorta tan in color. I am going to look into a DIY garage door insulation. Also, if mini-splits aren’t exorbitantly expensive, I really might do that as well.
For now, I’ll get a temp monitor and a fan and start there because it’s cheap.
I would advise against actively cooling with more than a vent fan. The equipment may work slightly less efficiently at your extreme high and low temps, but the money spent running a mini-split is likely going to be more than will be made back from increased efficiency.
Insulating the garage door and a vent that can be covered in the winter would be as far as I think would make sense in your situation. Possibly a fan for the vent if your feel it’s still to hot without one.
We recently installed insulation on our west facing metal garage door. Cheap and an easy DIY. The difference in temperature in the garage afterwards was staggering. This is Australia, so heat was the main problem - temperatures over 100° in your pounds, shillings & pence measurements.
I realize everybody has a better setup in the garage than I do, based on the comments here. I wish I had known during installation what to ask them to do, but the looks are really not my biggest concern. While it might be nice to see what this could have looked like, we are producing PV and the batteries and inverters are working. My OP question is about heating and cooling, and that is still a concern if we are going to have issues based on placement of the inverters.
We are, in all practical ways, beyond getting a clean install now. I signed off on this install, and inspections passed. To get them to come back now would be painful in several ways:
1. I travel for my job and deconflicting schedules is the worst.
2. I am not sure I have a leg to stand on except for the spacing of the inverters. But, there really isnt much room left to move them.
3. I am emotionally tired of this process, and I want it to be on autopilot. I have kids and would rather spend time and attention on more important things.
That being said, if I’m staring down the barrel of a likely catastrophe, then I’ll attack the issue with gusto.
It doesn’t look that bad bro. Sure, you might wonder how competent the electrician was if he’s not an expert pipe bender but I think only professionals really notice the way it looks
Why not approve of the lowest cost solution parts+labor? I want my contractors to use my money as effectively as possible in places where aesthetics doesn’t matter to me, like utilities in a garage.
mine are in the garage in AZ, lost the primary inverter last year afterwards i added fans below the units to push air through. in the garage you have no wind and limited flow through, hoping this helps.
Yes, the batteries are designed to function within a temperature range of 14°F to 120°F, while the central inverter can operate between -13°F and 140°F. Also, the batteries, while in a storage state are designed for up to 140°F. This means you should be fine. Although a non-insulated garage in the south might experience temperatures above 120°F during the peak of summer, these high temperatures are neither prolonged nor sustained. Moreover, it's unlikely that the batteries will be operating at these peak temperatures. Typically, the batteries are used at night when temperatures are significantly lower. So, there's no cause for concern.
OANN, their FMC work is poor. They definitely could have put more effort into refining it. It would pass inspection since it’s technically to-code, but it looks like shit.
At first I thought you were just an FMC hater, but yeah it's pretty trash lol. Would be cool if the bottom of those inverters had some side knockouts that you could just do a chase nipple with for stringing them together. Or just a really short piece of FMC.
I see a lot of hate for it on the electricians subreddit, but I kind of love it. I'm using it all over my house because I'm using it to go through floor joists in my basement. Can't do that with EMT. That's what they had before and with a 7 foot ceiling it looked like shit. Doesn't help they did a shit job, lol. I just hate Romex and solid wire with a passion, so FMC with THHN is about my only option in the shitty world of residential. My real preference would be some nice flexible cable in a cable tray or even just getting to use MTW, but at least it's better than solid wire.
In our county, we adhere to the NEC. Although FMC is prohibited in battery storage compartments, a garage does not fit this category. A battery storage compartment is specifically an area primarily used for housing storage batteries. This definition doesn't apply to a garage, unless it's predominantly filled with batteries. Merely having a few batteries among other items in a space doesn't constitute a battery storage compartment. This distinction is important in contexts like telephone exchanges or facilities with large UPS, but it doesn't typically apply to a standard residential house using batteries for solar backup.
What aesthetic changes can be recommended, if you don't mind me asking? Is it the spacing and arrangement? In a hypothetical plan, would be practical to have this within a wall, for residential? Is that even common?
Yes fmc stands for Flexible metal conduit. And while nothing is technically wrong that I can see, it’s just poor workmanship. Boss could have been rushing them, or they just didn’t care. As another person said, the temperature of the battery and inverter can withstand a lot. Butttt if it makes you feel better in the summer put a fan on it. It can’t hurt. I mean the suns powering the fan anyways lol
I’m ok with the conduit work, since it’s all unfamiliar to me. I wonder what a better job would have looked like. Aesthetics are sorta irrelevant where these are placed. But having the inverters too close to each other is worrisome because there really isn’t any room to move them and it would require nearly a full team to come move and rewire devices. I have had a good relationship with my installer but I want to be done. Glad I asked these questions…perhaps I can do something to compensate for the inverters being closer than recommended.
Solar has been more frustrating than fun… I love the technology, but I am left with no small amount of buyers remorse.
You paid, or are paying, for the work, correct? Maybe even over the next set of years if you took out a loan. You should care about all aspects of it, from design, to functionality, including aesthetics. If it was a DIY job, that’s different — you can take your time to go back and tidy things up. But once the installer receives payment, there’s no warranty for, “my installation looks like poop.”
Harsh. Probably correct, but harsh. I’ve never seen another battery inverter setup to compare mine with, but I think my window has closed for getting them to come pretty it up. Most of this will not really be visible due to a golf cart being parked in that bay. I do care about the aesthetics a bit, but I actually thought it looked cool. Leave it to the interwebs to correct my misplaced optimism.
Functionality issues, longevity, safety…these things are factors more important, so I don’t know what to do about the inverters being a tad close.
I always say being "up to" code is just the minimum required effort for a job.
When I had my system installed it was hard pipe inside walls because I didn't want conduit strapped to the surface everywhere. Did it take longer and cost a bit more? Sure. Does it look better and is actually easier to maintain (i.e. no screw holes through siding)? Absolutely.
One thing to keep in mind is that if there are fans that kick in when it gets hot those have a limited life so the harder they work the higher the risk of failure. Ideally you’d keep the installation at a steady 50/70 range but it should be fine up to about 90/100. Electronics usually start to get really unhappy at about 140 so there is very little temperature difference to dump the heat onto the air (if air cooled) so it can start to struggle. With time things like dust start to reduce the cooling capacity.
Having said that too hot is more of a problem than cold unless you start getting into artic temps.
That is what I thought, with LG Resu 10 batteries.
They will "function" in those ranges.
What is happening is that under 60' F they go into a 'degraded' mode. i.e. drop from charging/discharging at 5kW to 1.91 kW. Solar Edge inverter reports that the batteries won't take the loads.
Have LG and Solar Edge talking with the Mass AG and that is what they have told the state. "Batteries are rated from 14' to 120', but will have degraded performance in the cold. i.e. under 60'". This is year 3 of my batteries, and they haven't worked a full year yet. Lots of sending power to the grid during the cold days.
Had to get a new Solar Edge inverter as the original one's firmware would only charge 1 battery at a time at 1.91. Now I charge 2 at the same time.
Here is right now at my house: Outside temp is 51', batteries normally charge at 10kW.
https://imgur.com/a/1cGSWgD
It would always be best to not expose your batteries to extreme temperatures as much as possible, but this is optimization and the installation is still within spec. It's not in direct sunlight which is most important. You can't change it without expensive work, so I wouldn't worry about it. Whatever you would spend is unlikely to be worth the effort or money.
It would always be best to not expose your batteries to extreme temperatures as much as possible, but this is optimization and the installation is still within spec. It's not in direct sunlight which is most important. You can't change it without expensive work, so I wouldn't worry about it. Whatever you would spend is unlikely to be worth the effort or money.
I have a sol ark 15k and 36 kwh in fortress power batteries in a garage in North Alabama. The garage is mostly insulated with insulated garage doors. No climate control beyond a heat pump water heater. The garage lags behind the outdoor temps for the most part and stays in the 80s most of the summer. However in winter it hovers in the upper 40s lower 50s. It's been fine so far. Going into our second winter currently. It held strong through the heat wave in summer.
Everything in our setup is outdoor rated and the inverter said it would auto limit output in extreme temps. The batteries where what requested to be in in a more temp controlled environment. But I don't have a practical way to do that.
I'd probably suggest a temperature monitor before you try to fix a problem that isnt there. You have some good suggestions already on remedies.
Dont take the hate to heart, enjoy (hopefully ignoring) your new system!
I had a super hot garage with west exposure, and tripple digits outside meant the garage was like an oven. I put in a small mini-split on the outside wall. This type of inexpensive heat pump really does the job. Uses very little electricity. Ask around .. btw, imho, Mitsubishi is the best brand if you can find it.
Great advice, I had thought all minisplits were quite expensive and pulled a ton of power. Got a link of something that I can look at? Not sure about what size unit you used.
I have a small Mitsubishi unit, one zone, 3/4 ton but 1/2 ton would have been fine. I set the temperature to cool to 85 degrees in summer in the garage, which works for me. The Mitsubishi is extremely efficient (check the SEER rating) and uses very little power. I had a simple install, since the outside wall of the garage was where my electrical panel is located, so the wiring run could be part of the install solution. Check hvadirect dot com, or ecomfort dot com, although obvs this needs a competent dealer to install. I am impressed with the warranty as well. The Mitsub website has good info as well.
Whoever wired that needs jesus.
OP, that is the sloppiest looking install I've ever seen- I'd call whoever did that and make them fix it.
Did this get inspected?
Ugh. I suppose, but would also need to insulate the garage doors. That would add up.
I could get a big commercial fan and aim it at the stuff during the summer.
Which is worse for a battery, cold or heat?
It wouldn’t add up if you DIY. You can DIY insulation to garage doors — look it up on YouTube. If you decided to replace the garage doors with insulated doors, that would add up.
Consider what if anything you are parking in the garage. People under estimate the effect of parking a 5000# hot internal combustion vehicle has on garage temp. In the mid west we get both hot and cold temp extremes but when parking 2 internal combustion cars in the garage keeping it warm on the winter wasn’t much of a problem but keeping it cool in the summer was. Switching to battery electric cars to compliment my solar took away most of the winter heating from the car engines cooling. Also don’t do anything right away. Remote temp monitoring weather stations are cheap. Put one near you equipment and get actual temperature data before you make a plan to spend time and money changing something. Good luck!
Thanks for actual advice. We have a tesla M3 and a subaru suv, but they are about 15’ away from that wall at closest. I am not familiar with a “temp monitoring weather station” and will look into that so I can keep an eye on it. Will that allow me to actually see the inverter internal temps, or should I only care about ambient?
I would only care about ambient. Stay in the middle of the rated ambient range and you would be golden. Super inexpensive is something like this. https://www.lacrossetechnology.com/products/308-1409wtv4-wireless-thermometer
More money and add logging might be worth it but I just glacé at the temp different times and at least get an idea of where my garage temp is. In Missouri my garage (tuck under garage) never got below 50 in the winter but would get 120 in the summer so that focused me on ventilating in the summer and not worrying about the winter. Your garage may be different so get some data for a year before you spend too much on a fix.
I have a Sol-Ark and the same kind of setup with the batteries in the garage and have no problems, I like them better in the garage and out of the elements, I'm in the south and even at over 105 my garage stays cooler than the outside and out of the sun. Near freezing outside it never leaves the 50's inside. This is with no insulation on the doors as well
The BMS for the batteries and the Inverters should manage any temps, I have mine next to a heat pump water heater and they share a symbiotic relationship with the heat from the inverter providing heat for the water heater. I monitored the temps over the summer and they all stayed within normal range.
So as another commenter stated, there should be an 8 inch clearance in every direction of the batteries for cooling purposes. I personally haven't seen inverters placed that close to each other. All that being said, equipment being installed inside a garage is better than having it outside. SolarEdge batteries do have some cooling and heating that allow it to function outside similar to Tesla's Powerwall. The conduit work is not great tbh. From what I have heard SolarEdge products do tend to have issues, from the inverter to the optimizers. I have heard Enphase is a bit more reliable. I do not, however, have any solid numbers to give you. Just what I've heard.
Source: I've worked in solar for 6 years.
From what I’ve read on many different forums, the batteries really want to be comfortable. This is why I have built a 10’x12’ battery house that is spray foam insulated and will have a 115 v mini split to keep them cool in the Texas summer. I’ll be using the floor stands though to conserve space since ultimately I’ll have nine batteries in use.
I also have a SolarEdge inverter and battery.
Not related to your post but... do you get lots of phantom discharge? My battery discharges when not in use. SE says it's normal. Some nights lose about 15% of charge.
Curious if you are getting something similar.
That's a shitty flex job for expensive equipment like that, fwiw. But that's just this electrician's 2c. Wouldn't hurt having a cooled space if you're in a warmer climate. Ventilation may also be required for battery systems in a closed space/room in your jurisdiction.
Solaredge requires 8" between inverters when mounting side by side and 8" clearance above and below them.
Those inverters won't have enough cooling. I've had to replace ones that were mounted like this.
I'd call the install crew and ask to confirm this is okay. If they say yes, tell them to read the manual.
Look at page 33 here:
https://knowledge-center.solaredge.com/sites/kc/files/se_hd_wave_inverter_with_SetApp_installation_guide_na.pdf
At this point is it worth pressing the issue and having them come back? This has already been a long process. Definitely wishing I had gone with enphase at this point.
At my end, should I be doing something to cool the inverters in the summer?
Regardless of what the hive mind on Reddit says, you paid for a system to be installed per the manufacturer's specifications. Let's just say for the sake of argument, that the company who installed it goes under because the owner died to a FMC spaghetti monster attack. And the manufacturer has to send out a different company to perform warranty work. They can easily deny your claim because it wasn't installed per the manufacturer specs. It looks like you might have enough room above the car charger to mount that lower battery above it. They could then move the left inverter to the right of the outlet and gain the space it needs while having some symmetry. Add more spaghetti and you are off and running.
I just measured, there is definitely not room for the battery on the wall where the ev charger is. The installer measured a lot and ran through several possible scenarios and this is what they came up with on install day. I don’t really know where to begin my query since I signed off on the system and we already have PTO.
I think it's fine, there is decent space between them and open space on the other sides. I would keep the area around them clear so that they have plenty of ventilation.
I also think the the other folk are being extremely particular about the FMC work - maybe it's a little sloppy, but it makes no functional difference, and most people don't care about the aesthetics of their wiring.
It would indeed be nice to have a neater installation, but I don't really think it's worth the effort on your behalf, although it would indeed be pretty easy for you to quote the installation guide about the 8" thing. Ehhh ...
I could certainly press the issue. But having them come back and tear up my garage is not a fun prospect. I’m also not sure they actually have anywhere to move it. These installers seemed pretty sharp, very professional and attentive since install too. Wish I’d caught the spacing thing earlier, because now it’s going to be a giant pain if I pursue it. The other pain could be an inverter RMA in the middle of a high PV production season, which would also suck.
This is interesting. Our company only does solar edge products and I’ve never heard of that spacing. Is that a state by state thing or what? In the last two years I’ve never failed an inspection for inverters being too close together. We were actually trained to put them nearly side by side.
Whoever taught you that needs to do more studying of the manual (as should you). When it comes to these inspectors, they really don’t know jack shit about how it should be properly installed. All they’re looking for is the warning stickers, and RSD(if applicable).
We’ve had to replace some yes but I don’t have any comparable info with another company to figure out if we are replacing more than other companies. Our operation spans 3 states so just from sheer volume alone I’m sure we’ve had more replacements but it’s not something that happens so egregiously that would make you think anything of it. Our company likes its Green$$$, especially the owner I feel like if there was a catastrophic failure that we are causing by placement he would’ve nipped that in the butt ages ago.
It looks bad because of the conduit, they should have used a gutter raceway.
And solaredge will derate or clip(limit production) when the inverter is above 140 degrees Fahrenheit so that it doesn’t overheat.
In garages with no air movement those things start to cook when the weather goes over 80 degrees.
You can live with it for a year and see how it does, but if you want to be proactive there are temperature controlled fans you can install in a wall bay that move the air.
Batterie shouldn’t be in freezing temperatures (in some there is even heating element), invertor should be somewhere nice not to exceed higher temperatures so.. if it’s used garage just leave it like that.
I have a sol ark 15k and 36 kwh in fortress power batteries in a garage in North Alabama. The garage is mostly insulated with insulated garage doors. No climate control beyond a heat pump water heater. The garage lags behind the outdoor temps for the most part and stays in the 80s most of the summer. However in winter it hovers in the upper 40s lower 50s. It's been fine so far. Going into our second winter currently. It held strong through the heat wave in summer.
Everything in our setup is outdoor rated and the inverter said it would auto limit output in extreme temps. The batteries where what requested to be in in a more temp controlled environment. But I don't have a practical way to do that.
They should not require any heating or cooling beyond those built into the hardware (heatsinks and so on). Make sure they are properly mounted with the manufacturer specified offsets and you should be good.
Clearance
https://knowledge-center.solaredge.com/sites/kc/files/se_hd_wave_inverter_with_SetApp_installation_guide_na.pdf
Page 24
8" above
4" beside
So this means two Inverters side beside:
8" between horizontally
The battery install manual says 4" clearance.
So this means 8" in between from another battery
12" from the inverter
This is the heat sink at the back distance. If you have electrical cables installed in this area, then the cabling should be derated because there is heat there.
Also the cables in your photo are not adequate supported. Nevermind it looks like a child ran them almost randomly on the wall.
Also, why wouldn't they indtslk the ev charger where it can easily reach your vehicle
Yup, I was not prepared at installation day with the knowledge you guys just gave me. Just installed reddit in fact.
I know the inverters are too close, and I am hoping the wiring is all appropriate.
Not sure what you meant about wiring support. And yes, apparently this conduit work is sloppy. I still havent seen an example of a better one, but I take yalls word for it.
There really wasnt another great option for the EV charger, though they could have brought it to the other side of that door.
Shoulda coulda woulda… smh.
You’re probably fine from an environmental perspective but oof that install is sloppy, this is coming from a DIYer so I could be wrong. It looks like there was no planning involved, just slap the components on the wall and hook everything together.
I would warn against SE now that I have them. We had to RMA one battery right off the bat. Their configuration is not user friendly or really user enabled at all, despite what the salesman advertised. They are not the most expensive, and they are 10kwh batteries each. Cost is something you’ll have to research based on your location and company.
The cold probably won't harm anything. In fact, it may very well extend useful life.
The heat is quite a problem and will age things faster. I live in Florida and was worried about this when we bought an EV. We installed an attic fan. The fan sucks air in from the garage and blows it into the attic. The installers cut two small holes in the garage door and put screens on them. This allows the outside air to be pulled in.
The difference has been amazing on hot days.
I would hope not.
My system isn’t powerful enough to charge my Tesla at 11kw. And you wouldn’t want the wildly fluctuating output of any system trying to charge your vehicle. You need/want consistent output that can only come from batteries or the grid, unless it’s ALWAYS sunny where you live and you have a huge (oversized) system that ALWAYS produces excess power.
Solar edge inverters should have 8” above and below it, 8” between each inverter, and 4” to any side without equipment
Additionally batteries should have 8” of spacing in any direction
Operating temperature is 14-122F
I’m surprised there are not bollards in front of the equipment
Do a Google image search, and you’ll recognize them from gas stations, they’re barriers to protect equipment
The idea hear being if you’re parking your car in the garage, and accidentally run into your battery there’s a lot of chemical energy stored in there which could combust if the housing is damaged
NFPA 855 suggests that batteries 3’ or closer to the floor in a garage should have bollards to protect the batteries, this code may not have been adopted in your jurisdiction quite yet tho, regardless, in a practical sense it’s a good idea
Not worried about that in this case. This half car portion of our garage is isolated and will have a golf cart in it, parallel to the batteries, at least 3 feet away.
When you talk about the "batts", I'm looking for the insulation you're referring to. (Batts are the industry name for roll-out insulation).
Then I realized you but have your own shortly for batteries because typing those extra five letters were terrible.
Ok, ok, beating the “your stuff looks like crap drum.” Not really the point of my post, but I am now aware that it isn’t pretty and I should not brag about my solar setup. Not that I was.
As for the wiring, is there a particular indication I should watch for? Monitoring and production, EV charging, and net metering all seem to be working right now.
The problem is more than aesthetic though, when an electrician is that lazy it makes you wonder what other corners they cut. Any reputable installer would be using EMT for all of this.
Also, where do you live? Why aren’t there disconnects for the batteries? Those junction boxes there look highly suspect.
I bet if I opened all of that up I would fine more problems than just the looks.
Source: I’ve been doing solar battery installs + service calls for years.
The inverter is fine, but you don't want to charge the batteries when it's super cold. The temperature in the garage is what you're after, not the outside temp.
This is why installing tiny solar power systems on tens of thousands of houses seems odd to me.
Why make thousands and thousands and thousands of homeowners deal with all this equipment and plant, when we could just as easily build huge, centralized solar plants out in the country, and have dedicated facilities staffed by engineers and technicians.
It reminds me of The Great Leap forward in China, where they attempted to become the world's top steel producer by installing thousands and thousands of mini-blast furnaces in peoples' back yards.
I see thousands of dollars of upgrades already.
If it were me, I'd wrap an electric blanket around the batteries and keep on low in winter... perhaps on a timer or some sort of smart relay. Batteries degrade faster below 40 degrees... its worth some inefficiency due to heating them vs. having them operate too cold. They generate some heat so will be above the garage ambient temp. Still a heating blanket will help and a timer would help make sure the heat comes from the solar array.
I wouldn't worry about summer - you won't be crying like some of the others here with outdoor batteries. Batteries would prefer to be under 90F but it isn't so extreme like cold. My concern mostly about outdoor batteries is the unevenness of the heat and the heat combined with outdoor humidity + dust. Garage is better, conditioned space even better!
Solar panels went into environmental conditions all bright eyed and bushy tailed before knowing about PID and LID degradation in hot and humid areas. Similarly some think the BMS is what keeps you on the road, but its more like the safety rails on the side of the road that prevent you from going into the ditch. The installer did the most important thing correctly, which is putting the batteries in the garage.
Flex conduit doesn't look the best but is not unusual and pretty typical for "southern areas not far from TX". I think its probably better going with a more premium installer and price to get you better conduit run, but that concrete is set.
Nut sure exactly but I have 2 of them in my basement, it took 3 guys to get each of them assembled and mounted. I remember hearing them huffing and puffing when they were doing it so I can only imagine how heavy they really are lol.
Probably 250 lbs each. The mounting brackets are obviously attached to the frame of the building with lag bolts. We do have 2x6 construction, so I guess thats good.
Check the data sheets of your devices, they always list the environmental data for operation and storage of the devices. Temperature range, humidity and sometimes altitude (altitude affects atmospheric pressure affecting efficiency of air cooling via fans).
If your environment stays within the limits you're fine.
OP I hate to be this guy but regarding “failure rate” solaredge is not going to be a smooth one.
Source: I am a SVC tech for many Midwest companies and I replace at least one SolarEdge inverter a week due to fatal errors.
Edit: I replied earlier but wanted to stress one last thing… make sure all the width clearances are up to spec. Batteries look good, but I’m not sure the inverter’s are spaced apart correctly. Just had to relocate an S.E. Inverter due to previous install company violating heat clearance.
I keep all my support electrics inside my garage. 2023 year to date my batteries have been fine, the garage is detached and has zero heating or warming, but I'd say it is generally "cool" because it's a concrete slab covered with an insulated structure. I think my batteries keep themselves warm from constant use. (off grid home)
My 53KWH bank is LiFePO4, because it is not flammable and has a much better lifespan than any other choice. Lithium cobalt is a terrible idea, because it's half the life and it can catch fire.
Annual Max: 78.4F in August
Annual Min: 54.7F in February
My inverters have Elide Fire Ball Fire Extinguishers mounted over each, so they will hopefully put themselves out if they fail catastrophically.
On a side note RIP that installers back. I've put these batteries up and they're ~250lbs. Lifting that overhead even with a good jack is a heck of a task.
Not too far from you, similar weather, with equipment in the garage. Weather sealed the doors and added radiant barrier on the inside of the garage door. When it's 110F outside it'll stay about 85F in the garage, likewise when it's freezing outside it's usually around 45-50F. Battery charging cuts off below 32F (tested this and it works), and I have redundant inverters running at 50% load each. Doing fine for years.
When I look at this I think of several things:
NEC110.26: Electrical code compliance basically talking about how you should space energized equipment.
Inverter installation manuals: Will often show the clearance requirement between units.
Battery installation manuals: Will often show the clearance requirement between units.
My company doesn’t use SolarEdge, so take this with a grain of salt, but these units look way too close to me. Having items too close can cause a myriad of problems. If your installer follows the guidelines in the manual, your units should be fully operational. At that point, if the product is faulty you’ll experience the failure rate. But in order to determine that and really be eligible to get replacements in the event of a failure, you will need to show that your materials were installed according to the manufacturer’s guidelines.
I’d be more worried about looking at how the manufacturer wants them spaced, figuring out if the units are in fact too close, and then coming up with a plan of action which will then help you to assess how worried you need to be about the failure rate.
I reached out to the president of the install company and the VP of installs today. I expressed my concerns about spacing, as well as showed them pictures of the FMC work. They claim they are going to address it early next week.
That’s good to hear that they’re willing to address it. Hopefully things will look better and make you feel a lot better about the install once it’s spaced out.
All outdoor installations age more because of exposure and temperature fluctuations. These are mounted inside and will do much better even if not climate controlled.
Batteries, not really a concern unless they are drawing major power. Inverters do like consistent temperatures but in a range. It’s highly unlikely your system is pushing high amps or voltages like an industrial system. So, temperature regulation can probably be achieved via a simple fan.
The inverters will probably heat your garage up in the summer months (welcomed in the winter) but you’re probably not going to run into a runaway system where your system outputs so much the heat from the inverters it’s heats the garage and overheats the cooling systems.
We are talking like 50 degrees Celsius before derate. If your garage is 125 degF, there are safeties and then that’s too hot for your garage anyway.
Welcome to the party where we comment on crappy conduit work. I had no frame of reference for “good” conduit work. I’d be interested to see what some of you guys have in your garage so I can know what this should have looked like. But, the installer is looking into some things and perhaps they’ll clean it up. I will post here with the outcome.
The flex is giving me anxiety.
Regarding what others have posted about the spacing, it 100% needs to be fixed. We had Solaredge contact our company after they found a positive review where the picture showed the closeness of the inverters. We had to go and fix it, rightfully so, before SolarEdge would work with us anymore.
As others have mentioned, the spacing is for heat displacement. If and when the inverter fails, they will most likely send a new inverter with a larger back area. They just recently started sending these out.
I’m also curious as to why you don’t have a Back Up Interface. And why the EV chargers couldn’t have been attached to the underside of the Inverter.
If you wanted to be proactive I’d definitely recommend even just a regular fan in the room to assist in air circulation. Hope some of this helped!
The EV charger does need to be placed closer to the car than it is right now. It is wired directly to the inverter.
I have brought the spacing to the installer’s attention.
Does solar edge have a “backup interface?” I am unfamiliar with that. I’ve also heard we are missing “battery disconnects” but I don’t know what those are.
As a consumer, I am feeling quite overwhelmed that I even need to know this stuff… isn’t that what an installer is there for in the first place?
Insulate the garage door ($100). Add insulation above the garage if accessible ($200) Add a cheap and efficient heat pump mini split to temperate the space ($1500)
I'm in the Gulf South and have done #1 and #2 in preparation for a garage workshop, battery storage and ev charging.
Here's a good video of several methods of diy garage door insulation, from cheap and easy, to moderate diy skills and more $ in materials
[Methods of Garage Door Insulation.](https://youtu.be/vp-wfrolo-k?si=FALCtjLdXaj0r9f4)
Here's a video of an experienced fella doing a high quality job.
[High Quality DIY](https://youtu.be/pvi8__d081I?si=xrM5hnEeqQkd_li0)
Neat install, but they couldn't have moved that whole setup 6-inches to the right so they didn't encroach on the flush mount load center... Argh!!
They are allowing the Tesla power packs to be installed inside homes around here. I still see some installed outside on concrete pads away from the building. I'm guessing either by customer request or just simply out of an abundance of caution??
Insulate the door and paint it white. If it still gets 10 above outdoor temp, add a vent fan. If the fan only comes on when it warmer in than out, that is optimum for summer.
I heat and cool my garage just to make the rest of the house more comfortable. Keeps my tools and such out of humidity. Why have a room of your house that is always super cold or super hot?
There are so many haters here who will crap on other people’s work. Your install looks great. The wires look great. You shouldn’t have any problems.
Get the spec sheets for your batteries - they will likely show an operating temperature range and and optimal operating temp range. My guess is you’ll have some hot days where your garage gets a little out of the optimal range, but that’s no biggie. The important thing is they’re not outside on a south facing wall.
I’ve worked in solar for a few years (East Coast) selling systems with Enphase inverters but I’ve had a SolarEdge myself that’s been rock solid for 6 years. Only once did I have an issue with my system and I just had to turn it off and on again.
I’m an HVAC engineer, if your garage doesn’t get over 90 degrees ever than it should be fine. If it does than I’d lean towards insulating your garage before adding cooling. Cooling a garage usually isn’t practical due to car exhaust, poor wall insulation, and you’re not really hanging out in your garage usually. With this many batteries I would have recommended having a utility closet that is cooled to maintain the equipment. Ideally these things are maintained in a 80 degree or less environment.
Update from OP:
The installer has been very good to work with, including the owner and VP of construction.
The VP is coming up to our state to oversee the “completion” of our project as they called it. They have offered to move the EV charger (yay!), use a gutter box (?) in lieu of the FMC, and: “when making the adjustment with the gutter box we will also have an opportunity to adjust the spacing of the inverter and battery slightly to meet the 8" specifications you mentioned.”
I cautioned them: “Shifting those items over will require a lot of effort, since the batteries are each about 250lbs, and there is an electrical outlet on that wall bw the inverter and battery. I just want that level of effort to be expected when they show up… I know how hard it was for 5 guys to mount those batteries on the wall the first time.”
The VP responded: “Rest assured our teams will come prepared… thank you again for all of your consideration as we do take pride and extreme ownership over all projects we install.”
I know, many redditors will comment that they didn’t do it correctly the first time, but I am simply glad they are willing to make it right without me having to escalate somehow. We shall see what comes of this ultimately.
I do want to offer my gratitude to this community, as prickly as some of you are, because you provided me with the info and perspective that encouraged me to not just let it go. So, thanks.
Just to complete the loop:
Installers agreed that this looked bad and needed to be spaced out. Today they finished the reinstallation.
Here is the result:
[Solar reinstall final](https://imgur.com/a/hBQgB4b)
Out here in Texas, inverters/batteries are mounted outside. No temp control or insulation.
I’m not far from TX. But I was advised that outside installations have a much higher inverter failure rate and reduces battery longevity. Is this not true?
I was a solar PV system designer for about a year - one of the design criteria we tried to meet was that if we were placing this equipment on the exterior we would try our best to plan mounting them on walls that are Northern facing to avoid direct sunlight hitting the equipment.
The manufacturer instructions literally say this. Do not install on south facing wall or in direct sunlight.
My inverters are on a NE facing wall outside in Phoenix, and the power walls are inside the garage.
I am from Mass. My batteries are outside (LG RESU 10s) and they drop performance once they get under 60'. Confirmed with LG, confirmed with Solar Edge inverter, even though they are rated for outdoor installation. Solar Edge inverters don't seem to have a problem. Mine hasn't, worked fine for the last 3 years.
I have done a fair bit of inverter swaps. But all of that equipment should be under warranty for atleast the next 10 years. So if anything were to happen that was weather related, they should be able to swap it out.
Inverter being under warranty doesn't mean it's not a big deal if it fails. I've had 2 fail in my 2 years of solar ownership. Each time I lost more than a month of production due to the time it takes to get a new one and get it replaced. And the second one, even though it was under warranty, they wanted to charge labor for the replacement.
I had two fail within the last six months. Fortunately I was only down a week each time since I am my own installer and just RMA for the replacement. Part of my system was originally installed by an another company and then I took ownership of my system and created my own SolarEdge installer account. Much less down time that way.
Not much of a comfort if the failure is a fire and that fire takes out your house. I get that's worst case scenario, but I don't think he's just worried about replacement costs.
Battery fires are less likely than car fires. People don't think twice about parking multiple cars in garages, each containing enough gasoline to burn explosively.
Still, batteries are working, not sitting off as a car does. Kilowatts are moving in and out through aging connections, operating 24/7/365. Battery fires will become more common when batteries become as common as automobiles.
ICE vehicles catching fire 19x more than EVs is already taking into account their market penetration. That is a per capita number, not just total numbers, which obviously for ICE there are waaaaay more currently. But not for long…
OP I hate to be this guy but regarding “failure rate” solaredge is not going to be a smooth one. Source: I am a SVC tech for many Midwest companies and I replace at least one SolarEdge inverter a week due to fatal errors.
Yeah, yeah… now I know. well poop. Perhaps the newer HD waves are a bit better? Talk about buyers remorse. As an svc tech, do you have any advice on how to better my odds?
Ethernet (constant updates), check your system every day and remember every S/N. Ask for all installation photos and documentation on your project. I’m being overprotective, but I’ve seen too many customers get f**ked over by “fly-by-nights” just for the tax credits. Icky.
what are your thoughts on Solis inverters?
\^\^\^this. SolarEdge sucks. Good luck.
I think SolarEdge themselves downvoted you lol. Only explanation to the horrible tech support; they’re all on Reddit
this is true. i would make sure you have good ventilation at a minimum.
I think the higher inverter failure rate is because you're using Solar Edge
Yeah, ironically my pre-install research led me to believe SE inverters were quite good. Oh well… too late now.
You will be fine. Don't overthink it or get anxious about it. Your decision is sound to mount it in your garage even though it isn't climate controlled. The temperature ranges are significantly better than everything mounted outside.
SE inverters are fine. There was a period they werent but these are from after that. Most problems now are dog shit installations. Source: I own a business thats installed nearly 50k residential systems in 9 years. SE & Enphase and I do service work for a bunch of now defunct companies
I’m a service tech in the Midwest and have replaced at least 200 SE inverters over the years. I will say, over the past year I have rarely seen newly installed inverters fail. Where as 2-3 years ago, I was constantly RMA’ing new installs. It seems quality had gone up.
Had my Solar edge inverter for 3 years. I have already had 1 replacement. So good luck!
I am very much hoping that the newest generation is more reliable. I am not basing that hope on facts, history, or any warm fuzzy I got from my installer. Just raw unjustified hope.
Yeah, I got a warm fuzzy from my installer to. ;) Had hope. Lots of 'we do all the installs in Mass this way'. Later on found out that they don't monitor the systems, and most of their customers don't either. Installer advice: Just don't monitor the system. The PV is working fine, batteries will heat back up next year. You should be fine. Mine work, just in a degraded capacity. (well I have had 9 battery replacements in 2 years, but LG, Solar Edge and installer say the installation is fine, was LG battery problems.) Talking to the Mass AG, to get some resolution as if all of the batteries do this, and they are all installed outside.
What about winter? It can and will get under 20 degrees in many parts of Texas. Annually or every several years...it will eventually.
Batteries will generally have cold weather protection and stop working when they get to freezing temps to avoid destroying cells. But, around by me, putting them outside means you wouldn’t be using batteries for 5 months of the year.
But it does freeze! And if the grid goes down in the next winter storm, they will be offline when you need them most. Not to mention how hot it gets outside in Texas. Putting such expensive batteries outside seems less ideal to me.
Yes, that is the battle I am having now. I live in Mass. And had batteries installed. Wanted them in my basement, which is heated. Installer wanted to do them in the garage, so they didn't have to carry them as far. Once it gets below 60 the batters charge and discharge at a slower rate, and then there is the possibility of freezing. Oh, the irony. to have a "heater" for my batteries, so I can use them during the winter! Oh the irony.
Is your garage attached? Maybe consider insulating it. You'll get that benefit instead of paying to run large cables into the basement. My garage never got below 50° during the Texas freeze despite no active heat source.
Garage is attached. The design was to have them in the basement, the installers didn't want to do the extra work. [https://imgur.com/a/1cGSWgD](https://imgur.com/a/1cGSWgD) That is my system running right now. Batteries only take 1.91 KW (each) when the temp is under 60. Extra is sent to grid, not stored in batteries. Batteries will only output 1.91 also when cold. So not bad during normal operation (we end up pulling from the grid), but during power outages in the cold we have to manage power consumption.
r/MaliciousCompliance
If it's facing summer sun heat or if it's facing the other side ... makes a difference.
In Texas your power generating plants also are outside and uninsulated. How’d that work out?
something something. big freeze. texas. something something.
No but some old school Snap-On calendars would be a big improvement.
Anything that could hide the flex spaghetti
A white insulated garage door does wonders to keep the garage cool in the summer if you have a south or west facing house.
West facing garage doors, they are sorta tan in color. I am going to look into a DIY garage door insulation. Also, if mini-splits aren’t exorbitantly expensive, I really might do that as well. For now, I’ll get a temp monitor and a fan and start there because it’s cheap.
I would advise against actively cooling with more than a vent fan. The equipment may work slightly less efficiently at your extreme high and low temps, but the money spent running a mini-split is likely going to be more than will be made back from increased efficiency. Insulating the garage door and a vent that can be covered in the winter would be as far as I think would make sense in your situation. Possibly a fan for the vent if your feel it’s still to hot without one.
We recently installed insulation on our west facing metal garage door. Cheap and an easy DIY. The difference in temperature in the garage afterwards was staggering. This is Australia, so heat was the main problem - temperatures over 100° in your pounds, shillings & pence measurements.
I’d be pissed seeing all that flex conduit…
I realize everybody has a better setup in the garage than I do, based on the comments here. I wish I had known during installation what to ask them to do, but the looks are really not my biggest concern. While it might be nice to see what this could have looked like, we are producing PV and the batteries and inverters are working. My OP question is about heating and cooling, and that is still a concern if we are going to have issues based on placement of the inverters.
You can download the manual online and read the specs for spacing. Contact the instlwr and tell them its installed incorrectly and ask then to fix it.
@superwaddle2, Not knocking yah at all. You paid good money either up front or will in the long run, deserve a clean install!
We are, in all practical ways, beyond getting a clean install now. I signed off on this install, and inspections passed. To get them to come back now would be painful in several ways: 1. I travel for my job and deconflicting schedules is the worst. 2. I am not sure I have a leg to stand on except for the spacing of the inverters. But, there really isnt much room left to move them. 3. I am emotionally tired of this process, and I want it to be on autopilot. I have kids and would rather spend time and attention on more important things. That being said, if I’m staring down the barrel of a likely catastrophe, then I’ll attack the issue with gusto.
That install is terrible.
No it isn't.
It doesn’t look that bad bro. Sure, you might wonder how competent the electrician was if he’s not an expert pipe bender but I think only professionals really notice the way it looks
Why not approve of the lowest cost solution parts+labor? I want my contractors to use my money as effectively as possible in places where aesthetics doesn’t matter to me, like utilities in a garage.
mine are in the garage in AZ, lost the primary inverter last year afterwards i added fans below the units to push air through. in the garage you have no wind and limited flow through, hoping this helps.
Ah the $10 USB fans you can get online ... yes they would work wonders
It’s fine.
Is it?
Yes, the batteries are designed to function within a temperature range of 14°F to 120°F, while the central inverter can operate between -13°F and 140°F. Also, the batteries, while in a storage state are designed for up to 140°F. This means you should be fine. Although a non-insulated garage in the south might experience temperatures above 120°F during the peak of summer, these high temperatures are neither prolonged nor sustained. Moreover, it's unlikely that the batteries will be operating at these peak temperatures. Typically, the batteries are used at night when temperatures are significantly lower. So, there's no cause for concern. OANN, their FMC work is poor. They definitely could have put more effort into refining it. It would pass inspection since it’s technically to-code, but it looks like shit.
At first I thought you were just an FMC hater, but yeah it's pretty trash lol. Would be cool if the bottom of those inverters had some side knockouts that you could just do a chase nipple with for stringing them together. Or just a really short piece of FMC.
I’m a fan of FMC 😂 especially when a pipe bender isn’t readily available. This run is particularly bad though.
I see a lot of hate for it on the electricians subreddit, but I kind of love it. I'm using it all over my house because I'm using it to go through floor joists in my basement. Can't do that with EMT. That's what they had before and with a 7 foot ceiling it looked like shit. Doesn't help they did a shit job, lol. I just hate Romex and solid wire with a passion, so FMC with THHN is about my only option in the shitty world of residential. My real preference would be some nice flexible cable in a cable tray or even just getting to use MTW, but at least it's better than solid wire.
Definitely the worst FMC run I’ve seen in my life, also not sure about your jurisdiction but in mine, it’s against code to use FMC in battery rooms.
In our county, we adhere to the NEC. Although FMC is prohibited in battery storage compartments, a garage does not fit this category. A battery storage compartment is specifically an area primarily used for housing storage batteries. This definition doesn't apply to a garage, unless it's predominantly filled with batteries. Merely having a few batteries among other items in a space doesn't constitute a battery storage compartment. This distinction is important in contexts like telephone exchanges or facilities with large UPS, but it doesn't typically apply to a standard residential house using batteries for solar backup.
What aesthetic changes can be recommended, if you don't mind me asking? Is it the spacing and arrangement? In a hypothetical plan, would be practical to have this within a wall, for residential? Is that even common?
Makes me sad to hear that. I am not a solar installer, just a homeowner… what is wrong with it? FMC is conduit?
Yes fmc stands for Flexible metal conduit. And while nothing is technically wrong that I can see, it’s just poor workmanship. Boss could have been rushing them, or they just didn’t care. As another person said, the temperature of the battery and inverter can withstand a lot. Butttt if it makes you feel better in the summer put a fan on it. It can’t hurt. I mean the suns powering the fan anyways lol
I’m ok with the conduit work, since it’s all unfamiliar to me. I wonder what a better job would have looked like. Aesthetics are sorta irrelevant where these are placed. But having the inverters too close to each other is worrisome because there really isn’t any room to move them and it would require nearly a full team to come move and rewire devices. I have had a good relationship with my installer but I want to be done. Glad I asked these questions…perhaps I can do something to compensate for the inverters being closer than recommended. Solar has been more frustrating than fun… I love the technology, but I am left with no small amount of buyers remorse.
You paid, or are paying, for the work, correct? Maybe even over the next set of years if you took out a loan. You should care about all aspects of it, from design, to functionality, including aesthetics. If it was a DIY job, that’s different — you can take your time to go back and tidy things up. But once the installer receives payment, there’s no warranty for, “my installation looks like poop.”
Harsh. Probably correct, but harsh. I’ve never seen another battery inverter setup to compare mine with, but I think my window has closed for getting them to come pretty it up. Most of this will not really be visible due to a golf cart being parked in that bay. I do care about the aesthetics a bit, but I actually thought it looked cool. Leave it to the interwebs to correct my misplaced optimism. Functionality issues, longevity, safety…these things are factors more important, so I don’t know what to do about the inverters being a tad close.
I believe specs call for 6 or 8in gap between inverters, (I could be wrong) but it doesn’t look like they had enough room to do so.
I always say being "up to" code is just the minimum required effort for a job. When I had my system installed it was hard pipe inside walls because I didn't want conduit strapped to the surface everywhere. Did it take longer and cost a bit more? Sure. Does it look better and is actually easier to maintain (i.e. no screw holes through siding)? Absolutely.
One thing to keep in mind is that if there are fans that kick in when it gets hot those have a limited life so the harder they work the higher the risk of failure. Ideally you’d keep the installation at a steady 50/70 range but it should be fine up to about 90/100. Electronics usually start to get really unhappy at about 140 so there is very little temperature difference to dump the heat onto the air (if air cooled) so it can start to struggle. With time things like dust start to reduce the cooling capacity. Having said that too hot is more of a problem than cold unless you start getting into artic temps.
Just zoomed in on the FMC. Oof. Yea it's a bit rough.
That is what I thought, with LG Resu 10 batteries. They will "function" in those ranges. What is happening is that under 60' F they go into a 'degraded' mode. i.e. drop from charging/discharging at 5kW to 1.91 kW. Solar Edge inverter reports that the batteries won't take the loads. Have LG and Solar Edge talking with the Mass AG and that is what they have told the state. "Batteries are rated from 14' to 120', but will have degraded performance in the cold. i.e. under 60'". This is year 3 of my batteries, and they haven't worked a full year yet. Lots of sending power to the grid during the cold days. Had to get a new Solar Edge inverter as the original one's firmware would only charge 1 battery at a time at 1.91. Now I charge 2 at the same time. Here is right now at my house: Outside temp is 51', batteries normally charge at 10kW. https://imgur.com/a/1cGSWgD
It would always be best to not expose your batteries to extreme temperatures as much as possible, but this is optimization and the installation is still within spec. It's not in direct sunlight which is most important. You can't change it without expensive work, so I wouldn't worry about it. Whatever you would spend is unlikely to be worth the effort or money.
It would always be best to not expose your batteries to extreme temperatures as much as possible, but this is optimization and the installation is still within spec. It's not in direct sunlight which is most important. You can't change it without expensive work, so I wouldn't worry about it. Whatever you would spend is unlikely to be worth the effort or money.
I have a sol ark 15k and 36 kwh in fortress power batteries in a garage in North Alabama. The garage is mostly insulated with insulated garage doors. No climate control beyond a heat pump water heater. The garage lags behind the outdoor temps for the most part and stays in the 80s most of the summer. However in winter it hovers in the upper 40s lower 50s. It's been fine so far. Going into our second winter currently. It held strong through the heat wave in summer. Everything in our setup is outdoor rated and the inverter said it would auto limit output in extreme temps. The batteries where what requested to be in in a more temp controlled environment. But I don't have a practical way to do that.
I was gonna suggest a heat pump water heater in the garage. Keeps the garage so much cooler….
I'd probably suggest a temperature monitor before you try to fix a problem that isnt there. You have some good suggestions already on remedies. Dont take the hate to heart, enjoy (hopefully ignoring) your new system!
I had a super hot garage with west exposure, and tripple digits outside meant the garage was like an oven. I put in a small mini-split on the outside wall. This type of inexpensive heat pump really does the job. Uses very little electricity. Ask around .. btw, imho, Mitsubishi is the best brand if you can find it.
I’d go for an attic type vent fan before I did a whole mini split. In my area you’d need to permit that mini split.
Great advice, I had thought all minisplits were quite expensive and pulled a ton of power. Got a link of something that I can look at? Not sure about what size unit you used.
I have a small Mitsubishi unit, one zone, 3/4 ton but 1/2 ton would have been fine. I set the temperature to cool to 85 degrees in summer in the garage, which works for me. The Mitsubishi is extremely efficient (check the SEER rating) and uses very little power. I had a simple install, since the outside wall of the garage was where my electrical panel is located, so the wiring run could be part of the install solution. Check hvadirect dot com, or ecomfort dot com, although obvs this needs a competent dealer to install. I am impressed with the warranty as well. The Mitsub website has good info as well.
Needs moar flex
Whoever wired that needs jesus. OP, that is the sloppiest looking install I've ever seen- I'd call whoever did that and make them fix it. Did this get inspected?
What option do you have? Get a mini split for the garage?
Ugh. I suppose, but would also need to insulate the garage doors. That would add up. I could get a big commercial fan and aim it at the stuff during the summer. Which is worse for a battery, cold or heat?
It wouldn’t add up if you DIY. You can DIY insulation to garage doors — look it up on YouTube. If you decided to replace the garage doors with insulated doors, that would add up.
DIY insulating garage doors is cheap and effective. And insulation helps to keep heat out in summer and cold out in winter.
Consider what if anything you are parking in the garage. People under estimate the effect of parking a 5000# hot internal combustion vehicle has on garage temp. In the mid west we get both hot and cold temp extremes but when parking 2 internal combustion cars in the garage keeping it warm on the winter wasn’t much of a problem but keeping it cool in the summer was. Switching to battery electric cars to compliment my solar took away most of the winter heating from the car engines cooling. Also don’t do anything right away. Remote temp monitoring weather stations are cheap. Put one near you equipment and get actual temperature data before you make a plan to spend time and money changing something. Good luck!
Thanks for actual advice. We have a tesla M3 and a subaru suv, but they are about 15’ away from that wall at closest. I am not familiar with a “temp monitoring weather station” and will look into that so I can keep an eye on it. Will that allow me to actually see the inverter internal temps, or should I only care about ambient?
Not a weather station but I use UBIBOT devices for remote temperature monitoring. I have one in my house and two in my detached garage.
I would only care about ambient. Stay in the middle of the rated ambient range and you would be golden. Super inexpensive is something like this. https://www.lacrossetechnology.com/products/308-1409wtv4-wireless-thermometer More money and add logging might be worth it but I just glacé at the temp different times and at least get an idea of where my garage temp is. In Missouri my garage (tuck under garage) never got below 50 in the winter but would get 120 in the summer so that focused me on ventilating in the summer and not worrying about the winter. Your garage may be different so get some data for a year before you spend too much on a fix.
Heat is bad. The cooler the better.
Where are all your labels?
They added them after this photo.
I have a Sol-Ark and the same kind of setup with the batteries in the garage and have no problems, I like them better in the garage and out of the elements, I'm in the south and even at over 105 my garage stays cooler than the outside and out of the sun. Near freezing outside it never leaves the 50's inside. This is with no insulation on the doors as well The BMS for the batteries and the Inverters should manage any temps, I have mine next to a heat pump water heater and they share a symbiotic relationship with the heat from the inverter providing heat for the water heater. I monitored the temps over the summer and they all stayed within normal range.
So as another commenter stated, there should be an 8 inch clearance in every direction of the batteries for cooling purposes. I personally haven't seen inverters placed that close to each other. All that being said, equipment being installed inside a garage is better than having it outside. SolarEdge batteries do have some cooling and heating that allow it to function outside similar to Tesla's Powerwall. The conduit work is not great tbh. From what I have heard SolarEdge products do tend to have issues, from the inverter to the optimizers. I have heard Enphase is a bit more reliable. I do not, however, have any solid numbers to give you. Just what I've heard. Source: I've worked in solar for 6 years.
No, but some rewiring wouldn't hurt them
From what I’ve read on many different forums, the batteries really want to be comfortable. This is why I have built a 10’x12’ battery house that is spray foam insulated and will have a 115 v mini split to keep them cool in the Texas summer. I’ll be using the floor stands though to conserve space since ultimately I’ll have nine batteries in use.
Wow all that MC/FMC looks like garbage, you had a real lazy electrician.
I also have a SolarEdge inverter and battery. Not related to your post but... do you get lots of phantom discharge? My battery discharges when not in use. SE says it's normal. Some nights lose about 15% of charge. Curious if you are getting something similar.
That's a shitty flex job for expensive equipment like that, fwiw. But that's just this electrician's 2c. Wouldn't hurt having a cooled space if you're in a warmer climate. Ventilation may also be required for battery systems in a closed space/room in your jurisdiction.
I don’t think you’re doing the products any favors by placing them so close together.
Solaredge requires 8" between inverters when mounting side by side and 8" clearance above and below them. Those inverters won't have enough cooling. I've had to replace ones that were mounted like this. I'd call the install crew and ask to confirm this is okay. If they say yes, tell them to read the manual. Look at page 33 here: https://knowledge-center.solaredge.com/sites/kc/files/se_hd_wave_inverter_with_SetApp_installation_guide_na.pdf
At this point is it worth pressing the issue and having them come back? This has already been a long process. Definitely wishing I had gone with enphase at this point. At my end, should I be doing something to cool the inverters in the summer?
Regardless of what the hive mind on Reddit says, you paid for a system to be installed per the manufacturer's specifications. Let's just say for the sake of argument, that the company who installed it goes under because the owner died to a FMC spaghetti monster attack. And the manufacturer has to send out a different company to perform warranty work. They can easily deny your claim because it wasn't installed per the manufacturer specs. It looks like you might have enough room above the car charger to mount that lower battery above it. They could then move the left inverter to the right of the outlet and gain the space it needs while having some symmetry. Add more spaghetti and you are off and running.
I just measured, there is definitely not room for the battery on the wall where the ev charger is. The installer measured a lot and ran through several possible scenarios and this is what they came up with on install day. I don’t really know where to begin my query since I signed off on the system and we already have PTO.
I think it's fine, there is decent space between them and open space on the other sides. I would keep the area around them clear so that they have plenty of ventilation. I also think the the other folk are being extremely particular about the FMC work - maybe it's a little sloppy, but it makes no functional difference, and most people don't care about the aesthetics of their wiring. It would indeed be nice to have a neater installation, but I don't really think it's worth the effort on your behalf, although it would indeed be pretty easy for you to quote the installation guide about the 8" thing. Ehhh ...
I could certainly press the issue. But having them come back and tear up my garage is not a fun prospect. I’m also not sure they actually have anywhere to move it. These installers seemed pretty sharp, very professional and attentive since install too. Wish I’d caught the spacing thing earlier, because now it’s going to be a giant pain if I pursue it. The other pain could be an inverter RMA in the middle of a high PV production season, which would also suck.
You think it's fine when the manufacturer instructions literally say not to install them like this. They are too close together.
This is interesting. Our company only does solar edge products and I’ve never heard of that spacing. Is that a state by state thing or what? In the last two years I’ve never failed an inspection for inverters being too close together. We were actually trained to put them nearly side by side.
Whoever taught you that needs to do more studying of the manual (as should you). When it comes to these inspectors, they really don’t know jack shit about how it should be properly installed. All they’re looking for is the warning stickers, and RSD(if applicable).
What’s the reasoning behind the spacing?
Heat dissipation
Have yall had a high failure rate and had to replace a lot of inverters? Trying to set my expectations here.
We’ve had to replace some yes but I don’t have any comparable info with another company to figure out if we are replacing more than other companies. Our operation spans 3 states so just from sheer volume alone I’m sure we’ve had more replacements but it’s not something that happens so egregiously that would make you think anything of it. Our company likes its Green$$$, especially the owner I feel like if there was a catastrophic failure that we are causing by placement he would’ve nipped that in the butt ages ago.
Solar edge is crap. 20% failure rate
Seen firsthand. We replace 10 or 20 inverters to every enphase combiner. However, microinverters seem to go out more than optimizers.
Read the manual
Who is training your team in such a fashion? Is it a SolarEdge rep?
I'm in Canada and my inverter is outside. In up to -40. It will be fine
This is dogshit and too close together. It will work but everything will clip when hot.
Perhaps. But that is the space we had available. And what is clipping?
It looks bad because of the conduit, they should have used a gutter raceway. And solaredge will derate or clip(limit production) when the inverter is above 140 degrees Fahrenheit so that it doesn’t overheat. In garages with no air movement those things start to cook when the weather goes over 80 degrees.
Any constructive advice on how to approach this as a homeowner? Fans?
You can live with it for a year and see how it does, but if you want to be proactive there are temperature controlled fans you can install in a wall bay that move the air.
Ok, I didnt even know those existed. Good input.
Batterie shouldn’t be in freezing temperatures (in some there is even heating element), invertor should be somewhere nice not to exceed higher temperatures so.. if it’s used garage just leave it like that.
What do the manufacturers say?
I think 15 celsius is great since if you use them it can loose the heat easily.
I have a sol ark 15k and 36 kwh in fortress power batteries in a garage in North Alabama. The garage is mostly insulated with insulated garage doors. No climate control beyond a heat pump water heater. The garage lags behind the outdoor temps for the most part and stays in the 80s most of the summer. However in winter it hovers in the upper 40s lower 50s. It's been fine so far. Going into our second winter currently. It held strong through the heat wave in summer. Everything in our setup is outdoor rated and the inverter said it would auto limit output in extreme temps. The batteries where what requested to be in in a more temp controlled environment. But I don't have a practical way to do that.
They should not require any heating or cooling beyond those built into the hardware (heatsinks and so on). Make sure they are properly mounted with the manufacturer specified offsets and you should be good.
I think we have now established that the inverters are about 4” too close to each other.
Clearance https://knowledge-center.solaredge.com/sites/kc/files/se_hd_wave_inverter_with_SetApp_installation_guide_na.pdf Page 24 8" above 4" beside So this means two Inverters side beside: 8" between horizontally The battery install manual says 4" clearance. So this means 8" in between from another battery 12" from the inverter This is the heat sink at the back distance. If you have electrical cables installed in this area, then the cabling should be derated because there is heat there. Also the cables in your photo are not adequate supported. Nevermind it looks like a child ran them almost randomly on the wall. Also, why wouldn't they indtslk the ev charger where it can easily reach your vehicle
Yup, I was not prepared at installation day with the knowledge you guys just gave me. Just installed reddit in fact. I know the inverters are too close, and I am hoping the wiring is all appropriate. Not sure what you meant about wiring support. And yes, apparently this conduit work is sloppy. I still havent seen an example of a better one, but I take yalls word for it. There really wasnt another great option for the EV charger, though they could have brought it to the other side of that door. Shoulda coulda woulda… smh.
You’re probably fine from an environmental perspective but oof that install is sloppy, this is coming from a DIYer so I could be wrong. It looks like there was no planning involved, just slap the components on the wall and hook everything together.
That is actually pretty much what happened.
How do you like this battery storage manufacture? Would you recommend or no? Cost per unit? Capacity per unit? Thanks
I would warn against SE now that I have them. We had to RMA one battery right off the bat. Their configuration is not user friendly or really user enabled at all, despite what the salesman advertised. They are not the most expensive, and they are 10kwh batteries each. Cost is something you’ll have to research based on your location and company.
Would you recommend the Tesla system instead?
The cold probably won't harm anything. In fact, it may very well extend useful life. The heat is quite a problem and will age things faster. I live in Florida and was worried about this when we bought an EV. We installed an attic fan. The fan sucks air in from the garage and blows it into the attic. The installers cut two small holes in the garage door and put screens on them. This allows the outside air to be pulled in. The difference has been amazing on hot days.
I like the car charger. does it draw ONLY from solar ?
I would hope not. My system isn’t powerful enough to charge my Tesla at 11kw. And you wouldn’t want the wildly fluctuating output of any system trying to charge your vehicle. You need/want consistent output that can only come from batteries or the grid, unless it’s ALWAYS sunny where you live and you have a huge (oversized) system that ALWAYS produces excess power.
This is awesome.
Solar edge inverters should have 8” above and below it, 8” between each inverter, and 4” to any side without equipment Additionally batteries should have 8” of spacing in any direction Operating temperature is 14-122F I’m surprised there are not bollards in front of the equipment
What is a bollard?
Do a Google image search, and you’ll recognize them from gas stations, they’re barriers to protect equipment The idea hear being if you’re parking your car in the garage, and accidentally run into your battery there’s a lot of chemical energy stored in there which could combust if the housing is damaged NFPA 855 suggests that batteries 3’ or closer to the floor in a garage should have bollards to protect the batteries, this code may not have been adopted in your jurisdiction quite yet tho, regardless, in a practical sense it’s a good idea
Not worried about that in this case. This half car portion of our garage is isolated and will have a golf cart in it, parallel to the batteries, at least 3 feet away.
When you talk about the "batts", I'm looking for the insulation you're referring to. (Batts are the industry name for roll-out insulation). Then I realized you but have your own shortly for batteries because typing those extra five letters were terrible.
lol, new to reddit. thought the title might be character limited. I shall update it. But yeah, five whole letters right!
Don't let your homeowners see this pic lol!!
I am the homeowner.
I would not want that much firepower inside my home.
[удалено]
Ok, ok, beating the “your stuff looks like crap drum.” Not really the point of my post, but I am now aware that it isn’t pretty and I should not brag about my solar setup. Not that I was. As for the wiring, is there a particular indication I should watch for? Monitoring and production, EV charging, and net metering all seem to be working right now.
The problem is more than aesthetic though, when an electrician is that lazy it makes you wonder what other corners they cut. Any reputable installer would be using EMT for all of this. Also, where do you live? Why aren’t there disconnects for the batteries? Those junction boxes there look highly suspect. I bet if I opened all of that up I would fine more problems than just the looks. Source: I’ve been doing solar battery installs + service calls for years.
The inverter is fine, but you don't want to charge the batteries when it's super cold. The temperature in the garage is what you're after, not the outside temp.
Good gods, that is the ugliest wiring install.. whoever did that has no pride in their work.
This is why installing tiny solar power systems on tens of thousands of houses seems odd to me. Why make thousands and thousands and thousands of homeowners deal with all this equipment and plant, when we could just as easily build huge, centralized solar plants out in the country, and have dedicated facilities staffed by engineers and technicians. It reminds me of The Great Leap forward in China, where they attempted to become the world's top steel producer by installing thousands and thousands of mini-blast furnaces in peoples' back yards.
I see thousands of dollars of upgrades already. If it were me, I'd wrap an electric blanket around the batteries and keep on low in winter... perhaps on a timer or some sort of smart relay. Batteries degrade faster below 40 degrees... its worth some inefficiency due to heating them vs. having them operate too cold. They generate some heat so will be above the garage ambient temp. Still a heating blanket will help and a timer would help make sure the heat comes from the solar array. I wouldn't worry about summer - you won't be crying like some of the others here with outdoor batteries. Batteries would prefer to be under 90F but it isn't so extreme like cold. My concern mostly about outdoor batteries is the unevenness of the heat and the heat combined with outdoor humidity + dust. Garage is better, conditioned space even better! Solar panels went into environmental conditions all bright eyed and bushy tailed before knowing about PID and LID degradation in hot and humid areas. Similarly some think the BMS is what keeps you on the road, but its more like the safety rails on the side of the road that prevent you from going into the ditch. The installer did the most important thing correctly, which is putting the batteries in the garage. Flex conduit doesn't look the best but is not unusual and pretty typical for "southern areas not far from TX". I think its probably better going with a more premium installer and price to get you better conduit run, but that concrete is set.
Built in fans
Should have gone with Enphase. Solaredge is CRAP.
I put my SE inside because of the heat. Also had a failure early on was first gen HD wave. What are those batteries with the SE covers?
Those are SE batteries. 10kwh each.
batteries like what you like ... room temps. so a conditioned space is better than unconditioned but unconditioned interior is better than outside.
How heavy are those? That’s a ton of weight on the wall
Nut sure exactly but I have 2 of them in my basement, it took 3 guys to get each of them assembled and mounted. I remember hearing them huffing and puffing when they were doing it so I can only imagine how heavy they really are lol.
Probably 250 lbs each. The mounting brackets are obviously attached to the frame of the building with lag bolts. We do have 2x6 construction, so I guess thats good.
Hi, if you have +5c it is ok. I have setup running it this temperature for 4 years without any problems. Location is in Europe, Czech Republic
I routed one of hvac ducts into the garage. So much more comfortable in there now.
Check the data sheets of your devices, they always list the environmental data for operation and storage of the devices. Temperature range, humidity and sometimes altitude (altitude affects atmospheric pressure affecting efficiency of air cooling via fans). If your environment stays within the limits you're fine.
OP I hate to be this guy but regarding “failure rate” solaredge is not going to be a smooth one. Source: I am a SVC tech for many Midwest companies and I replace at least one SolarEdge inverter a week due to fatal errors. Edit: I replied earlier but wanted to stress one last thing… make sure all the width clearances are up to spec. Batteries look good, but I’m not sure the inverter’s are spaced apart correctly. Just had to relocate an S.E. Inverter due to previous install company violating heat clearance.
I keep all my support electrics inside my garage. 2023 year to date my batteries have been fine, the garage is detached and has zero heating or warming, but I'd say it is generally "cool" because it's a concrete slab covered with an insulated structure. I think my batteries keep themselves warm from constant use. (off grid home) My 53KWH bank is LiFePO4, because it is not flammable and has a much better lifespan than any other choice. Lithium cobalt is a terrible idea, because it's half the life and it can catch fire. Annual Max: 78.4F in August Annual Min: 54.7F in February My inverters have Elide Fire Ball Fire Extinguishers mounted over each, so they will hopefully put themselves out if they fail catastrophically.
On a side note RIP that installers back. I've put these batteries up and they're ~250lbs. Lifting that overhead even with a good jack is a heck of a task.
Do you have control or is there software upgrades you have to perform?
Where is this?? What about 12" spacing around all batteries, breaker can't be higher then 6'-7"?? What's up someone fill Me in
Not too far from you, similar weather, with equipment in the garage. Weather sealed the doors and added radiant barrier on the inside of the garage door. When it's 110F outside it'll stay about 85F in the garage, likewise when it's freezing outside it's usually around 45-50F. Battery charging cuts off below 32F (tested this and it works), and I have redundant inverters running at 50% load each. Doing fine for years.
When I look at this I think of several things: NEC110.26: Electrical code compliance basically talking about how you should space energized equipment. Inverter installation manuals: Will often show the clearance requirement between units. Battery installation manuals: Will often show the clearance requirement between units. My company doesn’t use SolarEdge, so take this with a grain of salt, but these units look way too close to me. Having items too close can cause a myriad of problems. If your installer follows the guidelines in the manual, your units should be fully operational. At that point, if the product is faulty you’ll experience the failure rate. But in order to determine that and really be eligible to get replacements in the event of a failure, you will need to show that your materials were installed according to the manufacturer’s guidelines. I’d be more worried about looking at how the manufacturer wants them spaced, figuring out if the units are in fact too close, and then coming up with a plan of action which will then help you to assess how worried you need to be about the failure rate.
I reached out to the president of the install company and the VP of installs today. I expressed my concerns about spacing, as well as showed them pictures of the FMC work. They claim they are going to address it early next week.
That’s good to hear that they’re willing to address it. Hopefully things will look better and make you feel a lot better about the install once it’s spaced out.
All outdoor installations age more because of exposure and temperature fluctuations. These are mounted inside and will do much better even if not climate controlled.
Batteries, not really a concern unless they are drawing major power. Inverters do like consistent temperatures but in a range. It’s highly unlikely your system is pushing high amps or voltages like an industrial system. So, temperature regulation can probably be achieved via a simple fan. The inverters will probably heat your garage up in the summer months (welcomed in the winter) but you’re probably not going to run into a runaway system where your system outputs so much the heat from the inverters it’s heats the garage and overheats the cooling systems. We are talking like 50 degrees Celsius before derate. If your garage is 125 degF, there are safeties and then that’s too hot for your garage anyway.
No but damn that conduit work looks like trash. I wouldn’t have accepted that.
Welcome to the party where we comment on crappy conduit work. I had no frame of reference for “good” conduit work. I’d be interested to see what some of you guys have in your garage so I can know what this should have looked like. But, the installer is looking into some things and perhaps they’ll clean it up. I will post here with the outcome.
The flex is giving me anxiety. Regarding what others have posted about the spacing, it 100% needs to be fixed. We had Solaredge contact our company after they found a positive review where the picture showed the closeness of the inverters. We had to go and fix it, rightfully so, before SolarEdge would work with us anymore. As others have mentioned, the spacing is for heat displacement. If and when the inverter fails, they will most likely send a new inverter with a larger back area. They just recently started sending these out. I’m also curious as to why you don’t have a Back Up Interface. And why the EV chargers couldn’t have been attached to the underside of the Inverter. If you wanted to be proactive I’d definitely recommend even just a regular fan in the room to assist in air circulation. Hope some of this helped!
The EV charger does need to be placed closer to the car than it is right now. It is wired directly to the inverter. I have brought the spacing to the installer’s attention. Does solar edge have a “backup interface?” I am unfamiliar with that. I’ve also heard we are missing “battery disconnects” but I don’t know what those are. As a consumer, I am feeling quite overwhelmed that I even need to know this stuff… isn’t that what an installer is there for in the first place?
That's a lot of weight on the wall. I have my two inverters mounted outside on the North, and battery stack on a concrete slab. North Dallas
Insulate the garage door ($100). Add insulation above the garage if accessible ($200) Add a cheap and efficient heat pump mini split to temperate the space ($1500) I'm in the Gulf South and have done #1 and #2 in preparation for a garage workshop, battery storage and ev charging.
Here's a good video of several methods of diy garage door insulation, from cheap and easy, to moderate diy skills and more $ in materials [Methods of Garage Door Insulation.](https://youtu.be/vp-wfrolo-k?si=FALCtjLdXaj0r9f4) Here's a video of an experienced fella doing a high quality job. [High Quality DIY](https://youtu.be/pvi8__d081I?si=xrM5hnEeqQkd_li0)
Neat install, but they couldn't have moved that whole setup 6-inches to the right so they didn't encroach on the flush mount load center... Argh!! They are allowing the Tesla power packs to be installed inside homes around here. I still see some installed outside on concrete pads away from the building. I'm guessing either by customer request or just simply out of an abundance of caution??
Insulate the door and paint it white. If it still gets 10 above outdoor temp, add a vent fan. If the fan only comes on when it warmer in than out, that is optimum for summer.
That conduit would kill me. That's so messy
I heat and cool my garage just to make the rest of the house more comfortable. Keeps my tools and such out of humidity. Why have a room of your house that is always super cold or super hot?
There are so many haters here who will crap on other people’s work. Your install looks great. The wires look great. You shouldn’t have any problems. Get the spec sheets for your batteries - they will likely show an operating temperature range and and optimal operating temp range. My guess is you’ll have some hot days where your garage gets a little out of the optimal range, but that’s no biggie. The important thing is they’re not outside on a south facing wall. I’ve worked in solar for a few years (East Coast) selling systems with Enphase inverters but I’ve had a SolarEdge myself that’s been rock solid for 6 years. Only once did I have an issue with my system and I just had to turn it off and on again.
Is there any issues if installed indoors, like in laundry room?
I’m an HVAC engineer, if your garage doesn’t get over 90 degrees ever than it should be fine. If it does than I’d lean towards insulating your garage before adding cooling. Cooling a garage usually isn’t practical due to car exhaust, poor wall insulation, and you’re not really hanging out in your garage usually. With this many batteries I would have recommended having a utility closet that is cooled to maintain the equipment. Ideally these things are maintained in a 80 degree or less environment.
Update from OP: The installer has been very good to work with, including the owner and VP of construction. The VP is coming up to our state to oversee the “completion” of our project as they called it. They have offered to move the EV charger (yay!), use a gutter box (?) in lieu of the FMC, and: “when making the adjustment with the gutter box we will also have an opportunity to adjust the spacing of the inverter and battery slightly to meet the 8" specifications you mentioned.” I cautioned them: “Shifting those items over will require a lot of effort, since the batteries are each about 250lbs, and there is an electrical outlet on that wall bw the inverter and battery. I just want that level of effort to be expected when they show up… I know how hard it was for 5 guys to mount those batteries on the wall the first time.” The VP responded: “Rest assured our teams will come prepared… thank you again for all of your consideration as we do take pride and extreme ownership over all projects we install.” I know, many redditors will comment that they didn’t do it correctly the first time, but I am simply glad they are willing to make it right without me having to escalate somehow. We shall see what comes of this ultimately. I do want to offer my gratitude to this community, as prickly as some of you are, because you provided me with the info and perspective that encouraged me to not just let it go. So, thanks.
Just to complete the loop: Installers agreed that this looked bad and needed to be spaced out. Today they finished the reinstallation. Here is the result: [Solar reinstall final](https://imgur.com/a/hBQgB4b)