Battery Box Venting Question

beemerphile1 wrote:
The vented box I purchased had two holes. One in the bottom and one in the top. Air cannot exhaust if air cannot get in.

X2

It would be a real advantage if you could have your batteries in the heated living space so they don't lose so much capacity in cold weather. AGMs are used for this (with some risk some people are willing to take)

I would like to have my Wet batts inside where it is warm, but then would need a properly vented box in a convenient location. Depends on the RV floor-plan what you could do.

BFL13 wrote:
You are supposed to have vented boxes but I was too lazy and hoped the cargo bay was vented enough. So I have batteries up front not even in boxes. I keep waiting for the fumes to destroy my inverters parked nearby, but after five years the inverters still work.

As the man said after falling off a 20 storey building, when passing the 10th floor, "So far so good."

Its not the "fall" that kills..

It IS the sudden STOP at the end that KILLS :E :B

My battery "box" is a cargo bay which I lined with FRP (fiberglass reinforced paneling) top bottom and all sides which you can find at Home Depot or Lowes. Ran a bead of caulk around the seams to seal the compartment from the living space.

The outside door is a re-purposed refrigerator vent/access door which has louvers (This WAS the door for the now gone RV fridge which was replaced with a residential fridge).

Compartment is big enough for 4 6volt GC batts but I am only carrying 2. Batteries sit in a heavy duty Rubbermaid plastic tote.

Those "marine" type boxes do look like the cats meow for inside batteries, looks nice and should function well..

DIY wooden box lined with FRP. The exhaust is a 3/4" poly tube connected to a stainless through-hole marine-type fitting (top left). I drilled a series of small holes for the inlet:





I found that the amount of hydrogen produced by charging two 6V GC2's is not that much, you don't need a large opening to vent it.

bkirkpatrick wrote:

BFL13 wrote:
You are supposed to have vented boxes but I was too lazy and hoped the cargo bay was vented enough. So I have batteries up front not even in boxes. I keep waiting for the fumes to destroy my inverters parked nearby, but after five years the inverters still work.

As the man said after falling off a 20 storey building, when passing the 10th floor, "So far so good."

That is how I was rolling. But I am adding two more so I figured a box was about time. Just trying to figure out where I get the battery box hose fitting/flange. I can get the round vent for the RV all day long. Just need the box flange.

You must be creative. :)
Floor flange
adapter
Get all this from a HDWR store.
Flex tubing
Use 2 part epoxy to seal floor flange to your battery box.

BFL13 wrote:
You are supposed to have vented boxes but I was too lazy and hoped the cargo bay was vented enough. So I have batteries up front not even in boxes. I keep waiting for the fumes to destroy my inverters parked nearby, but after five years the inverters still work.

As the man said after falling off a 20 storey building, when passing the 10th floor, "So far so good."

That is how I was rolling. But I am adding two more so I figured a box was about time. Just trying to figure out where I get the battery box hose fitting/flange. I can get the round vent for the RV all day long. Just need the box flange.

You are supposed to have vented boxes but I was too lazy and hoped the cargo bay was vented enough. So I have batteries up front not even in boxes. I keep waiting for the fumes to destroy my inverters parked nearby, but after five years the inverters still work.

As the man said after falling off a 20 storey building, when passing the 10th floor, "So far so good."

The vented box I purchased had two holes. One in the bottom and one in the top. Air cannot exhaust if air cannot get in.

My fifth wheel has a battery VENT to the upper right hand side of the front access door. I have two vented battery boxes sharing this one vent hole that looks similar to this google images photo. I got my venting hardware and tubing from LOWES...


My two battery boxes sits down in the recessed area just behind the front access door. I also drilled some fluid drain holes to drain out thru the floor of the storage compartment in case my converter/charger boils out some battery fluids from over charging... Looks similar to this google image...


If I was going to mount four batteries in this area I would go with something like this install I have seen on google images. You can see the vent tube in the upper right hand area of this photo. The top shown below seals off the wooden box used in this google images to house the four GC2 batteries sitting end to end...





Roy Ken

My Bats. are inside so I vent them to the outside. I had to modify one of my boxes.">clicky