![\"\"](\"http:\/\/mtnmacaw.files.wordpress.com\/2011\/03\/batteries1.jpg\" "\\"batteries1\\"")
<\/a>The bottom and two end pieces of the battery box being dry-fit before we got too far along.<\/p><\/div>\n
So, carpentry was the first order of the day.\u00a0 Much sawing of lumber and plywood ensued.\u00a0 The old batteries were sealed batteries, and each was 12 volts, so they needed to be in pairs to make 24 volts, and then they were linked together in four pairs to provide our storage.\u00a0 The wiring part got a bit complicated.<\/p>\n
<\/a>The new flooded batteries sitting in a few rows, waiting to be installed in their new box.<\/p><\/div>\n
More carpentry, and construction of the box was completed.\u00a0 Everything fit into the space in front of the old battery bank and beneath the inverter, controller, circuit breaker box, all that good stuff hanging on the wall.<\/p>\n
<\/a>The battery box needed to have a completely removable front, in order to be able to slide the batteries out someday and slide new ones in. It's not intended to be used as a seat or table, so the plywood itself is providing a lot of the structural strength for the box.<\/p><\/div>\n
Now that battery box was ready, we removed it and the scary part of the process started – disconnecting the old batteries.\u00a0 The most critical part of that process was to make sure that none of the metal tools being used would touch the metal racks the batteries sat on, nor touched any of the other battery parts when disconnecting one end of one of the battery interconnect cables from either the positive or negative battery terminals.<\/p>\n
<\/a>Dan used a small sock to insulate the wrench, and it did exactly what he needed it to do. In fairly short order, the batteries were all disconnected from each other.<\/p><\/div>\n
Next step was to move the battery box back into position and start moving the new batteries into their new home.\u00a0 We had to keep in mind the positioning for positive and negative terminals on each battery in order to make it easy to hook them up again.\u00a0 Each of these batteries is 2 volt, instead of 12 volt.\u00a0 With twelve of them wired in a series instead of in paralell, the wiring was much simpler.<\/p>\n
<\/a>All moved into the box, and the fluid level in each battery was checked. Ready to proceed!<\/p><\/div>\n
Moving the new batteries around was hard work, but not scary.<\/p>\n
<\/a>The heavy battery cables are hard to bend, and getting them hooked up was hard work. Again, we had to be very careful not to touch anything metal to anything else.<\/p><\/div>\n
A bit more wiring was necessary, once the batteries were hooked together, to feed the power into the circuit breaker panel, and connect a couple of sensors for heat, and also to get a fan ready to go into a pipe to vent the batteries to the outside of the house.\u00a0 Flooded batteries generate an explosive gas (if it is really concentrated), and just generally speaking it’s not something we want to be breathing.<\/p>\n