location of coach battery

[OKPETE]

Hello,
We are the proud owners of a 2012 pleasureway plateau rb and are pleased with the unit, except for the one coach battery. If you move frequently, one battery works. However in the fall with dropping temps, you need to run gen daily. Yes, we have the super quiet onan !! My question is that the 100 amh battery is located in the engine bay and does anyone experience lower battery life because of the engine heat? I would like to increase battery capacity in engine bay but am concerned with battery life. MB places the starter battery underneath the driver floorboards. Thanks for your input.
Pete

[OKPETE]

Horizon170 wrote:
I doubt the heat would affect the larger battery although the amount of airflow around the battery will determine that. My idea would be a battery box vented with an air scoop attached to get cooling air into the box. A DIY project.
Marvin
My two house batteries are inside and enclosed in airtight boxes vented to the outside.

Hi, goog idea for air dam to direct airflow. Lifeline does not approve of their AGM batteries being in the eng bay because you can discharge to 20 percent with AGM that is to bad. Will have to use flooded sell which Trogan recommends no more than 50 percent. When the present 100 ah battery expires, will upgrade to series 31 which will be tight. Going to resonator on generator and see if that makes the noise level tolerable.
Checked out the solar panel approach because we have two excellent installers in O region but costs were to high at this time. Tired of running out of energy but at least their is a solution for my van.
Pete

[Horizon170]

I doubt the heat would affect the larger battery although the amount of airflow around the battery will determine that. My idea would be a battery box vented with an air scoop attached to get cooling air into the box. A DIY project.
Marvin
My two house batteries are inside and enclosed in airtight boxes vented to the outside.

[OKPETE]

Horizon170 wrote:
Am I to understand that the House battery is under the hood and the Chassis battery is inside? Strange , if so.

Yes, the house battery is under the hood. The chassis battery is under the driver side floorboards which is common for the sprinters. Orginally, the spare tire was underneath the fixed bed which precluded putting the battery closer to the converter which is at the front of the bed. Putting a battery in a unvented space requires AGM type battery. AGM are more expensive. I have the optional spare tire carrier which frees up the ample storage under bed; hence, my reluctance to add batteries in rear storage. The question is will the heat from the engine effect battery if I upgrade to a larger amh which costs more money. Thanks for your input.
Pete

[Horizon170]

Am I to understand that the House battery is under the hood and the Chassis battery is inside? Strange , if so.

[OKPETE]

Fastpaddler wrote:
We have PW Plateau TS with the one battery in the floor left rear side under the electric actuated couch-to bed. Because you have fixed rear bed I see why the batteries as so-located. You can use a small solar panel like we do, parked on the dash and connected with clips to the plus/minus terminals to trickle charge the coach battery under the hood.Also you could probably do likewise with the battery under the drivers seat which starts the engine. The generator will of course recharge your HOUSE/engine batteries but not as fast as when you are driving and the batteries are recharged with the engine alternator. Our RV does sit around a lot in winter and the solar panels help to keep the batteries at or near peak charge up condition. I dont think the engine heat will affect your Marine type deep cell battery under the hood but you could email Pleasure-way about this as they are very helpful for new or used owners of their products.Best regards,
AL

PS weather is mild here in winter so we do not remove either battery rather we start the engine and run it for 20 minutes or so or take the rv for a run. We start the generator once a month and run it for 20 minutes or so. The engine battery should not be allowed to go flat or near flat as cell damage might occur.THe deep cell Marine battery for the coach can take more heavy discharges but should not be down to less than 20 percent--this is my opinion but others may have a different viewpoint.

Hello, I agree that Pleasureway is a wonderful company to deal with and they have been most helpful. However, did not contact them because I do not believe they built that many Rbs. But Neil is wonderful to deal with. Thanks for reply. Very curious that they only used the engine bay for RB.
Pete

[Fastpaddler]

We have PW Plateau TS with the one battery in the floor left rear side under the electric actuated couch-to bed. Because you have fixed rear bed I see why the batteries as so-located. You can use a small solar panel like we do, parked on the dash and connected with clips to the plus/minus terminals to trickle charge the coach battery under the hood.Also you could probably do likewise with the battery under the drivers seat which starts the engine. The generator will of course recharge your HOUSE/engine batteries but not as fast as when you are driving and the batteries are recharged with the engine alternator. Our RV does sit around a lot in winter and the solar panels help to keep the batteries at or near peak charge up condition. I dont think the engine heat will affect your Marine type deep cell battery under the hood but you could email Pleasure-way about this as they are very helpful for new or used owners of their products.Best regards,
AL

PS weather is mild here in winter so we do not remove either battery rather we start the engine and run it for 20 minutes or so or take the rv for a run. We start the generator once a month and run it for 20 minutes or so. The engine battery should not be allowed to go flat or near flat as cell damage might occur.THe deep cell Marine battery for the coach can take more heavy discharges but should not be down to less than 20 percent--this is my opinion but others may have a different viewpoint.