Battery Hold Down Strap
When I first got our trailer and we decided to go with 6v batteries I went a head and purchased a Torque Lift 6v battery box....to expensive @ $300.00 but it is a nice product. The hold down set up they sent with it was grim at best. Each battery had it's own strap and was installed in a "loop" around the entire battery by going outside the box through the bottom then back into the box and over the battery. Trouble with that plan is, it is hard tighten it as the strap is constantly slipping. Also the top of the battery is real busy with the cell cap assembly, molded in "pick up" assist for the lifting strap to fit into and the terminals. 
After some thinking I came up with this: I went to the local plastic supplier in town and hoped to find some Polyethylene in various thicknesses to fabricate some "hold downs". They only had Plexi-glass, but they had it in various thicknesses.
This is the 1-1/4" thick by all the way across and all the way down to separate the batteries and take up some space. Put a hole through it at an angle to run the #2 wire through it and tie the batteries together.
This was the piece I made for each end. They were carbon copies if I remember right. You can see how it goes on the top corner of the battery and I cut a notch into it to make room for the molded in battery lift hook. You can see how the strap can go over the top of the corner piece and clear the Cell Cap Assembly.
This pic may be hard to comprehend, but it shows the 1/4" thick Plexi-Glass that is fastened with stainless screws to the piece shown in the previous pic. The piece of 1/4" is as wide as the battery and goes down the battery half way to stabilize the corner piece when you tug like mad to tighten down the straps.
The straps terminate under the battery box on a piece of 1/4" stainless round stock that I heated, pounded, formed and bolted on the bottom of the box. I took the straps to a shoe repair shop and had them sew me a loop to slip the stainless fastening rod through prior to bolting it on with stainless 1/4" bolts.
The only thing I am not completely happy with was the cost of the Plexi-Glass. The guy took it out of scrap bin and still charged me full price. I still think a commercial Polyethylene like is used in public bathroom stalls would have been ideal...........and likely cheaper. The strap has metal buckle that is plastic coated. I had hoped to find a hard plastic bucket to no avail.
But the end result is my batteries are real secure now.
After some thinking I came up with this: I went to the local plastic supplier in town and hoped to find some Polyethylene in various thicknesses to fabricate some "hold downs". They only had Plexi-glass, but they had it in various thicknesses.
This is the 1-1/4" thick by all the way across and all the way down to separate the batteries and take up some space. Put a hole through it at an angle to run the #2 wire through it and tie the batteries together.
This was the piece I made for each end. They were carbon copies if I remember right. You can see how it goes on the top corner of the battery and I cut a notch into it to make room for the molded in battery lift hook. You can see how the strap can go over the top of the corner piece and clear the Cell Cap Assembly.
This pic may be hard to comprehend, but it shows the 1/4" thick Plexi-Glass that is fastened with stainless screws to the piece shown in the previous pic. The piece of 1/4" is as wide as the battery and goes down the battery half way to stabilize the corner piece when you tug like mad to tighten down the straps.
The straps terminate under the battery box on a piece of 1/4" stainless round stock that I heated, pounded, formed and bolted on the bottom of the box. I took the straps to a shoe repair shop and had them sew me a loop to slip the stainless fastening rod through prior to bolting it on with stainless 1/4" bolts.
The only thing I am not completely happy with was the cost of the Plexi-Glass. The guy took it out of scrap bin and still charged me full price. I still think a commercial Polyethylene like is used in public bathroom stalls would have been ideal...........and likely cheaper. The strap has metal buckle that is plastic coated. I had hoped to find a hard plastic bucket to no avail.
But the end result is my batteries are real secure now.
