Hi Andy, perhaps this question was raised already, but why didn't you connect the minus 35mm wires at the underside of the bush bar. The wire would almost be flat
Hi Andy! You can use small strips of aluminum to close off the gaps. 100% pure silicone will form a great bond to adhere it without fasteners but you must use a good prep fluid. I use dowsill 1200 OS primer to prepare the surface and it will never come loose.
Thanks Ray. A metal hole saw is one of the few tools, I don't have. The silicon does not even need to stick to the aluminium, it's enough if it forms a groove around the panels and sits on the concrete floor.
Nice work on the shelf. An easy way of making nice round holes in aluminium if the sheet is not too thick would be a hole punch. For thick stock a hole saw would do a quick and easy job of it.
Gesundes neues Jahr Andi.. Ja bitte lass auf dem Kanal alles so wie es ist. Der Mix aus Info und Spaß ist wirklich einzigartig...Du gehörst ins Abendprogramm. So ab 20:15
@@OffGridGarageAustralia nix haha.. Bin aktuell bei Tag drei von Powerwall Aufbau.. Und hab noch die Woche zu tun um alle Videos von dir zu schauen... Ich genieße es.. Ich falle ja öfter mal länger aus.. Um so besser dich dann mal nen ganzen Abend zu schauen🤣 haha .
Happy new year, Andy! The project is really coming along! It's been fantastic to watch. Question for you - on the main busbars on the top shelf, I was wondering whether you considered raising the positive busbar so that the negative leads can pass straight under without the bend or the need for the conduit?
I did this in the electrical cabinet and lifted one bus bar so the cables of the other one go underneath. As these large bars are far apart, I was hoping the cable is flexible enough and bends under the other bar which they kind of are. I think it's not a big deal as it is.
Yeah, I had a look at them but insects will just crawl through from what it looks like. The problems are the corners where the feet are... one gab is enough to ruin the whole effort.
For the gap, I would suggest some door draft strips. I have some flexible plastic ones which are at least 3cm in size, it would be less messy and you could also glue them to the floor with silicone if you wanted extra protection. For the buss bar covers, I think you should just go for a flat plastic cover which is attached to the bar itself. I think contouring the individual cables could be annoying and you'll be wanting to change things over time. A long flat sheet, perhaps 5cm wide, will protect against a dropped tool.
As I don't need a huge amount of silicone, I think it will be OK and has a clean look. I'll give it a try one one side and see how it looks like. +1 for the flat cover. Someone else suggested that too and I like the idea. I will go for two covers as they are then easier to remove because there will be cables above the flat plastic. I can just slide them on top of each other and have one half of the bus bars exposed.
Andy you might want to consider adding a skirt to keep insects out of your battery shelf unit... "EPDM peel and stick flashing" is my suggestion (used as chimney flashing). You can find these in different width & length at any hardware. Exceptional durability and it will conform to any surface shape/form. Like uneven floors. Also easy to replace if needed. Black is a common color, matching the color of your shelf already. In my IMHO you need a "screen monitor" (not to splashy) for this battery shelf unit. Great system; nice.
Hi it’s locking nice, the only thing what I don’t like that mutch is the cable under the bus bar it just locked to close.I would ad a space underneath the inner bus bar so you have mutch more space.
There is a three layer insulation with the thick conduit on the outside of each negative cable. That should be OK from a safety perspective. The look is a different problem though...
The final result looks very nice. I would have liked to see more shots of how you expanded the hole diameters with the jig saw and filing. I'm not being sarcastic, I'm genuinely interested how you did it, because it might come in handy some day.
OK, I'll keep this in mind. I basically cut straight lines from the centre to the outside of each marked circle and then cut them off, filed the rest to make them as round as possible. The glands actually hide the rough cutting and filing. 😄
Hi I also think that door stripes will close the gup. And for the holes there are cups in veries sizes to cut thru metal ,it was painful to watch. So happy new Year ,and good luck. Recently i also connected my house to thd grid with a 12 kw solar system.so happy new Year to me also.
Hello Andy Sutton’s holesaw kit would have them holes done in 1/5 of the time. As to not being able to put 2 * 70mm cable into the 40mm gland adaptor/ conduit, easily fixed run additional 2 * 35 mm cable which should fit into the 40mm adaptor / conduit.
Adjustable skirting rubber for the floor similar to conveyors use between chutes and belts but in a smaller scale, cut slots in the skirting rubber for adjustment, a row of small m6 tapped holes in the main frame with 3mm aluminium strip on top to clamp the rubber, you can get 3mm rubber at Bunnings, or you could get some type of self adhesive tape that can go around the base to the floor With the cover, I would put stand offs along the bus bar and put a one piece cover for the lot, that way avoiding cut outs for cables
For busbar covers, consider a plastic that can be heated with a heat gun and form to shape. You don't need crazy thick impact proof, just need to protect from a falling wrench of other accidental contact You can heat it up, let it snag, and even deform it under the bar a bit so it will snap over it. Same goes for your aluminum side plates. Find some type of vinyl film to apply to them so you don't have the possibility of a ratchet or wrench going from busbar to aluminum wall plate.
With all the cable lugs, it may be a good idea to use a thermal camera under full load to make sure there is no heating. One good arc and you will have a plasma fire going. Also are the bus bars and lugs the same material? Are the cables and lugs compatible material?
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Good, I was a little concerned about galvanic corrosion. It may not hurt to use some anti aluminum oxidation goop on all the connectors anyway. Looks like you have a plan to keep rodents, spiders and insects out
Hi Andy, how about you leave the bottom open with only on the 4 posts and seal the bottom shelf. In this way you could see if there are insect hives and if necessary clean the area easily.
Maybe you could put a 50mm strip of aluminum across the botting of the battery shelf to keep the bugs out or 75mm or 100mm however tall you would like it to be and put self-tapping screws to keep the aluminum strip attached to the battery shelf thank you big fan love your work congratulations on the 20,000 subscribers.
We don't know what the future holds, but I will hazard a guess, we will see 96VDC systems or even higher voltages and the wires will be smaller, not larger to carry the lower amperage-higher voltage power.
Hi Andy, alles Gute für 2022.. I love your rack-build concept and threw my own ideas for the battery storage over board since your concept allows for battery-addon, something I definitely plan to do. However, other than you I started off with 3x 5500W parralleld Hybrid Inverters supporting individually L1/L2/L3. That being said, I potentially could pull 16.5kW from the batteries @ 127A per Inverter @ min Voltage of ~43.2V. By far too much for a single group of batteries apparently, yet this setup is planned for growth, means a second set of batteries, parralleld will provide enough Amperage. Well, here is my question: You seem to be on the same path and are installing massively sized cables for the potentially high draw of energy/amperage in the future. Yet, the JK BMS is limited to 200A continuous and (said) 350A short term. That being said, a bank of 2 batteries could provide 400A continous, thus a theoretical max of 400Ax43.2V = 17200W - enough to support (my) 3 parralled Inverters (>3x127Ah). While I completely understand the need of the massive busbars, shouldn't one 35mm2 cable be enough to flow the (max) current to the inverter?... or am i getting something wrong here? Your cables are massively bigger... Thanks Christian
Thanks Christian. the Victron 5kW inverters demand a 70mm cable already if within 0-5m distance to the battery. If it is further away they recommend 2x70mm cable for the supply. My batteries are terminated by 100A MCCBs so that will be the max current I will pull from each bank. The JK is correctly rated for this setup with it's 200A max current. I'm not a big fan of pulling more than 0.5C from the batteries. I like to keep the current small and distribute across several banks for that reason. Longevity of the batteries through small currents and low temperatures.
Hey Andy, your Battery Box looks amazing! I have a Question: In the moment, i have lead acid batteries, to charge my e-bike in the summer. I want to upgrade to Lifepo4 tho. In Switzerland, it‘s quite cold in Winter. In my Garage it‘s sometimes as low as -23°. Do you still suggest Lifepo4? I don‘t use them at Winter. Just charging my phone. I want to buy 2x 100 Ah batteries. Do you think that‘s a Problem? Lg
Wonder why you are concerned about lots of bugs entering cabinet? We live in SE US, in wooded area, have a garage door open most of the time during the day and few bugs. Keep it closed at night though..
If you use acryllic covers over the busbars, there is not only the risk of cracks. You might also bend it, which results in a bent [by factory] bended [by you] acrylic cover :-)
I can route it to the site so it sits next to the pos bus bar. Using some cable saddles, I can fix it there. But it does not look nice either... It's not ideal.
Working on it takes eternity. Do you hawe calculate time and money to buil it? Isn't chepest solution buy some pylontech rack? I dont hate but my time is too expensive.
The time I spent on this rack is intense so far. Of course there are cheaper and easier solutions but it's about DIY and learning experience as well. That's what I'm sharing here.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia most closed cell spray foams will fill the gap better and are fire retardant and have insect repellent and cost less. Window and door sealant was what I was referring to. But lots of silicon will do the job probably just as messy if not more 😂
@@jameshancock I'll have a look at the building foam. Not sure if they have it here in Australia. They don't use it for Windows or doors like in Germany.
Hi Andy, perhaps this question was raised already, but why didn't you connect the minus 35mm wires at the underside of the bush bar. The wire would almost be flat
Hi Andy! You can use small strips of aluminum to close off the gaps. 100% pure silicone will form a great bond to adhere it without fasteners but you must use a good prep fluid. I use dowsill 1200 OS primer to prepare the surface and it will never come loose.
I would use a holesaw for making your large holes.
Oops now I see you have already got them done. Way to go hard worker.
Thanks Ray. A metal hole saw is one of the few tools, I don't have. The silicon does not even need to stick to the aluminium, it's enough if it forms a groove around the panels and sits on the concrete floor.
Nice work on the shelf. An easy way of making nice round holes in aluminium if the sheet is not too thick would be a hole punch. For thick stock a hole saw would do a quick and easy job of it.
Yeah, it's just for these two holes so an investment seemed a bit over the top...
Good thing I'm on vacation and have time to watch all of your new videos
Have a great holiday and thanks for watching.
Hi Andy. Great work! Ich würde für den Bodenabschluss Duschtürendichtungslippen verwenden. Greetings from the alte Heimat.
Thanks Dirk. I tried with very thin foam but it didn't work -> next video.
Gesundes neues Jahr Andi..
Ja bitte lass auf dem Kanal alles so wie es ist. Der Mix aus Info und Spaß ist wirklich einzigartig...Du gehörst ins Abendprogramm. So ab 20:15
Hahaha, danke Dir. Und auch fuer deine erneute Spende!
@@OffGridGarageAustralia nix haha.. Bin aktuell bei Tag drei von Powerwall Aufbau.. Und hab noch die Woche zu tun um alle Videos von dir zu schauen... Ich genieße es.. Ich falle ja öfter mal länger aus.. Um so besser dich dann mal nen ganzen Abend zu schauen🤣 haha .
Happy new year, Andy! The project is really coming along! It's been fantastic to watch. Question for you - on the main busbars on the top shelf, I was wondering whether you considered raising the positive busbar so that the negative leads can pass straight under without the bend or the need for the conduit?
V good observation
I did this in the electrical cabinet and lifted one bus bar so the cables of the other one go underneath. As these large bars are far apart, I was hoping the cable is flexible enough and bends under the other bar which they kind of are. I think it's not a big deal as it is.
"the acrylic will not break"
Acrylic: Hold my spat.
Yeah, let's see 🍺😂
Raise the shelf with casters and surround the bottom of shelf to keep the critters from accessing from the floor .
It's far to heavy for casters and not save to wheel around.
Maybe rubber garage door weatherstrip for the gaps. Its large and fairly rigid and could be attached with screws or construction adhesive.
Wait for the next video...
Hi Andy, Just a thought on the gaps, instead of using silicone, use self adhesive flat door sweeps. They work well for gaps.
Yeah, I had a look at them but insects will just crawl through from what it looks like. The problems are the corners where the feet are... one gab is enough to ruin the whole effort.
Happy new year, looking good.
Happy new year and thank you.
You can do baseboard around the bottom. It will look good and seal perfect
I think the concrete i the garage is to rough for that. It would work on tiles but not here. There are still too many gaps.
62 viewer today. Andy I think your video productions skills are becoming Top Notch! Enjoying the story while learning the subject! Thank You Again!
Thanks Robert, much appreciated.
For the gap, I would suggest some door draft strips. I have some flexible plastic ones which are at least 3cm in size, it would be less messy and you could also glue them to the floor with silicone if you wanted extra protection.
For the buss bar covers, I think you should just go for a flat plastic cover which is attached to the bar itself. I think contouring the individual cables could be annoying and you'll be wanting to change things over time. A long flat sheet, perhaps 5cm wide, will protect against a dropped tool.
As I don't need a huge amount of silicone, I think it will be OK and has a clean look. I'll give it a try one one side and see how it looks like.
+1 for the flat cover. Someone else suggested that too and I like the idea. I will go for two covers as they are then easier to remove because there will be cables above the flat plastic. I can just slide them on top of each other and have one half of the bus bars exposed.
Thanks Andy
Hi Andy What about and magic smoke detector In the shelf🤣😜
And a Big LED Indicator light on the side of the shelf.
Not sure if a smoke detector is part of the current regulations. I'll have a look...
Looking good!
Thanks!
Andy you might want to consider adding a skirt to keep insects out of your battery shelf unit... "EPDM peel and stick flashing" is my suggestion (used as chimney flashing). You can find these in different width & length at any hardware. Exceptional durability and it will conform to any surface shape/form. Like uneven floors. Also easy to replace if needed. Black is a common color, matching the color of your shelf already.
In my IMHO you need a "screen monitor" (not to splashy) for this battery shelf unit. Great system; nice.
Thanks Teddy, great suggestion.
Great work.
Many many thanks
i found for large holes a cone of wood with slot cut in then sand paper slotted and glued in place works
Great tip!
Happy new year 💐
Happy new year
Hi it’s locking nice, the only thing what I don’t like that mutch is the cable under the bus bar it just locked to close.I would ad a space underneath the inner bus bar so you have mutch more space.
There is a three layer insulation with the thick conduit on the outside of each negative cable. That should be OK from a safety perspective. The look is a different problem though...
close gap: foam, and cut any extras
I tried...
Wow, great progress! Keep rocking Andy! Time to calibrate a Spat, or two! 👍😁🤗
Thanks Edward. We're getting there and then it's time to celebrate. 🍺
Awwww man I have a great set of quality hole saws you could have used for those holes.
For metal?
@@OffGridGarageAustralia yes
expansion foam to seal the floor. frame and Vaseline the frames to release. It turns out quite neat
I tried foam but it didn't work. I'll show this in the next video...
Should of said " its clean, its consistent , its german" :P
Great, I'll keep this in mind 😂
The final result looks very nice.
I would have liked to see more shots of how you expanded the hole diameters with the jig saw and filing. I'm not being sarcastic, I'm genuinely interested how you did it, because it might come in handy some day.
OK, I'll keep this in mind.
I basically cut straight lines from the centre to the outside of each marked circle and then cut them off, filed the rest to make them as round as possible. The glands actually hide the rough cutting and filing. 😄
Nice Video.
Thank you.
Hi
I also think that door stripes will close the gup.
And for the holes there are cups in veries sizes to cut thru metal ,it was painful to watch.
So happy new Year ,and good luck.
Recently i also connected my house to thd grid with a 12 kw solar system.so happy new Year to me also.
silicone window/door gasket for the shelf bottom
Looks killer ! ( that’s Southern California language for “ looks great 😉)
Thanks! I know this expression 😄
For your bigger holes you can use a regular holesaw...just run in reverse for a clean and safe cut.
Yes, if you have such a whole saw in the right size...
Chassis punch is the go.
Yes, if you have them!
Andy what about a sliding cover for the top easy access
No sliding door or hinges for the top -> next video...
Looks awesome well done
Thank you.
Have you thought about connecting the negative cables to the underside of the bus bar?
Yes! 🤭
keep going
Hello Andy
Sutton’s holesaw kit would have them holes done in 1/5 of the time.
As to not being able to put 2 * 70mm cable into the 40mm gland adaptor/ conduit, easily fixed run additional 2 * 35 mm cable which should fit into the 40mm adaptor / conduit.
Ciao Amico mio sei il numero uno 🔋👍😊
AUGURI DI BUON ANNO NUOVO a te e la tua famiglia 🍻👏
Adjustable skirting rubber for the floor similar to conveyors use between chutes and belts but in a smaller scale, cut slots in the skirting rubber for adjustment, a row of small m6 tapped holes in the main frame with 3mm aluminium strip on top to clamp the rubber, you can get 3mm rubber at Bunnings, or you could get some type of self adhesive tape that can go around the base to the floor
With the cover, I would put stand offs along the bus bar and put a one piece cover for the lot, that way avoiding cut outs for cables
Rubber is not tight enough to the rough concrete floor I think.
Great idea with the bus bar covers!
Many use a hing for the cover for each buss bare
3:19 sorry I have missed it, how do you bend this acrylic cover so nicely?
I got them 'bended' by the company I have ordered them from. But I did one myself just with the heat gun and the corner of my workbench.
For busbar covers, consider a plastic that can be heated with a heat gun and form to shape. You don't need crazy thick impact proof, just need to protect from a falling wrench of other accidental contact You can heat it up, let it snag, and even deform it under the bar a bit so it will snap over it. Same goes for your aluminum side plates. Find some type of vinyl film to apply to them so you don't have the possibility of a ratchet or wrench going from busbar to aluminum wall plate.
Thanks for the suggestions.
Do you not have a hole saw? I would think that is much easier than a jigsaw.
I have some for wood but not for metal. And buying one for 2 holes seemed excessive.
yay lots of holes ... did you get a discount when you ordered them ????
I paid for a whole box of different holes but you never know what you get.
With all the cable lugs, it may be a good idea to use a thermal camera under full load to make sure there is no heating. One good arc and you will have a plasma fire going. Also are the bus bars and lugs the same material? Are the cables and lugs compatible material?
Yes, I will do a FLIR inspection once it is ready and operational. All materials are the same and compatible with each other.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia Good, I was a little concerned about galvanic corrosion. It may not hurt to use some anti aluminum oxidation goop on all the connectors anyway. Looks like you have a plan to keep rodents, spiders and insects out
Hi Andy, how about you leave the bottom open with only on the 4 posts and seal the bottom shelf.
In this way you could see if there are insect hives and if necessary clean the area easily.
It's quite hard to seal the shelf itself as it has large gabs on either side. But good thinking!
Maybe you could put a 50mm strip of aluminum across the botting of the battery shelf to keep the bugs out or 75mm or 100mm however tall you would like it to be and put self-tapping screws to keep the aluminum strip attached to the battery shelf thank you big fan love your work congratulations on the 20,000 subscribers.
Thank you. The aluminium sheet will not be enough to seal against the rough concrete floor though. Even rubber is not enough.
We don't know what the future holds, but I will hazard a guess, we will see 96VDC systems or even higher voltages and the wires will be smaller, not larger to carry the lower amperage-higher voltage power.
Hi Andy, alles Gute für 2022..
I love your rack-build concept and threw my own ideas for the battery storage over board since your concept allows for battery-addon, something I definitely plan to do.
However, other than you I started off with 3x 5500W parralleld Hybrid Inverters supporting individually L1/L2/L3.
That being said, I potentially could pull 16.5kW from the batteries @ 127A per Inverter @ min Voltage of ~43.2V. By far too much for a single group of batteries apparently, yet this setup is planned for growth, means a second set of batteries, parralleld will provide enough Amperage.
Well, here is my question: You seem to be on the same path and are installing massively sized cables for the potentially high draw of energy/amperage in the future. Yet, the JK BMS is limited to 200A continuous and (said) 350A short term. That being said, a bank of 2 batteries could provide 400A continous, thus a theoretical max of 400Ax43.2V = 17200W - enough to support (my) 3 parralled Inverters (>3x127Ah). While I completely understand the need of the massive busbars, shouldn't one 35mm2 cable be enough to flow the (max) current to the inverter?... or am i getting something wrong here? Your cables are massively bigger...
Thanks Christian
Thanks Christian. the Victron 5kW inverters demand a 70mm cable already if within 0-5m distance to the battery. If it is further away they recommend 2x70mm cable for the supply.
My batteries are terminated by 100A MCCBs so that will be the max current I will pull from each bank. The JK is correctly rated for this setup with it's 200A max current.
I'm not a big fan of pulling more than 0.5C from the batteries. I like to keep the current small and distribute across several banks for that reason. Longevity of the batteries through small currents and low temperatures.
It looks like you could split the wires between the two glands and conduit and have two 35s and one of the seventies in one
Yes, that's what I said... 😉
Hey Andy, your Battery Box looks amazing! I have a Question: In the moment, i have lead acid batteries, to charge my e-bike in the summer. I want to upgrade to Lifepo4 tho. In Switzerland, it‘s quite cold in Winter. In my Garage it‘s sometimes as low as -23°. Do you still suggest Lifepo4? I don‘t use them at Winter. Just charging my phone. I want to buy 2x 100 Ah batteries. Do you think that‘s a Problem? Lg
They sell heated prebuilt lifepo4 batteries
If you install them in an isolated box and add a heating mat for extreme conditions, it should work.
Benutz doch ein Schaumprofil für die Abdichtung. Gibts in allen möglichen Formen und passt sich dem Boden an.
Hab ich probiert... naechstes Video...
Wonder why you are concerned about lots of bugs entering cabinet? We live in SE US, in wooded area, have a garage door open most of the time during the day and few bugs. Keep it closed at night though..
Well, different area, I guess... Maybe you have winters where most of the bugs freeze...
Heya, those are some big soks you are using lol
You can ac couple more panels anyhow. Much more effective.
Did you build that frame / shelf yourself?
It is just a standard storage shelf from the hardware store but everything else is DIY.
If you use acryllic covers over the busbars, there is not only the risk of cracks. You might also bend it, which results in a bent [by factory] bended [by you] acrylic cover :-)
I'm so confused right now 😄
consider door brush's on bottom of the shelf,
I did but it won't stop insects from getting in.
I would use insect screen... you want to maintain a little airflow
They will just go through as if it does not exist. The case is not airtight and I'm expecting very little heat building up.
I still do not like the way the negative cables route under the positive bussbar. I know its a knit, but there must be a better way.
I can route it to the site so it sits next to the pos bus bar. Using some cable saddles, I can fix it there. But it does not look nice either... It's not ideal.
Good pm I have 4 PCS prismatic lifePo4 battery 40 ah each can I used bms 4s 100ah thanks bro HAPPY NEW YEAR SIR PLEASE RESPOND
That depends on the specs of the cells and also the load you want to connect. Principally, this should work.
Did you consider longer (thicker) insulating risers for the hot buss bar?
Yes.
Working on it takes eternity. Do you hawe calculate time and money to buil it? Isn't chepest solution buy some pylontech rack? I dont hate but my time is too expensive.
The time I spent on this rack is intense so far. Of course there are cheaper and easier solutions but it's about DIY and learning experience as well. That's what I'm sharing here.
💪🏼💪🏼💪🏼
40mm Hole saws?
Would you buy one just for 2 holes? I haven't yet...
Put bruches like those on the door gaps
They are not tight enough, I'm afraid.
4 Days 4 Spats i would say 😂
Hi Andy u have a lithium ion charger can u tell me where I can buy one to charge up my 64 batteries the same one u have.cheers Rene
It's here on my website:
off-grid-garage.com/measurement-tools-and-analisers/
if the box is airtight, you might have poor cooling inside the battery shelf. How about very fine grid?
I don't think I need much cooling in this box. There are no active components apart from the DC converter in the top.
Wow... Why not just buy hole cutters of the correct size?
I probably won't use them ever again...
Just get you some lizards or frogs or something then you won't have to worry about the insects
Don't! I have enough lizards in my garage!
What about a hole saw
I don't have one... Are you going to sponsor one?
Those holes would have been much easier and a lot less time if you used a hole saw.
Unless you haven't got one...
Spray foam.
or silicon...
@@OffGridGarageAustralia most closed cell spray foams will fill the gap better and are fire retardant and have insect repellent and cost less. Window and door sealant was what I was referring to. But lots of silicon will do the job probably just as messy if not more 😂
@@jameshancock I'll have a look at the building foam. Not sure if they have it here in Australia. They don't use it for Windows or doors like in Germany.
@@OffGridGarageAustralia how the heck do they insulate the gap then???
@@jameshancock they don't. It's warm here...
yikes you have a metal ring on.
I'm already married, I'm sorry...