Battery box question

I wouldn't trust that area to hold the batteries without proper reinforcement from some 1-1/4" angle iron. Then you also need to make sure you have proper venting for the hydrogen that will be produced while charging. You should have an air intake at the bottom of the box on one side and a outlet at the top of the box on the other side the continues to rise to properly vent the gases. If you use natural convection there is no need to have an active ventilation system.

The venting I have covered with the existing battery box vent and plywood ends in the new box to seal it from the main compartment. What can I attach the angle iron to that is stronger than the existing panel.

Thank you for your help.

My batteries sit in recessed boxes between the landing gear accessed by front compartment door.

Venting is done via 2 vents on front wall and hoses to boxes.

Something very similar to this....except floor is cutout so boxes sit down, drain holes in bottom of boxes and I have 4 batteries

It looks like the sheet metal "floor" is fastened to the bottom of the current angle iron. It has very little structural strength as is. It will tear with constant bouncing on it. I think a piece of 3/4 ply on top would suffice to distribute the weight and taking the pressure off the welds.. Once you have the plywood in there, you can devise a tie down system as you can anchor anywhere..

I don'have the clearance for a sheet of even 1/2" ply without redesigning my box. Maybe some reinforcement on the bottom? It would be nice to keep that whole cavernous compartment the box is in flat.

That's going to be difficult then. Each battery is 70 or so lbs. Going for the rough approach, I went with a chuck of 2X8 for my floor and 1/4" alum angle with 1/2 grade 8 bolts holding things together between the landing gear.

Quick and dirty:
What about 1/2 carriage bolts and fender washers and mount the plywood below the floor of tehbox?
The other "right" way:
Or weld a thicker floor to the bottom of the existing box?

I don't think it is a big problem. You would probably be fine if you pushed two batteries over toward one side wall, and two over toward the other side wall. I say probably because I'm not there to see how heavy the floor is, etc. The most you would need is to take a piece of angle iron and bolt it across the bottom on the underside. The idea is to distribute the weight.

I don't go with the camp that says your batteries have to be in boxes with vent hoses, but I do believe they should be in some kind of vessel that will catch drips. Just sitting them right on sheet metal is not so good. It will end up being a mess.

Thanks for your suggestions. I will have a closer look at the underside to see if something can be done there.

hi everyone, where do you find that black vent hose, and what size is it?...Thanks

Don't forget the GC2 6VDC batteries are taller than the standard deep cycle batteries... You will also need clearance above this for battery cable connections.

This is a spec sheet for the Trojan T105 GC2 battery which is about the same for COSTCO/SAM CLUB 6VDC GC2 batteries


Roy Ken