Control enclosure size

[Muzzer]

It's tempting to try to use the smallest enclosure you can, to make for a neat system. But when it comes to connecting up all the external connections, life gets very difficult if you haven't got easy access to the terminals etc. Lots of effing and blinding. Better to make it bigger than smaller.

I constructed each of my controllers on a baseplate on the bench, as wired up as I could manage, then fitted them into their cabinets and connected them up to the external cables. I used those rivnut threaded inserts (widely available) for fastening down the big stuff and drilled and tapped a couple of late entries(!) after the event for the ones i'd not thought of.

Don't forget ventilation holes (swarf proof!) and fan(s). I use a central heating thermostat to control the fans, to turn them on only when needed.

I used screened cables for all the external wiring and grounded the braided shields to a common point (the cabinets have copper plated studs for electrical safety grounding) to avoid noise issues. I have my inverters inside their cabinets and haven't had any noise issues.