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Posted by David Sherman [72.47.9.228] on Tuesday, January 18, 2011 at 20:50:20 :
Got the battery box today and thought I'd pass along the details. Inside dimensions are 10" x 14" x 9.5". It's set up for 2 small batteries in series, with a clamp and cable to connect the two and with neat external connections on the sides of the box where you just tighten down a thumbscrew onto your wire. That's the good part.
The not so good part is that the wires that come with it are too wimpy for a starter motor. I'd guess they're #6 or 8. By the time you re-wire it with welding cable, it's not worth the $23 price. First I was disappointed, having bought 2 of them, but then I decided they'd be perfect for the batteries in my solar-powered cabin and shed. In the cabin, I've never really liked the battery just sitting there on the floor with the terminals where they can get shorted and acid fumes drifting into the room and rusting things that are nearby, and in the shed I'd also like to keep the pack rats off of it. The box will be just the ticket for that, and the easy clamp-down connections will be good too. The fact that the cables aren't very heavy won't matter in that application because I only draw 10 amps or so out of them anyway.
They would also probably be good with 24 volt military genset. The sets were made to use a 4HN 24-volt battery, but the batteries aren't widely available and are insanely expensive if you can find one. Two golf cart batteries in one of these boxes should be just perfect. I'm not sure how much current the starter motor on a 3 or 5 kW genny draws at 24 volts, but it can't be a huge amount.