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enclosure for BMS and connectors?

Jdmuys

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Joined
Sep 7, 2020
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9
Hi,

I am assembling a 12V LiFePO4 battery using 4 CALB cells and an Overkill Solar 120A 4S BMS (https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B088JYDKMR). The destination is my sailboat. There will be connectors (busbars) too and a fuse.

I am worried about how to secure the BMS. Which enclosure could I buy? How to attach this BMS in there? There is no mounting hole that I can see on the BMS. Should I simply glue it to the side of the battery cells? This doesn't look like very safe.

A sailboat has erratic movement, and some vibrations when motoring, which happens a significant fraction of the time. I think this BMS should be secured one way or another.

I have been looking at Hammond NEMA enclosures, but I am quite confused.

Thanks for any help.
 
I used plumbing strap, covered it with heat shrink tubing and formed it to fit the BMS. Then I used screws to secure the plumbing stap to the end of my battery compression frame, which is just plywood on both ends. This is in an RV trailer that sees its fair share of dirt roads.

I complained to Steve at OverKillSolar about the lack of mounting holes. He said they're working on a bracket of some sort.

6600__02613.1378302723.1280.1280.jpg
 
Thanks for the pointer. Would you have a photo of what you did?
 
Is there any strong reason to use metal instead of plastic?

Nope. I was using what I had available at the time. Like you, I really was expecting to find mounting holes. So I had to scramble at the last minute to figure out a way to mount the BMS to my compression frame. It's a kludge, but it's not going anywhere and it didn't cost me anything extra.
 
There are 6 screws that hold the sandwich together. A M3 machine screw can thread into the back of the board. I did that with standoffs and mounted to my aluminum case. If you don't need as much stand off as I needed, you could replace the existing M3 screws with longer ones and use nuts on the end.
 
I eventually used electrician plastic ties. In order for them to be long enough to go all around the BMS, it put two together. On the plywood holding the battery cells, I stuck adhesive tie holders and nailed them down too for good measure and it looks attached well enough.
65B43F7E-D1D8-477B-A044-C1230479F020.jpeg
 
Yes, and it doesn’t help that I also attached a Victron Battery Protect and Battery Monitor
 
The metal inserts in each corner seems to be threaded, and it's probably M3 or something. Maybe attach a plastic plate to it then attach the plate to your enclosure. Otherwise, zip ties on both the X and Y axis would probably hold it just fine.
 
Yeah I have also ordered something called a Z bracket for paintings that hols the canvas to the frame. Will see how that looks.
 
Hi,

I am assembling a 12V LiFePO4 battery using 4 CALB cells and an Overkill Solar 120A 4S BMS (https://smile.amazon.com/gp/product/B088JYDKMR). The destination is my sailboat. There will be connectors (busbars) too and a fuse.

I am worried about how to secure the BMS. Which enclosure could I buy? How to attach this BMS in there? There is no mounting hole that I can see on the BMS. Should I simply glue it to the side of the battery cells? This doesn't look like very safe.

A sailboat has erratic movement, and some vibrations when motoring, which happens a significant fraction of the time. I think this BMS should be secured one way or another.

I have been looking at Hammond NEMA enclosures, but I am quite confused.

Thanks for any help.
Hi jim here im new to battery building but a good carpenter. if you have simple wood working tools you can build a box out of star board. Its strong kinda lite. And great for boat enviorment. Hope this helps. Jim
 
A necro-post, but perhaps this would be of some use... I'm planning to mount my OverkillSolar BMS on the wood-based battery box using 3D-printed plastic clips. Set of 6, one for each post, should hold things well, and with a bit of space under the bottom for a little airflow.

Not sure if I can post an STL here, but here's a photo.
 

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A necro-post, but perhaps this would be of some use... I'm planning to mount my OverkillSolar BMS on the wood-based battery box using 3D-printed plastic clips. Set of 6, one for each post, should hold things well, and with a bit of space under the bottom for a little airflow.

Not sure if I can post an STL here, but here's a photo.

Very nice! That's a better way to mount the BMS than I was thinking of.
 
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