Battery security

[West_Beachhouse]

We are doing a little research. Just wondering how to lock the two battery boxes to the travel trailer tongue. Our local RV shop basically did not have any suggestions.
Thank you.
West Beachhouse

[Bumpyroad]

BarneyS wrote:
Our trailer now sits out in the woods for about 5 months out of the year so we have added a solar panel to the top of the metal battery box we got a couple of years ago.

The box makes the batteries just about as secure as they can get and the panel will hopefully keep them in good shape.
Barney

please let us know exactly where your trailer is parked unattended for months. also directions for removing the solar panel. 🙂
thanks,
bumpy

[BarneyS]

Our trailer now sits out in the woods for about 5 months out of the year so we have added a solar panel to the top of the metal battery box we got a couple of years ago.

The box makes the batteries just about as secure as they can get and the panel will hopefully keep them in good shape.
Barney

[Ron3rd]

K Charles wrote:
Where do you have to go to get a battery stolen? After camping for several years I have never been to a place that I even though that could happen.

I've never seen it happen at a campground, but it's common at storage lots.

[RoyB]

I did get OFF-ROAD on the subject hehe... They both are sometimes mounted on the trailer tongue I reckon... The one post that asked where do you go to get your battery stolen got me started I think hehe...

I posted another long article of recent time about batteries, generators, and propane tanks security that says about the same thing hehe. Anything that can be used for making drugs these days are fair game. With us RV'ers that includes the batteries for the battery acid, propane tanks for the storage of ammonia, and generators to see what they are doing way back in the woods somewhere.

As Maxwell Smart says "Sorry about that, Chief"

Roy Ken

[wmoses]

down home wrote:
I've oft wondered why the Manufacturers don't find room for the batteries, inside the camper.

No guarantee of proper ventilation would be my guess.

[Andymon]

wmoses wrote:

West Beachhouse wrote:
We are doing a little research. Just wondering how to lock the two battery boxes to the travel trailer tongue.

The easiest solution - get two of the B & D Battery Locks.

X2!!

[down_home]

I've oft wondered why the Manufacturers don't find room for the batteries, inside the camper. I suspect there is room, in any, of them under the floor etc. A ventilated battery box behind a bay door and less temptation to steal, what isn't seen. I've seen some great craftmanship for add on tool boxes, filter systems, and so forth in Mhs so there is somebody out there that has come up with a solution to exposed batteries on trailers. The propane tanks well.... don't know what regulations would have to be addressed.

[uglybear11]

Heck.... i purchased my travel trailer earlier this year. the previous owner brought in in from a deer lease. He locked the spare in his trailer. He purchased a denver boot to lock down the trailer. the very first night, someone cut the wires and stole the battery. later someone tried to remove the two propane bottles but stopped for some reason. He placed the trailer on craigslist and i purchased it.

[PenMan]

Bumpyroad wrote:

wmoses wrote:

West Beachhouse wrote:
We are doing a little research. Just wondering how to lock the two battery boxes to the travel trailer tongue.

The easiest solution - get two of the B & D Battery Locks.

that's what I got. nice people to deal with also. the padlock I use has virtually no shaft exposed to cut. any potential thief will head for those with a fabric belt or no lock on them.
bumpy

This is what we do also. Had a battery stolen while parked in our driveway. Have not had one stolen since we bought these locks for both of our batteries.

[wmoses]

We went OFF ROAD on the subject. 😉

(Pulling RoyB's leg ...)

[Bumpyroad]

Tom_M wrote:
Interesting story and good advice, but the OP is asking about batteries. Batteries can be secured in a semi-permanent manner, but a generator needs to be easily accessible. A thief is not likely to go to these extremes to steal $200 worth of batteries, but a $2000 generator is a different story.

yep, I don't know how we got off on a generator tangent.
bumpy

[Fleetwood99]

K Charles wrote:
Where do you have to go to get a battery stolen? After camping for several years I have never been to a place that I even though that could happen.

It's not a question of where but, when.

Quick search for "lockable Battery security" may help your research.

[Tom_M1]

Interesting story and good advice, but the OP is asking about batteries. Batteries can be secured in a semi-permanent manner, but a generator needs to be easily accessible. A thief is not likely to go to these extremes to steal $200 worth of batteries, but a $2000 generator is a different story.

[RoyB]

Being a off-road camper and finding ourselves way back off the power grid as you can get here on the East side of the US (which isn't very far hehe) I never used to think twice about having a generator stolen. The new generations folks must have different values in these hard times I guess...

Just a few years ago I was camping at Elkmont Camp site in the Smoky Mtn Natl Park and was almost at the East end of site roads where it was just me and one other POPUP trailer facing each other on the loop road.

He was already there when I arrived so got to chat with them right away while I was getting our camp setup. He had just bought a new 3KW Honda Generator and had it log chained to a 6-inch or so size small tree near his POPUP trailer. He was all excited and had to show me how well his generator ran his whole trailer etc...

We got all setup and settled down for the night and had a good nights sleep. The next morning I had to do my generator run for a few hours during breakfast to re-charge my batteries I used up over night. He was doing the same across the loop road with his generator. We are not allowed to run the generators in this park after 8PM at night.

Around noon the wife and I headed out to a local town called Townsend to get some supplies for our three day stay and got back to ELKMONT after a couple of hours. It was around 2PM I think.

Found we couldn't go down our one way loop road for a tree being down across the road. Had to go all around the site and came up the wrong way on the other side to get to our camp site.

Couldn't believe what we saw. Someone had cut down the small tree in broad daylight and stole the man's 3KW Honda Generator. We were the only two trailers on this site loop road.

About that time my neighbor camper came driving up the wrong way on the loop road. He was almost in tears when he saw what had happened. There we both stood looking at the cut down tree. Lucky for me I guess my 2KW generator was in the tail gate of my truck so was not left unattended... Nothing else was stolen at either camp site. The dudes were just looking for generators I guess.

I shared my 2KW generator with my neighbor camper until we had to leave to keep his batteries re-charged... geesch... Something like this always happens to the good guys it seems... I think his insurance was going to get him another generator but that didn't help him out for this camping trip...

The Park Ranger told us they were being hit all over the camp grounds for generator thief's.

TRUE STORY around October 2010...
Roy Ken