I've been distracted by life but I'm back on this project. I'm doing some more brainstorming now. I think I'm going with 3/4 inch galvanized steel EMT for the short conduit run outside.
- For the 'electrical box' / conduit body that will be mounted on the outside of the garage, I currently plant to use this
2-Gang Metallic Weathproof Box (or
this one). It has extra holes for expandability. They are steel, so same material as EMT. Hopefully waterproof threaded adaptors for attaching the EMT to these are easy to come by. For simplicity I might just get two of these boxes, for each side of the wall, even though the weatherproof is unnecessary for the inside.
- With new ideas on where to put the battery inside, the conduit box will probably be significantly lower than I placed it in my sketch photo, perhaps half the height. I'm still a little hesitant with punching external holes, but it seems like placement height wise isn't a super big deal. I will cut a very small portion of EMT for the length through the wall and connect it to the boxes on each side.
- Outside, the EMT may go straight on the ground unburied, though I might raise it slightly with some sort of mount so it hopefully lasts a little longer. I'll use watertight compression fittings for the connections.
- With the cost of solar panels dropping so much, I might also get a couple 200 Watt bifacial panels pretty soon. I'm curious how well bifacials will do with my setup where there will be lots of ambient light behind the panels.
I'm kind of thinking out loud here but if anyone has any more thoughts, I appreciate any more input. I'll definitely be doing more cautious research, and taking trips to the hardware store to nail down exactly what I will be using. It's a very small setup, but I'd like to do it (relatively) right so it's expandable later.