Full diy vs kit?

[Dacull]

I've been sitting on a stack of used panels I bought a few years ago, and recently decided it's time to put them to use and build my off grid system. So far I've ordered a pair of 6000XPs, a pair of JK Inverter BMS, and I have 32 280ah EVE cells arriving this weekend. My original plan was to make some metal compression plates and cobble together all the bits and pieces to diy a battery, but as I'm going further and further down the path of researching what all I need, I'm increasingly thinking the savings over one of the DIY case kits available probably won't add up to much if anything, and for a less attractive and possibly worse performing solution at that. All that, combined with my time investment, it's starting to seem like a kit is a better option.

I'm about ready to pull the trigger on one, but I thought I would solicit some opinions here and make sure my reasoning is sound before I commit to something.

One big thing I don't like about the kits is that all the ones that look good seem to only be available shipped by boat from china, which isn't normally a huge concern for me, but does mean a likely delay in getting my system running, and also a possible tariff related surprise since I'm in the US, so if anyone has a suggestion for a good US stocked option that might help push me over the line.

 

[DIYrich]

I diy'd a battery, and if I did it again, I would buy a box for the reasons you mentioned.

 

[caesarv]

I did a DIY battery (and cells) from Gobel and would do it again. Actually, I did it twice! It was fun and rewarding...but that is just me. It did, however, take two months to arrive.

 

[Rednecktek]

Unless you're planning on having everything duct taped together on a shelf you're going to need some sort of container for everything anyways. Might as well get a box built for the job.

 

[upnorthandpersonal]

This works for me:



Each shelf itself is re-enforced, but otherwise these are available for about 70 Euro or something.

 

[BarracudaBob]

It is really about time. I didn't have enough but if I was retired DIY all the way!

 

[HarryN]

I would definitely use metal shelves only for the power system components.

Maybe even consider to mount the whole thing 20 ft away from the house.

 

[Brucey]

Seen a lot of sagged and collapsed wooden shelves. Thinking of this uline series:

Industrial Steel Shelving - 36 x 18 x 75

All-purpose steel shelving for warehouses, stockrooms and machine shops. 20-gauge steel shelves. Welded box beams, front and rear. Powder-coat finish. Up to 800 lbs. shelf capacity. Shelves adjust in 1 1/2" increments. Includes side and rear cross braces. ULINE offers over 42,000 boxes, plastic...

www.uline.com

 

[BarracudaBob]

I would definitely use metal shelves only for the power system components.

I agree with metal vs kindling

 

[extrafu]

@Brucey I've got this one from uline: https://www.uline.ca/Product/Detail...elving/Heavy-Duty-Steel-Shelving-36-x-18-x-72

It's a bit more heavy-duty than the model you posted but I would recommend it. I also found caster wheels that fit nicely with that rack on Amazon that are a lot stronger than the ones you can get from uline for this rack.

 

[Brucey]

@Brucey I've got this one from uline: https://www.uline.ca/Product/Detail...elving/Heavy-Duty-Steel-Shelving-36-x-18-x-72

It's a bit more heavy-duty than the model you posted but I would recommend it. I also found caster wheels that fit nicely with that rack on Amazon that are a lot stronger than the ones you can get from uline for this rack.

View attachment 269341

Looks good. Was thinking if I got a wider one could basically do two of those layouts back to back, 30kWh per shelf.

 

[extrafu]

@Brucey That would be neat! In case you're interested those are the caster wheels I got: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B0CPSJKJLP/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

Cheers!

 

[Dacull]

@Brucey I've got this one from uline: https://www.uline.ca/Product/Detail...elving/Heavy-Duty-Steel-Shelving-36-x-18-x-72

It's a bit more heavy-duty than the model you posted but I would recommend it. I also found caster wheels that fit nicely with that rack on Amazon that are a lot stronger than the ones you can get from uline for this rack.

View attachment 269341

Ok, this is nice. Wouldn't end up saving much money for my current two battery setup, but would probably save a few hundred bucks with each subsequent one that I add in the future.

Where did you get those big bus bars? Those really help to keep it all clean and professional looking.

 

[extrafu]

@Dacull From ebay: https://www.ebay.com/itm/304712537845

I also purchased this shrink tube: https://www.amazon.ca/gp/product/B07VLDW14Z/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

[HRTKD]

For a static, residential implementation a box isn't necessary. It does make the install look good though.

I used the Shenzhen Luyuan 16 cell box in my RV. Mainly because it was a bit easier to move the entire battery in a box. Securing it was easier in a box too. My prior RV has two 4s batteries, neither of which was in a box, but were in compression fixtures.

 

[Shawn Hayes]

As someone who started this journey not knowing anything about batteries, DC power, a lack of understanding of how this whole solar and battery thing worked, going the DIY route forced me to learn about it. I would definitely DIY a battery. With that being said, I think a lot of it, depends on the application and your intentions for the system.
If you already have 32 batteries and are thinking of future scalability, then you must be using this for some sort of power for your home, backup or otherwise?
I started out with 64 batteries 2 years ago and this past year expand it to 96. I am running an entire house with this set up. I do like the DIY build a box kits that are now available, but they were not available when I first started. However, after looking into these DIY box kits, I didn’t see any real advantage over what I already had. They are very neat looking and compact. However, they are very heavy if you have to move or stack them up. Whenever they are stacked, if for some reason you need to get in the bottom box, then you have to move any other box stacked on top of the bottom one. Also, depending on the BMS that you choose, are the DIY build boxes set up for that choice? I think some of these come with a BMS option. I think JK-BMS has an inverter BMS they offer that may fit these boxes, if I’m correct?
(Edit) I used a Batrium BMS, because I wanted one BMS that could expand with the batteries. I love JK-BMS, but typically you’ll need a BMS for every 16 batteries. I rather have one BMS for everything. Only drawback, Batrium is a passive balance system, not active. But I’ve not really needed any balancing, yet.
Either way, if you build the entire system yourself, you know the components, how everything is put together, wired together, and you have a better understanding how to fix it if something goes wrong.
From an expense standpoint, of course, everyone has to consider the financial cost, but at the end of the day, make sure you are thorough about your research building whatever it is you build. I enjoyed building my setup and I understand how it works.
I used garage storage cabinets from Lowe’s and built my own rack with wood/metal to support the rack, used 5/16 aluminum for light compression plates. The cabinets are securely attached the to the wall to prevent movement or worse if there were an earthquake or something.

 

[Dacull]

As someone who started this journey not knowing anything about batteries, DC power, a lack of understanding of how this whole solar and battery thing worked, going the DIY route forced me to learn about it. I would definitely DIY a battery. With that being said, I think a lot of it, depends on the application and your intentions for the system.
If you already have 32 batteries and are thinking of future scalability, then you must be using this for some sort of power for your home, backup or otherwise?
I started out with 64 batteries 2 years ago and this past year expand it to 96. I am running an entire house with this set up. I do like the DIY build a box kits that are now available, but they were not available when I first started. However, after looking into these DIY box kits, I didn’t see any real advantage over what I already had. They are very neat looking and compact. However, they are very heavy if you have to move or stack them up. Whenever they are stacked, if for some reason you need to get in the bottom box, then you have to move any other box stacked on top of the bottom one. Also, depending on the BMS that you choose, are the DIY build boxes set up for that choice? I think some of these come with a BMS option. I think JK-BMS has an inverter BMS they offer that may fit these boxes, if I’m correct?
(Edit) I used a Batrium BMS, because I wanted one BMS that could expand with the batteries. I love JK-BMS, but typically you’ll need a BMS for every 16 batteries. I rather have one BMS for everything. Only drawback, Batrium is a passive balance system, not active. But I’ve not really needed any balancing, yet.
Either way, if you build the entire system yourself, you know the components, how everything is put together, wired together, and you have a better understanding how to fix it if something goes wrong.
From an expense standpoint, of course, everyone has to consider the financial cost, but at the end of the day, make sure you are thorough about your research building whatever it is you build. I enjoyed building my setup and I understand how it works.
I used garage storage cabinets from Lowe’s and built my own rack with wood/metal to support the rack, used 5/16 aluminum for light compression plates. The cabinets are securely attached the to the wall to prevent movement or worse if there were an earthquake or something.

Now that's a clean DIY battery, love it! That sort of metal cabinet is exactly what I've been looking at if I go the 100% DIY route, and yours is a really nice build, thank you for sharing the pictures, and your thoughts and advice. At this point I think I'll be using a box kit, but if I end up changing my mind I think I'll be building something very similar to that.

I am planning to power my house with this system (with grid back up for now). When I bought the panels I'm using I had been planning to move to a completely off grid property, which didn't happen at the time and the solar project got put on hold. I'm still hoping to eventually find a property and make that move so right now I'm building this system in a shipping container which I'm also using for storage and can easily bring with me when/if I move, sort of like a giant portable solar generator. I'm figuring this way I can start working out the bugs, figuring out how much solar/battery/inverter I really need, saving money on my electric bill, and having some personal energy independence, while still having the grid to fall back on if my system is undersized, or something goes wrong.

I'm definitely planning to use the JK inverter BMS, I have two on order and if I buy prebuilt box kits I'll be getting ones with that BMS and keep the other two as spares. Right now I'm leaning towards the EEL JK-V5 box if I go that route, especially because they have a US stock pre-order that is supposed to ship early february, which shaves a month or two off the wait and hopefully avoids any tarrifs that might be coming. I like that each set of cells has it's own BMS since it gives some redundancy, and I can easily keep an extra BMS or two on hand in case one fails.

 

[Shawn Hayes]

Thanks for the compliments. Sounds like you have some good ideas and the good layout of a plan/idea.
I really do think those DIY box kits are really neat and compact. They look very professional when they’re finished.
I know that the new JK inverter BMS has had its share of issues and bugs in the software, etc. I know some of those may have been worked out from watching Andy’s videos from the off grid garage. The only issue that I remember “not being clear on”, when putting multiple JK’s in parallel, if one BMS failed, you could possibly overcharge over discharge the batteries behind the failed JK-BMS.
If I remember correctly, there was a thread discussing this or this was discussed in a thread somewhere about paralleling multiple JK style BMS’s?
The way my system is set up, if I want to use multiple JK-BMS’s, if one failed, I would be concerned about ruining a battery or two or an entire pack based on what I read, if that’s the case…..
I really like the JKBMS’s I have two of them operating two other independent, small 12 V setups on the property.