12V Solar Pelican Case Power Pack / Generator

[lysol]

I also want to note that my battery tender will float the voltage at around 13.3 volts. Odyssey batteries like to float at around 13.6ish volts, but for what I'm wanting to get out of this, it will be fine. There aren't that many battery tenders out there that will float that high so I'm stuck with what I can get.

 

[lysol]

Got to work on the case some more this afternoon. I drilled out the holes for the power input sockets I bought a week ago. The 2-pin solar input socket on the right could have been drilled out about "1mm" lower, but it still turned out great. I am placing an order for (16) 1/2"-long 4-40 phillips screws for the (4) sockets. The nut plates that I bought specifically for the back of the sockets take a 4-40 thread. (I've had great service with PEI-Genesis). They are prompt with returning my e-mails about various questions. Also great to talk on the phone with.

So here is what I've been working on for the past hour or so.

Marked and drilled the bigger socket first:

Here's a quick pic of where I decided to mount my 30A automotive relay. I scratched my head for a while until this dawned on me. I already had bolts in the case so I just drilled out the relay hole a little bigger and slipped another nut on top of it:

The front of the sockets:

The back of the sockets:

Here's the caps I also got:

After I drilled both holes, I slipped them in to see how they look:

Overall, I'm impressed with the quality of the Amphenol connectors. I can't wait to get them mounted permanently. I'm going to have to solder the wires on them first though so I don't have to try and do it from inside the case. I don't want burnt solder all over the inside... lol. This will be the first time I've soldered buckets. I watched a lot of videos on how to do it so hopefully I can make it look good. Either way, I'll have heat shrink slipped over the soldered buckets so no one will ever know how bad I did... lol.

 

[lysol]

A word of advice from someone that has modified MANY Pelican/ Hard Cases over the years for military, gov't, contractor, and personal use. If you have some quality HOT MELT/ Glue Sticks. They work wonders with adhering the different components to the boxes and with sealing up the connections as you make holes in the cases. Similar to other adhesives, Clean and use an abrasive to score the area.

I also use the Hot Melt to Re Seal after the connections are removed if the box is being re purposed. To each their own. This is just what has worked for us over the years.

Just had weird experiences with the various adhesives not holding up over the years. With the heating and cooling, then moving of them around, tosses and abused. Had many components 'fall' off inside the boxes. With the Hot Melt, it moves and wears just as the cases do, Since we use a similar plastic/ glue stick/ hot adhesive. http://www.hotmelt.com/

Thanks for the advice!!! Man, there is next to no info out there on pelican case modifications. I spent a lot of hours researching different types of glues and epoxies that would work on the polypropylene plastic that these Pelican cases are made of. The one that stood out was Marine Goop. I did mess up in that I forgot to prepare the surface on the lid before I mounted my battery tender, but it it holding very strong. If it falls off, I can always clean it up and redo it but right now it is "on" there.

 

[lysol]

There are also solder/ torch blankets sold at you local hardware store for heat protection when soldering and braising. I to solder outside of the case. Thinking of which, I need a new gun. Mine was ran over by a vehicle I was working on a few weeks ago. Thanks for jogging the memory.

Looks great by the way. Where did you source your connectors?

I went through PEI Genesis for my connectors. I just ordered my panel screws from them this past weekend. I'll be ordering (2) more sockets for my power out sockets from them soon along with all the plugs. The plugs are about $30 a pop, so they will be last. I've never built a cable before so that will be fun in itself.

 

[lysol]

Just re-mounted my switch. I had bought some 2-part JB-Weld to secure the aluminum L-bracket to the aluminum battery box, but the 3M molding tape is holding very strong. I can't even budge the bracket. I put the switch lower than the surface of the battery box so as to keep it out of the way from accidentally bumping the switch. I also secured the lateral fuse box with the 3M molding tape as well. I centered the toggle switch between the front 2 bolts so I can still get to them with a socket wrench with an extension.

Scuffed up the side that will be "secured" to the battery box in preparation of using the JB-Weld, but the 3M molding tape worked excellent:

Keeping the battery topped off:

Here is a sneak-peak of the Plasma-Glow switch I will be mounting outside of the case. This will be wired in series with the On/Off toggle switch inside the case. Think of the toggle switch as the "Arm" switch and this one as the On/Off switch. If either switch is "Off", the case will remain shutdown:

 

[lysol]

I think I'm going to change my "Arm" toggle switch wiring up a little and wire it into the neg(-) side of the Plasma-Glow switch. I would feel better if it wasn't on the "hot" side. It only has to disrupt either the (+) or (-) so it really doesn't matter anyway.

 

[lysol]

Theres progress. Did you "blow test" that 12v socket? To test the water resistance?

I did. I couldn't get a hint of air through... lol.

 

[lysol]

My screws just showed up today. I'm heading up the the wife's parents this weekend so I'm taking all of my stuff up there to work on it. I would like to get the sockets wired and mounted, switch mounted and wired, and pretty much everything done except the "output" connectors. I should be able to flip a switch and turn on the unit. After the new year, I'm going to work on building some cables and get the "output" sockets installed. Then I'll finally be able to USE this thing!!!

Here is one of the nut-plates I'm using. I can't remember the brand, but I just purchased them from PEI-Genesis. I just found out why these little screws are a little pricey... They have a freakin red rubber O-Ring in the screw-head!!! That's perfect!!!

Here is how they work:

Where the case stands right now:

 

[lysol]

Whenever I put those in, I like to use an O ring or sealant around the plug too. Aren't those screws great?

Got a close up of that fuse block also?

I'll have to take one. It's just a simple 4-slot lateral fuse block. Instead of a "distribution" style block, it is pretty much just a central location for "In-line" fuses. Requires a little more wiring, but I think it will look cleaner than having (4) separate inline fuses sitting around the inside of the case.

 

[lysol]

Just an FYI, I will not be replacing this battery with another Odyssey PC680. I will be moving to a true deep-cycle AGM battery in almost identical size. It will give me a few more Ah as well as allow me to discharge it deeper than I can with the Odyssey PC680.

The next battery will be a Power-Sonic PDC-12200. At about 20Ah, I should be able to get about 10Ah of useable power and more if I had too without damaging the battery too much. I can also pump up to 6.4A into this which would be about a 120W 12V solar panel. The dimensions of the Odyssey PC680 (7.15 x 3.00 x 6.65) and the PowerSonic 12200 (7.15 x 3.01 x 6.73) are very similar. The only thing that I need to check is if the small lip of my battery box that "hooks" onto the top of the PC680 fits the top of the 12200.

The datasheet is below:

http://www.power-sonic.com/images/powersonic/sla_batteries/PDC-12200_12_Oct_2.pdf

 

[Dawgboy]

Good choice of battery. I have 8 of them.


Brought to you by Cyberdyne Systems

 

[lysol]

Good choice of battery. I have 8 of them.


Brought to you by Cyberdyne Systems

Do you use battery tenders on them?

 

[Dawgboy]

Yes, battery tender, and 220 watts of Solar


Brought to you by Cyberdyne Systems

 

[lysol]

Yes, battery tender, and 220 watts of Solar


Brought to you by Cyberdyne Systems

Very Nice!!

I'm betting I could run an ARB fridge off the Power-Sonic battery. It would be close and almost completely drain it every night, but if the fridge drew on average 1Ah, it could probably power the fridge overnight and then the solar would kick in around the morning. I would have to have at least a 100 watt panel ready though to get the battery charged back up quick. I can't really see a situation where I would want to power the fridge from this, but it's cool to have the option.

Right now, everything is packed up in the wife's Jeep for our trip this weekend. Her father-in-law has a sick garage so I'm going to take advantage of it tomorrow and try to get as much of the case completed. I do need to pick up some 22AWG wire in red & black along the way though so I can wire up the switch's.

 

[lysol]

Got the case all wired up!!!! I'll get pics up when I get some time. I did mess up on something small though... lol. Because I wired up the toggle switch in series with the negative wire coming from the circular push-button switch, all it does is turn off the blue LED ring in the push-button switch. If I turn off the toggle switch, the system still stays on. I'll have to fix that when I get my hands on some 22AWG wire. Till then, it works great.

I will need to find a way to identify what is inside the case now though because to the untrained eye, this sort of looks like a bomb with all the wires and what-not. Maybe after I dress up the wires and stuff, will it look better.