Frame mounted vs. interior mounted battery?

[zuren]

A question for those who have done a DIY install of a house battery: Is your battery on the frame and if so, is it enclosed to keep "crud" off of the connections? Is that a concern I should have? Do you just put the battery in a marine battery box and call it a day?

I'm building up a campervan and I'm having to make some changes:

- Received my sofa bed - it is wider than I anticipated and the sofa frame doesn't have a ton of space underneath. Any cabinet build along the side will now be narrower than planned.
- The narrower cabinet forces me to move the planned location for the battery and now safely securing it to the floor is a concern. I may need to install plywood under the rubber cargo floor to provide a mounting platform (was planning on retaining the rubber floor, was not planning on installing plywood subflooring).

I'm beginning to think a frame mounted battery may be a better approach but the picture I found of a frame mounted battery on a Chevy shows it wide open to the elements:

I live in New England and make trips to the upper Midwest. Snow, ice, rain and salt spray from the road are all concerns in the colder months. Most premade battery trays I see are an open design like this.

My van came with an inverter mounted in the rear so I already have 2/0 Awg cable running along the passenger frame rail from the front starting battery. For my cabinet build to work, I will have to relocate and rewire this inverter anyway so I'm trying to approach this from the beginning in the right way.

Thanks!

 

[dwh]

I'd be worried more about cold. Not freezing though - a charged battery doesn't freeze easily, but cold batteries have a lot less capacity. I'd rather have it inside where it will be warmer and I could get the full amp*hours capacity.

 

[zuren]

I'd be worried more about cold. Not freezing though - a charged battery doesn't freeze easily, but cold batteries have a lot less capacity. I'd rather have it inside where it will be warmer and I could get the full amp*hours capacity.

So you vote for Plywood flooring, interior install. It is an AGM battery so venting should be less of a concern.

 

[dwh]

So you vote for Plywood flooring, interior install. It is an AGM battery so venting should be less of a concern.

For cold climate, yea I vote for inside.

 

[Mike S]

As stated, if you use an interior mount do use a sealed AGM battery. If exterior mounted, use a battery box to protect the battery from road crud.

 

[zuren]

I think I have committed to an interior mount. The logic to keep it inside makes sense. To do this I needed to buy plywood to build a sub-floor to fasten the battery and cabinet down safely. I just made a run to Home Depot today and have 3 sheets laying in the garage. I already have the rubber floor pulled up and started making templates from cardboard.

Thanks for the input!

 

[Accrete]

I know, I know... bad Thommy... this thread is like ancient of days. But i'm just chillin going through some old reads.

I'm glad you went with the interior mounting, hope it is going well.

So my ah-ha when I saw the image was recalling a trip my wife and I took a week ago in the van. Out on the Oregon coast where we live there is a section of highway that floods to ~18" to ~high twenties if heavy rains coincide with high tide. Well we had an appointment with an off-road shop about a 4 hour drive from our place so not really thinking of high tide and the trip we went down the highway and the highway patrol were up on the embankment with lights on slowing down traffic and encouraging folks to turn back. We slowed down to about 5mph and creeped through the water which was over the top of the rims. We didn't get any water in the van though if we'd had a battery mounted on the frame as I see in that example picture there would have been some electrical issues i'd imagine!

Happy Holidays,
Thom

 

[Ducky's Dad]

My house AGMs are frame-mounted under the cab and they have been submerged for brief periods with no issues.

 

[comptiger5000]

In my book, as long as you can keep it from freezing and avoid smashing it on rocks and such, the lower you can mount it the better (especially if you can put it in a space that would otherwise be empty / unusable for other purposes). Little things like keeping the batteries down lower can make a big difference in a rig's COG in the end.