Where is the best place in a TD to store a battery?

[Esteban]

I'm contemplating where to store a battery in the teardrop I'm building. Considerations are cost, amp hour capacity, storage space, accessibility, safety, and trailer balance. Originally I planned to store the battery in a battery box in the galley behind/under a slide out shelf holding a Coleman stove. Plans changed when I bought a Camp Chef Oven which is much larger. There is no longer enough room. I'd appreciate thoughts and examples of where you keep your battery or batteries.

In general it seems there are three areas to store a battery:

1) On the tongue (in a tongue box).

2) Somewhere in the galley area.

3) Under the floor of the trailer, or in an under floor compartment.

Where's yours? What are the pros and cons?

It'd help to know what kind of battery or batteries you use too. I'm contemplating using one 55 AH Optima D34M.

[Dean_A]

Mine's in the Galley. I would have liked the storage space for other things, but my removable tongue made it impossible to put the battery there. With that said though, it seems fine there.

[Miriam C.]

The small door on the bottom left has a battery in it. It is a normal trolling motor battery so I can use it for my canoe motor also. The battery is in a plastic battery box in case it leaks........

[jackdaw]

Our batteries (2x85ah) are stored at the back of the galley, and as close to the axle as posible.
We could probably get away with using only one battery most of the time as it just powers the lights.
We often have a mains hookup and so they charge during the day , but sometimes we go for days in the same place with no other power.

Batteries can be fairly heavy, so putting them on the tongue is not nessisarily idea. If I had room under the floor , and close to the axle, thats where I'd go for. I have my water containers stored under there on my first tear, and we had space in the galley, behind the loo.

[aggie79]

In my case, the answer will probably be "both" or perhaps more correctly "either/or". Sometimes I will carry bikes on the back of the teardrop, so I move it to the tongue box. With no bikes, the battery will be in the galley. I'll pre-wire both locations and add a selector switch. I only plan to use a small battery - don't know the designation, but it is the size common to those mobile carts.

[Esteban]

One possible solution I'm inspired by (contemplating copying) is the under floor storage halfdome Danny has for two (12 volt) batteries and a spare tire. My frame is built and the floor is permanently attached. So it'd take a good bit of (probably doable) work to retrofit them to do something similar.

Pictures of Danny's frame and battery storage:




A little off topic for electrical is his nice solution for a place for the spare tire too.

[wannabefree]

Pretty much anywhere is viable, depending on what compromises you want to make. The battery should be vented, no matter where you put it. Sometimes batteries leak, but generally only if abused, so you may want to take some precaution to capture spills. And most batteries will outgas at some point, hence the venting. Sleeping above a battery may scare some squeamish folks. Since batteries outgas hydrogen, the galley may not be the best location, but I have found no one who has blown up his tear. Maybe that's a good idea for a poll - has your trailer exploded because you put the battery in the galley??

I look on the battery as ballast, so not really knowing where the CG of my trailer will be until it's built, and wire being rather cheap, I wired my trailer so I could put the battery on the tongue, under the floor near the axle, and in the galley. That way I can ballast it wherever I want.

[wlooper89]

My battery is in this tongue box inside a battery box. Two vents in the back of the tongue box and I am in the process of adding a small fan to exhaust air through one vent and bring outside air in the other, for battery gas and helping keep the converter cool. My battery is sealed, said to give off minimal gas. I do not think I would do a flooded cell battery this way. Probably I would put it in a separate box somewhere on the trailer tongue. There is just not much room in the galley and the mattress extends all the way to the tail light compartment.

The specs. on my model Little Guy list an empty weight of 1020 lbs without the tongue box or propane tank, and a tongue weight of 100 lbs. The tongue box weighs in the neighborhood of 140 lbs including the battery and the propane tank about 24 lbs when full. It was probably intended some things would be carried on the trailer platform. We also fold up the matress in thirds, slide it back and load a lot of camping gear through the trailer doors. That is closer to but still forward of the axle. I really should measure the tongue weight with everything loaded and compare it to the tongue weight limit on my tow vehicle. So far though the trailer seems to ride nicely.

Bill

[GregB]

I built my 5' wide trailer with the wheels inside, originally. Now that I'm moving them outside with fenders, I'm converting the open wheel well on each side to a battery compartment. My batteries will be in line with the wheels.

GB

[halfdome, Danny]

Steve, on my first build I retrofitted battery trays by bolting them to plate steel the same size as the back side of the whole assembly. I then bolted that to my cross member and then paid a welder to crawl under the teardrop and weld it for about $40. A simple solution for my application and that plate steel provides maximum protection from possible road debris. . Danny