Where to put the battery

[Brian B-P]

...A friend's Jaguar has the battery mounted in the trunk (why they put the battery as far from its heaviest drain {starting} as possible I don't know) but the battery is special and has a vent tube leading thru the floor -- Likewise, Volvo mounts the same style battery in the trunk.

Examples of cars with batteries mounted under the rear seat or in the trunk area are plentiful. They are usually not North American, and are often sports cars or sporty sedans. This location may be chosen due to a lack of space in the engine compartment, high engine compartment temperatures, or to control weight distribution. While the high temperature issue would not apply to a trailer, the other factors may well apply.

Many years ago I had a Datsun which was prepared for competition. As a rear-wheel-drive car with a front-mounted engine, it would benefit from a more rearward distribution of mass, so I mounted the battery in the trunk, in a box, with decently thick welding cable to the starter. It did help handling, and I had no starting problem, but like every design decision I realize that this was a compromise between many factors, some of which have been addressed in this discussion.

[Yvon Chayer]

On my 13' boler i put battery on tong

I weld 2 angles on frame a i fix an alluminium checker plate

I put battery and propan tank side by side




Yvon Chayer

[Gerry]

On my 1980 13' Boler I kept a regular 20# tank in it original positing just slid back on the tray toward the camper and added a full size deep cycle battery to the tongue infront of this, welding a tray right to the frame and putting the vented box in tray. It is tight but there is room.
Gerry

[Alf S.]

On my 1980 13' Boler I kept a regular 20# tank in it original positing just slid back on the tray toward the camper and added a full size deep cycle battery to the tongue infront of this, welding a tray right to the frame and putting the vented box in tray. It is tight but there is room.
Gerry

Hi: For our '77 Boler I had my friendly R.V. dealer weld a frame for the battery and he moved the gas bottle slightly side ways and the battery and bottle can sit side by side...Extra tongue wt. helps to level the trailer/tug position for the road!!! Alf S. North shore of Lake Erie P.S. I don't know how the R.V. dealer survived B/4 My Brother and I each bought Bolers???

[Gina D.]

FWIW... mine is inside, under the sink, under a false floor in the cabinet. It's not officially vented, but gets passive ventilation from other openings in the structure, like cubbies and fridge vents etc.

The only problem I have with it is Fred. He has to lift it out from an awkward position if needed.

(Yeah, I save all my heavy stuff for him LOL!)

It stays there all winter, I have been inside with it charging and notice no funny smells.. from the battery anyway...

from the dogs, that's another story..

[Pete Dumbleton]

with decently thick welding cable to the starter.

BTW, did you know that welding cable has no particular electrical advantage over large stranded or solid wire in direct current applications? It's a common myth (I believed it for a long while, myself) that current flows only thru the outer portion of the conductor, so multiple strands are supposed to have less resistance than a single, large conductor (Known as Skin Effect). Tain't so for direct current; the resistance is the resistance of the cross-sectional area multiplied by the number of conductors and the shape means nothing (Major DC power in telephone company switchrooms use rectangular copper bar).

Where skin effect does happen is when the current is pulsating or alternating, and the effect is a function of how quickly the pulse/alternation is happening -- The effect is very strong, for example, at radio frequencies.

A friend of mine once replaced his electric winch cable on his boat trailer with welding cable and reported more power -- I now realize that he likely got more power because he had new cable and new connections...

[Brian B-P]

The cable I used was billed as "welding cable" because that was the intended application, but I only chose it because it was the least expensive cable which was

• of the appropriate wire gauge
• sufficiently insulated with insulation which is appropriate for exposure to outdoor temperatures
• adequately flexible to route through the car
• available

The same factors would apply for the trailer. I agree that it doesn't matter if the cable is specifically "welding" cable, because Pete is exactly correct in his analysis, but here in the land of heavy-duty fabrication, welding cable is a common commodity.

I find the part about "skin effect" really amusing. This reminds me of my favourite scam, Monster Cable: people spend ridiculous amounts of money for speaker wire from audio stores, marketed with all sorts of indefensible claims, and the electrons can't tell. But hey, if clear insulation makes you feel better about your wires, go for it!