Battery and charger mockup

[Treeview]

While I'm working on one part of the ToyBox I try to think 2-3 parts ahead.

Electrical is coming up after I finish paneling/insulating and build the base for the bed.

I've got a sealed battery and a three phase charger that came from a wrecked trailer. Take a look at the pic. My plan is to mount the battery on the floor and the charger/fuse panel above. It will be on the left/rear side of the side door.

Questions:

Since the battery is sealed do I need to vent the battery compartment to the outside?

If so, how much ventilation is needed?

Is it unsafe to have the charger panel and battery this close to the fuel filler? In the picture you can see the interior cover for the fuel filler. It's welded solid so there's no venting to the inside. If I do have to vent the battery it would be close to the fuel filler.

Thanks,

Tom

[kludge]

Yes you need to vent.

http://blog.boats.com/2011/12/sealed-ba ... hteYNuF97k

I wouldn't have anything fuel related in the same compartment as the charger. Also if ever connecting and disconnecting the battery, or if there is a cutout/disconnect at the battery that can also spark.

JMO.

[Treeview]

They won't be in the same compartment at all. I know enough not to have them in the same compartment.

Thanks for the link. Where ever the battery ends up it'll be easy to vent.

See the angled aluminum weldment behind the battery? That's the 'floor' of the Toybox. The gas filler neck is inside that and underneath the deck of the Box.

The mockup is sitting on the left/rear of the side door. You'll see the gas filler cap too. Here's an inside and outside view of the mockup location.

[Dale M.]

I've got a sealed battery and a three phase charger that came from a wrecked trailer.
Tom

What is the "three phase charger".... I don't recognize the description in relationship to a travel trailer.... "Three phase" in my book is commercial AC power mostly used in industrial applications...

Dale

[Treeview]

Ooops...I meant 'three stage'.

This is from the owner's manual for my unit, which is a WFCO ULTRA III Distribution Center WF-8900 Series:

The three modes/stages of operation include:

Absorption mode/Normal operation
-Nominal battery charge and supplies power to appliances

Bulk mode/Charge mode
-Fast battery charge and supplies power to appliances

Float mode/Trickle charge
-Trickle battery charge during storage

[GuitarPhotog]

Hmm, if you haven't purchased that WFCO converter yet, don't. Google "WFCO problems" Many of us have had problems with the WFCO 8925, and recommend the Progressive Dynamics PD4045 instead. My WFCO failed twice, once while camping, so I sent it in for warranty service. When I reinstalled it after service, it lasted one trip before failing again. Now it's junk and my teardrop is powered by a PD4045.

<Chas>

[Treeview]

A guy had a wrecked travel trailer that I stripped. The electrical panel is only one piece of a huge pile of stuff that I got. He told me that I could have as much as I wanted for $350. Even if the unit goes bad down the road it won't have cost me much.

I've read about the reliability of WFCO invertors. Right now I'm going to use it and if/when I need to upgrade I will. My budge isn't flush enough to buy a better unit right now. When I do wire the panel I'm going to leave extra wire for the day that I might have to rewire a new unit.

Tom

[Shadow Catcher]

Sealed batteries do some time out gas hydrogen, Hydrogen + spark = bang + fuel source = well, you get the idea.
I have my Lifeline battery in the tongue box with the two solar controllers which are solid state and do not produce a spark when functioning. There are other things in the tongue box i.e. the air pump, that do but they are not in use, when things are closed up.

[Ron Dickey]

Yes you need to vent.

http://blog.boats.com/2011/12/sealed-ba ... hteYNuF97k

I wouldn't have anything fuel related in the same compartment as the charger. Also if ever connecting and disconnecting the battery, or if there is a cutout/disconnect at the battery that can also spark.

JMO.

wow that is an education in it's self. it says....
It is important to remember that although these newer battery types and designs are much less prone to “gassing” as they are being recharged, any battery can gas if it is overcharged due to a faulty voltage regulator or an improperly calibrated shore power charger.
Your batteries are more properly known as “VRLA” batteries, or Valve Regulated Lead Acid. The battery has a small check valve built into its top that is designed to open and vent when the battery’s internal pressure reaches 1-3 PSI, depending upon the vendor. This will then allow for the release of hydrogen gas from inside the battery. Since hydrogen is highly explosive, neither the USCG nor ABYC give “sealed” batteries any special breaks as to where they get installed.
The good news? Hydrogen is lighter than air so it rises. It also mixes with air quite readily; a quite small opening (about 12mm or half an inch in the upper-most covering for the compartment shown) would be sufficient to ventilate the area in the event of a leak.

[Treeview]

The battery is going to be located aft of the wheel well. that gets whatever vent I might make in the compartment further from the fuel filler. Actually, I'm not really that concerned about an explosion but when it takes so little effort to reduce risk it's foolish not to go the extra bit.

Tom