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diy solar

diy solar

DIY Battery Shelf W/Drawers?

Kornbread

Solar Wizard
Joined
Sep 16, 2021
Messages
1,965
Built a quick shelf out of spare lumber for 4 banks of 304ah cells. Have 32more cells on the way and wanting to build something nicer out of metal, and it must take up less space. Been looking around the site for some ideas but one thing I haven't seen yet is a diy shelf using heavy duty drawers. Idea is this should make servicing the cells, keeping terminals torqued, swapping cells, etc., rather easy.

Anyone else out there do this? Any issues? Where did you source drawer sliders heavy enough to support the load? Any issues with cables getting cut from the moving drawers?
 
Built a quick shelf out of spare lumber for 4 banks of 304ah cells. Have 32more cells on the way and wanting to build something nicer out of metal, and it must take up less space. Been looking around the site for some ideas but one thing I haven't seen yet is a diy shelf using heavy duty drawers. Idea is this should make servicing the cells, keeping terminals torqued, swapping cells, etc., rather easy.

Anyone else out there do this? Any issues? Where did you source drawer sliders heavy enough to support the load? Any issues with cables getting cut from the moving drawers?

@Ron-ski has done that. See..

&
 
It's a lot of work, especially as I designed and built the entire rack, including welding the frames together, it's fairly compact, great for servicing, but if I was starting again I'd likely use DIY battery boxes, probably vertical ones on wheels, and I'd expect that's cheaper as well.

I'm on the UK, so got the drawer runners here, and also the energy chain. These heavy duty drawer runners should be readily available in most places. Let me know if you are UK based and I'll dig out where I got them from.
 
Thinking Out Loud ...

Eve304ah = ~5450g/12lb. 12(16)=192lb. or 87.2kg for the rest of the world. 100kg runners leave a little headroom, might feel better with a tad bit more margin. If not able to find a more robust runner then I'll build some kind of support under the drawer to insure the cells from above never come in contact with those below.

Rough estimate on mild steel for 2basic racks that hold 4banks each, all pieces @20' ~$177:

Main side supports
2@ 1.5"x3"x.188"= $72
Angle iron for added security under the runners and gussets
1@ 2"x2"x.250"=$57
Gussets
1@1.5"x2"x.120"= $48
If compressing, that will add to the steel cost, amongst other things.

Have other stuff like 2"x2"x.250" solid copper bar that can be used for buss bar, t-fuses, etc.. Not sure if it's best to do buss bars on each shelving unit and run those to a smaller buss bar at the aio, or run 4/0 from each bank to a large buss bar at the aio.

Looks like 250lb/~113kg capacity runners are going to be expensive, ~$70. Ouch! What type of runner did you use @Ron-ski ?
 
I think you are missing a crucial point, the load rating is with the drawers at maximum extension, not in a closed position. In the closed position they would be capable of carrying a far greater weight, many times the overall weight of the battery.

I also highly suggest you design your rack in a cad program, I drew mine in Sketchup, the drawer runners need to be exactly parallel, and correctly spaced , the drawer bases need to be square, I've been welding and fabricating for nearly 40 years although that's not my main job role.

These are the drawer runners I used, at £33 a pair.





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1725341539461.png

Each battery tray feeds out to a common busbar on the side of the rack, then through a T Class fuse (each battery has its own T class fuse), and then via 120mm cable to a breaker and on to the Lynx shunt. A 3D printer was also extensively used.

1725342129976.png
 
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I think you are missing a crucial point, the load rating is with the drawers at maximum extension, not in a closed position. In the closed position they would be capable of carrying a far greater weight, many times the overall weight of the battery.

feeds out to a common busbar on the side of the rack, then through a T Class fuse (each battery has its own T class fuse), and then via 120mm cable to a breaker and on to the Lynx shunt. A 3D printer was also extensively used.
The drawers will be fully extended for periodical checking of proper terminal torque, the possible errant cell, or bms replacement. What am I missing?

May just do a stackable kind of shelf using self-aligning legs. Not the primary choice since each bank will weigh nearly 200lbs, and one, or multiple banks may need to be disassembled to reach a lower bank. It's possible a second person, or cherry picker would alleviate that issue.
 
If not able to find a more robust runner then I'll build some kind of support under the drawer to insure the cells from above never come in contact with those below

What am I missing?
The first quote implies you were intending on putting a support under the closed drawer to support it in case the runners gave way.

If I'm doing any significant work on a battery, then I put a temporary support under the drawer whilst it's open.
 
May just do a stackable kind of shelf using self-aligning legs. Not the primary choice since each bank will weigh nearly 200lbs, and one, or multiple banks may need to be disassembled to reach a lower bank. It's possible a second person, or cherry picker would alleviate that issue.
I would leave yourself space to work if you go that route... I kicked myself for building my old wooden one in layers with a few inches between terminals and next layer.
Leave at least enough room to work with a 10mm wrench and tighten a nut...
 
The first quote implies you were intending on putting a support under the closed drawer to support it in case the runners gave way.

If I'm doing any significant work on a battery, then I put a temporary support under the drawer whilst it's open.
Absolutely putting some kind of support under the closed drawer. I've closed a drawer full of tools only to have it fall into the lower drawer. For a few $ in metal, not chancing it. If the cells fall on my feet and crush them, they'll grow back. If a bank of cells falls into another bank of cells, the ship's going to hit the sand. That kind of stuff don't grow back!

The temp support sounds good.

My diy wooden rack leaves just enough room to get a gunsmith torque wrench onto the lower terminals. The downside is the thickness of the wood plus height needed to get the torque wrench in there, leaves only room for 2 banks before they start to block the window. Using metal, hoping to get 3banks.
 
I've closed a drawer full of tools only to have it fall into the lower drawer.

I suppose that depends a lot on the construction of both the cabinet and more so the drawer runner, and how worn out it is. I would think that extremely unlikely with the runners I have, you'd need some substantial sideways movement to allow the runners to come apart, and given the construction of the cabinet that's not going to happen. The drawers are rarely opened, so the runners will not wear out either.

I suspect your drawer was overloaded and worn out.

Saying that I do actually consider it a good design improvement, instead of using flat bar for the drawer runner mount I could have used angle, and that would have added the safety benefit with minimal cost increase.
 
I have a Snap-On tool chest that weighs 1,000 lbs empty. The 8,000 lbs rated full weight is way more than I have to put in there. Some of the drawers have double slides on them to support the amount of weight. I suspect that you could find a used tool chest that could be repurposed as battery storage. Most of the drawers are too short (height) to fit a 304Ah cell (even on it's side). I have one drawer that would probably fit an 8s battery, maybe 16s, and two other drawers that would fit 4s batteries in each one. You could remove the drawers and a front crossbar (between the drawers) to get a space tall enough.

The tool chest I have is 84" wide and stupid expensive, so it probably isn't a good fit. But you can find tool chests that aren't as wide that might work and would be less expensive.
 

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