This enclosure will allow easy addition and removal of batteries, by connecting them all with these terminal blocks.
An important part to the system is the grounding. Grounding is literally sticking a very long rod into the ground. At the left in the picture is our 8 foot copper rod hammered into the ground.
Connected to that rod are two copper wires. One is thinner, and grounds the two solar panels. The other is thicker and goes inside the garage to this 1/2 in pipe.
Why ground? If any wire that has a positive voltage accidentally touches any metal part of our electrical enclosures, then this connection redirects all the power to the path of least resistance. This will cause all the power to surge to the ground. Since the ground connection has almost no resistance, this will cause as much current as possible to flow from the source. When this happens, a circuit breaker will trip and stop the current flow.
In this picture, the batteries (going to the bottom) and the electrical box and neutral (going to the top) are grounded.
Grounded main electrical enclosure.
Grounded batteries.
For extra safety, the box is held to the wall by two carabiners on each side, since it is on wheels. The wheels also have brakes, which are engaged.
These electrical box to nonmetallic fittings thread very well into a 3/4 in holes drilled into the 1 in plywood. There is one on each side, so 6 in total.
In this picture, the battery connector can also be seen, so that we can disconnect them from the rest of the system. The grounding wire is missing from the picture since it was taken just before that was attached.
One problem I've encountered is accidental shorting of the batteries, and it appears like a better idea to also have a circuit breaker internal to the battery box.
Protected batteries. A hydrogen gas vent will be installed, but in the meantime, it can currently stay like this. There are some significantly large gaps in the front of the box, where it can vent inside the garage.
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