It also has a pin to retain the Anderson Powerpole connectors securely inside the mount.Ĭonvert the Toolbox into a Battery Box I used a silver marker to mark the two screw holes and the hole for the Anderson panel mount in the side of the battery box. The mount snaps into a rectangular hole in a panel. This piece was a key player in making the battery box really useful. I see them at every major hamfest, wherever Anderson Powerpoles are sold. Here is an Anderson Powerpole connector panel mount shell. The breakers I used are 46515 Waytek 15A breakers which cost $2.70 as of this writing. Were I to build these again, I would put a breaker on each leg of the bus internally, but I did not do so this time. To help protect against fires from external short circuits, I placed a circuit breaker electrically between the battery and the load (or source). That energy, when discharged rapidly, represents a great deal of heat and can start a fire in mere seconds. But there is a generous amount of electrical energy stored within the battery and that can be dangerous. Since modern AGM batteries do not normally leak acid, they may seem safe, perhaps even mundane. It has a nice square inside with plenty of room all the way to the corners. As of this writing these cost $6.97 at Home Depot.Ĭertainly the price was attractive for the budget minded radio amateur like myself, but a really nice bonus was the extra storage in the top. It is a WorkForce brand 16 inch toolbox part number 17182281. I went to some home improvement stores and I chose one that fits the bill very well. The first thing needed was a container to house and transport the batteries. By themselves they do not represent a lot of working hours, but when I put them in parallel the capacity really adds up. They were not new, but still had a good amount of capacity left in them. Gather the Parts My battery boxes started with a group of common variety 12V 7.5Ah batteries that were decommissioned from a local data center. Below is a step by step explanation of how I created my Joulery Boxes.
![diy battery box diy battery box](https://ae01.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1ZCvMKbSYBuNjSspfq6AZCpXaF/100pcs-lots-Black-Plastic-DIY-Battery-Box-battery-Holder-For-2slots-battery-storage-box-With-Wire.jpg)
What I find works better is to pack as much energy into a portable, carryable box and have a few of them I can swap out or chain together. Big batteries are heavy to lift and transport, and all the energy is located in one physical place. The big Group 27 battery has plenty of capacity to run several devices for long periods of time, but with a couple major drawbacks.
![diy battery box diy battery box](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0092/5096/3518/products/LL17013_Cloud-Silhouette-Wall-Light-Childrens-Light-Close_P1_2000x2000.jpg)
#Diy battery box portable#
In this case, this battery box stores something else precious: Joules of portable energy we can take with use in the field! Before building the battery box, I used a deep cycle Group 27 battery for this purpose. I coined the term, “Joulery Box” as a play on the phrase jewelry box. It can even be charged in one Powerpole port while it is powering a load connected to the other port. The batteries are charged and used through the Anderson Powerpole ports on the side of the battery box. This inexpensive and useful DIY battery box can be built in a couple of hours or less once the parts are gathered. This battery box is a portable power source to use for camping, amateur radio field operations, ARES deployments, emergency backup power, and hundreds of other situations where DC power is needed and grid or shore power is not available.