I have a 5KW Gen3 Inverter + 2 x 9.5KW batteries, I have only had these for the last few months so this is my first summer coming up. The inverter is on the inside of my Garage and the Batteries are on the outside wall of the same garage.
This is what my current temps are :
Now according to the Specs for the inverter after 50Deg it might start to degrade… so what temps are you guys seeing, and whats the hottest you have seen them at ?
And has anyone had any issues when it has got hot ? ( I might need to have some fans fitted below it !! )
I got “TInv” of 67.3 from the " my inverter" > “inverter data” in the cloud app. I assume that this is the inverter temperature in degrees C?
This was at the end of discharging during the Octopus Flux peak rate with an air temperature of around 10degC.
This is the 1st time that I have really looked at this data (so thank you for prompting me). Previously I have felt the case of the inverter and battery a few times and they have always been cool to the touch.
I am intrigued by your reading of the datasheet. The only reference to 50degC and 60degC I could see is:
Operational Temperature: -20°C - 60°C with derating at 50°C
I took this to mean that you should not use the inverter with an air temperature below -20C or above +60C. This will not happen for me (Lancashire). But maybe you are right and this is the inverter internal component temperature?
It would be good to see a comment from someone in the Givenergy technical team.
mine are ridiculously hot in comparison to the gen 1 it replaced, furthermore the 4kw a force discharge does compared to the 2.9kw the gen 1 did heats up both battery cables to the point of being uncomfortably warm, yet uniform down the entire cable (showing cable is undersized for load).
the BMS gets to 80c on a discharge, 60c on a charge, compared to 30 for both on gen 1’s 2.6kw
both inverters now have 3x 120mm fans on top with a mounting kit i ordered from china which took about a month and a half to arrive, I have yet to finish the cabling of these but will get round to it in the next week or so to tidy and neaten it up. These fans will run all year round due to the heat output even in a cold loft.
No idea what summer will show.
I didnt observe any derating on gen 1 or 3 at any point and exceeded both operating range
My batteries (9.5 kWh Gen 2; 5.2 kWh Gen 1) are 11°C and the Gen 3 inverter is 27°C. They’re all fixed to a wall in a basement area (i.e. below ground level) where the sun never reaches. I expect ambient temperature through the year to fluctuate between 5°C and 25°C.
I don’t know if the temperatures are being measured on the BMS circuit boards or elsewhere. To add a bit of perspective I have a temperature monitoring app runningon my laptop and often see the CPU hitting 105 degrees celsius. What can appear from our perspective to be extremely hot is often just normal operating temperatures for electronic equipment.
I have a 5kW inverter (indoors) and two 5.6 kWh batteries. the inverter generates heat when it is converting AC to DC. I charge my batteries overnight at 2.5 kW, and this makes the (very big) heat sinks get hot, as would a forced charge/discharge cycle. Despite assurances from GivEnergy about how hot they would get I am uncomfortable about this. Heat = Death for electronic components. So I have a small desk fan underneath the heat sinks with a timer to turn it on during the overnight charge. This keeps the temperature as recorded on the app reduced by about 10 C.
it seems my inverter gets hot when it is pumping the maxium into the inverter and then also having to dump the extra power to the grid.
I am also not happy with how hot it gets, So I have ordered 4 USB fans and 2 smart plugs, I have now linked them to “Home Assistant” and if it gets above 40 2 of the fans kick in, above 46 all 4 fans kick in.
I have also added a reminder in my calendar that once I month clean all the dust from the inverter and the fans seem to collect it.
Nothing else I can do as this is just physics changing from DC to AC etc…
So update… today is warm and I left my fans off, the inverter got to 57 Deg, this is a bit hot for me and considering it’s not even in the 20’s yet it’s only going to get hotter !!!
Now for the update, I have 4 USB fans and I just had them on the top blowing cool are in and it did some cooling but today I thought lets put the fan in a better place, and after a few different tests I place it on the left hand side and it dropped from 57 down to 45 and that was with only 2 fans, when I turned on all 4 it got below 40.
You may like to switch to this set of 4 x 120mm fans available on Amazon which many owners use, it sits perfectly on top of the inverter to blow hot air away. Mine comes on/off according to internal temps via Home Assistant integration, like you.
Currently it comes on at 40C which helps keep it at that level or below in colder months (during overnight charging), but in these warmer days it’s escaping the 40C level and touching around 53C currently. My inverter and battery are in the loft, which despite having ventilation does get very warm. I’m going to try adding a second set of these fans to the bottom to blow air up through the cooling blades.
Last summer I think the highest it hit with cooling was 60C. Before cooling (during a calibration when it has max load) it hit 85C+!! I spoke to support who told me I obviously needed to get some cooling, but that if it gets too hot, it will safely shut itself down.
Over the weekend I messed around some more… I have a laser temp gun and was looking for the hot spots.
The main hotspot on mine is the mid/top left side, so I have a fan blowing air “in” from the left side and another fan on the top sucking the air “out” to increase the workflow - these first set of fans are fixed speed.
My other 2 fans and also setup the same way as well to increase the airflow but these are variable speed ones that are set to high at the moment.
With just the 2 fans it ticks over nice now at 45-46 ish… but when it hits 50 the other fans kick in and can bring it down to 35-36.
Mid 40’s for me is OK… but your 80+ temps I would be very worried indeed, and it would really be a good service if Givenergy contacted us directly or notifications in the APP as least - not everyone can monitor their units like we do - and if they shutdown because they get too hot, would you even know ? ( without the APP or HAssio )
Why they have not fitted internal variable fans within the inverter escape me, I work in IT and these days the small fans that come fitted in our servers can move massive amounts of AIR ( are they are plugin so can be replaced quick and easy )
I am also glad it’s not just mine… it’s getting hot just pushing all the power around.
Hi, this is my first summer with my AIO, and just managed to get it working with Home Assistant today and noticed when exporting this eve that the invertor temp got up to 59.7, and today was only in the low 20s, and it was a fairly short export.
I think I’ll look into these 4 fans you mention - just wondering, how do you set it up in HA to come on when certain temps are triggered? Is it via a plug adaptor that is compatible with HA so that you can then set variables in HA to switch on when the temps get to a threshold?
Thanks, that’s really helpful. I ordered an Innr Zigbee smart socket from Amazon, and two double-fans, so 4 fans in total.
Should be delivered today so will set up later hopefully.
The temp got up to about 68-70 last night when it was charging the battery back up at cheap rate (we don’t have solar), so I’m keen to get this set up asap - esp with the weather this week getting a lot hotter in SE UK
and was looking for the hot spots.
