Solar Electric Project

[hayden]

Finally, time to install the batteries in the box. I had to haul the engine lift around to the basement and bring it in using a hand truck. Here it is in place for the first battery. The plywood (actually OSB) provides a hard smooth surface to roll the lift on.

As a side note, this lift is pneumatic. This sounded great when I bought it and I figured it would make getting the batteries in quicker and easier.

Wrong. What a piece of junk. I can hand pump it much faster than the pneumatic pump. I'm sure glad I didn't pay too much for it.

 

[hayden]

Did I ever mention that the batteries are heavy? I brought the first pallet of them around and this is what happened.

I had to abandon the pallet and plucked the first battery off as a single. They are a real pain to get ahold of. I've been using rope slings under the handles, but the rope stretches and they hang lower that I'd like. It also scares the your-know-what out of me manipulating these things with metal forks. I'm really surprised that the batteries don't come with covers over the terminals. One wrong move and...

 

[hayden]

With something like this, the first one is always the hardest. These batteries were no exception to that rule. I finally got the first one in.

For the next two, I got a junk pallet and walked two batteries from one pallet to the other, then hauled them over to the basement entrance with the tractor. I was then able to walk them off the pallet and on to my hand cart.

At every stage, I used cargo straps to secure the batteries. It would be real ugly if one fell over.

The pictures show two batteries installed in the box, and the third on my junk pallet ready to go in the basement.

 

[hayden]

With only three batteries left on the original pallet, I was able to fork it and bring it over to the basement entrance.

The picture shows one strapped to my hand truck and the remaining two on the pallet.

Then finally, the first six installed in the battery box.

Man does my back hurt

 

[schmism]

how much did you say those weigh each?

i see you have xantrex controler stuff. from my reserch it seems they are the most common for this type of install.

DId you spec out your own system or have some adviser to help pick and choose parts?

 

[hayden]

how much did you say those weigh each?

DId you spec out your own system or have some adviser to help pick and choose parts?

The batteries are 315 lbs each, so a pallet of 6 is about 1900 lbs including the pallet. It's right at the limit of my loader, and even with loaded rear tires I need a counter weight to keep the rear on the ground.

I had been back and forth across that spot several times with loads of planks, plywood, the engine lift, etc. and there were no signs of trouble - at least not until I tried with the batteries.

Yes, the system is Xantrex. I'm trying their new XW line, which looks really good on paper. So far, it's playing out well in reality too. It's very well engineered as a system with all the parts hooking together very nicely. There's way too much Rube Goldberg in the industry, and that has to be fixed to make it mainstream. The XW system is a big step in that direction.

I did the engineering and spec'd out the system myself. It's a bit of a hobby and facination for me. This is the third system I've done, and I'm thinking of starting a business designing and building them. People keep coming out of the woodwork asking me to build them, and that's without trying to find business.

 

[SPIKER]

Hyden:

looks very good:

was wondering about the plastic on the walls? is that for moisture prevention??? I looked into a lot of this about 4+ years back looked at making my barn a solar collector when I had it put up. it has been up 7 yrs now (dang time flies!) I still never got a concrete floor in it or finished it been using it as is... I have still been thinking about getting some collectors up on roof as I designed & staged it to face sun to south. gambrel roof design so I have room for a good number of cells up there. I used to maintain a fleet of electric fork lifts in a full 24/7 production plant. they used batteries that were close to the size of you're bank about 3 times a month one would get cut (cables were 0/4 weld cable) most times only 1 would get sliced into. (inserting & removing from large re-charging rack) which was done by the workers 1~2 times each / day. there were 3 or 4 spots that was major short across the (nearly dead battery's) which would melt out a large hunk of steel! installing charged battery's were once & while bad news for similar reason, (operators not watching the drop leads...)

the weld cable was welded/soldered onto the battery post using small oxy/propane setup! I left that task to the MAIN guy I didn't like having exposed 3000 degree flame on top of a battery that was 3' wide 40" high and 4' long!)


I would have thought that you can remove the acid to make them lighter if need be to move/transport as long as it was only done for short period of time... in case you have to man-handle any on even harder access...


Mark

 

[hayden]

Spiker,

Yes, the plastic is for moisture control. The basement is very damp and we've put plastic against all the granite walls in an attempt to control it. It helps, but is far from a perfect solution.

 

[CATMAN]

Isn't there a need for ventilation for those batteries in that box? Maybe you already have that in your plan.

 

[hayden]

Isn't there a need for ventilation for those batteries in that box? Maybe you already have that in your plan.

Very good observation, Catman! You are absolutely correct.

I have a power vent on it's way to me (along with a couple of other misc items) from the Alternative Energy Store. Once I have it in hand and can figure out exactly where to mount it, pipe it outside, and enter the battery box, I'll hook it all up. The fan is controlled by either the inverter or one of the charge controllers. Both have programmable relays designed for this and other uses. I've also got an external relay coming since the internal relays can't power it directly. I'll then drill some vent holes down low in the box opposite where the power vent exits. I did this in my current battery box, but the venting is all convection. It seems to work fine, but with the bigger batteries and higher charge currents in the new system I want to go with a power vent.