Battery Box / Charger Box

[toypusher]

If I put a box on the tongue of my tear that is big enough for a battery charger/power supply and the battery, how much and what kind of ventilation would I need. Might want to try to get some extra storage in the box also, if possible. I would of course, also put a battery box inside the other box to put the battery itself in. That way, I could connect shore power to the front of the tear, and hopefully keep the power cord out of the way a little more. That would also save some space in the galley area by moving the charger up to the tongue. I don't think the weight would be a problem (I have a 4X4 tocoma tow vechicle).

Kerry

[madjack]

...first off you could try a sealed gel-cell battery, they do not out gass and can be mounted in any position, they also last about twice as long as a typical deep cycle battery(talking about overall life) but they cost nearly twice as much. Secondly, you could get a totally sealed and vented battery box, to put in your tongue box along with your other goodies. Thirdly, you could vent the tongue box itself, partitioning the box to isolate battery from the rest of your electrics
madjack

[mexican tear]

Kerry
The Optima battery is the best. It can be mounted in any position, does not gas, if it does there is a little fitting to vent. and they are supper strong.

http://www.1st-optima-batteries.com/

I have been using a deep cycle for my winch in my Jeep, yellow top. I also use a red top for starting. They come in 24 and 27 size.

They are not that much more and are well worth the cost. Free shipping.

kai

[toypusher]

Kai,

Thanks for the info. Which yellow top do you have? Seems that I would only need the smallest one.


Kerry

[asianflava]

Both Sam's and Sears sells Optima batteries. Sam's had a better price on them though. Sam's also has the blue top batteries.

[mexican tear]

Kerry
I have the small one in my jeep and have never used it up. It powers the winch, fan and a host of other things that are not important to run the Jeep.
kai

[bdosborn]

If I put a box on the tongue of my tear that is big enough for a battery charger/power supply and the battery, how much and what kind of ventilation would I need.

Kerry

Kerry,

Here's a good site for battery information. For me, a wet cell still has the best cost to capacity ratio. But, I'm used to maintaining batteries (motorcycles) and I plan to ventilate my battery box.
http://www.uuhome.de/william.darden/carfaq7.htm#type
Bruce

[VermonTear]

Here's an updated link for Optima batteries: http://shop.optimabatteries.com/home/index/1737.0.1.1

Also, you can find them with pretty good prices at Amazon.com!

Ken

[Treeview]

Worth reading:

http://www.expeditionportal.com/forum/t ... ght=optima

[jss06]

The Optima Blue Top is a marine grade battery. It is more of a true deep cycle then the yellow top. It can usually be found cheaper too.

I run a Blue Top in my trailer.

[jss06]

I ran an Optima red Top in my old CJ-5. It was abused by normal car battery standards. It would sit for weeks or months at a time between drives in the CJ-5. when it was used it would be used to start on steep hills in gear, multiple winch pulls, LOW RPM runs for extended periods of time. I never had a problem with it.

After 5 years I sold it when I parted out the 5. To my knowledge the guy who bought 2 years ago is still using it.

[Shadow Catcher]

A The optima is not a gel it is AGM absorbed glass mat a very different animal.
B The Optima is not the optimal solution for a deep cycle application where you want AH amp hours.
C They are dual purpose, and not deep cycle.
D The blue top is only 55 AH (you do not want ideally, to get below 50% discharged so effectively you have 27AH)

I chose a 150 AH Lifeline AGM, US made very high quality, because I have it in a tongue box inside a battery box, with other electrical items including a couple of solar charge controllers and air pump.
If you go with a conventional wet battery it does need to be vented to atmosphere but a vented battery box could be inside a tongue box, vented to the exterior of the tongue box.

AGM batteries do not self discharge at the same rate as a conventional led acid wet battery so not charging them for months at a time is not a concern and not abuse.

http://www.batteryfaq.org

[WhitneyK]

Shadow Catcher,

THANK YOU, for bringing this thread back on track. The original question was (and exactly what I was looking for)

If I put a box on the tongue of my tear that is big enough for a battery charger/power supply and the battery, how much and what kind of ventilation would I need. Might want to try to get some extra storage in the box also, if possible. I would of course, also put a battery box inside the other box to put the battery itself in. That way, I could connect shore power to the front of the tear, and hopefully keep the power cord out of the way a little more. That would also save some space in the galley area by moving the charger up to the tongue.
Kerry

Don't nobody get upset with me, but it got de-railed on Optima batteries.

I have the same situation I'm working on. I'm using the HF $70 tongue box and trying to get as much stacked in it as I can. I installed a battery tray (not a box, but the tray's with the strap/buckle to hold the battery down) centered in the front of the tongue box. My shore power connector will be through the lower left side, my 110V to the galley is comming in the lower left side in the back along with the 12V. I have enough room between the back of my battery and the tongue box to mount an inv/conv (whichever you call it: 12V - 110V with cooling fan) inside with an inch or so to spare. That leaves me with enough room on each side for my al stab jacks (which my neighbor gave me by the way ) and my 12ga 50ft ext cord (another donation).

My intentions were to put some kind of louvered & screened vents in the back side of the tongue box, the question is (and I think originally was) how much venting do I need to be relatively "safe". 4) 1" vents, 4) 2" vents, maybe a long vent on each side say 2" x 4" or 2" x 6", not sure what's available? My lid will be up so I can turn on the inv/conv, so it will have some "fresh air".
And Yes, I do understand that one of the elements for fire/explosion is oxygen. lol

I'm not going to hold anyone liable for anything, just looking for thoughts and suggestions in honest / layman's terms and not the theritical physics of an undetermined thermal/humidity/barametric/altitude/geometric/global warming effects that I couldn't even figure out with a slide rule folks.

[toypusher]

Whitney,

Just my opinion here, but if your are going to have the lid open when charging or when using power from the battery, you should not have to have vents at all. The off gassing occurs when charging and discharging as I understand it. You need to be concerned also with water coming in when driving in the rain if you have vents. (read need to choose carefully your vents).

Maybe you could post a picture or two of your setup (or mockup at least)??

I have used the Optima Yellow top since 2005 and have not had any problems and have not come close to running it down over a 3-day camping trip. (sorry, have not gone more than 3 days at a time) But, I have run my Fantastic fan almost non-stop for at least 2 days and also used my reading lights and galley lights a bit at night. I think that it got down to about 75% charge that weekend.