Bigfoot Battery Bodge

[WaltP]

First, of course a form 24 is smaller than the others mentioned, but we are talking about two of them.
When I got the trailer in 2013 it had the two batteries on a plywood tray. I'm all but certain it came from the factory that way. That tray was getting pretty frayed and I replaced it with a steel one.

Walt

[dogteam]

As a followup to this thread, in case anyone is interested....
The batteries turned out to be (2) GC2 6V golf cart batteries, wired of course in series. Unfortunately they had been run dry, so i replaced them with a couple of Trojans. Ran a very small (1") vent hose (just because I had it from another project) from a 1" plastic soffit vent installed in the side wall of the trailer to a 1" PVC 90 elbow that I epoxied into the battery box lid. There wasn't room for much else anyway, with barely 2" clearance between the battery box lid and the dinette seat. Added a 1500w inverter just because I got a great deal on one, put it on a swingdown panel in the end of the storage compartment behind the dinette seat. Intend to add a remote switch and a power bar to it because of the awkward location.

Interestingly, the battery monitor built into the stove vent continued to tell me that the batteries were fully charged...even after I had removed them! Then I realized that it was reading the power coming from the solar panel. So much for that being of any use! I guess the only way to get "real" battery condition info is to install a proper battery condition monitor with a shunt. Maybe someday, I've spent enough money for now...<_<

Oh, and I decided against moving the batteries back out to the tongue...I know people have managed it, but I just couldn't see fighting to get the propane tanks in and out past 2 batteries. I like that it moves a little bit of weight further back towards the axle, and it gave me plenty of room to install an RF trailer brake module inside the cowling

DT

[WaltP]

I suppose your Trojans are a bit larger than my 12v Form 24s, but I have no problem removing either batteries or propane tanks out of there.

Walt

[dogteam]

Originally Posted by WaltP

I suppose your Trojans are a bit larger than my 12v Form 24s, but I have no problem removing either batteries or propane tanks out of there.

Walt

And your point about recovering storage space was certainly valid. But the GC2's are quite a bit higher (and heavier!). In any case, I think I'm happy with them where they are (for now, at least). Took it out for a minor shakedown cruise 2 weeks ago to an archaeological dig, and was very happy with it. My wife will be taking it to a dog trial over the next couple of weeks, so we'll see how that goes.