I know I can't get them in the UK yet, but, if I were to get 2 powerwalls that would be 200kg hanging on the wall. Never fitted anything anywhere near that heavy on a domestic wall. Are you all ok with that weight on your wall? Anyone else got heavier or equally heavy things hanging off your wall?
I have a marble sculpture attached to my dining room wall, as long as the load is spread amongst multiple fixings it's fine. It's been there for 5+ or more years.
Sure, we have a number of things that heavy. The heaviest is probably our craft room, wall mounted cabinets & shelves. When loaded, they weigh well over that. You want to make sure they are mounted properly. A single nail pounded into only drywall isn't going to do it
I was just thinking about my kitchen cabinets loaded up with "stuff". 100 kg won't be a problem, as long as it's lag bolted into studs (not just into drywall). I haven't seen mounting specifics, but it's 34 inches wide. With US wall built with 2x4 studs 16" on center, the mounting bracket will attach to 2 or 3 studs, which will transfer the load vertically into the sill plate. Not a problem. Multiple units mounted next to each other will be attached to separate studs, and won't impact each other.
An easy solution would be to mount 3/4" plywood to the studs, screws every 12". Then mount the PWs to that. You should be fine. If you are still concerned, you could mount the plywood larger than the PWs, say to one extra stud on either side, which will give you that much more stability. Living in CA, I expect I will need something more robust since the ground likes to wiggle out here!
Thanks for the feedback. May settle for the exterior wall as its brick, although it would be further form the fuse box. I take it they never showed mounting brackets at the event. Probably use resin or mechanical anchors over standard screws and rawlplugs, if the holes in the brackets with the powerwall are big enough.
Yes. I would say use oversized sinkers that you drill into the brick. Being on the outside of the house, I would default toward the conservative to ensure a perfect install.
I plan to install it into the brick wall outside. I would not be at all comfortable with a 100 kg on a drywall.
For sure you would not hang it on the sheetrock with Molly anchors, but would in fact secure it to the underlying studs with lag bolts. All of the load is on the studs, not the drywall.
I really like the jist of your idea. Strictly speaking, screws are usually not rated for as much sheer as nails; some screws are specified for more sheer than others, so check the specs (in construction class, the saying is that "screws are not sheer rated", which strictly speaking is often false). This might be a good reason to either use nails (which are usually quite a bit cheaper) or get better spec screws. If you look for the more pricey screws, you can find sheer rated ones in even big box stores like Home Depot, Lowes, and you can even find some that are exterior rated too (yes, read the specs, often posted on the back of the box they come in for the more expensive ones, or sometimes requiring you to search for and download a manufacturer PDF and compare product ID's (ugh)). They usually have a different head than Phillips, so be sure to get an extra tip for that screw type. Lag screws, as another poster mentioned, would do it pretty well, but don't forget to predrill so you don't ruin your studs; lag screws are almost overkill, but better than regular screws to be sure (and are the most expensive option with the most installation trouble). I really like your idea of putting up that 3/4" plywood: it would make the whole room a bit less prone to falling over in an earthquake. I suppose a zillion non-sheer rated screws would work, but just to be on the safe side, I recommend you get the sheer rating of the screws and calculate it with plenty of headroom. Done right, the screws end up being a substantial portion of the plywood cost. That's why some would use nails, most angled a bit down to hold the plywood up, and quite a few at other angles to keep it from wandering off the wall (be sure to aim toward the meat of the stud for the ones nailed in sideways, i.e., plot the trajectory, and realize you would start the puncture quite a distance from the stud line). Having said all that, it wouldn't be a horrible idea to synchronize the mounting brackets for the Powerwalls with the studs too, for added strength, even with the plywood. BTW sheer is cross-force; e.g., imagine a screw horizontally screwed into a stud; the sheer force would be vertical. If the screw were vertical, the sheer would be horizontal. This brings up an interesting topic of friction: the screw holds the item tight against another item, and the friction holds the items, allowing some sheer strength, but if the items ever became apart (loose with respect to each other) (something that probably happens exactly when you most need sheer strength), that benefit is lost. So that's why people like me don't like to depend on this friction principle. Everything I said presuposes you actually know exactly where the studs are. Maybe under the plywood area you could knife out a couple strips of drywall so you can find the studs and map them out (remember they may not all be straight or plumb (vertical)); then put the strips back with a few drywall nails/screws and a little drywall filler compound to keep the fire rating good. Or look for the existing nails/screws to estimate for yourself (magnets sometimes work). Or use a stud finder.
As an engineer, I'm sure this is not mounted directly onto the drywall, and like many other heavy items (i.e. Tvs, Pictures, etc..) it would have to be stud mounted. Even on the stud, a 200lb load on a minimum of two studs is nothing when it's all in shear. You just need to make sure your bolts are big enough that it wouldn't rip off or pull out.