Our new Battery Box

Cary and Don · May 26, 2012, 06:05:47 PM

We just finished building a new battery box in the Eagle.

The box holds ten golf cart batteries and has room for twelve if we decided to go 24 volt in the future.

No more crawling over stuff and under stuff to check water levels. There is a pan made out of roofing material so we can clean them and rinse them off right where they are. There is a drain/vent in the floor. Two 12 volt fans blow into the box. The fans run off a 110volt relay on the non-inverted side of the 110volt output from the inverter. There is still enough room on top for storage of our oil and related items.

Here's the pictures,

Seangie · May 26, 2012, 06:37:18 PM

Don,

Nice work! I love it. I too have an Eagle and I need to figure out how I am going to build my battery bay. Currently they sit in the compartment that used to house the bus AC but I need to clean it up and make it look pretty like you all did with yours.

I'm assuming the box doesn't slide out with the vent in the floor?

Are the fans on a thermostat?

Thanks for posting pics!

-Sean

Melbo · May 26, 2012, 07:53:31 PM

Cool Work --- Batteries are good to take care of

Melbo

Oonrahnjay · May 26, 2012, 08:15:59 PM

Quote from: Seangie on May 26, 2012, 06:37:18 PMDon, (snip) Are the fans on a thermostat?

Sean, Don wrote:

Quote from: Cary and Don on May 26, 2012, 06:05:47 PM
We just finished building a new battery box in the Eagle. (snip) Two 12 volt fans blow into the box. The fans run off a 110volt relay on the non-inverted side of the 110volt output from the inverter.

I'm very interested in this, too. I'm guessing that by this Don means that he has a relay and every time that that relay sees input voltage (and on the "non-inverted" side, I think that any time it's plugged in or any time the gennie is running, there's power there), it switches on the fans. That's a pretty good indication -- if there is power going in that side, the charger funtion of the inverter should be charging the batteries. And that is the time, of course, that the fan should be on to eliminate hydrogen. I guess a thermostat would work but every time that the batteries were being charged, there would be a delay during the first part of the charge until the battery temperature rose high enough to trigger the fans on. (I'm not saying that a thermostat wouldn't work in some cases, but I can see some cases where it wouldn't.)

"My way" has a twist on this because I have provision to charge the batteries either through the shore cord or the generator but I also have a separate alternator on the engine to provide charging to the batteries. I suppose that I could do two relays; one as Don has done to sense charging off of 120 inputs, and a separate relay to run the fans when the engine ignition is switched on. (And I guess that an oil pressure switch would also work.) But I have a slightly complex job ahead of me on my setup.

Thanks for more info on this, Don. BH NC USA

Cary and Don · May 26, 2012, 09:35:44 PM

We don't have charging off the alternator yet. I think another relay for the fans would work for this also.

The batteries don't need a slide with this set up. That many batteries are very heavy for a slide. They were on a slide in the 4107 and they were a bear to move. If you were on a slope they would get you. They are really easy to get to, just pop the lid, no bending at all. The box is roughly 36"x36".

Don and Cary
1973 05 Eagle
GM 4107
Neoplan AN340

TomC · May 27, 2012, 07:45:30 AM

Looks good-fans blowing in with the exhaust/drain through the floor-good! Color coding the cables-good! I would suggest that you take a some nylon tie straps and tie back any cable that is close or resting on a terminal. There is enough vibration that a cable resting on a terminal can rub through causing a short. And since I don't see any fuses or circuit breakers, that means it could cause a fire. Good Luck, TomC

chev49 · May 27, 2012, 08:19:29 AM

wonder what happened to my post.. what busbar isolators are those, or do they come with the busbars? If so, what are they?

Cary and Don · May 27, 2012, 09:02:22 AM

Fire would not be good. The cables are color coded for each pair. If one battery gives us trouble we can just disconnect the pair from the bus bar and we're still good to go. It makes testing each pair easy also.

The bus bars we got off the Eplace for very little. They have those round isolators that bolt to the wall and then the bar bolts to them. Really neat. I can imagine how much they would cost at an electrical outlet place.

Don and Cary
1973 05 Eagle
GM 4107
Neoplan AN340

ArtGill · May 27, 2012, 03:15:46 PM

The buss bars look like the ones we use on radio towers to connect all our grounds to.

Art

usbusin · May 27, 2012, 03:55:07 PM

Looks like a nice set-up! How do you have the batteries secured to keep them from moving around?

GaryD

Cary and Don · May 27, 2012, 04:30:12 PM

They are basically packed in there so tight they can't move. There are little spacers between each battery to make them tight and give them some room for air circulation. I doubt we will go over anything fast enough to make them bounce. There is also half inch soft spacers under them so any water can drain if we wash them.

Don and Cary
1973 05 Eagle
GM 4107
Neoplan AN340

Oonrahnjay · May 27, 2012, 05:52:25 PM

Quote from: Cary and Don on May 27, 2012, 04:30:12 PMThey are basically packed in there so tight they can't move. There are little spacers between each battery to make them tight and give them some room for air circulation. I doubt we will go over anything fast enough to make them bounce. There is also half inch soft spacers under them so any water can drain if we wash them.

Don, please think hard on this. There's something about batteries that makes them want to jostle around, chafe, pull their posts loose, short their connections, etc. when they are not *firmly* secured. Not telling you what to do, but please think about it.

Cary and Don · May 27, 2012, 06:11:49 PM

Don't think they will move. They are in a rubber box, lots of slack on all the cables, pads between each battery, pads under the batteries. The box is from bus wall to 200 gallons of water. The junction bars are higher than the battery terminals. The batteries in our 4107 were just wedged in when we got it and they weren't any trouble for eight years. If they could get to sliding around in there I could see where they could cause trouble. In the case of a wreck, all bets are off.

Don and Cary
1973 05 Eagle
GM 4107
Neoplan AN340

chev49 · May 28, 2012, 08:39:10 AM

thanks for where you got the bus bars..
soon i am gonna redo my battery box. I have 12x12x 1/4 pieces of rubber that i have cut down and put between my existing batteries. but not nice bus bars...

Cary and Don · July 24, 2012, 10:04:31 AM

Figured we would keep all this together. We have finished with the new charging system for the Eagle. This panel charges the house batteries while going down the road and jumps the bus batteries if they need help with an auxiliary start. The charge relay is operated by a switch on the dash so it can be on or off. The auxiliary start has a button on the dash for starting. There is a relay up front that will disconnect the charge relay if the key is off. The house battery box has fans that come on if the charging system is on. The whole charge system can be disconnected if need be by turning the battery switch to house or off. Hopefully, this is the end of the new electrical projects.

Don and Cary
1973 05 Eagle
GM 4107
Neoplan AN340