battery box

[barny]

Hello all this is my first post. I have been reading this forum for years, but cant find the answer with search so the post. My question, is it bad to put my diehard platinum group 31 battery in this battery box with no venting to outside other than windows open, photos of truck and battery box with and without carpeted plywood on. Second question if I may, This is a stand alone system (not tied into truck at all) do I need to ground to body-frame. Thanks Scott

 

[007]

Yes, that is fine, no venting needed. As far as grounding goes, you just need to ground to what ever fuse block you will be running back there ( to complete the circuit). I like the Blue Sea fuse blocks, but there are a lot of good ones.

 

[Joe917]

Venting advice: http://www.bdbatteries.com/hydrogenventing.php
You decide its your butt. Second the fusing, Blue Sea very nice and clean. I would ground.

 

[barny]

Thanks for the advice guys its all wired and fused This system is just for a edge star fridge and shell light. Just one question Joe917 can you explain why to ground to frame when its stand alone Thanks Scott

 

[Joe917]

Many appliances, battery chargers etc. call for grounding to the vehicle frame. For a battery charger I would assume it is a safety precaution. I am sure you are fine running all your grounds back to the battery neg just as you would wire a boat.

 

[barny]

Thanks so much, I hadn't even thought about it from the boat aspect

Scott

 

[lcsodiver]

I hard wire all my stuff that I can to the battery. That said a few of my truck accessories do ground through the frame. But for my house battery it's all hard wired. Ground issues can be a royal pain to track down later and hardwiring it cuts down on issues.

Batteries normally only vent gasses when charging or a high rate of discharge.... So I wouldn't sleep in the shell while charging the battery.... But I'd have no issues sleeping in there and running a light off of it.

 

[grogie]

My trailer has an Optima blue-top inside it's enclosed box that is setup to generally trickle charge off of my Jeep. I've also added a battery charging module recommended by travel trailer guys to prevent the battery from overcharging should something go wrong. It also will not start charging the battery until the vehicle's battery is fully charged, as well as to disconnect the trailer's battery when my Jeep is turned off. And as a second safety device, I've also added a battery switch for further piece of mind.

Link to module if you're interested: http://www.atkinsonelectronics.com/manufacturing/products/TBCM-40A.asp