A total electrical noob builds a battery box - Page 2

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Posted: 6/16/2011 6:07:58 AM EDT

[#1]

Not saying it wasn't fun or looks cool. I thought of building one myself until I got to thinking about it and came to the conclusion I did. The guy that originally made one and was sending them home with employees so they could continue working on there computer had a great application for this box in general.

Posted: 6/16/2011 7:07:24 AM EDT

[#2]

Quoted:

Quoted:
My take on this battery box deal while cool and all that is why take something so simple and spend money to complicate the issue? The first problem I see is all the fuses, you do not need a fuse from the charger to the battery. Battery chargers are made to charge battery's just fine the way they are. The other fuse between the inverter and battery is also not needed, the inverter is going to draw what it draws nothing more. The inverter comes with a cable and alligator clips for a reason, its all that is needed, its quick, and the clips will hook to any battery with no tools required. All this extra hard wire and what not just makes it hard to swap out battery's and makes an already heavy battery even heaver with the inverter and all the other stuff hooked on.

Here is an example. Power goes out due to a ice storm and I need to run a few lights and tv to see whats going on and I eventually discharge the battery. The next day or so say I need to run the generator for the fridge, freezer and say heater and I also need to charge the cell phones as everyone I know has been calling the wife and I to see if we are alive. Well no problem I plug my charger into the generator as its big enough to handle all this load and charge the battery, in the mean time I go grab another battery and hook up the inverter and charge my phones or what ever. While you are still taking off all the wire set up and pulling your battery out of the box to set up another one I am having a hot tottie and watching the tv. There is also the portability of just a inverter as battery's are not hard to find I can just grab the inverter and go knowing that the car battery will take car of any issues I might need.

Just seams like the money spent on all the unnecessary stuff could be used for a bigger battery or another battery if you are battery deficient.

You're probably right. It was fun, though.

Well I think you did just fine!

Putting fuses where you aren't sure there is otherwise no overload protection is a smart idea.

Inverters DO fail. I had a Xantrex Prowatt SW 1000 take out a 100 amp Gould Shawmut fuse and there was no load on it other than a couple watts. The replacement has been fine. The failure apparently occurred when I turned it off and then back on over the internet while managing loads during a cloudy period and I'm thankful for having the foresight to install the fuse because there could have been nasty consequenses.

Also THINK HOW MUCH YOU LEARNED!!! You are now somewhat independent vs the rest of the Sheeple.

You learned that Autozone et al don't carry a lot of what you need, that what they have is ridiculously over priced, and ebay has what you need at usually great prices.

I could go on but you surely get the idea. You should not be discouraged and look forward to the next big project -that's the only way you are going to increase your strength and capability and make yourself a power force vs the Sheeple.

Posted: 6/16/2011 7:13:18 AM EDT

[#3]

Quoted:
My take on this battery box deal while cool and all that is why take something so simple and spend money to complicate the issue? The first problem I see is all the fuses, you do not need a fuse from the charger to the battery. Battery chargers are made to charge battery's just fine the way they are. The other fuse between the inverter and battery is also not needed, the inverter is going to draw what it draws nothing more. The inverter comes with a cable and alligator clips for a reason, its all that is needed, its quick, and the clips will hook to any battery with no tools required. All this extra hard wire and what not just makes it hard to swap out battery's and makes an already heavy battery even heaver with the inverter and all the other stuff hooked on.

Here is an example. Power goes out due to a ice storm and I need to run a few lights and tv to see whats going on and I eventually discharge the battery. The next day or so say I need to run the generator for the fridge, freezer and say heater and I also need to charge the cell phones as everyone I know has been calling the wife and I to see if we are alive. Well no problem I plug my charger into the generator as its big enough to handle all this load and charge the battery, in the mean time I go grab another battery and hook up the inverter and charge my phones or what ever. While you are still taking off all the wire set up and pulling your battery out of the box to set up another one I am having a hot tottie and watching the tv. There is also the portability of just a inverter as battery's are not hard to find I can just grab the inverter and go knowing that the car battery will take car of any issues I might need.

Just seams like the money spent on all the unnecessary stuff could be used for a bigger battery or another battery if you are battery deficient.

A battery box like the OP's would be perfect for my wife, which is why I'll eventually build one. We have a generator, but she's not interested in learning how to use it. We have multiple inverters, but unless she clan plug it directly into a cigarette lighter, she won't use it; when I was explaining how to use the alligator clips to hook it to a battery, she went to her happy place - didn't hear a word I said.

She can do a lot, but somethings she doesn't want to know or learn. If somethings aren't as simple as a box of rocks, she won't do them unfortunately - don't get me started on changing flat tires.

ETA: tagging for good info.

Posted: 6/22/2011 6:23:41 PM EDT

[#4]

Another newbie question. If the car is running in idle with the inverter hooked up, does it perform like a makeshift generator? How fast does the alternator recharge the battery?

Posted: 6/22/2011 8:19:20 PM EDT

[#5]

Quoted:
Another newbie question. If the car is running in idle with the inverter hooked up, does it perform like a makeshift generator? How fast does the alternator recharge the battery?

with the car just idling if your pulling any type of load you will drain the battery. at idle the alt only puts out a few amps. you could always install whats called a high idle but your going to burn through a LOT of fuel that way.

Posted: 6/22/2011 8:47:36 PM EDT

[#6]

Quoted:
at idle the alt only puts out a few amps.

It's a little more than that.

For example, right now I'm looking at the specs for a 110 amp Hitachi alternator (which is a pretty common size in modern cars and trucks). The specs say that it puts out 34 amps at idle.

Naturally, some of that current will be consumed by the fuel pump, engine computer and fuel injectors just to keep the engine running - but there's still probably at least 20 amps of surplus current available.

20 amps at 14 volts is around 280 watts - not exactly an insignificant amount of power...

Posted: 6/22/2011 8:53:16 PM EDT

[#7]

For copper cable lugs just make your own

Go to the plumbing section and get copper water pipe flaten in a vise a few inches and drill a jole in the flat spot put your cable into it crimp the non flatten part i use solder and crimp Put some heat shrink on it and walla you have made your own crimp on lugs i do shape the ends so there not square and sharp and for looks and saftey

Jaime

Posted: 6/23/2011 6:16:44 AM EDT

[#8]

Great job w12x40.

Looks like I have another project to add to the list of things to do.

Posted: 6/23/2011 7:00:51 AM EDT

[#9]

Quoted:
For copper cable lugs just make your own

Go to the plumbing section and get copper water pipe flaten in a vise a few inches and drill a jole in the flat spot put your cable into it crimp the non flatten part i use solder and crimp Put some heat shrink on it and walla you have made your own crimp on lugs i do shape the ends so there not square and sharp and for looks and saftey

That's a great tip!

Earlier this week at Auto Zone, I spent over 3 bucks on a pair of copper lugs for 4 gauge cable - Probably 30 cents worth of copper pipe...

Posted: 6/23/2011 8:02:15 AM EDT

[#10]

Quoted:

Quoted:
at idle the alt only puts out a few amps.

It's a little more than that.

For example, right now I'm looking at the specs for a 110 amp Hitachi alternator (which is a pretty common size in modern cars and trucks). The specs say that it puts out 34 amps at idle.

Naturally, some of that current will be consumed by the fuel pump, engine computer and fuel injectors just to keep the engine running - but there's still probably at least 20 amps of surplus current available.

20 amps at 14 volts is around 280 watts - not exactly an insignificant amount of power...

Thank you, Skibane. You're a great help.
280 W is not a huge amount, but will keep a bunch of things running in a bind. Guess an idling car can also be used to charge a battery at the same time as running the inverter. How much energy will charging consume out of those 280 Watts?

Posted: 6/23/2011 11:18:37 AM EDT

[#11]

Quoted:
Guess an idling car can also be used to charge a battery at the same time as running the inverter. How much energy will charging consume out of those 280 Watts?

Pretty hard to put actual numbers on it, due to all the variables involved (i.e., size of the battery, size of the alternator, engine idle speed, state of the battery's charge, etc.)

If the battery is heavily discharged to begin with, it would probably consume all the spare energy the alternator is producing for a while - leaving none for the inverter. As it accumulates some recharge, it would consume less and less - leaving more and more available for the inverter. Revving the engine for a while would speed up the recharge process quite a bit.

Posted: 6/23/2011 12:14:47 PM EDT

[#12]

Quoted:
For copper cable lugs just make your own

Go to the plumbing section and get copper water pipe flaten in a vise a few inches and drill a jole in the flat spot put your cable into it crimp the non flatten part i use solder and crimp Put some heat shrink on it and walla you have made your own crimp on lugs i do shape the ends so there not square and sharp and for looks and saftey

Jaime

I used a piece of 3/4" copper pipe to connect one side of a pair of 6 volt EGC2's, just cut to length, flattened the ends with a hammer and drilled holes for the terminals. Works great.