BATTERY ISSUES - WHAT CAN YOU DO ?

So this cold weather has taken us a little by surprise and I expect that some of you are finding that your home storage batteries are not operating as they usually do, they are either not charging or discharging or even doing some crazy things.

Batteries need a little looking after and a lot of the beeping you may be hearing is them telling you they are too cold....

The fact is that most of them don't like to operate below 0 degrees - but what can you do to help?

1. Warm the room/area that they are in if possible - up to an ambient temperature - but don't directly point the heat at the battery - maybe install an infrared or greenhouse style heater to keep the electricity consumption down

2. Set the state of charge levels to around 20/25% to help keep them above the minimum charge level -some batteries may discharge in lower temperatures but struggle to charge - so you need to tell them what to do

3. Wait -  Some batteries may need you to wait for the temperature to warm up above 10 degrees to come out of the alarm state

4. Build an insulated enclosure, but be mindful of the ventilation and proximity requirements of your kit, more a  kind of 'plant room' for your equipment to keep it nice and cosy

The weather we are having is unusual for the UK,  -10 is lower than we normally see and your equipment is protesting, however it is just a blip and we will be back to more normal temperatures soon - you have invested in a great, green product that will last for many years to come, so please just be patient over these next few days