Dressing up battery compartment

[Kwajdiver]

I hate the way my batteries look.  Looking for a way to make them show a little better, and be easier to maintain.
Several of you have your house batteries on slideouts.  I'm guessing that works well.  Any other suggestion, would like to see photos.

Attached (I hope) a photo of my middle bay and batteries.


Thanks for the suggestions.

Bill

[artvonne]

  The skies the limit, pretty much anything you can imagine, from crap to fancy, has been done. Main point you really want to look at are isolation. Right now your batteries could be impacted or shorted by loose items in the bay. The batteries should be in some type of compartment that is completely sealed off from the bay and vented Overboard. General consensus is you should have a battery cutoff switch equal to the load, and a fuse.

  Even if you built a simple wooden rack that you could enclose and vent you would be much better off.

  Spend some time searching the various boards, doing online searches, youll see something you like.

[jjrbus]

It is in your best interest if the walls of the battery compartment are non conductive, ceramic tile, marble,  wood, plastic. Gold or silver plating is out! Vinyl flooring might even work?

Your back from Kwajalein?                              JIm

[Kwajdiver]

Jim,

No, still on the island, will be back in June for a month and want to do a little work on the bus.
Thinking about a slide out for the batteries.  As suggested, maybe build a wood cover over them.
That way they would slide out of the wood box.  I have a cut off switch on the wall for the batteries, but no fuse.
The fuse would be easy to install.

Bill

[Oonrahnjay]

(snip) Thinking about a slide out for the batteries.  (snip)

     I basically had to move my start batteries.  (They were installed under seats about the middle of the bus; there was about 30 feet of battery cable in pos and neg runs and they were in the way of where I wanted my black tank.)  As I was moving my door anyway, I enclosed the emergency exit door and put two 1 1/2 X 1 1/2" angle steel rails with six plastic rollers from Lowe's (three down each side).  The rollers only stick up from the floor about 1/8 inch.  Then I built a frame out of the angle the size of the footprint of my batteries (2 type 31's) and welded sheet steel (I think about 3/64 but may have been a little thinner -- anyway, it only need to be pretty thin) flat inside the angle frame); the sheet extends up the back to make a "back wall".  The cables come through grommets in the wall.  With tie down straps, a couple of clips on the floor that act as a guide and also to hold down the whole assembly and a plain cover that fits onto the bottom frame and the back wall and a vent pipe off the top of the cover, it's all pretty set.  Oh, there's also a little "lip" in the front that keeps the slide from coming out except when I want it to and a small handle right on the front edge of the slide.  



     I added a hatch right in the old emergency door frame and framed in and covered the upper area with sheet aluminum.  The batteries are now about belt buckle high off the ground and my cables are about 2 feet long to the master cutoff switch.  Really easy and simple.  It's very stable - I pull it out halfway and remove the front battery (if they have to come out) then pull it a little farther and remove the second.  If I'm just watering them, it is stable enough to let the slide just sit pulled out - I can get to the back one OK, of course, the front one is just sitting out in plain air and that's even easier.   I guess I should make arrangement for a prop stick if I ever need to pull the slide all the way out to get access to the rear one without taking the front battery out but I just don't see how I'd ever need to do that.



     On the other hand, I have seen school buses with just a flat steel sheet tray with a couple of D8's resting on the plywood floor, with guide lips and a handle.  Maybe mine is overkill but "anything worth doing is worth overdoing".

[gus]

The best thing is 3/4" plywood, especially for the floor, that can easily be removed and replaced (SS screws). It soaks up any battery fluids, doesn't corrode and absorbs noise.

[Uglydog56]

I couldn't tell exactly what you have there, so I assumed 4 T105's.  Setting them long edge to, you could use 32" full travel heavy duty drawer slides.  With additional batteries, I would build a second identical shelf above the first.

http://www.accuride.com/Industrial/Product/Details.asp?ProductID=124&CatID=&ProductName=Industrial-7950

The slide selector also gave 7957, 9301, 9307 and 9308 as models that would do what you want.  I just arbitrarily picked one.  They are available in longer lengths too if you wanted more batteries on one level.  I would build a plywood box to put them in with a hinged top.  You slide them out, open the top, do the gravities, slide them in.  Voila!

[Kwajdiver]

Thanks guys,

I have 4 deep cycle batteries.  Can't remember what they are. The are held in place with piece of channel and sitting on a rubber mat. 

So what I will build is a slide with a plywood box around it, hinged so the top will lift up.  Also will need to install a fuse in-line with the knife switch. Of course I will vent it, but that's not a problem.

Bill
This bus is for sell!

[Oonrahnjay]

(snip)  I have 4 deep cycle batteries. 

     These are house batteries, Bill (not that it makes much difference to how you install/take care of them)?

[Kwajdiver]

Yes, house batteries.  My starting batteries are located in the engine compartment.

Bill

[Oonrahnjay]

Yes, house batteries.  My starting batteries are located in the engine compartment.

Bill 

    I'd like to have my house batteries on a slide but it would be pretty hard to work out.  Good luck with your mods,   BH

[Kwajdiver]

I'm a long way from my bus. However, I'm planning on having a slide out try waiting on me when I get home.
Can someone tell me the depth of half of a cargo bay of an MCI-9?

Thank you,

Bill-

[gus]

Make sure to drill vent holes both top and bottom in the plywood box sides.

[TomC]

When I dress up my battery compartment-it usually will have a suit and tie.    Good Luck, TomC

[Kwajdiver]

Can someone tell me the depth of half of a cargo bay of an MCI-9?
What length slide out do I need to order?  I'd like to have it waiting in FLA when I get home.

Thanks,

Bill