Battery box

[Volvo farmer]

Got the battery box done this week. I don't remember the exact dimensions. I measued the bank, subtracted 2" for foam, added a little more and wrote down some numbers. This is all going in a power shed so I insulated the box to try and keep battery temps up in the winter. I also built the back side higher than the front so I could put a hydrogen vent in the high side and pipe it outside.

I read somewhere, (maybe on otherpower?) that someone lined their battery box with pond liner. 20 mill plastic is pretty tuff stuff so I copied that idea. It added about $40 to the cost but there's no way battery acid is getting out of this box now.

Finally hauled my L16s out and hoisted them in the box today. I've got a 60W panel and an Ebay $25 Hong Kong charge controller out at the power shed and hooked them up tom the L16s to float them. I cabled them for 12v for now so I could float them though eventually they will be 24V for the Outback inverter.

The keen eye will see that I ran out of bolts before I could make the second 12V series/parallel string.

[Tom in NH]

Nice looking job. You may want to keep your charge controller outside the battery compartment. I had a similar battery box and the H2SO4 that got out during gassing caused corrosion on the charge controller circuit board I had in with the batteries. I ended up building a second compartment to hold the controller and inverter, and that worked ok. I like the liner. --tom

[Volvo farmer]

Thanks. I'm keeping the lid open for now because I haven't put in the tube to vent the hydrogen yet. I don't think I'm ging to make much hydrogen with a 60W panel on four L16s. THe controller is just hanging there by it's wires for now but I'll move it outside the box today. Didn't think of corrosion but it makes perfect sense.

[richhagen]

It looks nice, you could put a piece of plywood on the stud wall behind it to mount the charge controller, inverter and a meter or two.  I wonder how the plastic will age.  I placed my batteries in those common plastic tote boxes for now.  I had one that I over-watered, and it overflowed a bit and the plastic box contained the mess for clean up.  Since the bottoms of the battery were also plastic, the only damage was to the paper stickers.  I suspect the plastic liner will perform similarly.  Rich