I have installed a custom heavy duty hitch rack on the back of my 33 foot travel trailer. I have a battery box mounted there with six 6 volt batteries, charge controller, and inverter. Probably weighs 400 pounds. I didn't think it through when doing this and now I'm concerned that may cause sway or worse, be too much weight for the bumper to handle. It's a heavy duty bumper, and seems to handle it fine atm, but that's sitting in my driveway, not bouncing down the road. The rack has been welded to the bumper, but not the frame. Is this going to cause issues? The only other place I could put the battery bank is in the pass through storage under the bedroom, and I'm hesitant to do that due to venting. I'd hate to wake up dead!As always, I'm grateful for any advice.

I see a few risks. Lighter tongue weight could cause more sway. 400 pounds on the bumper that may not support it. And all the money where it can be easily damaged by someone rear ending the trailer or backing into something.

Here's a pic. Not very comprehensive, but the best I could do.

Many decades ago I made the mistake of putting 300 lbs of heavy parts I'd bought in the back of my Airstream.:S At 45 mph it tried to take me to the scene of the accident. This was in the days when you had to move the handle to put the trailer brakes on which I did while still accelerating. Once the swaying stopped I'll was able to slow down... stop and move half of the items to the front. Once was enough and to this day when in doubt about having enough tongue weight on an equipment trailer I'll give the steering wheel a little wiggle at 45 mph with my hand on the manual brake control to see if it's going to get interesting.AGM batteries do not need venting and putting them close to the axles will be cheaper than a new trailer and TV. You can still use your rack for bulky items.

You could move the batteries to the storage area and make sure it has proper venting. Having the inverter and charge controller in a sealed box with batteries isn't the best, either. FWIW, I have five batteries inside my trailer but have installed venting so I don't have any worries. I did this expressly to locate them near the axles so that tongue weight isn't radically affected.

For the structural strength, I'd take it by a welding fabrication shop and have them look at it. The load may be secure to the bumper, but is the bumper attached to the frame well enough to handle the load?For the tongue weight you'll just have to judge that yourself if you can't find a scale. Hook it up to the TV on level ground, does it look like the rear bumper of the TV is the same or higher than when previously hooked up?If it doesn't look like the rear bumper of the TV is raised a lot, take it out for a drive and see what happens slowly increasing the speed. You might have someone else follow behind in another vehicle to watch for weird movement or sway that you don't see.Bill

Rear hitch rack battery bank | Good Sam Community

JRRNeiklot
Explorer
Feb 22, 2016
I just went over the trailer, looking for options. About the only other place is under the bed. This is essentially the same as in the pass through storage, but actually inside the trailer and I don't like the idea of sleeping on batteries no matter how well ventilated. Another option is putting the batteries in the storage area under the dinette, but that is on the slide out. I'm thinking that's too much weight to put on the slide motor.
hohenwald48
Explorer
Feb 22, 2016
Not that it's relevant to your original question but why do you need such a large battery bank?

If you got the tongue weight from the brochure I wouldn't be surprised if it was really more like 750-800 pounds. Usually the brochure doesn't include propane, propane tanks or the battery. Slap another 400 pound battery bank on top of that and you're around 1200 pounds. Depending on what you're towing with that could be a lot of tongue weight.
JRRNeiklot
Explorer
Feb 22, 2016
hohenwald48 wrote:
Not that it's relevant to your original question but why do you need such a large battery bank?

Going to be doing a lot of traveling when I finish this project and I will be boondocking most of the time. I was originally going to go with 4 batteries, but I got a good deal on 6 and had to take 6 to get that price.
marquette
Explorer
Feb 22, 2016
I have a 22 ft Wildwood X-Lite backpack edition. The backpack means that Forest River put a fold down cargo carrier on the back. I can carry minimal weight back there with out causing sway. The sticker says 250lb capacity. It may hold 250lbs but 150lbs causes the trailer to handle differently. Storing heavier stuff under the front bed, filling front water tank, emptying rear holding tank, ect. will help but not worth the hassle. Maybe a heavier or longer trailer would handle the rear weight better but I think I would start with 2 batteries and build up from there checking for sway after each 2 batteries.
hohenwald48
Explorer
Feb 23, 2016
JRRNeiklot wrote:
hohenwald48 wrote:
Not that it's relevant to your original question but why do you need such a large battery bank?

Going to be doing a lot of traveling when I finish this project and I will be boondocking most of the time. I was originally going to go with 4 batteries, but I got a good deal on 6 and had to take 6 to get that price.

I understand. A lot of folks who boondock for long periods of time get by with only 2 T-105 type batteries and use a small quiet generator like a Honda EU1000 or EU2000 to recharge the batteries when necessary. I can see how that would really help reduce the weights involved. I always try to use only 12VDC powered items to avoid the inefficiencies of an inverter.

If you haven't found it yet, there's some good boondocking info at the link below. Good luck with your project.

http://www.rv.net/forum/index.cfm/fuseaction/listings/forum/35.cfm

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