Where This Guide Comes From
Everything below is built from one source video — Herb-O-Matic's Build a 7X Powerwall for Cheap! | 96kWh DIY Solar Step-by-Step SUNGOLD Power (EP 1), watched more than 201,000 times with nearly 8,000 likes. It is the first episode of a multi-part build: ripping out a 3kW lead-acid system, installing six 16kWh indoor/outdoor LiFePO4 batteries and two 10kW inverters in parallel, and walking through every connector, wire size and mounting detail so you can do the same. Watch the full episode here:
The short version: this home is going from a 3kW lead-acid setup to 20kW of inverter power and 96kWh of lithium storage — roughly seven times the previous system. Six 16kWh indoor/outdoor SUNGOLD Power batteries line the wall of a dedicated solar room, two 10kW inverters run in parallel, and the whole install is documented down to the drill sizes and torque sequence. This episode covers unboxing, moving 300-pound batteries, wall mounting, battery addressing, and the splitter/combiner boxes that make two inverters work as one. It is a masterclass in the unglamorous details that decide whether a big DIY powerwall goes smoothly or becomes a headache.
The Plan: 20kW of Inverter, 96kWh of Storage
The old system was a 3kW lead-acid bank that the family had been limping along on; they spent over a week on a portable power station while the new room was prepared. The new build is six 16kWh batteries for 96kWh total storage, plus a pair of 10kW inverters giving 20kW of continuous inverter power. One battery and one inverter were sent by SUNGOLD Power for the build; the creator funded the other five batteries and the second inverter himself, with help from patrons. The goal is a system big enough to stop thinking about power — running the house, the shop and everything on it, with solar feeding the bank and a generator as the backup layer.
What Ships in the Box
The unboxing section is worth its own summary because kits vary so much. Each battery ships with wall-mount brackets (the builder uses the floor-stand style brackets screwed to the side of the pack and anchored to the wall), communication cables for battery-to-battery and battery-to-inverter links, a USB programming cable, a ground wire, battery cables, a mounting template and the manuals. The inverter ships with the unit, mounting hardware, a parallel cable for linking two inverters, a communication dongle for phone monitoring, and the user manual. The creator's advice on the unboxing: open these big crates from the bottom — pry out the tabs with a screwdriver and hammer, pull them straight, and the whole panel comes off cleanly.
Moving and Unboxing 300-Pound Batteries
Each 16kWh battery weighs around 300 pounds — manageable, but not a one-person job. The video shows the practical technique: use scrap 2x4s as ramps, step the crate up or down with a little staircase of lumber, and walk the battery off its pallet with a helper. The creator stacks 2x4s into temporary stairs for the sunken living room and slides each battery down the ramps into the solar room, then lines them up against the wall. The lesson is planning ahead: measure doorways, build your ramps before you start, and never dead-lift a 300-pound pack over your body. Once lined up, the batteries get anchored to the wall before any wiring happens.
Wall Mounting the Inverters and Batteries
Mounting is where the video's detail pays off. For the inverter: the top of the unit sits at 15.5 inches from the display line, the keyhole slots are one inch above that, so the mounting holes land at 16.5 inches; the unit is 17.5 inches wide with bolt holes nine inches apart and 4.25 inches from the sides. A laser level lays the reference line, a spirit level extends it so both inverters hang level with each other, and 5/16-inch lag bolts (1.5 inches long) driven with a half-inch socket hold them up — leave them slightly loose until the keyholes drop onto the heads, then tighten. Inverters are spaced eight inches apart so the intake screens can be removed and cleaned. The batteries anchor the same way: brackets on the pack, 5/16-inch lag bolts with washers, a 3/16-inch pilot bit, and an extension for the tight spots between units.
Setting Battery Addresses: DIP Switches and the Master Unit
Parallel batteries need addresses, and this system does it with DIP switches behind weather-tight doors on each pack, labeled ADS for address. The master battery — the one that talks to the inverter — leaves the factory with all switches off. The first slave battery gets switch one on, the second gets switch two on, and so on down the line. The creator demos the little chart on the battery door so you can read the address at a glance. Power-on order matters: switch on all the numbered batteries first, then the master on the left, which plugs into the inverter's comms port. One viewer points out the switches are effectively binary numbering — correct, and worth knowing if you ever add a battery later.
Splitter and Combiner Boxes: Wiring Two Inverters in Parallel
Two inverters in parallel add real wiring work, and the video shows the exact boxes used: two 100A six-breaker panels, one a combiner and one a splitter. The combiner takes the 120/240V output of both inverters and merges them before feeding the service panel — the outputs land on two 50A backfeed breakers and leave through a 100A breaker. The splitter does the reverse for the generator input: one 30A backfeed breaker feeding two 30A breakers, one to each inverter. There is also a dedicated DC box for the battery-bank breakers and a solar box for the roof feed. A surface-mount breaker box with a cover works fine, the creator notes, and he keeps the splitter/combiner pairs labeled so the wiring stays obvious.
Anchoring, Conduit and the Details That Matter
The episode is packed with the small details that separate a safe install from a sketchy one. The battery ground wire gets connected. Cable runs use liquid-tight conduit with fittings bottomed out, and a PVC cutter with a reamer bevelled the sharp edges — the creator's own jigsaw struggle with a knockout hole is the honest counter-example of what happens when you skip the right tool. The DC junction boxes are weather-tight and the generator hookup runs through an outdoor box with a conduit stub, kept well above nearby propane tanks, with a plan to move the plug to waist height later. And the batteries are bolted to plywood behind the drywall — the anchor is into structure, not into the panel. Those are the details that keep a 96kWh bank boring, which is exactly what you want.
What Comes Next: Generator Hookup and Future Upgrades
This is episode one of a longer build, so the roadmap matters. The splitter box for the generator is in place, the solar breakers are ready for the roof array, and the family plans to go all-electric as more panels arrive — the propane tanks are leaving. The creator also talks about building a door to make the solar room childproof and quieter, and moving one inverter to another wall once the water heater goes, for even spacing. The takeaway for anyone planning their own build: get the structure, mounting, addressing and conduit right in the first episode, and everything after — solar input, generator backup, load changes — becomes plug-and-play.
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What Viewers Are Asking (Top Comments on the Video)
These are the most useful of the video's top comments, with our practical answers. Where the creator replied, we quote the creator's own words; where there was no reply, the answer is ours. Thanks-only comments were left out; these are the ones with real information.
Source video: Herb-O-Matic — "Build a 7X Powerwall for Cheap! | 96kWh DIY Solar Step-by-Step SUNGOLD Power (EP 1)" (youtube.com/watch?v=-9IMa7CwCiU). Comment excerpts are quoted verbatim from the video's comments; where the creator replied, the creator's own words are quoted. All other answers are Dajiu Energy's own. Figures are transcribed from the video and are representative, not guarantees.