bandgap
New Member
And by sweet I mean tightThat's sweet
Iām about to price this out and I feel like itās gonna hurt. Backup option is just bolt it to the wall and run a loooooong conduit
A thread on battery carts.
- Thread starter AmpD
- Start date
Iām about to price this out and I feel like itās gonna hurt. Backup option is just bolt it to the wall and run a loooooong conduit
Saw this one here on the forums the other day. 10kw cart 
https://diysolarforum.com/threads/10kw-powmr-āus-pow-sunsmart-10k-yf.66015/post-1012171
https://diysolarforum.com/threads/10kw-powmr-āus-pow-sunsmart-10k-yf.66015/post-1012171
bandgap
New Member
Here's my recent battery cart build (99% finished but a few niggles to work on):
BOM (Tax + shipping to California included):
1x Seville UltraHD Solid Wood Top 2-Drawer Steel Rolling File Cabinet, 20" x 18" - $147.57
3x 48V 50Ah Stackable LiFePO4 Battery - $1,251.35
1x Rich Solar 3,000 Watt 48 Volt All In One Solar Inverter - $422.55
50 ft. temco 4awg welding cable - $79.33 (turns out I way over-ordered)
50 pcs temco tinned lugs in 1/4 and 5/16 - $28.71 (also over-ordered)
2x 150a generic busbars - $21.74
4x MNEDC breakers 50/100a - $89.42
1x HardieBacker 0.42 in. x 3 ft. x 5 ft. Cement Backerboard - $19.87
1x Square D Homeline Load Center - $23.73
1x Homeline 30a breaker - $7.97
2x generic NEMA L14-30 male and female plugs - $15.20
Total cost: $2107.44 (yeesh, I told my wife I'd keep it under $2k). I do plan to claim the tax credit after I hook this up to the house.
Misc stuff I had lying around paint, angle brackets, screws, pop-rivets, bolt anchors, wire nuts, electrical tape, PVC fitting, a few feet of 10awg THHN and SOOW, light socket and bulb
Tools I had to pick up: TEMCO crimper, large gauge wire cutters
This doesn't include the L14-30 generator input side to the house
Left to do: find a way to lock it, short-proof the breakers better, button up the inverter, secure negative wire a bit better.
This is an in-progress pic to show the fit:
In the end, I probably wouldn't recommend going with the Seville cabinet. It's fairly sturdy but there are probably better options. It's rated by the manufacturer at 260 pounds, and I'm around 230. There was definitely some flexing at the bottom, and the bottom shelf isn't one solid piece -- the front frame connects to the back half of the bottom shelf with two bolts shown below. I added some additional pop rivets but I still imagine this thing falling apart when I go over a crack in my garage. Also the fit is a little too tight, requiring placement of the batteries while the cabinet is partially disassembled.
BOM (Tax + shipping to California included):
1x Seville UltraHD Solid Wood Top 2-Drawer Steel Rolling File Cabinet, 20" x 18" - $147.57
3x 48V 50Ah Stackable LiFePO4 Battery - $1,251.35
1x Rich Solar 3,000 Watt 48 Volt All In One Solar Inverter - $422.55
50 ft. temco 4awg welding cable - $79.33 (turns out I way over-ordered)
50 pcs temco tinned lugs in 1/4 and 5/16 - $28.71 (also over-ordered)
2x 150a generic busbars - $21.74
4x MNEDC breakers 50/100a - $89.42
1x HardieBacker 0.42 in. x 3 ft. x 5 ft. Cement Backerboard - $19.87
1x Square D Homeline Load Center - $23.73
1x Homeline 30a breaker - $7.97
2x generic NEMA L14-30 male and female plugs - $15.20
Total cost: $2107.44 (yeesh, I told my wife I'd keep it under $2k). I do plan to claim the tax credit after I hook this up to the house.
Misc stuff I had lying around paint, angle brackets, screws, pop-rivets, bolt anchors, wire nuts, electrical tape, PVC fitting, a few feet of 10awg THHN and SOOW, light socket and bulb
Tools I had to pick up: TEMCO crimper, large gauge wire cutters
This doesn't include the L14-30 generator input side to the house
Left to do: find a way to lock it, short-proof the breakers better, button up the inverter, secure negative wire a bit better.
This is an in-progress pic to show the fit:
In the end, I probably wouldn't recommend going with the Seville cabinet. It's fairly sturdy but there are probably better options. It's rated by the manufacturer at 260 pounds, and I'm around 230. There was definitely some flexing at the bottom, and the bottom shelf isn't one solid piece -- the front frame connects to the back half of the bottom shelf with two bolts shown below. I added some additional pop rivets but I still imagine this thing falling apart when I go over a crack in my garage. Also the fit is a little too tight, requiring placement of the batteries while the cabinet is partially disassembled.
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42OhmsPA
What's in a title?
That's awesome. Nice work!
Dagoth Ur Does Solar
Solar Enthusiast
If I was going to go with a cart-style, I would really be looking at something like a Gorilla Cart. Something with 1.8 stars on Amazon I would never trust to carry batteries...
DPC
Solar Addict
Put some gypsum board between the wood and electrical parts to improve that
Other wise its a nice looking kart
Other wise its a nice looking kart
bandgap
New Member
In the spirit of DIY I went with some 8ā heavy duty castors for the base of my project. At 771lb load ratio each they should handle a few hundred pounds of batteries gear. When I get something built I post it in the thread. For now Iām eyeballing this old upright freezer with a circular saw. 
@bandgap Nice work!!!
@bandgap Nice work!!!
The builder listed his approximate costs when answering a question about adding another battery to the back side of the cart.
The size of cart I made does not really have enough room for a battery on the back side. However, if you order your rails at the bottom a bit longer you could certainly fit two batteries on it.
The inverter was $1400, the battery $4000. All the extrusions, breaker panel, etc was roughly on the order $800-1000
I would assume those casters are already being stressed with @ 500-600 lbs.
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