Battery Barn 8

Some progress.  The siding on the east side is up, as well as the trim.  Still some caulking to do.  The siding on the bottom of the north- and south-sides is in place.  The south side has a pump-access panel that took quite a bit of time to complete.  The panel consists of two layers of 3/4-inch plywood, a layer of exterior sheathing and the siding.  I didn’t account for the actual thickness of the plywood when the panel was assembled.  Like dimension lumber, the actual measurements are less than the stated measurements.  Who knew?  One day this might all make sense to me, but for now it seems ludicrous.  Anyway, I put the panel together and hoisted it into place.  Literally.  It weighs a ton.  And instead of a nice even finish flush with the surface if the surrounding wall, the panel was about an eighth of an inch too shallow.  There ought to be a law!  Oh well, nothing a bit of creative shimming (?) can’t handle!

I also completed most of the interior wiring.  The wiring for the lights is complete, and the j-boxes for the outlets are in.  I drilled the holes in the wall headers for the outlet wiring so all that is left to do is run the actual wire to them.  

The lights are kind of cool.  I found a ballast that uses 48-volt DC power, the same voltage the batteries will be wired for.  Each ballast has a low-voltage signal port that turns the ballast on and off.  I bought ten flourescent fixtures, eight for the building and two spares.  Replacing the ballasts was easy, though I don’t know what to do with all the 110-VAC ballasts!  If you are interested in these DC ballasts, you can find them at nextekpower.com.

Next week I’ll either put the ceiling in or finish the siding, depending on the weather.  We had some rain this weekend and that slowed me down just a bit.  We really need the rain though, so no complaints here!

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