Battery Bay Ventilation?

[wagwar]

I have six 8D AGM batteries in the bay forward of the first full width bay on my MC9. This is the old A/C condenser or evaporator compartment. Right now there is virtually no ventilation in this bay. I know the AGM's don't require ventilation for gassing, but what about some ventilation for a little cooling in the summer heat?  Should I try to come up with a way to vent that compartment or will they be just fine in there?

[muldoonman]

Curious about this also. I have AGM's now (replaced 6 wet 8D's this summer) and really haven't noticed the heat like the wet ones, nor the sulfur smell. My genset is next door on mine could install a vent into radiator compartment that has a blower for a little air circulation.

[technomadia]

That manufacturer of your AGMs should have listed the ideal operating temperatures.  As long as your bay doesn't exceed that range, you should be fine.  AGMs are generally pretty heat tolerant. 

Now - if you're spending your summer in Death Vally, that's a different story.

- Cherie

[luvrbus]

If you come to Az the heat here will make the AGM vent big time,they don't do good here in the 115 degrees driving on blacktop and charging at the same time and what a mess when they vent the price of baking soda goes way up lol BTDT vent,vent vent, follow the manufacture instructions and temperature (160 degrees max) range I did it and still lost the set of 8  

LifeLine was good at replacing the batteries ( 2 sets ) but would not pay for the cleanup

good luck

[akroyaleagle]

My house batteries are enclosed in a plywood box in the rear bay.

I drilled two 2 and 1/2" holes in the floor. One is to the front left corner and the other is to the rear right corner. I took 2 small pieces of aluminum and bent the one towards the driver side so that the concave ( side faced forward. The other on the curb side faces rearward ). Rivet or screw them to the floor. Use stainless screws or rivets. Ram air enters the ( side and vacuum air leaves the ) side when moving. The air circulates through the box as you can see.

This has worked very well for the more than 16 years I have had the coach.

If you are having serious problems, you may be over charging the batteries.

I have two 55 Amp chargers in tandem to mine. I run them with the gen if necessary. I usually just couple the 300 amp bus alternator to the house batteries to run the household refrigerator and one A/C through the inverter. It's a simple relay operated by a switch on the dash. If you go this way, be sure to wire one A/C, hot water heater, block heater and any other item that makes heat or cold to the one leg that is not powered by the inverter. This is not difficult to do. I know next to nothing about electrical and birthing babies but I figured it out.

Now if I could just figure out how to shut off the auto defrost of the freezer when I don't want it to defrost. I cut the the correct wire according to the wiring diagram and installed a switch, but it didn't work properly and slid down the list of priorities too far to mess with. I don't boondock any way!

[luvrbus]

LOL yea Joe but you have the high $ Surrette batteries those make a Lifeline AGM seem like a Wal/Mart battery in price I have another friend just installed 8 of the 6volt 820 ah Surrette at over 1200 bucks each his old ones were 17 years old, one went bad so he replaced all that is a lot of bucks for batteries but if you want the M/B of batteries you pay 

good luck

[akroyaleagle]

Now Clifford!

I bought my batteries from the Surette distributor in Phoenix. Actually they may have been in Scottsdale. It seems mine are 595AH. I don't remember. They work good, last a long time. That's all I need to know!

I got 6 of them for a bit over $1400 as I remember without digging out the receipt. They are warranted for 8 years in RV applications. It is probably not possible to carry an equal AH in 8d's. 8d's are now near $200 each around here. They are prorated for 1 year. Seems like good math skills to me.

Are you and the Mrs getting settled in Scottsdale? Will you have a shop there to rescue all of us from time to time?

Take care my friend,

[luvrbus]

Joe, Copper State Battery Co ring a bell that is where he bought his here in the Scottsdale/Phoenix area