Battery Enclosure Ventilation

[Mike Kratz]

To reduce tongue weight on my 1999 14' 0" Burro Wide Body to under 200 lbs. I am looking to move the battery from on top of the hitch into the storage cabinates under the rear dinette, or on the rear bumper.
My concern is hydrogen gas build up, and with the double shell of the Burro, it might be bad for hydrogen gas to build up inside the double shells.
Does anyone have recomendatiosn for venting the rear storage area, or mounting the battery on teh rear bumper?

[Gina D.]

A burro? In Escondido?? Nah....

My bettery in my 13 footer was under the sink with passive ventilation via the fridge vents. My shells never exploded.

[Paul and Libby Smith]

Hi. I wouldent put anything on the rear bumper, some trailer manufacturers have a weight saving substandard frame, the battery 40 to 50 lbs would more than likely alter the trailer handling, what are you towing it with?Paul

[Per Walthinsen]

When I expanded to two batteries I did what you are contemplating. Slapped together two thin plywood boxes with endpanels easily removable, attached hoses to them and vented them outside through a couple of hoses and circular vents available at any RV place.

Mounted them inside the rear under-bed cabinets, as close to the axle as possible, put in bolts in the sides of the boxes to serve as terminals and wedged the batteries in there plus bolted the boxes to the floor. I would think that extra weight on the rear bumper would affect the motion of the trailer quite badly. No explosions yet, but the trailer is quite a bit lighter from the buildup of hydrogen.

Keep the battery box in front, but fill it with sewer hoses and such. Thieves will love it.

[Gina D.]

ever notice no one steals your sewer hoses?

I have been meaning to get my battery box on the tongue locked up.. but my welder says he has never heard of a battery being stolen from a travel trailer. He does a LOT of trailers...

he had one get stolen from a horse trailer out in the boonies tho. I am sure someone here has had thiers nicked.. BUT.. they are heavy and not stealthy to take.

[Mike Kratz]

Thanks for your input.

I tow with a Dodge Dakota, but I am looking to downsize to a Subaru Outback with a 200 Lbs. tongue weigth limit. I want to see if I can get down to one vehicle that when not towing can get as close to 30 MPG as possible.

I don't think the battery on the the back bumper will cause a weight distribution problem. I can at about 175 lbs., stand on the rear bumper, with the battery on it, on not raise the front off the jack stand. The frame at the rear bumper on the Burro is very solid, so I don't see structural cancerns. But I do have same safetey concerns putting the battery on the rear bumper in collision, or the battery shaking off due to vibrations.

I thought I might put the battery inside under the very rear dinette seat, but access would be hard. I may work to but the battery near the front rear dinet seat, behind the closet, which will be close to the axal.

Mike

[Per Walthinsen]

Actually I don't think it is the weight or structural considerations that matter in putting the battery on the rear bumper, but polar momentum. Too much of that and the trailer will try to do some interesting maneuvers, including bobbing up and down and attempting to oscillate with the axle as fulcrum.

The result may induce seasickness all the way through the tow vehicle as you hit bumps and dips. I vote for putting that kind of weight as close to the axle as possible.

[Frederick L. Simson]

some trailer manufacturers have a weight saving substandard frame

I think the Burro has a substantial enough frame, while my Fiber Stream's frame would qualify as substandard.
Look at the following comparison Between Gina's 17' Burro and My Fiber Stream.

[Steve L.]

...he had one get stolen from a horse trailer out in the boonies tho...

Hmmm. Battery without the assault?

[Mary F]

Steve!

[Pete Dumbleton]

I have been meaning to get my battery box on the tongue locked up.. but my welder says he has never heard of a battery being stolen from a travel trailer. He does a LOT of trailers...

Tell him that I had the battery stolen from the front of my Scamp 13' when I had it parked in a pay storage yard (and it wasn't the first one stolen from there, according to the manager). The thieves had also disconnected the regualtor from my LP tank, but couldn't get at the awkward set of nuts I had on the hold-downs (need a small deep socket). The good parts were that they didnt' cut the wires (butterfly nuts are easy) and the battery they stole was a Wally special, about six years old.

BTW, battery theft is one reason I would rather have a series of cheap batteries than one really expensive one, even if the expensive one only cost as much as the series of cheaper ones.

The back bumper, regardless of strength, is the worst place, handling-wise, to mount something on a trailer (except maybe on the roof in back, sticking out over the bumper).

[Randy Dewey]

My original battery location on my burro was inside under the dinette with a ventbox.

[KevinDR]

My concern is hydrogen gas build up, and with the double shell of the Burro, it might be bad for hydrogen gas to build up inside the double shells.
Does anyone have recomendatiosn for venting the rear storage area, or mounting the battery on teh rear bumper?

Whoa Mike:

NEVER put a lead acid battery inside a trailer unless it is clearly vented to the outside. I feel passionate about this because of two reasons:

1) I was charging a lead acid battery with a slow charger in my attached garage. After a few hours, I opened the garage door that connects to my house and after a moment the Carbon Monoxide detector went off. This was in a house, let alone in a small enclosure, if the battery is charging. This is bad stuff.

2) In addition, I used to work with battery operated equipment enclosed in industrial steel containers, which are small in size, but after a couple of years of operation, and cycling of the lead acid battery between charging and discharging, the insides of steel containers begin rust out. Really nice stuff to breath.

So if the battery needs to go inside the trailer, put it in any sort of sealed container that has a small vent. This vent hole can be as simple as a 1/2 pipe, or hose or vent from the sealed box which goes out to the outside. Heck, you could even use a 2and a half gallon plastic pail with a snap cover lid, (if it fits), and punch a 1/2 inch hole near the bottom to put a piece of hose in the pail and that runs outside the trailer. You could use a plastic trailer battery box and use duct tape to seal it up, and punch a hole and put a hose which runs outside of it.

Kevin.

[John Perry]

Thanks for your input.
I tow with a Dodge Dakota, but I am looking to downsize to a Subaru Outback with a 200 Lbs. tongue weigth limit. I want to see if I can get down to one vehicle that when not towing can get as close to 30 MPG as possible.
Mike

I had a 14" burro Wide Body for a while. I think that most people seriously underestimate its weight.

Unless you have weighed your trailer with all of the equipment, food and water that you normally carry and know it's actual weight I think that you are asking for trouble with a 175 tongue weight. As I remember my tongue weight was about 260 lbs loaded and I do not take a lot of stuff.
.John

[Victor Benz]

Mike;

The Fiber Stream has the battery inside, but in a metal box. Mine had corroded, so I replaced it with a vented, plastic box. See the link below for photos.

http://good-times.webshots.com/album/551123968ABqdPX

Victor