diy solar

diy solar

My battery build for truck camper

Chris would starboard be next step up from plexiglass for strength?

My experience with all of these plastic materials - I make a lot of stuff and have used them all in some manner over the years.

1. Polycarbonate, or lexan as a brand name - it's what they make your headlight lenses out of - the stuff is super strong and rigid, doesn't shatter, and is pretty much impervious to everything. Not sure what it was invented for, but it is amazing stuff. Very difficult to cut and drill - will chip and jolt from a saw blade, can be dangerous to cut - I don't have a strong recommendation. A cut off saw (miter saw) flung a chunk of it a dozen feet - wear safety glasses. Have cut it with jig saw, skill saw, and table saw - none are sure fire. Don't have a best recommendation on this, you use your tool and take your chances. It is quite heat resistant, and not easy to mold.

2. HDPE - high density polyethylene, is Starboard as a brand of marine grade plastic sheeting - is opaque, not clear, so it's not a substitute for lexan or acrylic (plexiglass). This stuff is amazing though, and used extensively in the boat building industry, as well as for cutting boards and bottles, and all kinds of industrial manufacturing. It cuts and drills like butter with conventional word working tools, holds fasteners well, and comes in a very broad color and thickness range. It's quite expensive - a half inch 4x8 sheet is a couple of hundred bucks. But can generally be found as scrap and in smaller cut pieces. The cons are that it is not as strong as plywood, fasteners will strip out fairly easily, and cannot really be glued - it's just too slippery. And it is slippery. I like to use in in place of plywood for some types of applications, and certainly for anything on a boat. I used it for my battery build cuz I saw another forum member here build an amazing battery with it, and copied their concept. Very pleased with it.

3. Acrylic sheeting, or plexiglass as a brand name - this is the old original clear plastic sheeting used for all kinds of applications, including chair mats, marine aquariums, room dividers, even small aircraft windshields. It is very moldable with heat, can be bent into all kinds of compound shapes, is very clear, and very easy to cut and drill. It is also fairly easy to glue with a liquid solvent that literally melts the joint together, making it very strong. An acrylic aquarium is a good example of the use of this material - I have made filter boxes with it for marine reef aquaria, but the joints have to be perfectly tight, there is no fudge factor like with plywood. The cons of this material is that it is soft, scratches easily, breaks easily, and doesn't hold fasteners very well. If you countersink a fastener hold it tends to crack the material if you cinch down on it. It will yellow over time in direct sunlight, but can be painted fairly easily. It's a great clear material but it's just not very strong, and not nearly as durable as lexan or polycarbonate sheeting. Both can be bought at your local big-box hardware store in the glass department.

Here's an electrical control panel I just made for my model railroad, starboard box with a 1/8 lexan panel, painted behind. The box panels are screwed together with #8 wood screws. The holes for the switches are 1/4" and pretty easy to drill with a sharp bit. You don't get the heating with a twist drill bit like you do with a holesaw.



Here's an overflow filter and sump drain box I made for a 75gl reef tank:







Here's a windshield extension/spoiler I made for my Triumph adventure bike:

 
Last edited:
My experience with all of these plastic materials - I make a lot of stuff and have used them all in some manner over the years.

1. Polycarbonate, or lexan as a brand name - it's what they make your headlight lenses out of - the stuff is super strong and rigid, doesn't shatter, and is pretty much impervious to everything. Not sure what it was invented for, but it is amazing stuff. Very difficult to cut and drill - will chip and jolt from a saw blade, can be dangerous to cut - I don't have a strong recommendation. A cut off saw (miter saw) flung a chunk of it a dozen feet - wear safety glasses. Have cut it with jig saw, skill saw, and table saw - none are sure fire. Don't have a best recommendation on this, you use your tool and take your chances. It is quite heat resistant, and not easy to mold.

2. HDPE - high density polyethylene, is Starboard as a brand of marine grade plastic sheeting - is opaque, not clear, so it's not a substitute for lexan or acrylic (plexiglass). This stuff is amazing though, and used extensively in the boat building industry, as well as for cutting boards and bottles, and all kinds of industrial manufacturing. It cuts and drills like butter with conventional word working tools, holds fasteners well, and comes in a very broad color and thickness range. It's quite expensive - a half inch 4x8 sheet is a couple of hundred bucks. But can generally be found as scrap and in smaller cut pieces. The cons are that it is not as strong as plywood, fasteners will strip out fairly easily, and cannot really be glued - it's just too slippery. And it is slippery. I like to use in in place of plywood for some types of applications, and certainly for anything on a boat. I used it for my battery build cuz I saw another forum member here build an amazing battery with it, and copied their concept. Very pleased with it.

3. Acrylic sheeting, or plexiglass as a brand name - this is the old original clear plastic sheeting used for all kinds of applications, including chair mats, marine aquariums, room dividers, even small aircraft windshields. It is very moldable with heat, can be bent into all kinds of compound shapes, is very clear, and very easy to cut and drill. It is also fairly easy to glue with a liquid solvent that literally melts the joint together, making it very strong. An acrylic aquarium is a good example of the use of this material - I have made filter boxes with it for marine reef aquaria, but the joints have to be perfectly tight, there is no fudge factor like with plywood. The cons of this material is that it is soft, scratches easily, breaks easily, and doesn't hold fasteners very well. If you countersink a fastener hold it tends to crack the material if you cinch down on it. It will yellow over time in direct sunlight, but can be painted fairly easily. It's a great clear material but it's just not very strong, and not nearly as durable as lexan or polycarbonate sheeting. Both can be bought at your local big-box hardware store in the glass department.

Here's an electrical control panel I just made for my model railroad, starboard box with a 1/8 lexan panel, painted behind. The box panels are screwed together with #8 wood screws. The holes for the switches are 1/4" and pretty easy to drill with a sharp bit. You don't get the heating with a twist drill bit like you do with a holesaw.



Here's an overflow filter and sump drain box I made for a 75gl reef tank:







Here's a windshield extension/spoiler I made for my Triumph adventure bike:

The reason I asked need to make 4 battery boxes for my rv. I want to build my batteries, instead of store bought. If you have any tips I would really appreciate it. Thank you for the information
 
The reason I asked need to make 4 battery boxes for my rv. I want to build my batteries, instead of store bought. If you have any tips I would really appreciate it. Thank you for the information

There's no one right way to build a battery box, but plenty of ways to build it wrong. If the RV will be in cold weather then the battery box design should include space for a warming solution and insulation. A non-conducting cover/top is important. There is a thread in the "Up In Smoke" subforum where the wood top is suspected of causing a catastrophic failure. Elevating any cover/top so it can never contact any of the terminals, bus bars or lugs is a good way to go.

A lot of guys want fire-proof materials on the inside of the battery box, as opposed to building the box out of wood within nothing between the wood and the battery. The LiFePO4 chemistry is considered very safe and unlikely to catch fire unless something really bad happens. It's up to you how far you need to go to feel safe.
 
There's no one right way to build a battery box, but plenty of ways to build it wrong. If the RV will be in cold weather then the battery box design should include space for a warming solution and insulation. A non-conducting cover/top is important. There is a thread in the "Up In Smoke" subforum where the wood top is suspected of causing a catastrophic failure. Elevating any cover/top so it can never contact any of the terminals, bus bars or lugs is a good way to go.

A lot of guys want fire-proof materials on the inside of the battery box, as opposed to building the box out of wood within nothing between the wood and the battery. The LiFePO4 chemistry is considered very safe and unlikely to catch fire unless something really bad happens. It's up to you how far you need to go to feel safe.
Yes would like fire proof materials inside of box.
 
The reason I asked need to make 4 battery boxes for my rv. I want to build my batteries, instead of store bought. If you have any tips I would really appreciate it. Thank you for the information

My battery is under the sofa. Plenty of them are placed under sleeping platforms. The risk of fire is actually due to the wiring and connections of the direct current network, rather than the lfp chemistry, so any battery installation is cause for caution and concern for secure connections to prevent overheating and potential fire.

IMHO this is one of the nicest builds I have seen, and what I copied for my own use:


Here's mine, it's a 4-cell 230A pack. We use about a hundred amp hours of power over a given day or night, so plenty of reserve. All of the gas appliances are still in place, and we don't try to run air conditioning off our batteries.



Here's a vid demonstrating flammability of LFP verses other battery chemistries:

 
There's no one right way to build a battery box, but plenty of ways to build it wrong. If the RV will be in cold weather then the battery box design should include space for a warming solution and insulation. A non-conducting cover/top is important. There is a thread in the "Up In Smoke" subforum where the wood top is suspected of causing a catastrophic failure. Elevating any cover/top so it can never contact any of the terminals, bus bars or lugs is a good way to go.
If I remember correctly: the owner leaned on the top, causing the cell terminals to carry his weight, which seems to have created an internal short somehow.
 
If I remember correctly: the owner leaned on the top, causing the cell terminals to carry his weight, which seems to have created an internal short somehow.
this is the interpretation that i recall as well.

the upper wooden lid became compressed downwards, and the small amount of conduction with the upper lid might have been enough to generate the heat for failure mode.

the lesson for me is to ensure both electrical insulation for all conducting elements, as well as physical boundary protection to discourage failure of said insulation.

very glad that their situation resulted in no harm to life, and that rebuilding was possible.
 
the lesson for me is to ensure both electrical insulation for all conducting elements, as well as physical boundary protection to discourage failure of said insulation.
As someone who created sparks connecting an acid-lead battery to a car multiple times, I have grown more careful ;) All my components are covered as to avoid touching both plus and minus.
 
another example of a battery build you can do yourself for your RV/Camper/Motorhome


 
Back
Top