Extra house battery in Pleasure Way Excel

I copied this from a prior post by Lynne Z. on this topic:

"I had the dealer install a second auxiliary house battery on my 2003 Excel when it was purchased. It's located under the cab between the fresh water tank and spare tire...exactly in the center (side-to-side)...it's within a plastic case and suspended within a cage-like container."

I think someone located the second battery in the outside storage compartment (passenger side), therefore very near the first battery and running the short cables though the compartment wall. There must have been also some brackets to secure the battery and some ventholes to the outside. That's all I can remember.
Alain

I had two batteries (Interstate deep cell) in my 2003 Pleasure-way. They fit sideways on the tray. Wondering if he had a short tray, if he could have changed it out for one with the capacity for two batts?

I thought I read somewhere that having an AGM battery inside the rig was okay because it doesn't off gas?

The re-styled later model Excel's have much smaller outside compartments than the older style. Under the Chassis as Barb had installed would be a better choice.

Nick

I have a 2005 PW Excel TD which is different from your TS. I installed 2 Lifeline AGM batteries and replaced the worthless Interstate battery. One battery went in the original battery tray which replaced the Interstate and the other went onto a battery tray under the passenger side bed. My PW has twin beds and yours has a couch.

Ford has a battery mounting setup which allows you to put a battery between the water tank and the spare tire. This is an option from Ford. I would've done this except that I put a sewer hose holder right in that very spot so I had no room for a battery.

Thanks to all for these ideas. I'll start with Ford first -- they're much closer than the dealer -- and report any progress as I go.

Do you really need a second battery? I disagree with ernie1's comment that the Interstate battery is worthless. We camped on it overnight many times. Have you experienced problems with the battery going flat?

I had a one battery B and now a two battery B. You don't need the second battery but it does give you a great sense of comfort when dry camping and you are not always running your battery down to its limit.

When I received my brand new PleasureWay and took it out on a few trips, the propane leak detector kept going off in the middle of the night and would almost cause me to have a heart attack. Replaced the propane leak detector with a new one and the same problem persisted no matter what I had for dinner and we don't have a dog. Found out the "new" Interstate battery for the coach part of the rv was bad and causing the propane detector to go off when the voltage of the battery went low and, of course, this was in the middle of the night! Replaced that "new" battery and haven't had a problem since. So yes, that Interstate battery was "worthless" to me. Yes, I know, the battery might have been mishandled prior to delivery of the rv to me. But, to me, it was worthless.

The original question by the op was where to put the second battery so I'd guess that it was felt that a second battery was needed. I'd say it all depends on one needs. Myself, I need two batteries because of the way I use my rv.

If you buy a B that has sat for any length of time, especially on a dealer lot, where it might have been intermittently demonstrated you can almost bet the battery got abused. I know my first B battery did. Only I did not understand it at the time even though the dealer had to jump start charge the auxiliary battery to demonstrate it.