House batteries in spare tire bay?

[NewbeeMC9]

Has any of you MCI'ers ever put your house batteies in the spare tire bay.  I think it would be good use of that space. I haven't figured out a good way to get the 4/0 cable too the front.  I diid find the hvac area under the floor so Im thinkig I may use that some how.  Any Idea's,opinions, comments?

thanks 

[belfert]

4/0 to go from back to front will be a little small if you are going to run anything larger than about a 1500 watt inverter.  For 3000 watts, 4/0 is only good to 15 feet.  Voltage drop is hard on inverters, but maybe the batteries will buffer things, I don't know.

Brian Elfert

[jjrbus]

 My inverter is a 3600 watt trace. for  a 12 volt system you cannot exceed 5 ft of #4 cable for 24 volt you cannot exceed 10 feet (one way). To do this installation you would have to put the inverter in the compartment also. The inverter must be protected from moisture but also  be albe to disapate heat. I do not know about your bus, but on my 5C the spare tire compartment is not well sealed which would disapate the heat but subject the inverter to excessive moisture and of course void the warrenty. I also see a problem checking the water level on batteries.  All this is of course only my opinion, your milage may vary.
                                                                                                                                             Work?/Play safely Jim

[NewbeeMC9]

i have the inverter(sw4024) in the evaporater bay that is forward of the bays, and I wanted to put the batteries in the spare tire bay since i need to seperate them now that i have golf cart batteries.

I basically have to go up and over the fuel tank and front axle and the spare tire bay is behinde the front bumper.  I know there are channels that do this,  I just dont want to break any thing else in the process.
I found the HVAC channel that runs from front to back I may be able to use that.

I was estimatiming 15 feet (one waty) of 0000 battery cable ( not 4 ga) would do the job. 

It is not done yet so I'm still open.  Going to NC tommorow so have to put it back.

It would be good to use the space in the ST bay for something that needs to be out of the way.

I appreciate the responses so far,  I love this board.

[JackConrad]

I agree that the space should be used for something, if not used for a spare tire.  I am installing a set of 36" full extension drawer slides (rated at 500#) in our former spare tie compartment. We plan to use this to store our shoreline cords, water hoses, a 50' air hose, etc.  YMMV Jack

[edvanland]

On my MCI 7 I use the spare tire space to store the sewer drain hose, leveling blocks, and other things I may need but don't want to take up other useable space in the bays.  That way when I need those items I can not remember where I put them.  Just a case of CRS, goes with getting older. LOL
ED
MCI 7

[RJ]

Do you really want to go thru the headache of getting the spare tire compartment open and climbing in there to service the batteries on a regular basis?

Do you really want the highly-explosive hydrogen fumes out-gassed by the batteries while they're charging directly under your feet?  Or mama's feet for that matter?

Do you really want the highly-corrosive electrolyte vapor eating away at the front end sheetmetal and control components located in the spare tire compartment?

Have you thought about how the additional weight of the batteries ahead of the front axle might affect both steering and tire life, as opposed to balancing the weight between the front and drive axles?

No answers. . . just questions for you to think about.

FWIW&HTH. . .

[NewbeeMC9]

Do you really want to go thru the headache of getting the spare tire compartment open and climbing in there to service the batteries on a regular basis?

Do you really want the highly-explosive hydrogen fumes out-gassed by the batteries while they're charging directly under your feet? Or mama's feet for that matter?

Do you really want the highly-corrosive electrolyte vapor eating away at the front end sheetmetal and control components located in the spare tire compartment?

Have you thought about how the additional weight of the batteries ahead of the front axle might affect both steering and tire life, as opposed to balancing the weight between the front and drive axles?

No answers. . . just questions for you to think about.

FWIW&HTH. . .

Alll good points and to get some help with the thinking about it is why I posted here .  thanks for the response.
for maint, i was planning on a rolling rack, so far thats been the case for bays, except possibly a box with a lid that lifts up

for the fumes, are they any better of under the youngins?  might cause some trouble to the copper under the front though but the front bay is a lot more ventilated than the bays


as far as the weight, I guess my wheelie days would be over but all good things have to come to an end   just kiddin,  I'm not sure that the weight would affect the steering that much.  especially strait line,  handling is done kinda slow too.  they would be centered too,  maybe someone has some more enlightenment here

for now my blocks and some firewood is going in there.

thanks again

[kyle4501]

Alright Russ! Excellent points to consider!

Some of my thoughts;

Do you remember the movie 'Kelly's Heros'? You do have some 'negative vibes'  


Do you really want to go thru the headache of getting the spare tire compartment open and climbing in there to service the batteries on a regular basis?
Spare tire compartment opens with little effort & slide racks with the big quick disconnects like used on elec fork lifts will work better than BC powder for that headache.

Do you really want the highly-explosive hydrogen fumes out-gassed by the batteries while they're charging directly under your feet? Or mama's feet for that matter?
Under my feet, hey maybe I'll be the first to 'take it with me'. 
Mama's feet, Hmmmmm, do I have to answer that now? 

Seriously, that is the best ventilated area under the bus, except maybe the engine compartment.

Do you really want the highly-corrosive electrolyte vapor eating away at the front end sheetmetal and control components located in the spare tire compartment?
No free lunch here either.
What is going to stop the electrolyte vapor from eating away the metal of any other enclosure? I think the extra ventilation in this area will minimize this. (If he uses 'hydro caps' that will help too.) If he properly charges/ discharges the batteries, that too will minimize the gassing & required maintence.

Have you thought about how the additional weight of the batteries ahead of the front axle might affect both steering and tire life, as opposed to balancing the weight between the front and drive axles?
Excellent point! I believe everyone should weigh their coach when converting to ensure they have good weight distribution.

[TomC]

Couple of points.  I think many of you will find that the front of the bus will be light compared to the rear.  That's why I installed my 10kw gen next to me like a front engine. Installing batteries in the front tire compartment could accomplish the same.  Just run bigger cables to compensate for this.

As to the gassing, checking, possible spilling of acid, I got a very simple solution.  Use AGM (Absorbed Glass Mat) batteries.  They do not gas (or so little they are rated for wheel chairs on airplanes), can't spill even if the case cracks (no liquid, just moist), don't ever have to check them (they're sealed), can be mounted on their sides for space savings, about the only thing you'd have to do is to clean the terminals once a year.  They aren't cheap, but why have all the fuss about batteries when you can have AGM's that are basically install them and forget about them?  I have a very tight location for my 2-8D's and am loving not having to squeeze in with a mirror to check the electrolyte.  Good Luck, TomC

[tucsontattoo]

You might want to check-out Out Back inverters. They make an off road RV and marine inverter/charger that is sealed, corrosion proof and mounts in any position. Comes in models from 15000 to 35000 watt also in 12,24 and I think even higher voltages. Pricey but really good stuff.
                                              Tucson