Harbor Freight Battery Case!

I went to the local Harbor Freight store to buy some parts for the A123 battery pack build and happened upon a tool case that should work to hold my finished 45V 20Ah A123 pack! It's called, "Store House Aluminum Case" and the dimensions are 11-1/2" x 7-1/2" x 4-1/2".  The part number is 36870 and it costs $15.99.

http://www.harborfreight.com/11-1-2-half-inch-x-7-1-2-half-inch-x-4-1-2-half-inch-aluminum-case-36870.html

Here are some photos. As you will see, the batteries fit into the case just about perfectly. There's room for the wiring and perhaps even a couple of Cell-Log 8M battery monitors.

The way it came from the store.

The top with the nice handle and two latches.

The bottom of the case includes steel reinforcements to hold the lid open. 

The battery sits very comfortably inside the foam lined case. There's a bit of room so some padding will need to be added, however, the total stacked size of all 13 or 14 cells should fit in there quite nicely!

As you can see, there's lots of room for the tabs and any connection methods that I can think of. I can easily punch some holes in the sides for wiring and I'm thinking of putting a window in so that I can view the two Cell-Log 8M monitors that I plan on installing in with the battery.

More later,
Ambrose